GameInformer - Do All Video Games Need To Appeal To Everyone?

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GameInformer has a new article that ponders "Do All Video Games Need To Appeal To Everyone?"
I recently dabbled in Dark Souls for the first time. I watched my wife play a considerable amount of Demon’s Souls, and I sat near former news editor Jim Reilly, who was obsessed with the Souls games. I know a fair amount about both titles, but had never earnestly tried to tackle either game until recently.
After playing Dark Souls, I understand why the games are appealing. The quiet, foreboding atmosphere and high difficulty make the world of Dark Souls an absorbing and scary place to be. It offers a different type of survival horror atmosphere where you are cautious and concerned for your well-being, and every move requires a moment of thought, down to the most innocuous swing of the sword. It’s an intense experience.
It was also an experience I didn’t particularly enjoy. The frequent deaths and unforgiving ammunition boundaries (I had used up all of my arrows by my third of about eight tries at tackling the game’s first boss) means you have to be careful with how you approach every obstacle.
Every enemy is a careful decision of resources and combat skill, making it a frustrating game that generally isn’t the experience I am looking for when I sit down to play. After beating the first boss and exploring the first area, I put the game down in favor of a more forgiving medieval open-world fantasy creature beater-upper, Dragon’s Dogma.
Dark Souls isn’t for me, or at least it wasn’t the game I wanted to play at the time when I decided to give it a go, but I love that it exists for the gamer who wants that grueling experience.
More information.
 
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It's kinda cute that there are people in the industry who still don't understand that even the most well intentioned of developers knows no bounds when they think they've got a chance to make boatloads of free money :)

The independent scene has become an excellent source of uncompromising titles like this. Games from small, focused teams (or individuals) unwilling to change their games based on the whims of publishers offer incredibly personal experiences that are clearly not meant to appeal to everyone, and that’s okay.

It'd be more OK if they were making games of equivalent quality (however one defines that) using updated technology. Instead, it often seems to me what they're doing amounts to the same thing as an amateur retro film buff hiring a high school drama club for a production of a script he wrote while he was sitting on the shitter reading TV guide for inspiration, shot in black and white for the nostalgia of it all, and then pitching it to classic movie fans. Maybe kickstarter will change that…
 
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The independent scene has become an excellent source of uncompromising titles like this. Games from small, focused teams (or individuals) unwilling to change their games based on the whims of publishers offer incredibly personal experiences that are clearly not meant to appeal to everyone, and that’s okay.

Games are changed on the whims of players. Publishers bring the knowledge of the taste of their usual customers. It saves money to make changes that are going to be made anyway by request of players.

Very few uncompromising titles in the video industry. Most of them report to the rule of listening to the customer.

The canvas is usually as following:
-a game design is touted.
-it collects money beyond its target audience.
-they listen to the customer: game design is changed.

Publishers are mere convenient scapegoats in the making. Players issue the demand.
 
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Another sensational title that cant meet reality.

Do all video need to appeal to everyone? The answer is blatantly no. No game designer, no publisher ever try to appeal to everyone. They leave people out consciously.

A relevant question would be to know is "all video games need to appeal beyond their target audience?"

There, the article will speak of a common method used in the industry. Not a situation that do not happen.

It is quite common in the industry to advertize a game in such a way that it will collect money beyond the target audience with players demanding changes in gameplay that were obviously not comprised at start.
 
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While Dark Souls art, music and atmosphere was awesome - especially liked that beautiful butterfly-moth sorcerer NPC - it failed big time on providing letting loose on leisure time. XCOM provides wonderful fun. Dark Souls with its big emphasis on skill-based fighting made me even more tired and depleted in searching for fun in my little free-time.

The goal of games should be to provide fun without further draining - lot of us come home from work tired and we do not wish to become even more tired, which Dark Souls abundantly made sure = got me more tired and wasted.

Whereas XCOM - just an example for a perfect game - is able to provide fun times and enjoyment without draining the already tired citizen just looking for some slacking in free-time.
 
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Something can't appeal to everyone.
The title question is somewhat silly.
 
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Well, if you ask investors - the answer to the question is probably yes :)

That said, it's a stupid question altogether. I haven't bothered to read the article - so I assume there's more to it than that.
 
If it appeals to everyone, then it's probably a POS. I have very particular criteria for games I enjoy, but it would be arrogance on my part to expect every game to meet those. Not real fond of FPS, multiplayer online, turn-based party, overhead view, and a host of others. Even so, that doesn't mean those types of games are 'bad' or unappealing. It means they merely fail to hit my personal sweet spot. And I'm perfectly fine with that. The game world doesn't revolve around me or my tastes.
 
