if these long wordy posts about game design or any of my projects bother you, then put the “projects” or the “rant” tag in your tumblr savior (if you have it!), because I refuse to bow down to the idea that you need to censor what you say on tumblr once it gets to a certain wordcount by using the dreaded “read more” break. honestly, its bullshit. why do people care so much when people they follow inconvenience them in the most minute way imaginable by making them scroll for an extra nanosecond of the life that they waste looking at pictures to make their crippled dog of an attention span yap with joy.

fuck anyone who complains about people who write lengthy text posts; thats what tumblr is for! its a fucking blogging website, you’re meant to write and read peoples blogs and thoughts. hilarious/beautiful pictures are PART of tumblr, but not the whole thing! admittedly, I do get a bit rambly and I never proofread or delete the times when I repeat myself or say the same idea in a different way. its really just a stream of consciousness, but I at least try to make my blogs readable and eloquent or engaging. I’M SORRY ITS NOT THE INSTANT GRATIFICATION YOU DERIVE FROM SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS.

Fun Is No Longer the Point

tangentialknowledge:

A trend that has been bothering me for a while is that the point of games have gone more and more away from providing a fun experience, this is an issue that should really be addressed by the game industry. 

Realism Doesn’t Equal Good

I am going to apologize in advance to Battlefield 3 fans, I am going to use this game as an example and it is in no why the only example of this in the industry. There are somethings in battlefield that just seem that they were put in there for the wrong reasons, for example the fact that the bullets and rockets in the game are effected by gravity so they drop after a certain distance. It took me a little while to realize why this was happening and why so many of my shots were missing. When I finally realized what was going on, I just had to stop and ask myself why was put in. It doesn’t really add much to gameplay, it does not make the game any more fun, so why did they add it? The best answer I came up with was that it made the game more realistic, but I wonder if someone at Dice asked “Hey, what does this add anything to the players experience?” I think the conversation went more like this:

designer #1: Hey we should make bullets drop

designer #2: Why? How would that add depth to the game?

designer #1: Because it is realistic

There is that word again “realistic”. Well realistic does NOT EQUAL A GOOD GAME, nor does it mean the game is fun. In a lot of cases, it does not even make the game more immersive, going back to the battlefield 3 example, the so called “realism” with the bullet drop pulled me out of the immersion because I thought that the game broke. Another classic example is Transformers, did all those fancy graphics and “realistic” robots make the movie any better, no it still sucked.

We Did This to Ourselves

So why is this happening, why is there this apparent shift from fun and to realism. Well it is our fault. Why, because when people don’t buy Minecraft because of the graphics, it only reaffirms the designers ideas. Graphics rather than aesthetics matter more to these people, and that is the market that the game designers are now marketing towards. So the next time someone sees you playing Minecraft and they say it is stupid solely by looking at the graphics, slap them for me and tell them they are the reason why my games aren’t fun anymore.

well game design (and any creative shit) SHOULD be about pushing limits and trying new things; constantly evolving. its hit and miss, and games these days are way focused on immersion; the recent peak in first person games which put you in the characters shoes - and visuals getting better and better which puts you into the world. a lot of big franchise games like battlefield or call of duty just become rehashes because they’re afraid of trying new things in fear of losing their fanbase - but thats what their fanbase WANT! change! GROWTH! they don’t want to pay £50 for a sequel thats exactly the same as the first game, although call of duty seems to manage it. I guess its something to do with the social dynamic of online multiplayer, but I digress.

realism generally equals immersion - something that looks and acts real is more capable of tricking you into thinking it is real. obviously. but then thats not always true, and its certainly not the only element needed for immersion, although it is the most popularly implemented. actually sometimes I feel its a cop-out for games to be almost purely visual, as if you’re just wandering around this place that looks pretty but theres no real soul to it. I suppose there is a balance you need to meet, and as a designer you should be able to tell whats TOO real so as to be distracting enough to pull you out of the game (like bullet physics, I mean how many players are going to be used to firing real guns?), and whats real enough that it adds something to the gameplay, and hopefully makes players go “man thats cool, i bet i’m the only person to notice that, but so much effort has gone into it”

but yeah, you’re right, realism doesn’t equate to a good game! but it does make it easier to immediately put yourself into the game and feel everything its offering. again, I think you need a balance of having a good concept and story (whether its shown right to you in cutscenes or whatever, or left in the background for you to peak around and find for yourself if you want), having fun/challenging/engaging gameplay, and having it playable to the point where you never feel like you’re playing a game. the real goal shouldn’t be about making it shinier or more real, it should just be about finding new ways to keep players from being broken out of the suspension of disbelief you’re trying to create.

as for minecraft, well that was a risky niche that proved very popular. it was one of the “hits” in the persistent trial and error of indie gamedev, but for every one that gets it right there are a million who get it wrong, or who just aren’t recognised. people bought it, who cares if some people avoid it because its not graphic perfection? let those drooling idiots be roped in by a new shiny gun while you spend your time actually experiencing enjoyment from a game that lasts longer than the initial thrill of buying it.

