Beyond reviews

[Veknoid_Outcast]

the-pi-guy said:

Veknoid_Outcast said:

I don't know about that. I think his talk about "meaning" and "emotion" signals that his interest is in storytelling, not in developing new and interesting mechanics, which, in my mind, are the bedrock of video games. In other words, he's not finding new ways to play; he's finding new ways to show. And while video games are clearly a visual medium, they are first a foremost a set of rules and challenges that players must obey and overcome, respectively. Therein lies the challenge of games, therein lies the fun. Cage seems to want to take the window dressing and make it sine qua non, and that, to me, is a disaster in the making.

My vision of video games is different from yours, the reason that I love video games is because they are capable of so much.  I can play Super Mario Bros. and then play The Last of Us.  The variety two games that are very different in structure and in purpose that it is almost strange to think that they are put in the same category(gaming).  I think games are capable of far better story telling than movies(even though we might not quite be there) and we are going to get more and better ways for playing games.  New ways to play to show is still new ways to play.  

@bolded: Some would argue that "video games" is an outdated term.  There are a lot of reasons that some would consider games fun, even without challenges.  There was even a thread about why we played video games not too long ago and most people did not say fun was the reason.  A lot of us had very different reasons.  Perhaps the only rule to a game is to have fun and complete your own goals regardless of what other games dictate.  

Fair enough, to each his own. Although I don't see a very big difference between Super Mario Bros. and The Last of Us, apart from presentation and sophistication. They both conform to my definition of a game, i.e., composed of a set of mechanics and rules that determine how a game plays and how a player interacts with that game. As I said, I believe the rules, concepts, and standards embedded in a game are far more important than characters and stories. But I understand and appreciate that many others see video games more as a type of interactive fiction. I, too, enjoy storytelling in video games. Some of the best games ever made, including Ocarina of Time, Halo, Metroid Prime, and Metal Gear Solid, all have captivating and well-told stories. I'm not suggesting we return to 1972 and slide paddles back and forth across a screen all day. Dramatic storytelling is a part of games, and has been for generations.

All I'm saying is that games are part art, part design, and for me the design element is more important and more consequential in terms of a game's greatness.