Assignment 11 - Don't Hate The Player (Hate The Game!)
I'm afraid this blog may be one of the few times i'll write very little because I find it a concept too abstract to write anything beyond a cold-cut definition and a few of my personal thoughts on it. So let's begin shall we, mwahahahahaha...
"Gameplay" is an incredibly loose term. The easiest way to define what gameplay is is to say "what the player does". Basically when you press something - something happens - that's gameplay. The level of 'good' gameplay can only be gauged appropriately in context of it's genre. For instance a racing sim can have terrible gameplay if it feels like no matter how hard to push the analog stick in a direction it still barely moves the vehicle, or in an action/adventure game you're limited in your involvement with the surroundings. Personally a game is only discredited for it's poor gameplay if I feel they could have added more variety in it's actions - such as pre-rendered backgrounds with no interactivity - or a beat 'em up with less than twenty moves.
Nowadays, with such great technology at our disposal I find a wide variety of 'gameplay' to be important. "Back in the day" RPGs were mostly go from A to B, random battles, press a few buttons and voila there is the end credits. Having to input random button combinations to successfully attack a beastie, or a barrage of mini games, basically anything other than "use the directional pad to move, press A to attack" to me spells out great gameplay. It's all about managing the different actions and immersing the player into the world through their interaction (after all, video games seperate themselves from other media because of this interaction and competition).
Gameplay, being the level of control you have in a game, is very much dependent on how much control the player feels s/he has. Many discredit Grasshopper/Capcom's Killer7 title because of the lack of 'control' a player has. Simply pressing the A button moves your character on-rails through the level and many found this it's downfall (though I blame this down to player expectations). Most games allow you to run, jump, attack, fly, etc. and inevitably have ultimate control over your person (Grand Theft Auto sells incredibly well due to it's 'gameplay') but sometimes I feel the gameplay has to be in context of the game. I thoroughly enjoyed Killer7 as it's a visual treat and there's little need to explore when the plot is so intricate your prime objective should be to further the plot and learn more. I think 'gameplay' is important to genres such as action/adventure, RPG etc. where the player's intention is to interact and explore (and a variety of different actions will spell out great gameplay). However simplicity can be key to some games, Shadow of the Colossus being another great example; basic premise and no enemies beyond the sixteen giants you must take down. Armed with only a sword, a bow and a horse you can run, jump, climb and roll and that's IT. The visuals are beautiful and the motion acting is superb; I would say gameplay isn't the defining factor in a game. It is highly dependent on the creators intent and while it may be a little ambiguous to just throw the word "Gameplay" around - one must define their own idea of 'good gameplay' in context of the game before throwing it around.
"Gameplay" is an incredibly loose term. The easiest way to define what gameplay is is to say "what the player does". Basically when you press something - something happens - that's gameplay. The level of 'good' gameplay can only be gauged appropriately in context of it's genre. For instance a racing sim can have terrible gameplay if it feels like no matter how hard to push the analog stick in a direction it still barely moves the vehicle, or in an action/adventure game you're limited in your involvement with the surroundings. Personally a game is only discredited for it's poor gameplay if I feel they could have added more variety in it's actions - such as pre-rendered backgrounds with no interactivity - or a beat 'em up with less than twenty moves.
Nowadays, with such great technology at our disposal I find a wide variety of 'gameplay' to be important. "Back in the day" RPGs were mostly go from A to B, random battles, press a few buttons and voila there is the end credits. Having to input random button combinations to successfully attack a beastie, or a barrage of mini games, basically anything other than "use the directional pad to move, press A to attack" to me spells out great gameplay. It's all about managing the different actions and immersing the player into the world through their interaction (after all, video games seperate themselves from other media because of this interaction and competition).
Gameplay, being the level of control you have in a game, is very much dependent on how much control the player feels s/he has. Many discredit Grasshopper/Capcom's Killer7 title because of the lack of 'control' a player has. Simply pressing the A button moves your character on-rails through the level and many found this it's downfall (though I blame this down to player expectations). Most games allow you to run, jump, attack, fly, etc. and inevitably have ultimate control over your person (Grand Theft Auto sells incredibly well due to it's 'gameplay') but sometimes I feel the gameplay has to be in context of the game. I thoroughly enjoyed Killer7 as it's a visual treat and there's little need to explore when the plot is so intricate your prime objective should be to further the plot and learn more. I think 'gameplay' is important to genres such as action/adventure, RPG etc. where the player's intention is to interact and explore (and a variety of different actions will spell out great gameplay). However simplicity can be key to some games, Shadow of the Colossus being another great example; basic premise and no enemies beyond the sixteen giants you must take down. Armed with only a sword, a bow and a horse you can run, jump, climb and roll and that's IT. The visuals are beautiful and the motion acting is superb; I would say gameplay isn't the defining factor in a game. It is highly dependent on the creators intent and while it may be a little ambiguous to just throw the word "Gameplay" around - one must define their own idea of 'good gameplay' in context of the game before throwing it around.
posted by The Horror @ 3:00 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home