I do agree that fun isn’t always the point any more, particularly with some of the huge developers. it just seems to be about sticking to what you know to make money, rather than to do what you want (and what you think others will want) to make a good game. but fuck it, there will always be greedy people like that in every creative field, I mean the film industry is notorious for making movies just for money and not producing anything particularly groundbreaking or breathtaking. you just have to try and ignore them and try to support the things that’ll stay fun for longer than the 5 minutes of life they have before becoming obsolete. 

I kind of want to rant about stuff, but whats the point? I’m not a special little flower; everyones got problems and opinions and everyone thinks their mindset is right even though they’re consistently insecure in themselves and all other prongs of their dull paella of non-existence. tumblr just seems so vapid in its grand little way of climbing on its soap box and shouting louder than the people who are still comatose or sleeping in, dribbling happily with their heads buried into their pillows and phasing out the sound of the alarm with beautiful dreams.

I can barely even bother to drag out the words to describe my thoughts any more, why would I WANT to? people will only ever find some way to be insulted by what I think, its completely pathetic how sensitive some of you are. what are you going to do? mumble “omg what a meanie” and unfollow me because I’m quietly explaining what I think? seems mature, although I suppose its better than the alternative of having a rage-filled frothy-mouthed argument about it. the reason most of you are here in the first place is that you’re all fucked in the head to some degree. I think we all understand your petty problems and empathise entirely. its safe to say that you’re not alone and you never possibly could be.

you’ve probably avoided posting some of the things you’ve thought or felt because you didn’t want to cause a stir or upset anyone. well, those people who wildly flip the fuck out and disagree are just worried that their own ideas are too flimsy to stand up alongside other peoples, or withstand even the most basic scrutiny. rue the day when you might actually be wrong about this idiotic thing you believe in!

and the people who are intolerant to intolerant people get me the most. well hey, congratulations on being somehow able to garner a small fanbase of idiots for hamfistedly throwing your faeces at the computer and have it produce an extremely simple argument against the other guy who didn’t even realise he was saying anything wrong. you’re both still pufferfish, just because you’re bigger doesn’t make you a whale.

That’s really weird. I don’t think a lot of people are willing to put as much thought into discerning the difference between libraries and sharing sites as they should because then they would have to admit they’re in the wrong.

well put!

Jokes on you because I can borrow the men in black VHS from my library for free but yeah i agree with you. Who would even make that comparison in the first place?

a follower whos post got 30 thousand notes, so i guess a fucking lot of people agree with her! or they’re trying to justify their blatantly illegal actions?!!?

libraries and sharing sites are completely different, and can’t/shouldn’t be compared.

libraries are about education, and are basically non-profit! sharing sites are about entertainment, and take a hell of a lot of profit which they keep for themselves.

getting out a history book for free is NOT the same as watching men in black for free. libraries ask authors for permission to stock their books (assuming they aren’t dead) and usually the authors are cool with it because they want people to read what they have to say and learn from it. entertainment is rarely like that. its more about making something people enjoy and getting paid for doing so.

peoples idiotic reactions to this are hilarious and depressing in equal measure. everyones bitching about it as if its UNFAIR that the government is actually doing their job and shutting down/punishing people for running an extremely, and obviously, illegal operation.

I guess they are quick to say when something is injustice so long as it doesn’t affect their viewing habits!

youtube and music I’m okay with, because music is something you listen to a bunch of times, and if you like it then you buy it. putting it online is bringing it to the masses and will genuinely boost sales of that song, particularly if theres a button to buy it on itunes like right there.

if you uploaded a movie to youtube its a completely different thing. movies aren’t something you can consume 5 times a day like you can with a good song, they’re one-shot things, and maybe if you really love them you’ll watch it a bunch of times. so for that reason alone, you’re less likely to buy it if you like it. if movies were hosted on youtube for free, you would NEVER need to buy another movie again, assuming you have internet access. the film industry would go bankrupt overnight! THAT IS THE EXACT SAME THING AS MEGAVIDEO. the only reason the film industry ISN’T bankrupt is because they’ve hiked up the prices to a ridiculous amount in recent times (its like $20 to go to the movies for fuck sake!), and also because megavideo was stopped before it got too popular and did too much damage.

I suspect its a case of the industry being an asshole, so the consumers are an asshole, so the industry is more of an asshole, etc. etc. etc.

chuckislife:

jamie-smith:

iphysianthe:

i am never going to be able to view piracy as a real crime, mostly because

nothing

is being

lost

if i download a movie it’s not like there is now one less copy of this movie available in stores, and it’s not like the people who are selling it are twenty dollars short of what they had five minutes ago

for the fbi to say they’re shutting down megaupload because of “at least $500 million in losses” is such total bullshit, because NO, ACTUALLY, that would mean that megaupload actively stole 500 million dollars when in fact all they did was provide a space for users to share files

sharing

isn’t

theft

they’re losing a lot of potential sales from customers who, without such easy ability to pirate, would otherwise have had to pay to view this content (because lets be honest, you can’t always borrow something from a friend and sometimes you don’t want to)

just because its not people walking into a store and taking a disc off the shelf, doesn’t mean its not stealing. I mean, only a fraction of the cost of a movie or game or music pays for the disc itself. that $20 pays someones wages! they don’t get paid unless you buy the damn thing, which would be okay if the content wasn’t popular, because you don’t want to condone bad content! but if it IS good, and if you DID enjoy it, then surely you’d want this good thing to have some positive feedback from its consumers? the more money and attention the makers of good content get, the more good content they can make. not to mention the fact you are appreciating their efforts and saying good job, or how you are actually buying something that you can use over and over again. its like a book or a gameboy or something.

