Comments on: Why Must Gameplay Make Sense?

By: LAS

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:41:02 +0000

Yeah – I mean sim games obviously being the exception … I think gamers as a whole will accept a premise that is infinitely outrageous if it’s central to the gameplay … if your game is Bayonetta for example, they will accept that you are an angel killing witch demon with guns on her feet and hair magic, because that’s what they’re buying into.

It seems to be the little details that gamers become annoyed about – things that diverge from ‘how the world works’ just for the hell of it. I think it’s because we enter a game with a set of expectations, like how physics work in Half-Life, and if they’re going to diverge from how we understand ‘the world to work,’ then it had better have a gameplay reason, not just be to confuse us.

By: Aldouz

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:33:16 +0000

Yeah I agree with this “if games become too realistic, then why the hell are we playing them”…
Because in my opinion Games help us to escape from reality for a while (maybe because of stress, try to have fun, etc)… For example I bought Oblivion 4 years ago, this game is awesome, it’s just like life in another world… another games like World of Warcraft and Fallout 3 loves by gamers because these kinda games help us (gamers) escape from reality for a while, thus encourage us to continue our real life…

By: LAS

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:04:59 +0000

I suppose I was more referring to the idea that given the starting assumption that we’re in an absurd situation, things don’t have to be internally consistent.

To take Batman for example – people don’t have a problem assuming that we’re playing a superman billionaire, or that superheroes exist, or that toxins that mutate humans exist. What they seem to have a problem with is that the architecture is wrong …

I’m not trying to say ‘you suspend your disbelief in one area, why not in ALL areas,’ more like ‘the architecture intentionally creates a fun mechanic, don’t worry about those mechanics conflicting with real world examples.’

By: Jamie

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:33:32 +0000

I think you brushed over one of the most important points regarding realism of game play and mechanics: if games become too realistic, then why the hell are we playing them? You started upon that point where you were discussing the boredom of real life money earning. Games are about doing absurd or impossible things. To achieve this, there must be a certain amount of absurdity and impossibility in the solutions to the absurd and impossible problems. How do you suspend reality for the problem but not suspend it similarly for the solution?