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While Dark Souls art, music and atmosphere was awesome - especially liked that beautiful butterfly-moth sorcerer NPC - it failed big time on providing letting loose on leisure time. XCOM provides wonderful fun. Dark Souls with its big emphasis on skill-based fighting made me even more tired and depleted in searching for fun in my little free-time.

The goal of games should be to provide fun without further draining - lot of us come home from work tired and we do not wish to become even more tired, which Dark Souls abundantly made sure = got me more tired and wasted.

Whereas XCOM - just an example for a perfect game - is able to provide fun times and enjoyment without draining the already tired citizen just looking for some slacking in free-time.

I, on the other hand, just played a bunch of XCOM and.. well.. ended up sort of disliking it. It just was too frustrating. The next game I played, oddly enough, was Dark Souls. I've now clocked 40 hours on DS (vs 14 for XCOM), and I can't wait to play it more....
 
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While Dark Souls art, music and atmosphere was awesome - especially liked that beautiful butterfly-moth sorcerer NPC - it failed big time on providing letting loose on leisure time. XCOM provides wonderful fun. Dark Souls with its big emphasis on skill-based fighting made me even more tired and depleted in searching for fun in my little free-time.

The goal of games should be to provide fun without further draining - lot of us come home from work tired and we do not wish to become even more tired, which Dark Souls abundantly made sure = got me more tired and wasted.

Whereas XCOM - just an example for a perfect game - is able to provide fun times and enjoyment without draining the already tired citizen just looking for some slacking in free-time.

Considering that quote - you have a deliciously appropriate nick ;)
 
Aha! It doesn't happen often, but for this once I agree with you.

Is it supposed to be a kind of badge of honour or something? It means nothing as long as you can back that agreement or disagreement with argumentation.
Does not seem to be a regular case.
 
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If they appeal to people outside their target audience then doesn't that include those people in the game's target audience?

It does. So what?

The thing is that when a game appeals to players outside the target audience, players outside the target audience are led to think that the game will be developped for them too while they will only provide more money to make the game better for the target audience.
 
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Is it supposed to be a kind of badge of honour or something? It means nothing as long as you can back that agreement or disagreement with argumentation.
Does not seem to be a regular case.

Lol, if I were into the habit of giving out badges of honor you'd probably be the last person here to receive one. No, I just found it noteworthy. Your posts, due to an unfortunate combination of pseudointellectual posing and really poor english skills are usually simply unintelligible. From what I can make out in the rest of them you are always preaching about the same few things. And, as the last post shows again, you also have an unpleasant attitude. So no, you are one of the few posters here I am not interested in arguing with. I had you on ignore for quite some time, and the way things are going, I'll probably put you back on.
 
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I guess the two other comments displayed enough english skills since you understood them and even agreed with the content of one.

An unpleasant attitude? Is that so?
Aha! It doesn't happen often, but for this once I agree with you.
Was it supposed to be a pleasant attitude?

Pseudo intellectualism? If you cant understand the content due to poor english skills from my side, how can you judge the content?
If they are such a display of pseudo intellectualism, it could be so easy to demolish them.
Sometimes putting up or shutting up helps.

If you are not interested in my comments, dont mind wasting time writing you agree with one of them. Dont even read them. Just skip them.
Sometimes, simplytalking the walks helps.

Matching words and action and all the stuff, you know.
 
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Lol, if I were into the habit of giving out badges of honor you'd probably be the last person here to receive one. No, I just found it noteworthy. Your posts, due to an unfortunate combination of pseudointellectual posing and really poor english skills are usually simply unintelligible. From what I can make out in the rest of them you are always preaching about the same few things. And, as the last post shows again, you also have an unpleasant attitude. So no, you are one of the few posters here I am not interested in arguing with. I had you on ignore for quite some time, and the way things are going, I'll probably put you back on.

I can't figure him out at all either. I wonder if it's all an act or is he like this in real life also?:S
 
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OFF: How much of a social wreck one has to be to take a simple word of appreciation for an attack?

ON: I've been getting lately tired of these articles and blog entries that keep whining about hard games (with Dark Souls stealing that spotlight these days), saying how they have so little time and how terrible a game is that it dares challenge and fatigue them in that little window of happy fun time they got. Guess what. Many others don't go crying about that on the internet, but either suck it up and grow up to the challenge, or realize this is not for us, and look for another game.

The ONLY case such criticism to Dark Souls was remotely viable if it had been advertised as a cakewalk. But it's the total opposite, with PREPARE TO DIE and all that. What is wrong with these people? If you don't look for challenge and dying in your precious freetime, don't play such games! Is it that hard to grasp?

At least the author of the article was cool and admitted that although it was too challenging for him, he appreciates the fact that it hits the spot for others. Most people immediately deem a game AND the people who play it crap just because they suck at it or didn't get it. Kudos to the author for not doing that.
 
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