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Associated Link: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/08/22/
Ah, the good old web comic scene. Here is a priceless Penny Arcade comic depicting another one of life's little indulgences. With gaming becoming more and more competitive, it seems that normal talents appear to be overshadowed. PA takes a fun jab at this by presenting Photoshop Hero.While this comic takes a fun jab at all the "Hero" styled games, it also presents another fun question about what "talent" truly is. It seems that with these stylized games comes apparent bragging rights. Talent is, already, hard enough to try to pinpoint, but with the added fact that any video game is pushing competition and being able to have bragging rights it's becoming harder and harder to separate the useful skills from the completely pointless, mainly due to whoever is playing seems to take pride in what they're doing. Human nature is, unfortunately, liable to fall to this flaw, taking a simple task of playing a game and pushing that skill, mentally, to the point of being able to call it a "skill"
This is, sadly, the downfall of most modern games. Instead of focusing on gameplay and character-based storylines, we have giant "band simulators" and a plethora of games that are plagued by the requirement of plastic peripherals and only promote bragging rights. Even on the boxes for games, the fact that "learn to rock out for fame, glory, and bragging!" is written right there immediately points out the true intention of playing.
So what exactly is considered a skill, or better yet, true talent?
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ReplyDeleteI found this online comic rather humorous. Penny Arcade always did it for me in terms of humor, but this, along with your article, made me think for a minute about what you stated. Skill is very broad in the digital field. Whether you mean, completing a game, a movie, or playing said game, etc. Skill can also be that of Photoshop skill. I see that now a days, many of these companies will try to market products that appeal to the minimal gamer, the lacker of skill if you will. These do include Guitar Hero, Madden, etc, which tend to present more of a simulator than a challenge. Good marketing ploy, but a marketing ploy ONLY. Why not learn to play real guitar when you obviously can? Why not go out and play football, tennis, hockey? Why not attempt to really pilot a plane? These are things a person can possibly do without a game, but games that take skill and cunning, one cannot simply do. Take Metal Gear Solid for example; you can't just become a super human like green beret ready to infiltrate enemy headquarters. This is a good article to really pick out the skillful digital media from the media that is potentially useless.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very interesting point in regards to major gaming companies not focusing on replay value or even gameplay. There is a major mind set which focuses heavily on generating the most income possible. With the economic crisis hovering around, I can most definitely understand why trying to generate the most income would appear to be the most effective safeguard available; however, this does prevent future prospective gamers or just causal players from indulging into a particular games gameplay. The band simulator games have generated a lot of income and have been fairly revolutionary in terms of gameplay, replayability and as well as revolutionary with its control scheme, but the developers need to focus on the wishes of the consumers and stop printing out Guitar Hero Aerosmith and Guitar Hero Metallica which provided very little difference between the two beside a collection of different tracks from one sole artist or band.
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