I have just caved in my father's face with a golf club. My reasoning behind this? He asked me to do so. Of course I am talking about the game Bioshock. A mix of first person shooter, and action adventure RPG. In the class all students had to choose a RPG to play while completing other course content. I picked Bioshock for the simple reason of owning it, and never playing it. While this game is not as free flowing as almost all other RPG's it does present some interesting theories on the choice.
In this particular game the main choice you have while in game play is whether to save little girls who have been horribly mutated by the drug like Adam, or to kill them to take their Adam for yourself. I have chosen to save the girls, mainly because I kill so many other creatures in this game the thought of adding these girls to my gamer conscious was too much (turns out it helps you in game play as well). Other games you choose everything form back story, sex, abilities, race, political affiliation (Alliance and Horde). At the end of the day, is that what makes these games so compelling?
We all love Mario, and Sonic. They are canonized, but they really compare to what is in development. Isn't there a part of us that would love to see Mario give up his chase after the princess, and with the help of Luigi and Yoshi, help the Shy Guys free their home land? Maybe, instead of rings, have Sonic quest downtown Miami, dealing drugs, wasting rival gang members, and putting Tails on a street corner.
I think it is a safe assessment that gamer's do not want to be told what to do by their games anymore. They want their games to say, "I have made all of this for you, now what are you going to do with it?"
My Dad loves Bioshock. He has this obsession with it. I think its because it reminds him of his Atari days. I too have played the game. I just like all the different powers you get. I would like to see Mario stop his attempts at saving the princess. Thats why i like games like Brawl, where people come together and new story lines are formed. Your quote at the end makes me think of minecraft. it really is the ultimate space for the gamer. You can build whatever. MAke a puzzle, maze, duplicate WOW. Create a town, Build a city. Create a new planet. The world there is something like 83 times the size of our earth. Its ridiculously huge. And you can modify it however you want with different textures, mods, etc...
ReplyDeleteConnor, I like the last sentence in your blog. I feel that a lot of people enjoy the freedom and want to do the discovering and not be handed everything step by step. I think people are drawn to levelling up in character and not by reaching different levels or stages in the game. The game should all be unlocked and depending on your choices, your level goes up. However, I don't think there is anything wrong with Sonic and Mario. Some people like the helping hand and the guidance, particularly those who are uncomfortable with this new freedom that video games now have. I do think that people like choices in general. No one likes to be told what to do. Generally speaking, look at cell phones. People like to pick their ringtone, background, color schemes, etc. I think people just like to make things their own and take pride in the things that they have. People are impressed at what they can do and how it satisties them.
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