So someone sent me this message on reddit:
reacting to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMen/comments/sxcvvm/comment/hxse5ho/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Do you talk about multiplayer games, big games, RPGs and so on, or does it include even games like Limbo for example?
As a programmer in the industry and a wannabe game designer, I feel like you are one of a very small amount of people that theoretically like games but practically don't really play them, so I'm interested in your reasoning, if you don't mind.
I'm maybe in a similar boat. For me, most games (and especially AAA ones) feel much more like toys. Even stuff like Spelunky is just an incredibly polished toy. To me, this is why I don't enjoy most games in general, but I still absolutely love the ones that I do enjoy (Limbo is one of the greatest games I've ever played, from that perspective).
So yeah, I would really like your take on it, if you don't mind sharing :)
And I answered:
Ah sure. I would agree that most games "feel like toys", particularly in essence games you mentioned similar to Spelunky. Roguelikes/lites generally feel that way because you generally restart over and over and there really isn't anything that's typically "permanent" in a roguelike. Lites use upgrade trees with permanent upgrades you can grind out runs for, etc and those are the ones I really enjoy because it gives a sense of progression (i.e. Hades, etc.) However in that example I am referring to games that have simple gameplay loops and don't constantly either:
A. Involve me in the story/keep the story rolling/keep the story interesting. Games that make me feel hooked on the story are most successful at having me complete them. Interesting characters, places, the feeling that "I have to go do this thing or this character I enjoy will have x happen to them" or whatever. A good story is typically what I'm searching for in a video game over mechanics/graphics/etc., but it's maybe like 75% of my interest in a game.
Or
B. Introduce new mechanics for the entirety of the game up to the ending hours of the game. Keeps the game interesting. If the mechanics introduced in the beginning of the game don't feel good to play, the game gets binned unless the story is good and my brain bothers me to continue playing it outside the game, which has happened for a few titles. What Remains of Edith Finch comes to mind in this scenario, but it's happened for other games for me too that don't come to mind immediately.
And / or
C. Fluid mechanics that don't feel fake/clunky to play. This one is a little harder to describe but game mechanics need to have IMPACT on gameplay. Not just "oh here's a different color of that spell that's named differently but does the same thing" or whatever.
There's probably other points to be made here but these three are the largest things that I immediately identify in a game in the first hour or less.
However a typical game has a blend of all three of these things in some amount or another, of course.
Now, typically, most games do all of these things to a varying degree, but I've played through games that either did one very well and not much of the other or vice versa.
Taking your example of Limbo, I also enjoyed Limbo because even though the gameplay loop was simple on a high level, I.e. walking to the right to experience the game, the story was interesting enough to keep me captivated via symbolism of what was going on in the game itself for the entire game. Obviously the exceptional art doesn't hurt as well, but that's not a giant factor for me in terms of if I get bored with a game or not.
For many genres of games the above is the case. However MMORPGs are another bag entirely due to the "skinner box effect" they have on people, which I feel like is what contributes the most to "video game burnout". Exposing a person to a game like World of Warcraft or Everquest or any major MMORPG from, god, like probably 2000 onward will either lead to that person not liking MMORPGs outright off the bat, or they get hooked and the rest is history. I've been playing video games a long time but when I started playing WoW at 13 is when other games really lost their shine for me just because I could not get the dopamine rush I got from other games that I got from WoW.
It's just burnout on a massive scale for me, in combination with my point in my post of "finding the gameplay loop and getting bored" to "not enough hee-hee funny make me go whee brain juice". It's gotten better in recent years after MMORPGs seemingly have become a toxic pool of people that I almost never want to interact with in general, but
Speaking of "brain juice", I'm sure you noticed my flair on that post as well. Having autism/ADHD leads to me figuring out gameplay loops very quickly, and if something is made inaccessible to me in a video game and it seems like it would take a very long time to get to that interesting thing for whatever reason, I'll probably be dropping the game shortly. Same with figuring out the gameplay loop and being bored with a game.
For some reason I have a very, very innate ability to connect mechanics together in a game that no one else seems to connect or even think of. An example of this is recently when I was playing Deep Rock Galactic with my friends, we came across some orange cylinders that we couldn't find what to do with in a level. In a later level we found a big box that looked like an engine that had two round slots in it. I immediately made the connection that if this box existed in this level, that meant the orange cylinders we found in an earlier level also existed in this level and as such, we had to find them and put them into this machine and see what it did. Everyone was like "how did you even think of that", but to me, the answer was clear as day. This happens with a lot of games and I frequently get comments on it from my friends, and I remember how to do such-and-such gameplay in whatever game we're playing at the time really well, for some reason. I wish I could apply that to other areas of my life lol.
But this "innate ability" also leads to putting together gameplay loops very quickly and foreseeing additional mechanics that are going to be added to the game later on, and makes me extremely bored once I figure it out. This is where my brain seems to check to see if I am enjoying the story or not. If I am, I'll continue playing to experience the story. At this point I'm anywhere from maybe 3-5 hours into a game, more or less, so the "smooth mechanics" check has been passed most likely. If I'm not enjoying the story, chances are I'll just be bored and drop the game very soon after that.
I hope this answer was what you were looking for, and if not, apologies for the book lol, I'd be happy to clarify anything as well.
Bruh that was a lot of typing. I've never gotten to expand on my thought process for these things so it was a good feeling typing it out for someone to read. Even if they don't read it, feelsgoodman.
