One Gamer’s Wish List

Posted by Tritone on Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tritone.jpg
We’re gamers, you and I. We use our imaginations. Right now, for instance, I imagine you’re wondering when I’m going to get to the point. Ok, here it is: as we’ve played through our many games this past year, we’ve all imagined ways in which the games could have been better. We’ve all developed extensive wish lists of concepts, features and ideas that we can’t believe have never been implemented. So, in the spirit of the holidays and their unblemished record of disappointment (that box under the tree is NOT a PS3, I guarantee it), family bickering, and inevitable tears, I offer a couple of items from my “Gamer’s Wish List,” and I invite readers to do the same. I wish…
  • …that there was a decent MMO not set in a “medieval high fantasy universe” (do you goddamn hear that, Blizzard?!) and with NPCs that exhibited something on the order of believable behavior, and existed as something other than target practice for my character.
  • …that the dialogue and characterization in action games would evolve to the point where I actually cared about my character enough that there would be moral, ethical and emotional consequences to decisions and actions. Good films and books are dramatic, but good drama involves conflict that is more ambiguous than simply brawling.
  • …that Microsoft would create a keyboard/mouse for the Xbox 360.

4 Comments »

1942

Comment by Ruckus

12/20/2006 @ 7:00 pm

I have faith that all these things will come to pass.

The non-high fantasy MMO bit will come around eventually. Several companies have given it a shot (Galaxies and Auto-Assault spring to mind) and while their results have been… let’s say ‘non-optimal’, really the good MMO’s have been scarce even in the fantasy genre. Someone will hit upon the formula eventually.

I often draw parallels between the movie industry and the game industry; I genuinely feel that there are stron parallels between the two. With that in mind, I refer you to the early movies that featured “man doing somersaults” and “the running horse.” As the game industry matures, so will the game plots and writing. Really we’re only at the start of video game generation two. The next few years we’ll see the emergence of game execs who actually grew up playing games, as opposed to those who learned it later in life.

The XBox360 keyboard? Okay, two out of three isn’t bad.

1943

Comment by Tritone

12/20/2006 @ 9:22 pm

True, the early years of film were characterized by a fascination with…um…electricity, but shouldn’t we (i.e. the writers, developers, and designers) be able to draw on 100+ years of accumulated experience in the visual media (not to mention 2000+ years of storytelling in general) and leapfrog the baby steps of learning to tell a story and creating believable characters, and move a little sooner to something more profound? A better parallel might even be the invention of writing…I’ll bet it took more than a few generations for the species to stop using those wiggly symbols for grocery lists and start writing poetry. We’re still pretty fascinated by the tools…it might not be until we stop being mesmerized by the pretty flashing lights that we can start using them for real illumination. (ooh, that was deep, man. Quick, make a t-shirt).

1944

Comment by Ruckus

12/20/2006 @ 11:03 pm

Exactly. We have thousands of years of storytelling history and it still took the movie industry decades to figure out how to bend the technology to achieve a compelling story. The same will be true of video games.

On that note, look at the Wii. It’s a conscious effort to step away from the self-imagined arms race of photorealism and get back to what matters: having fun playing games. I totally agree with you that we’re fascinated with the tools and not the products we produce with said implements. A large part of the medium is stuck in a dick-flexing contest to see who can make the most realistic clouds and smoke and running water. There are, however, visionaries like Will Wright and Sid Meier who are actively inventing new games to play.

Not every movie is Ben Hur, and not every video game is System Shock.

1945

Comment by Dodongo

12/21/2006 @ 12:29 am

- I think they should stop making MMOs altogether. I miss my friends…

- It amazes me that all the war based games I’ve played have failed to make me care one iota about the soldiers around me. The closest they ever get is when I give my soldiers the names of friends and family. It gives me an incentive to play a scenario until I beat it without leaving anyone behind.

- Stop being a pussy and get used to analog controller aiming! Sure it’s inferior, but it makes the obligatory jumping puzzles much easier to navigate!

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