Forgive me, but I need to vent a bit.
I’m so tired of modern games and modern gamers. When was it that games became nothing but business? What happened to games that weren’t made for profit? And, most importantly, when did gamers become slaves to corporate game design?
Although the odd gem from a small studio can still be found, games that offer social networks, such as live service games, seem to have completely succumbed to the influence of investors. I’m sure they think that it costs a lot of money to develop a game. Especially a live service game. It’s an argument I hear time and time again. And you know what? I’m sick of that, too.
Because it doesn’t cost nearly as much money as some would have us believe. The argument that it is expensive is based on the assumption that development must meet players’ “expectations.” However, those player expectations have been cultivated by the corporate game design. Linearity. Treadmills. The idea that “new” is better. The idea that players must receive some sort of tangible “reward” for their efforts — as if intrinsic reward is not already enough. The more ubiquitous this game design becomes, the more players start to think that this is normal and healthy. But you know what? It’s not.
At some point, we need to stop and ask ourselves: Why are we doing this? Why are we fighting this boss? Why are we building this town? Why are we exploring this world? Are we doing it for ourselves? Because we want to and because we actually enjoy the process? Or are we doing it because we want some shiny trinket or because we want some numbers on a page labeled “My Stats” to look higher? Because someone has designed the game to manipulate us into wanting those things, so that we can no longer even imagine enjoying the game without them?
Everywhere I look these days, I see only people, both devs and gamers, who can’t see beyond the screen the marketing associates have put in front of them. They consume the latest fad game or content and then toss it out just as quickly. They can’t see that a single game has or could have had endless hours of repeatable, quality content if only it wasn’t thrown away in order to dangle the latest carrot in front of the users.
So I implore you, see the carrot for what it is and reject it. If only enough people could see through the manipulation and reject it for their own homemade brand of fun, then the marketing teams would be forced to change, too. Game development and publishing as a business would have to go back to focusing on making good games instead of milking fads and making carrots to dangle in front of people.
I’m so tired of modern games and modern gamers. When was it that games became nothing but business? What happened to games that weren’t made for profit? And, most importantly, when did gamers become slaves to corporate game design?
Although the odd gem from a small studio can still be found, games that offer social networks, such as live service games, seem to have completely succumbed to the influence of investors. I’m sure they think that it costs a lot of money to develop a game. Especially a live service game. It’s an argument I hear time and time again. And you know what? I’m sick of that, too.
Because it doesn’t cost nearly as much money as some would have us believe. The argument that it is expensive is based on the assumption that development must meet players’ “expectations.” However, those player expectations have been cultivated by the corporate game design. Linearity. Treadmills. The idea that “new” is better. The idea that players must receive some sort of tangible “reward” for their efforts — as if intrinsic reward is not already enough. The more ubiquitous this game design becomes, the more players start to think that this is normal and healthy. But you know what? It’s not.
At some point, we need to stop and ask ourselves: Why are we doing this? Why are we fighting this boss? Why are we building this town? Why are we exploring this world? Are we doing it for ourselves? Because we want to and because we actually enjoy the process? Or are we doing it because we want some shiny trinket or because we want some numbers on a page labeled “My Stats” to look higher? Because someone has designed the game to manipulate us into wanting those things, so that we can no longer even imagine enjoying the game without them?
Everywhere I look these days, I see only people, both devs and gamers, who can’t see beyond the screen the marketing associates have put in front of them. They consume the latest fad game or content and then toss it out just as quickly. They can’t see that a single game has or could have had endless hours of repeatable, quality content if only it wasn’t thrown away in order to dangle the latest carrot in front of the users.
So I implore you, see the carrot for what it is and reject it. If only enough people could see through the manipulation and reject it for their own homemade brand of fun, then the marketing teams would be forced to change, too. Game development and publishing as a business would have to go back to focusing on making good games instead of milking fads and making carrots to dangle in front of people.
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