Been meaning to respond to Enrique’s comments on what appeals to us in games for awhile. Finally found a moment to breathe and decided to post this up rather than, you know, breathing.
It’s a breakdown of what I see as the four core tasks that constitute most gaming experiences. I’ll leave a link to the full article, but for a tease, here’s the Cartesian graph that finally let me start wrapping my mind around where I was going.
Look forward to any comments.
I know, controversial title, right?
So, today is a very geeky day. It’s Star Wars Day #2, because Star Wars was released 33 years ago today. It got overshadowed by Empire day, but…. It’s also Towel Day, because DNA (Douglas Noel Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and other books author) died two weeks ago, and today is the day to remember his death, and to carry your towel. It’s also the Glorious 25th of May, which for Pratchett fans, means you can wear the lilca if you were there.
Because of this, it’s also also also Geek Pride day. Apparently this is a newish holiday – it’s maybe 5 years old. In principle, I’m all for this. Celebrate Geekiness. Hell, that’s kinda the point of this blog. In practice, I hate it.
Enrique mentioned, in his description of me, that’s he curiuos how I’ll indoctrinate my kids in to the geek world.
While waiting for reports to run, I stumbled on the list of Travis County court dates scheduled over the last interval of time (whatever that may be). And apparently, I enjoy reading them.
Long ago when this blog first started up and I agreed to be a contributor, Mike suggested I put up a post about poker. Those of you who know me know that it’s much more than a hobby for me now, it’s bordering on a full time obsession. I’d struggled with the idea of doing so because I had a hard time visualizing the hook connecting it back to geekdom. It wasn’t until I’d let my contributions here lapse into dormancy that I realized the hook was there all along, I’d just not realized it. And that now as I get ready to try and take my game to another level that I find I might be part of a growing tradition where gambling and geekery overlap.
So, thanks to D&D Encounters (which I think it a brilliant idea – short 1.5 to 2 hour bursts of gaming that anyone can join), I gamed for the first time in a couple years (which surprised me to realize).
It was at a game store in Madison. I was reminded that game store employees are assholes. I waited in line for 7 minutes to buy a thing of dice for $9 while someone did a huge preorder, and the guy tried to find it all, etc. When I called later to find out who had run the game, he just said “I can’t keep track of the people” and was done.
But.
I love Joss Whedon.
I idolize Aaron Sorkin.
I just don’t get Kevin Smith.
Or, put differently:
I want to hang out with Joss Whedon.
I want to *be* Aaron Sorkin.
Kevin Smith is the guy that shows up at the game cause he’s friends with someone else, and I can’t tell him to leave.
There’s a story in the local paper. It’s a few paragraphs long, but it can be summarized as thus:
Wolf populations are on the rise in WI. Wolves are eating deer. Hunters shot less deer.
The logical conclusion?
Wolf hunts.
………………
I….
It’s….you see….deer….wolves….hunters are….
I can’t even really begin to address this. But it’s made my head hurt so very very very very very much today.
I actually found that story while looking in to this one: http://www.jsonline.com/business/90405254.html
Not in that paper, but that’s the online version that had the story I was looking for. The comments in that story frighten me tremendously. From comment 1, it’s intensely political, completely lacking in context, and vitrolic rhetoric. It’s not until the “Hey, I work there, here’s the facts” that it settles down.
People just worry me, all over.
As the others allude to in the About section, in my Real Life I do a great deal with copyright.
The Anime Industry runs on copyright infringement.
Just about everything the fan community does with anime is infringing somehow. This type of statement could be made about fandom in general, but it’s particularly true with anime. And the anime industry wouldn’t exist as we know it without it- in Japan as well as the US.
As a kid, video arcades were my babysitter much of the time. Mom and pop wanted to go see a movie my brothers and I weren’t interested in, we usually wound up at Putt Putt Golf & Games for a couple hours while they caught the flick. I don’t remember any games that became obsessive for me, other than maybe throwing down against my brothers in Street Fighter II or Cyberball.
Since I’ve gotten older, however, there have been numerous games that sink their hooks into me and won’t let me go. Everyone knows I’m a Rock Band fanatic. Also pretty hardcore into Left 4 Dead. I didn’t really think I got the Mass Effect phenomenon until I realized I’d started up a new career with a different character almost immediately after I finished the game with my first one. And don’t get me started on the Bioshock titles (please, Hollywood, if you’re going to turn every game into a movie, at least get this one right and put it in David Fincher’s hands if he’s interested).
But what is it that pulls me in? Story plays a big part in Bioshock, to a lesser degree in Mass Effect. But that certainly doesn’t explain Rock Band or my latest obsession Plants vs Zombies (if you’re not familiar with it, don’t laugh until you give it a shot. If you’re not sucked in after the first hour, you’re a better person than I).
Gameplay is obviously the key, but what is it about the game play that makes such a difference? I figured this is the best audience to pose the question to: what gets the jonesing started that you say “Just one more screen/mission/level…” and next thing you know you’ve lost a couple of hours and find yourself late to wherever you need to be?