Hi Dark, That's a good point. When it comes to interest in games like any other esthetics relativism will only get you so far. Sure, there are certain things that are more or less relative to personal interests, but there are also some universal features and game mechanics that apply to all games regardless of genre and style.
For one thing by far the most popular request I have seen from VI gamers is the ability to customize and mod existing games. That of course makes sense for a lot of reasons. There aren't that many audio games out there compared to mainstream video games so being able to customize and mod existing games would help add extra content and replay value to the games we already do have, and it would help end users change the game in ways the original developer hadn't thought of when creating the game. For example, I remember back in the early 2000's when Lone Wolf 3.2 came out there were quite a number of us who were creating custom missions for the game. What was great about it is that even though the game came with 17 stock missions every time a new mission pack came out it was like getting a new game for free, and I played Lone Wolf quite a lot because of it. It added replay value to the game plus there was a lot of new content added to the game that allowed the end user to use his/her imagination to go above and beyond the original game. In fact, I remember at one time I was working on a complete Star Trek mod for the game complete with sound effects and missions. I had gone through the stock missions and rewrote them with Star Trek themes so instead of intercepting three enemy submarines you had to intercept three Ferengi Marauders. It was a cool idea, but I gave up on that mod because there was only so much I could do to the game before it was still just a submarine trying to be the Enterprise. :D Still, the underlying premise stands that being able to add tracks, missions, levels, and any other custom content does extend the life of the game, adds replay value, and continues interest long after the game developer has moved onto something else. Another thing that makes or breaks a game is the amount of complexity. I've noticed that gamers, particularly VI gamers, don't want to read a long winded manual. they want to just jump into the game. Therefore a good design that is simple enough to play without much more than a basic tutorial seems preferable to one that requires hundreds of keyboard commands and lots of explanations of this or that to play. Q9, for example, is such a game because anyone can install the game and be playing the jungle world in about five to ten minutes where GMA's time of Conflict really takes a few hours to get an idea how to play. That is not saying Time of Conflict is a bad game, it certainly isn't, but it will only appeal to a certain type of gamer where Q9 will appeal almost to everyone because it is quick and easy to learn and play. I think we can go on and on about what makes a good game but I think it comes down to replay value, simplicity, and amount of custom content. If a developer can come up with a game that has all of those features the game will likely be a good one. Cheers! On 5/14/14, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Lisa. > > While I do agree in principle, and would never insult someone for liking a > different sort of game, you do raise what is to me a far more interesting > question. > > For me at least, there are design characteristics of good games which are > independent of preference. ake top speed2 and 3. I do not personally like > racing games, I don't find they interest me much at all, however I look at > the feature list for top speed, the way the games are put together, the > customization etc, and I can say independent of personal preference that > they bare the characteristics of well designed games, even though their > subject matter is not something which would make me want to play them. > > The problem with just saying "everything is relative" is that then you have > > no standard of comparison. Then if someone comes along and thinks Beep is > the best game in the universe, or thinks say shades of doom or entombed is a > > terrible game, all you can say is "well I disagree because I like different > > games" Likewise, there is then little way that you can can give > constructive cryticism to someone designing a game, sinse they can always > ignore you comments and say "well I don't like that idea" and leave it at > that. > > I actually studdied these sorts of questions when I learnt Aesthetics, which > > is the philosophy of art, but i'd say this applies just as much to games as > > it does to music, literature or anything else. > > Complete relativism is a very attractive proposition sinse it gives a > validity to everyone's opinions, the problem is, (to quote a lign from the > gondoliers), "when everybody's somebody then no one's anybody" > > This is why when looking at say the temporal disturbance, I'd first ask not > > whether I! like it in the game, but whether it contributes to what over all > > makes a good game. > > Of course, the idea of "what makes a good game" is another question as well, > > and one which is also up for debate, but it is the idea that there is! some > > set of universal design characteristics that you can! judge a game against > that is the point. > > If all the list was just made up of people saying "I like this" and "I don't > > like that" then discussion would be a pretty pointless thing. > > Beware the Grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