you get something from it, and it makes sense to give something back.

saying nothing is being lost is completely ridiculous; maybe nothing obviously PHYSICAL is being lost (like a disc), but its like you’re walking into a play where all the actors and backstage people are working hard so that they can make money from people like you who want to watch them, except you aren’t paying them. its not fair; you deserve to be charged for this service like everyone else, and the people working on the play deserve to be appreciated.

lots of work goes into making a game or a movie, just because you can’t directly see it doesn’t make stealing it okay!

But there plenty of instances where it isn’t readily available, such as movies or shows to other countries. I’ve just gotten into Sherlock. My video stores don’t sell it. I don’t have Netflix. I live in the US. I don’t have BBC One. How am I supposed to watch it? Am I supposed to just say, “oh well. I’ll miss out.” How is that fair? 

Not only that, but Megavideo spreads movies and shows. The very first time I watched Moulin Rouge was on Megavideo. And fell in love with it. You know what I then proceeded to do? I went on iTunes and bought the movie in the soundtrack. I then went to Borders to buy the DVD. I then went on Amazon and bought the second more underground soundtrack. Because I saw the movie on Megavideo and fell in love. If I hadn’t seen it, I would have bought it. I wouldn’t have spent the money on any of that. So they would have lost money if not for Megavideo.

I highly doubt that this single instance is true for every person who uses megavideo or any other “sharing” site, and I also doubt that any time stuff like that happens, its not going to make the slightest blip in the massive amounts of profit these poor people are losing due to the same sites.

you seem to be suggesting that british people are lucky enough to be able to watch Sherlock for “free” on TV, but its NOT free! we pay for a TV license, which in turn gives money to the BBC to fund shows like Sherlock, and to buy the rights for other shows and movies. we watch adverts, which also pays the networks money to buy these shows from their rightful owners. I’ve heard a lot of people saying megavideo is like a channel on TV, when its ABSOLUTELY NOT. they flood you with ads and don’t pay a button to the people who made the content they’re hosting. there is no possible way you can justify using these sites on a regular basis unless you are donating money to the creators, or using those sites as a sort of “taster” to see if you enjoy it, then buy the whole thing if you do.

you have plenty of legal options to watch Sherlock like getting Netflix, buying the boxset on amazon or whatever. I really don’t see how you could love something so much and not feel at all guilty that you aren’t giving anything back to the people who made it exist.

basically, its really easy to download tonnes of shit for free and not realise how much you’re hurting the industry and forcing it to turn into this hideous money-grabbing asshole that takes away all your rights. as an individual, its $20 and its no biggie, but as a crowd, its millions of dollars and its starting to piss the creators off.

iphysianthe:

i am never going to be able to view piracy as a real crime, mostly because

nothing

is being

lost

if i download a movie it’s not like there is now one less copy of this movie available in stores, and it’s not like the people who are selling it are twenty dollars short of what they had five minutes ago

for the fbi to say they’re shutting down megaupload because of “at least $500 million in losses” is such total bullshit, because NO, ACTUALLY, that would mean that megaupload actively stole 500 million dollars when in fact all they did was provide a space for users to share files

sharing

isn’t

theft

they’re losing a lot of potential sales from customers who, without such easy ability to pirate, would otherwise have had to pay to view this content (because lets be honest, you can’t always borrow something from a friend and sometimes you don’t want to)

just because its not people walking into a store and taking a disc off the shelf, doesn’t mean its not stealing. I mean, only a fraction of the cost of a movie or game or music pays for the disc itself. that $20 pays someones wages! they don’t get paid unless you buy the damn thing, which would be okay if the content wasn’t popular, because you don’t want to condone bad content! but if it IS good, and if you DID enjoy it, then surely you’d want this good thing to have some positive feedback from its consumers? the more money and attention the makers of good content get, the more good content they can make. not to mention the fact you are appreciating their efforts and saying good job, or how you are actually buying something that you can use over and over again. its like a book or a gameboy or something.

you get something from it, and it makes sense to give something back.

saying nothing is being lost is completely ridiculous; maybe nothing obviously PHYSICAL is being lost (like a disc), but its like you’re walking into a play where all the actors and backstage people are working hard so that they can make money from people like you who want to watch them, except you aren’t paying them. its not fair; you deserve to be charged for this service like everyone else, and the people working on the play deserve to be appreciated.

lots of work goes into making a game or a movie, just because you can’t directly see it doesn’t make stealing it okay!