Do graphics add gameplay?

[xeroxm3]

bardicverse said:

xeroxm3 said:

megaman79 said:
Miyamoto spit in your face. Wii sports? Graphics = gameplay = bullshit

The argument isn't graphics = gameplay. The argument is gameplay + graphics = better gameplay. I believe this to be true in most cases.

EDIT: @bardicverse and vlad321: I completely agree good gameplay can overcome bad graphics, but I think using old games is a bad example. If the devs had the resources to make those games with the tech we have now would they still look like NES/Atari games? By today's standards with today's tech I believe that graphics most definitely add to gameplay. Back in the day they did the best they could with what they had to work with. These are very different times now. Same goes to System Shock Vlad. Would System Shock look like it does if they could have made it look like Bioshock?

 

I think you're just getting the terminology confused. Good graphics will draw you into a game more, make the world more believable, realistic, etc. But gameplay is the functionality of the game, the balance of damage, how your health bar is determined, etc. What I'm saying is that graphics do not affect gameplay. The graphics don't change the stats of the gameplay. In fact, it works quite opposite. let me explain -

In a FPS game, when the health goes to zero, a function of gameplay, it sends out a function to play an animation, graphics, of the character dying. That animation will never tell the gameplay that the character is dead. Graphics are an output onto a screen. The gameplay tells the graphics to output. In other words, for the L337, graphics are gameplay's bitch. =) Thus, graphics do not affect or enhance gameplay. Graphics do enhance your visual impression and overall enjoyment of the game. But they do not do anything to the element known as gameplay.

 

I interpret gameplay as the actual experience of myself playing the game, so I guess I can see why we're disagreeing. You're using the term gameplay as the technical one where as I'm using the term as the experience of actually playing the game. All that means is that the entire debate we just had is pointless xD