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Forums - Gaming - Gameplay isnt the most important thing in games.

Wonktonodi on 02 March 2015
Mnementh said:
Wonktonodi said:
I would love to see people define gameplay, because I imagine those that define it very narrowly won't see it as important as those that define it more broadly.
Is Tetris great because of the gameplay? Or because the challenge of it getting harder and harder? Without the challenge of the difficulty increasing it would get pretty boring. But is increasing difficulty part of gameplay? I'd argue no. But I define gameplay very narrowly and thus make it only one part of many that makes a game good to me or not. Games that have no story need to have some challenge to them or some other way to feel rewarding for interaction with the controls, otherwise they're just boring.

Gameplay is the interaction. So while the challenge may not be part of the gameplay, the challenge would be impossible without gameplay. Or does someone have difficulties to finish a movie? Even the unexperienced and most unskilled movie watchers can watch a movie from the beginning to the end.


There are plenty of movies that people have trouble finishing. Many horror movies are way too graphic or disturbing for people to watch. 

So no challenging isn't exclusive to games. So to expand further great gameplay can be ruined by a lack off challenge and mediocre gameplay overlooked because of a good challenge



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Mnementh on 02 March 2015
Wonktonodi said:
Mnementh said:
Wonktonodi said:
I would love to see people define gameplay, because I imagine those that define it very narrowly won't see it as important as those that define it more broadly.
Is Tetris great because of the gameplay? Or because the challenge of it getting harder and harder? Without the challenge of the difficulty increasing it would get pretty boring. But is increasing difficulty part of gameplay? I'd argue no. But I define gameplay very narrowly and thus make it only one part of many that makes a game good to me or not. Games that have no story need to have some challenge to them or some other way to feel rewarding for interaction with the controls, otherwise they're just boring.

Gameplay is the interaction. So while the challenge may not be part of the gameplay, the challenge would be impossible without gameplay. Or does someone have difficulties to finish a movie? Even the unexperienced and most unskilled movie watchers can watch a movie from the beginning to the end.


There are plenty of movies that people have trouble finishing. Many horror movies are way too graphic or disturbing for people to watch.

So no challenging isn't exclusive to games. So to expand further great gameplay can be ruined by a lack off challenge and mediocre gameplay overlooked because of a good challenge

They decide against finishing the movie, it's not a question of lacking skill. A challenging game will put up the challenge, even if the gamer wants to continue.



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PwerlvlAmy on 02 March 2015

Gameplay is the most important aspect for me. If I don't enjoy the game play, i will not like the game lol



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Normchacho on 02 March 2015
Mnementh said:
Normchacho said:
Smeags said:
At the end of the day, games are games because the individual(s) ability to interact with the medium.

You mention the end result, which is the feedback that the player receives from the game in question (Whether it be happy, surprised, afraid, disgusted, angry, sad, etc.), but you also mention that what sets games apart from the rest is its interactivity. But interactivity and gameplay are one in the same. Gameplay is described as "the specific way in which players interact with the game".

Without gameplay, there is no game. It is a core foundation on which games are created, and therefore many people see it as one of (if not the most) integral functions that a game should be judged by. A game can exist without a story, or music, and any number of things that we see now-a-days. But a game cannot exist without gameplay. That is why so many people (including myself) prize games on how the player interacts within the game world.

So I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but just highlighting why many people prize gameplay over all else.


That's not really a good reason for gameplay being the most important part of a game...without graphics a game wouldn't be a game either, would it? Does that make graphichs the most important part of a game?

Yes it is possible. I don't know if you would refer to ascii-games as graphic, you may. but there are interactive games for blind people, that entirely rely on sound. If you now say sound - there are a lot of games without sound.

It isn't a video game...

Not that that was really the point...Nobody has said that you don't need any gameplay, but does it need to be priority #1 on every game that comes out? No.



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Ryng on 02 March 2015

Ok, just my opinion... in a game the think most important are:
1) Gameplay: 70%
2) Story: 20%
3) Graphics: 5%
4) Soundrack: 5%



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SvennoJ on 02 March 2015

Out of my top 10 favorite games of all time:

Everquest: co-op gameplay most important, graphics were shit, I ignored the story
Civilization: gameplay most important, story was pretty predictable
Ico: setting and story most important, average gameplay.
Grim Fandango: story and acting most important, shit gameplay.
Shadow of the Colossus: setting and story most important, great to average gameplay.
Journey: setting, music, connecting to strangers most important, average to non existent gameplay.
Dark souls: setting, level design most important, great to frustrating gameplay.
Half-Life: cinematic experience most important, good gameplay.
Ni No Kuni: graphics, characters most important (ghibli fan), repetitive gameplay
Okami, artistic design, setting most important, average gameplay

Indeed gameplay is not the most important, getting immersed in the virtual world is for me.

For pure gameplay I still play DriveClub. Graphics help the gameplay by making it more exciting, night, rain, snow, variety keeps it interesting. To get immersed in a virtual world I'm currently playing The order.



ohmylanta1003 on 02 March 2015

LOL! A GAME isn't a GAME if there is no GAMEplay. How can GAMEplay not be the most important part of a GAME?



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Mnementh on 02 March 2015
Normchacho said:
Mnementh said:
Normchacho said:
Smeags said:
At the end of the day, games are games because the individual(s) ability to interact with the medium.

You mention the end result, which is the feedback that the player receives from the game in question (Whether it be happy, surprised, afraid, disgusted, angry, sad, etc.), but you also mention that what sets games apart from the rest is its interactivity. But interactivity and gameplay are one in the same. Gameplay is described as "the specific way in which players interact with the game".

Without gameplay, there is no game. It is a core foundation on which games are created, and therefore many people see it as one of (if not the most) integral functions that a game should be judged by. A game can exist without a story, or music, and any number of things that we see now-a-days. But a game cannot exist without gameplay. That is why so many people (including myself) prize games on how the player interacts within the game world.

So I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but just highlighting why many people prize gameplay over all else.


That's not really a good reason for gameplay being the most important part of a game...without graphics a game wouldn't be a game either, would it? Does that make graphichs the most important part of a game?

Yes it is possible. I don't know if you would refer to ascii-games as graphic, you may. but there are interactive games for blind people, that entirely rely on sound. If you now say sound - there are a lot of games without sound.

It isn't a video game...

Not that that was really the point...Nobody has said that you don't need any gameplay, but does it need to be priority #1 on every game that comes out? No.

Well, many things are important, but good games can exist without good graphics or music, but not without good gameplay. Even if people here are easy to dismiss the gameplay of Walking Dead or Journey: it is actually good, it works well.



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yoscrafty on 02 March 2015
ohmylanta1003 said:
LOL! A GAME isn't a GAME if there is no GAMEplay. How can GAMEplay not be the most important part of a GAME?


I think the problem here is the "naming" of this medium, which is "video game". Because there's the word "game" in it a lot of people see stuff like "Danganronpa", "Heavy Rain", "Stanley Parabole" and other games that don't really focus on fundamental aspect that make a game (competition, challenge, goals that require a certain amount of skillful input to achieve) and players start thinking "well this is just a stupid movie slapped on a video game disc". The fact is that gaming has evovled into something so much bigger than in its youthful days. It's expanded a lot and developers/creators are taking advantage of the interactive elements of video games, which is something every other medium is very limited in.

If this medium was called something like "interactive videos" I think there'd be less of argument over the "what makes a game a 'game'" discussion. But alas, video game is the term that's cemented in society. 



ExplodingBlock on 02 March 2015

I see this more as an opinion, I play the games for the gameplay, never for story or graphics.