No offense, and I totally agree with you here, but isn't the
current version of MOTA exactly that, a oh you died, just go back
a couple seconds and try again?
----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com
To: Gamers Discussion list <gamers@audyssey.org
Date sent: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:22:27 -0500
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Game Difficulty was RE: swamp
Hi Ryan,
That makes a lot of sense. You are right that the great games of
the
80's and 90's really fostered an attitude of "get better or go
home."
I can remember spending countless ours at the arcade right next
door
to I.G.A. playing the arcade games with my friends. We would go
through an entire roll of quarters playing Donkey Kong, Zaxxon,
Packman, Super Mario Brothers, Double Dragon, TMNT, whatever was
the
hottest game at the time. Thing was standing shoulder to shoulder
with
your friends playing games encurraged a spirit of challenge,
competetiveness, and a desire to win no matter how many times you
whiped out x number of levels into the game. I don't remember
anyone
complaining about having to start over from scratch, because
that's
just how it was. I guess we just accepted it as a fact of life.
Now days this generation of gamers are use to automatic
checkpoints or
quick saves so if they die a minute later he or she can continue
practically from where they left off. Since they never grew up on
the
80's arcade machines like I did they don't have the same desire
for
challenge and determination to keep playing the game as many
times as
it takes to beat it. As you say I think the games have suffered
as a
result because the industry has spoiled gamers with an attitude
that
if you die in the game just reload your saved checkpoint and go
on.
Too me that defeats the challenge and excitement that was present
in
so many games from the 80's and 90's.
I remember when I was working on Montezuma's Revenge a couple of
people complained about being sent back to the beginning of the
level.
I was a little surprised about them making a big deal of it
because
that's the way all of the great arcade games from the 80's were.
If
you lost a life the level reset and you started at the beginning
of
the level with two lives instead of three. Yet, some gamers
thought I
was being unreasonable and felt they should respaun where they
died.
Its like, "people, where's your sense of challenge?"
Cheers!
On 11/27/11, Ryan Strunk <ryan.str...@gmail.com> wrote:
Post note: I had originally intended to put this post in the
main thread,
but it got so far afield I figured I better change the subject
line.
Hi Tom,
In the era you and I came from, gamers weren't lazy because they
couldn't
be. We had situations where you had to start completely over
because the
technology/memory wasn't there to save progress. Even then,
though, there
were plenty of ways to start where you left off--passwords, save
points, and
continues come to mind. In Super Mario Brothers there was the
"hold A and
press start" trick that let you start at the beginning of the
current world.
Granted you lost all your points, but at least you didn't have
to begin
again like poor old Michael Finnegan.
And let's not even get started on the Game Genie/Game Shark.
In today's situation, the bar has lowered significantly.
Quick-saving allows
you to start exactly where you left off. In games like L.A.
Noire, you can
skip a mission automatically if you fail it too many times. In
the latest
Mario title, if you're playing 2 player and you die, the other
player can
play through the level until they pass the hard part, then pop
your bubble
and respawn you instantly.
So are blind gamers lazy? Maybe, but not any more so, I think,
than
mainstream gamers. Most blind gamers never grew up in the "get
better or go
home" era that you and I did, and they never had to face the
frustration of
running out of continues. Gamers and blind gamers don't have
that hurdle
anymore, and I think the industry has suffered for it.
Even so, if you never put in "Justin Bailey" to get all the cool
weapons and
see Samus in her bathing suit, I'll eat my keyboard.
Best,
Ryan
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