Re: Can Games Get Any Better (2024 Ed)

On Fri, 22 Mar 2024 12:54:54 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

>
In August 2013, I asked a question of this newsgroup: did you think
that games were going to get significantly better in the future? My
thesis was that - despite radical advancements in visuals and
quality-of-life features - actual gameplay of a lot of the games of
the time didn't feel fundamentally different from games of ten or even
twenty years ago. Sure, "Elder Scrolls: Oblivion" looked far better
than 1995's "Elder Scrolls: Arena", but was it really that different
an experience to play? Had the games matured to the point where we
just weren't going to see any significant changes in the hobby?
>
That question sparked a lively discussion (mostly revolving around
what 'better' meant ;-). So - with ten years under our belt - why not
ask it again, with an added caveat. Not only do I ask, 'Do you think
that games are going to get significantly better', but also, 'Do you
also think we've seen significant improvement - in gameplay, not
visuals - to modern games over the ones we were playing back in 2013?'
>
In other words, are modern games better? More advanced? More fun? Do
you think games will be better or different in the future? Or are we
perpetually stuck in the doldrums?
>

What I like is that graphics have gotten good enough that games are now
choosing an art-style rather than reaching for ever more photorealism.
This affects gameplay as well as eye candy.

The way it affects play is that sometimes the point of games is now to
look around and appreciate the aesthetic. The "walking simulator" could
never have been a thing back in 2013, and now it's really coming into its
own. Photo mode is justified in some games. This is because we've stopped
dashing for more photorealism, taken stock of what can actually be done,
and made worlds that are very much different from what we know.

Exo One does an excellent job of this; I just got an achievement for
breaking the speed of sound in my titular spacecraft. That's not
something you'd see in 2013. It oozes style, and it has a Zen-like play
mechanic. You have to feel the ship. I want more of this niche gaming.

Another change since 2013 that I really like is the maturing of co-op MP.
Competitive MP just tends to lead to trash talking, toxic communities
rife with cheating, and the kernel mode drivers that fail to prevent it.
But co-op, or PvE, has become more nuanced and prevalent and it's fun to
be working on a team *with* friends. Quality of life improvements abound.

On the downside of gameplay, most games are hybrid experiences now.
There's CRPG elements. There's crafting. There's minigames. In depth
story. In everything, no matter how much it doesn't fit. Even Mortal
Combat 10 has a "story" mode and a "campaign" mode. Once something is
deemed to be a feature, it never seems to go away. I imagine this
development strategy is meant to broaden appeal, but what it does for me
is make it hard to find a game that doesn't have *some* half-assed play
element that doesn't annoy me or seem out of place. It's hard to find a
game that does one thing really well, too. The diversity comes at an
expense, either in compromises to make it integrate, or just because
there is less time spent on each element.

I don't see much more innovation coming in the future though, or I'm not
smart enough to see it. It seems we've made every kind of game there is.
Gaming is lively, but my imagination doesn't inform me of what it'll be
like in 2035.

So gaming is good, but we've done everything we can with the classical
period, moved through the baroque, arrived at the romantic, and that's
just about where music imploded. I don't know what the gaming equivalent
of 12-tone, tone poems, and prepared piano will be, but I'll bet it feels
like a gimmick.

But it won't be the doldrums. It will grow, flourish, and capture our
interest. It just won't be through play mechanics. I think we're done
there.

How's that for a "640KB should be enough for anyone" statement?

(I have notably left VR out of this, because I think the "year of VR" is
getting to be like the "year of the Linux desktop." Vendors keep trotting
it out, but no one really knows what to do with it so it goes back in the
box until someone thinks it should come out again. Maybe someone will
figure out how to use it. I could it making a major change by 2035. I
predict it will go back in the box again once, however.)

--
Zag

No one ever said on their deathbed, 'Gee, I wish I had
spent more time alone with my computer.' ~Dan(i) Bunten