It’s a weird trend that’s been going on for some time, but people are starting to play games not because they are challenging or fun, but because they are mundane tasks of real life. I’m sure alienation has something to do with this.
I completely disagree with you and your conceptions of what a game should be about. Can you come up with a definition of what a “fun” or “challenging” game is? This same critiques are done by 4channers to shit on video games that provide different kinetic experiences like walking simulators because they “do not have mechanics” or “are not challenging”, wheres in my opinion this genre is the one who has brought the most mature retrospection to the medium.
I know it seems futile and and capitalist and so on, but the things people are saying here can be applied to mostly every video game, where your objectives either go from point A to point B, do repetitive stuff over and over and so on. Video games that simulate real life event have been going for a lot of time, yet I do not see anyone hating on fishing games because of it, or driving games, or futbol games… Why wanting to play as a virtual basket ball player is a valid gaming experience but using a washing gun not? They both in the more “primitive” of analysis achieve the same thing, the fullfilment of a task by which you are rewarded. Not everyone wants to speedrun Super Mario 64 with a blindfold, some want what video game theorist Jesper Juul calls “Casual Games”, which are also know by some as relaxing games, where the level of complexity is lower and allows the player for a more comfortable experience where loosing is not as hars or non existant at all.
Games are literally about “wasting time”, according to capitalist ideals, this is equal for Chess, Counter Strike and Powerwash Simulator, the differences relies on how do you approach this experience. We live in a hard world, people are constantly suffering a shit ton of everything, if people enjoy playing these kind of games because it provides a little bit of escapism then I am happy for them. There are valid critiques for this and other titles, but such a flat view over such a complex topic such as Video Game (I dare you find a definition of what this means that more than 5 academicists can agree with) is not one of them.
If anyone is interested I highly recommend reading “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” which goes about what fun means, what is a game, how is it art and how can math be used to express this art.
Dude, wtf? Why such a wall of text for such a simple comment? Calm down.
We live in a hard world, people are constantly suffering a shit ton of everything, if people enjoy playing these kind of games because it provides a little bit of escapism then I am happy for them.
Yes that’s exactly my point, if people weren’t alienated by capitalism these mundane games would probably have no audience. At least that’s my theory.
It is a complex issue, I did not mean to be aggressive, it is just hard to get to my point in a brief way.
I disagree, though, I do not think this inherently an issue within capitalism, since anything can be ludified and whst is presented here is not something out of ordinary for video games. I guesd we are so used to that our video games are about combat, war, murder and shooting that when we see something different it just doesn’t seem a correct way of spending our time.
I used to play a lot of grand strategy games as a kid (HoI2 and the like). Now I contribute to openstreetmap.org . It basically has the same feeling, but gives a sense of fulfillment knowing I contributed to society in a small way.
It’s a weird trend that’s been going on for some time, but people are starting to play games not because they are challenging or fun, but because they are mundane tasks of real life. I’m sure alienation has something to do with this.
I completely disagree with you and your conceptions of what a game should be about. Can you come up with a definition of what a “fun” or “challenging” game is? This same critiques are done by 4channers to shit on video games that provide different kinetic experiences like walking simulators because they “do not have mechanics” or “are not challenging”, wheres in my opinion this genre is the one who has brought the most mature retrospection to the medium.
I know it seems futile and and capitalist and so on, but the things people are saying here can be applied to mostly every video game, where your objectives either go from point A to point B, do repetitive stuff over and over and so on. Video games that simulate real life event have been going for a lot of time, yet I do not see anyone hating on fishing games because of it, or driving games, or futbol games… Why wanting to play as a virtual basket ball player is a valid gaming experience but using a washing gun not? They both in the more “primitive” of analysis achieve the same thing, the fullfilment of a task by which you are rewarded. Not everyone wants to speedrun Super Mario 64 with a blindfold, some want what video game theorist Jesper Juul calls “Casual Games”, which are also know by some as relaxing games, where the level of complexity is lower and allows the player for a more comfortable experience where loosing is not as hars or non existant at all.
Games are literally about “wasting time”, according to capitalist ideals, this is equal for Chess, Counter Strike and Powerwash Simulator, the differences relies on how do you approach this experience. We live in a hard world, people are constantly suffering a shit ton of everything, if people enjoy playing these kind of games because it provides a little bit of escapism then I am happy for them. There are valid critiques for this and other titles, but such a flat view over such a complex topic such as Video Game (I dare you find a definition of what this means that more than 5 academicists can agree with) is not one of them.
If anyone is interested I highly recommend reading “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” which goes about what fun means, what is a game, how is it art and how can math be used to express this art.
Dude, wtf? Why such a wall of text for such a simple comment? Calm down.
Yes that’s exactly my point, if people weren’t alienated by capitalism these mundane games would probably have no audience. At least that’s my theory.
It is a complex issue, I did not mean to be aggressive, it is just hard to get to my point in a brief way.
I disagree, though, I do not think this inherently an issue within capitalism, since anything can be ludified and whst is presented here is not something out of ordinary for video games. I guesd we are so used to that our video games are about combat, war, murder and shooting that when we see something different it just doesn’t seem a correct way of spending our time.
Just want you to know I loved your long comment, it summised my understanding of the subject far better than I could.
I used to play a lot of grand strategy games as a kid (HoI2 and the like). Now I contribute to openstreetmap.org . It basically has the same feeling, but gives a sense of fulfillment knowing I contributed to society in a small way.