In Defense of "Gamification" in RPGS @ Sinister Design

Dhruin

Dhruin

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Sinister Design sends word of a new editorial titled In Defense of "Gamification" in RPGs, which responds to recent criticisms of HUDs and on-screen feedback. Here's the intro to explain:
Last week we had a double-barreled shotgun blast of opinion pieces advocating for RPGs to hide or drop some of their core conventions and abstractions. Tom Bissell, writing about Dead Island, complained about pop-up damage numbers in a real-world zombie RPG and landed a glancing blow against leveling and statistics-based gameplay. In a separate argument, George Weidman over at TruePCGaming issued a searing denunciation of onscreen HUDs.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m fiercely devoted to variety in gaming; pieces like these, where people present their particularized preferences as universal Thou Shalt Nots for games…well, suffice it to say that they tend to get my dander up. What follows is a defense of the things discussed in the articles above.
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More information.
 
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I would think you could please most gamers if you made many features toggleable. Don't like the HUD? Toggle off. Don't like subtitles? Shut 'em off. Don't like damage reports? Click off.

Problem solved.
 
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Yeah, that's what I always think as well.
 
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Zephyr said:
I would think you could please most gamers if you made many features toggleable. Don't like the HUD? Toggle off. Don't like subtitles? Shut 'em off. Don't like damage reports? Click off.

Problem solved.
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Agreed. I don't know why companies don't get this. Like the Kingdoms of Amlur people. 'What? You mean you want quest markers toggable? Wow, we never thought of that'. :rolleyes:

Or for that matter Bethesda being lazy and letting modders do a lot of that stuff instead of putting an off switch.
 
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BillSeurer said:
And the best part is that if you have them being able to be turned off then the Real Man Gamers can go around talking about how pathetic all the losers are who use them. Win win!
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That cracked me up :D

I always get a kick out of people who play single-player games, bragging about what difficulty level they played on. Unless it is charted somehow by the game, and you have proof, the bragging is worthless hot air. I almost never play on hard, because it's normally only the combat that gets harder, and that's never my favorite aspect of a game. Some games have a survival aspect, so I see the allure of a hardcore mode there.
 
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crpgnut said:
That cracked me up :D

I always get a kick out of people who play single-player games, bragging about what difficulty level they played on. Unless it is charted somehow by the game, and you have proof, the bragging is worthless hot air. I almost never play on hard, because it's normally only the combat that gets harder, and that's never my favorite aspect of a game. Some games have a survival aspect, so I see the allure of a hardcore mode there.
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I play games to have fun and not to be able to brag about how difficult it was to my buddies while we run about thumping our chests (and drinking beer with hordes of scantily clad hotties hanging off our arms...) But then I have always found people who brag about most things to be pretty pathetic.

Hmmm, though maybe I should try the bragging thing because reading the above it doesn't sound so bad! ;)
 
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Money people its all about money. You didn't know those extra features would cost more and delay the release further. Unacceptable to the publisher. That's why there not implemented. Now moving on as these options dont bother me. I dont care who has the biggest e-penis just because you finished the ultra hardcore mode.
 
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I guess the absence of quest markers of any kind is probably something rather suiting "explorer" kinds of players. Those who love to find out everything for themselves.

On the German pen & paper role-playing convention called RPC there is someone who has such a quest marker attached to his hat - as part of his costume.

He really walks around there (he seems to be a private visitor) with this yellow exclamation mark "floating" over his hat (head) !
 
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BillSeurer said:
Heh. That would be great for a costume at a game convention.
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It's been done at Blizcon at least once, with someone dressed up as a night elf sentinel with a big exclamation point over her head.
 
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