Hand-held in the Dark
It is rare that I have conversations about games with non-gamers. Generally, it is because either party finds the content of the conversation unfulfilling; too shallow for one, too deep for the other.
Grand Theft Auto, as well as being a smash hit series, is also a great leveller in such conversations. People "get" Grand Theft Auto. It lays out all its cards in front of the player straight away, and asks the player to choose when and how they get their enjoyment out of it. Importantly, that enjoyment is doesn't necessarily rely on player skill.
I spoke to my hairdresser today, who, knowing my own interests, proudly commented that he had been playing GTA IV on his Playstation 3 ("which I bought for the Blu-Ray player"). He'd found himself "rubbish" at the missions themselves, but he and his girlfriend had fun trying to see how many Wanted Stars they could accumulate.
Another friend had been watching his housemate play through the game. "I've no interest in the game, I'm not good at it. I just watch the story, I really like it."
It is easy to think of non-gamers as people who don't really have an interest in games; if they did, they'd start playing them. But is that the whole story? Both of these encounters were people that wanted to play, but found themselves unable. Anyone who's watched a girlfriend struggle to understand how the camera works in Mario 64 or Sunshine will have noted the same thing: the interface (which gamers take for granted until it breaks) and the required skill-level conspire to keep large swathes of the public away from games.
What is interesting is that both people were also trying to extract the narrative from the game. They wanted to know the storyline, however hackneyed and incomparable it may be compared to a novel or film. This is yet another of the tensions that narrative and gameplay is up against, here the gameplay preventing the player from reaching the narrative. Whereas in the Internet echo-chamber, gamers complain of overly long cut-scenes preventing them from reaching the gameplay and generating their own player narrative.
Alone in the Dark, by Eden Studios, is attempting to satisfy those players who find it too difficult having seen that Test Drive Unlimited's completion rate was far lower than anticipated. The game is split into sections, and the player is able to skip a section if they find it too hard. Every section is begun with a retrospective of the previous one, so those who skipped don't feel like they have lost out. Eden is essentially picking up players and dragging them through the story if they get left behind. And for those gamers, it will be a breath of fresh air. However, the difficulty of the game or the interface might still result in an empty experience of skipped puzzles and wasted time, for a plot about a character the player was never able to create an emotional bond with.
There has to be more research into how games are keeping prospective players away. Better interfaces will come in time, and there will always be a proportion of people unable to manipulate an avatar in 3D space effectively (this might well be another mark in GTA's favour... it never requests much in the way of camera control in order to play well). The skill level of players, however, will remain roughly the same over time, but we need to find ways of letting everyone experience a game, whatever their ability. Just as I enjoy kicking a football without being able to accurately take a penalty, so too must players be allowed to take steps in a virtual world without being pummelled.
Adaptive narratives might well be the answer. Players who are lost could be approached by an NPC to help guide them. Players who are having difficulty in firefights could have reinforcements arrive in order to help. The mechanic of save, die, reload should be regulated to history, where we left extra lives and continues. Games don't have to only be fulfilling by being rewarding for defeating a particularly difficult enemy or boss. Games can raise your heartrate and put a smile on your face through camraderie with your virtual team, for achieving something that has meaning to the virtual characters that you're emotionally invested in, or a myriad of other ways. In order for that to happen, narratives need to be stronger (both those generated by the player and by the author).
And when that happens, no longer will it be Game Over for non-gamers.
Grand Theft Auto, as well as being a smash hit series, is also a great leveller in such conversations. People "get" Grand Theft Auto. It lays out all its cards in front of the player straight away, and asks the player to choose when and how they get their enjoyment out of it. Importantly, that enjoyment is doesn't necessarily rely on player skill.
I spoke to my hairdresser today, who, knowing my own interests, proudly commented that he had been playing GTA IV on his Playstation 3 ("which I bought for the Blu-Ray player"). He'd found himself "rubbish" at the missions themselves, but he and his girlfriend had fun trying to see how many Wanted Stars they could accumulate.
Another friend had been watching his housemate play through the game. "I've no interest in the game, I'm not good at it. I just watch the story, I really like it."
It is easy to think of non-gamers as people who don't really have an interest in games; if they did, they'd start playing them. But is that the whole story? Both of these encounters were people that wanted to play, but found themselves unable. Anyone who's watched a girlfriend struggle to understand how the camera works in Mario 64 or Sunshine will have noted the same thing: the interface (which gamers take for granted until it breaks) and the required skill-level conspire to keep large swathes of the public away from games.
What is interesting is that both people were also trying to extract the narrative from the game. They wanted to know the storyline, however hackneyed and incomparable it may be compared to a novel or film. This is yet another of the tensions that narrative and gameplay is up against, here the gameplay preventing the player from reaching the narrative. Whereas in the Internet echo-chamber, gamers complain of overly long cut-scenes preventing them from reaching the gameplay and generating their own player narrative.
Alone in the Dark, by Eden Studios, is attempting to satisfy those players who find it too difficult having seen that Test Drive Unlimited's completion rate was far lower than anticipated. The game is split into sections, and the player is able to skip a section if they find it too hard. Every section is begun with a retrospective of the previous one, so those who skipped don't feel like they have lost out. Eden is essentially picking up players and dragging them through the story if they get left behind. And for those gamers, it will be a breath of fresh air. However, the difficulty of the game or the interface might still result in an empty experience of skipped puzzles and wasted time, for a plot about a character the player was never able to create an emotional bond with.
There has to be more research into how games are keeping prospective players away. Better interfaces will come in time, and there will always be a proportion of people unable to manipulate an avatar in 3D space effectively (this might well be another mark in GTA's favour... it never requests much in the way of camera control in order to play well). The skill level of players, however, will remain roughly the same over time, but we need to find ways of letting everyone experience a game, whatever their ability. Just as I enjoy kicking a football without being able to accurately take a penalty, so too must players be allowed to take steps in a virtual world without being pummelled.
Adaptive narratives might well be the answer. Players who are lost could be approached by an NPC to help guide them. Players who are having difficulty in firefights could have reinforcements arrive in order to help. The mechanic of save, die, reload should be regulated to history, where we left extra lives and continues. Games don't have to only be fulfilling by being rewarding for defeating a particularly difficult enemy or boss. Games can raise your heartrate and put a smile on your face through camraderie with your virtual team, for achieving something that has meaning to the virtual characters that you're emotionally invested in, or a myriad of other ways. In order for that to happen, narratives need to be stronger (both those generated by the player and by the author).
And when that happens, no longer will it be Game Over for non-gamers.
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