Videogames as an experience

[J T]

J T

I understand that games are meant to be played, but this is whats the topic is all about.
I am seeing games in a different way, that you don't have to play them. I am building a new kind of hobby.

I don't really play them I experience them. No longer I want to repeat the boss fight 10 times just to beat him, I will just walk in slash him until he dies and move on.

Some how I believe this is better than movies or books. In books you read. In movies you do nothing other than watch. In games you can read, watch, and get involved which might keep you engaged for longer hours. You take out the challenge and gameover factor and your good to go.

There are a ton of games that I want to experience over beating them with all of its challenge.

If there is no challenge then there really is no game. There is maybe mild interactivity, but it's devoid of meaning without some set of rules and a goal that you work towards.

I also like to play lots of games for lots of unique experiences, but I would rather leave the game unfinished then to have just walked through it. In fact, I often only play the first 30-60 minutes of a game without getting back to it. If I really enjoy the game, I will see the story to the end, but I don't need to see the whole story to appreciate the game. My appreciation for videogames is largely tied to play control, level design, and artificial intelligence. I find videogames boring to watch unless I am watching a person exhibit a skill in gameplay that I can appreciate and potentially learn from (and usually that's only worthwhile in competitive games I enjoy, like the Street Fighter series). Videogame storylines are often weak on their own and they only become worthwhile from the way the story interfaces with the controls and the challenge of the actual game. That doesn't mean that a game needs to be extremely difficult for me to enjoy it. I can enjoy an easy game. But if I'm not doing anything but moving a character along and basically arbitrarily hitting buttons, then I feel that there is almost no reason for it to be a videogame. It would be better as a movie or animation.

[RCBH928]

I might not want to play a game of basketball

I feel like you're trying to miss my point.

Didn't you already start almost the same thread as this like months ago when you played the first Zelda game by using gamefaqs and then told us all that the game wasn't that good (IE: proving the point that the "experience" had been lost on you).

Nope, your missing my point here.

When I said that the Zelda experience might have been ruined for me for using a FAQ, thats because I meant to play the game, I just couldn't handle the difficulty and I don't have enough time to poke around the whole world because I got a dreamcast,n64, and 360 to play with so I am not that free for a 1980's game.

This thread is about experience games as a medium. See how you buy "Gone with the Wind" , turn the DVD on and watch it? I am building the same kind of thing but for games, kill the difficulty and the challenge in the game, and just play. Move with the d-pad and press the buttons and play "challenged-less" through out the game.

I know some one might pop in and say, well you can just watch a play-through , which is correct. But don't you rather make the experience interactive and keep the watching for movies and tv shows?

[Limewater]

This thread is about experience games as a medium. See how you buy "Gone with the Wind" , turn the DVD on and watch it? I am building the same kind of thing but for games, kill the difficulty and the challenge in the game, and just play. Move with the d-pad and press the buttons and play "challenged-less" through out the game.

I know some one might pop in and say, well you can just watch a play-through , which is correct. But don't you rather make the experience interactive and keep the watching for movies and tv shows?

Honestly, that just sounds really boring. Sure, you experience something by doing that, but it's not really what the game designers intended, and it really mutes anything the designer might have been trying to do.

If you enjoy doing that, go for it. Know, though, that people likely won't take anything you have to say about a particular game seriously if that's what you're doing.

[AppleQueso]

This thread is about experience games as a medium. See how you buy "Gone with the Wind" , turn the DVD on and watch it? I am building the same kind of thing but for games, kill the difficulty and the challenge in the game, and just play. Move with the d-pad and press the buttons and play "challenged-less" through out the game.

I'd say what you're doing is more akin to reading the cliffs-notes of a given book. Sure you get all the information and can understand what its about well enough, but you miss out on all the language and detail, what really makes said book so well regarded anyhow.

I suppose it works if you're wanting to understand a ton of books really quickly, but honestly I'd rather read, digest, and fully appreciate a handful of books as opposed to blazing through a few hundred.

[noiseredux]

I might not want to play a game of basketball

I feel like you're trying to miss my point.

Didn't you already start almost the same thread as this like months ago when you played the first Zelda game by using gamefaqs and then told us all that the game wasn't that good (IE: proving the point that the "experience" had been lost on you).

Nope, your missing my point here.

When I said that the Zelda experience might have been ruined for me for using a FAQ, thats because I meant to play the game, I just couldn't handle the difficulty and I don't have enough time to poke around the whole world because I got a dreamcast,n64, and 360 to play with so I am not that free for a 1980's game.

