The Future of Gaming

[Bodhesatva]

RolStoppable said:

Less Halo and Devil May Cry clones, more big budget platformers (Banjo-Kazooie and the like) and action-adventures (Okami and the like) please.

Is that the kind of answer you expect?

Eh, sorta. Was really waxing the philosophic here.

My personal opinion has always been this -- as long as the pinnacle of gaming is Halo/GTA/Gears of War/God of War, where a single super spy/soldier/warrior kills dozens if not hundreds of people, as long as games are about shooting and stabbing and killing your way to ultimate victory, they will continue to be a market primarily for young males (say, 8-30). If we want to attract other people -- be they girls, women, the elderly, or my personal favorite, educated adults -- we have to do something different. I'm thinking less Banjo-Kazooie, and more The Sims, Brain Age and Wii Sports.

People seem to think that if Halo/God of War style games just get better and better graphics, with better gaming engines, suddenly adults will come to video gaming. This clearly isn't happening -- we've basically been stuck at the same market penetration of educated adults for 20 years. These games are not going to do it. By contrast, Tetris, The Sims, and the recent spat of Wii games have shown instant and immediate inroads to the adult market.

I'm not saying that the young-male demographic won't or shouldn't continue to see great games, I'm just saying that it's the only teat that video games have ever been nursed at, and it's getting tired and sore. We can't expect a multi billion dollar industry to survive, or grow, on that market alone.

It's a particularly quintessential failing of young males to think that everyone likes the same stuff they do, and if they could just make it cooler and more badass, then clearly everyone would obviously see how much fun it is. Many people don't want to kill stuff or shoot stuff, they want to solve puzzles and bake cookies.