It's a strange realization to come to. the shelf in front of me is filled to bursting with PS3 games I have played through- most multiple times. I have an Xbox360 as well. And a podcast. And a blog on video games. I created a video game design course for high school students. How could I not be a gamer? If I'm not then who is?
It came to me most clearly when I was playing Uncharted 3, but it has been working its way to the surface like a splinter in skin. I think I was shooting through another wave of enemies, annoyed about aiming and their fucking armor, and that I was a mass murderer, and I was remembering how I was just doing this before and hating it, but I just wanted to find out what happened, or if it ever got any better. Then there was Batman Arkham City where I got tired of criminals being everywhere and me having to pay attention so I didn't get taken down while I was looking for a hot spot on my map that never manifested. Bulletstorm- God! more folks to kill?! And some voice in my head said, "Dean, these are video games. You are hating the part of video games where you play them." I gave that part of my brain the finger.
It was right though. I only want the story. I have been playing games more often on easy, because the fighting is my least favorite part. Games where there is more to do after the story don't interest me. I didn't touch the challenge rooms in the recent Batman games, nor do I much care about the extra stuff in Saints Row the Third (although there is some character dialogue, so I have played much of it). Multi-player in games I won't go near, user generated stuff in Infamous 2- meh. But I have played both Dragon Ages in more time then I spent watching TV this year.
So what am I and am I alone? Can I be a gamer and not enjoy the elements of game in gaming? I'm not looking for mastery, I don't take pleasure in challenging my fingers or reaction time, I don't enjoy a challenge. I just want the story to unfold, I want to see a world, I want to know its characters, I want story all around me in every choice, and as soon as that is usurped by>insert quick time event here< or *more meat throwing itself in front of my gun* or !This boss can only be harmed after it x's and you y and then only by fire attacks unless it's blue! I do like getting new powers and pretty new outfits, but even this is strange, because in playing Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, I repeatedly wondered why they didn't give me the cool powers to begin with, because fighting was no fun- I didn't think I should have to do anything to earn them.
What is wrong with me? Am I what is wrong in gaming? Am I the one insisting games be easier and ruining it for everyone? Maybe I am or maybe I am asking that games work as hard as Portal did to encourage me to play, to experiment, to examine the environment. Maybe I am asking for new tropes, and gaming to be a little more true to itself like L.A. Noire where I couldn't just mow people down in traffic and there was a gravity to each corpse. I don't want more games where I'm a hero trying to save a wife/girlfriend/child/ city by killing thousands and being improved by their deaths. I think we need to ask games to be more and not have three tricks and 17 environments, and not to have weapons and powers that really only allow us to survive the next level and don't change the gameplay at all.
I'm not sure if I'm crazy or an asshole, and I'm really not sure if I'm a gamer.
First: I hear what you're saying. I can't say I feel the same way, but I can say that the enjoyment I feel while playing most games has decreased quite a bit since I was a youngster. (And I haven't been a youngster in quite a while.) I don't know how old you are, but I do think it's natural to find games -- and many other things, unfortunately -- less exciting/interesting after a certain point in life (with that point often occurring around the time you start your first 'career').
ReplyDeleteSecond: Do you only play games like Arkham City, Bulletstorm and Uncharted? I know they're not all exactly the same, but they are similar enough that I wonder if part of your problem is playing the same games over and over again. Do you like other genres of games, like puzzlers or RPGs or whatnot? Maybe that would help shake things up.
All that said, I don't think you have to worry about not being a 'gamer' if all of what you said in the post above is true. You don't have to fit into a single mold to be a gamer, or at least you don't have to be in my opinion. Hell, I don't enjoy playing the kinds of games you mentioned in this post (although I think I might like Uncharted), but I still consider myself a 'gamer' because I play all sorts of other games.
Hey Bryan, wow, thanks for the considered response.
ReplyDeleteI think the realization comes after having played games for years and recognizing a pattern. The game-y parts of games are not what compels me to play; it's the interactive narrative form.
Maybe be I'm a interactive narrative former (or informer for short). Even as a kid I didn't like Combat or Space Invaders for anyother reason than they were moving pictures on the screen I could control, Donkey Kong faked a story because there was no ending just repeating screens. I'm not into games like Tetris or Myth Defense because there is no story.
What makes a game a game is the basic question. I don't think it is just something on a gaming console. Video games I enjoy are are form of story-telling that allows me some control of the narrative, some investment beyond looking at it. I would think that I am not the only one and that game developpers by looking at games from this angle would create (what would be to me) a superior game that is not a game.