This thread is about experience games as a medium. See how you buy "Gone with the Wind" , turn the DVD on and watch it? I am building the same kind of thing but for games, kill the difficulty and the challenge in the game, and just play. Move with the d-pad and press the buttons and play "challenged-less" through out the game.

I know some one might pop in and say, well you can just watch a play-through , which is correct. But don't you rather make the experience interactive and keep the watching for movies and tv shows?

but what you're talking about isn't watching Gone With The Wind on DVD -- you're talking about looking at the IMDB page and then saying you've experienced the movie.

Also just like the last time you made this thread (y'know about "a 1980's game") you seem to have started the thread to get opinions, but then you stubbornly refute everyone's opinion. So why even start the thread? Do you just want us to justify you're decisions? You really don't need us to do that.

[RCBH928]

I feel like you're trying to miss my point.

Didn't you already start almost the same thread as this like months ago when you played the first Zelda game by using gamefaqs and then told us all that the game wasn't that good (IE: proving the point that the "experience" had been lost on you).

Nope, your missing my point here.

When I said that the Zelda experience might have been ruined for me for using a FAQ, thats because I meant to play the game, I just couldn't handle the difficulty and I don't have enough time to poke around the whole world because I got a dreamcast,n64, and 360 to play with so I am not that free for a 1980's game.

This thread is about experience games as a medium. See how you buy "Gone with the Wind" , turn the DVD on and watch it? I am building the same kind of thing but for games, kill the difficulty and the challenge in the game, and just play. Move with the d-pad and press the buttons and play "challenged-less" through out the game.

I know some one might pop in and say, well you can just watch a play-through , which is correct. But don't you rather make the experience interactive and keep the watching for movies and tv shows?[/quote]

but what you're talking about isn't watching Gone With The Wind on DVD -- you're talking about looking at the IMDB page and then saying you've experienced the movie.

Also just like the last time you made this thread (y'know about "a 1980's game") you seem to have started the thread to get opinions, but then you stubbornly refute everyone's opinion. So why even start the thread? Do you just want us to justify you're decisions? You really don't need us to do that.[/quote]

No i am trying to find what do people think of this "new" activity

I am thinking that this kind of "gaming" will let you explore older games and go through them to see whats inside of them, on the opposite of taking the challenge of beating them.

I guess its like cliff-notes.

But what if a new group of people decided to take this as a new hobby. Instead of watching movies or reading books, they will go through games challenge-less?! Its not exactly playing videogames and its not exactly watching, its a new thing!?

[J T]

Kingmohd84, you should try the game Phantasmagoria. It is basically a game with an interesting story and no challenge. It feels like a point & click adventure, but there really aren't many puzzles. You just kind of click your way through until the end. There's even a "hint" option that pretty much tells you what to do. There is no way you can die until the final chapter of the game, and even then, there are some pretty awesome death scenes that are worth watching.

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/phantasmagoria

Just in case you get stuck, here's a walkthrough:
http://www.thecomputershow.com/computer ... iawalk.htm


This is about the only "game" I can think of that I enjoyed that did not have much game to it, but provided a unique and interesting experience.

[noiseredux]

um, so you're saying that cheating at games is a new thing?

[jfrost]

Alright, kingmohd, you can't spend a lot of time playing a game because there are a lot of games in the universe. I think we all get that, you won't tire of saying it.

You just want to breeze through games and have the illusion of playing them, and that's fine.

To me, it's kinda like those parents who put their toddlers to play with the steering wheel of Daytona at the arcade. The screen flashes "insert coin" and the kid is not really playing the game, but he is happy, isn't he?

[RCBH928]

Jfrost

I am not quitting gaming all together
but I am saying, what if there is another use for games other than just playing?
Maybe other people seem them differently

Some games I play, Others games I just want to know what they are all about and what happens. So when any one is making a reference, I get the idea. thats one positive thing about it.

J T

I LOVE Phantasmagoria , I saw it at a friend's house. It was so damn scary, still scares me. The video/graphics technology was jaw-dropping to me.
I wasn't an adult back in '96, so I couldn't give a review of the graphics and the game, but for a 12 year old kid
The graphics were impossibly good, extremely scary(Resident what!?), and at 7 cd's , I thought this game was the best game ever and must made millions.
I looked back at the reviews recently, it seems like it flopped with low scores and no much praise for graphics.

I can't recall every single bit of the game, but I remember it. But I remember it was a bit difficult since there was too much to explore and you never know what to do next.