(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
Final Thoughts
So here we are at the final thoughts section of this multi-part blog adventure.
I examined a bunch of different aspects of video gaming and thought hard about what I wanted to experience within the game.
But what do all these different answers to all these varied, different questions really mean? What’s the big picture? Continue reading
(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
Gameplay
Gameplay covers a lot of things, but very basically it is what is rewarding in the game, and the way the game “feels” to the player.
What makes for a good gameplay in a video game?
(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
Community
“Community” is interaction between players within the game, interaction between players outside the game, and the overall feeling of social interaction within the game.
What makes for a good community in a video game?
(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
Character
I define character by the avatar I get to pick and play, and the choices they are allowed to make.
What makes a character enjoyable to play in a video game?
(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
Story
Story is any narrative in a game, whether overt or hinted at.
What do I enjoy experiencing in a game world’s story?
(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
World
Very simply, the “world” is what I see that isn’t the UI.
What do I enjoy in a game world?
(See my intro here for the first part of this series!)
User-Interface (UI)
Here, I define “UI” to be anything in the game that is not the actual game world, that I interact with to play. Meaning: map, quest log, action bars, chat log, and other things along those lines.
What do I enjoy in a UI?
What happened to all the games we used to love; the communities that used to bind us together? Have the games changed? Or have we?
Have we become such restless, entitled consumers that we can’t appreciate the content available to us?
Have we, the gamers, become so knowledgeable about games and how we like to play personally that we are constantly searching for the “one game” that caters specifically to all our needs? Can such a game even exist?
Are there so many more gamers now than there used to be that the anonymity has bred a general lack of empathy and has destroyed our sense of community?
Have “gamers” as a group diversified so much that game companies can’t please all of us, or even a majority of us?
Have we become so desensitized to games that we’ve lost our sense of wonder?