Shallow Depths

If there's one thing that annoys me more than fishing mini-games, it's game mechanics based on real-time instead of game-time.

Having worked through at least some of my Monster Hunter Tri obsession, I returned to Nier this week. Of course, my carefully laid out plants had withered and died while I was away. There is no real need for this. Nothing else in game changes while it's turned off. No one dies because I'm not there to save them, and no one gets annoyed when I leave their errands incomplete for weeks or months. It doesn't really make sense for just one element of a simulation to keep going while the simulation is turned off. It's just a cheap trick to keep me playing, and I don't appreciate it.

I enjoy games, and I hope they can enrich life. But I don't want them to dictate to me how I should spend my time. As someone who often flits between a few games at a time, I don't understand why I should be punished for my preferred gaming behaviour.

Plants in Nier are, thankfully, a minor part of a larger whole. I'm giving up on farming for the moment and focusing on the game elements I do enjoy.

A friend of mine described far worse experiences with Animal Crossing, where events change with the system clock, and the game's inhabitants will get annoyed if you fail to switch on and let them visit at 4 pm next Tuesday, or etc. I know those kinds of games can be addictive, but that's just getting ridiculous. It feels like design decisions based on incorrect stereotypes. Something like (1) Gamers are all kids; (2) Kids have no responsibilities, so can spend all day playing Animal Crossing. Or maybe it's something about getting people so hooked they won't bother giving money to your competitors.

There is no way of escaping the passage of real-time in MMOs, thanks to their community of actual people. My days of weekly WoW raiding and the time preparing for those made juggling committments challenging. More casual play was certainly possible, but I most enjoyed keeping on top of the game as best I could, and helping run a guild. At the time, I was happy to make that choice, despite sacrifices in other areas of life. But it wasn't a decision made lightly, and it certainly isn't an option available to everyone. It's inexplicable to me why anyone would want to replicate that committment in games where it isn't required.

Over-developed anxiety can have some odd side-effects.  Normally, I'm most anxious about social situations and my issues are not too obvious in other contexts.  But sometimes I do have anxiety spill over into gaming, in the form of unreasonable fear of character death.

Games are often designed to build tension, and that works incredibly well on me.  It's taken me a long time to really feel capable and willing to play some game genres.  I remember trying a demo of Unreal briefly in high school, which put me off just with atmosphere and shock tactics before I even reached the first enemy.  I thought escaping the crashed prison ship was cool and interesting, I just couldn't quite overcome my own apprehension.

In Beyond Good & Evil I just started to experience the stealth sections.  The enemies are not very smart, and if I'm spotted all I really need to do is run away and hide for a few seconds.  It's still early on, and the difficulty level isn't very high.  This didn't stop me from becoming somewhat anxious about loading it up again, knowing I've a lot more tense sneaking ahead of me.

It's difficult to predict which games will have this effect on me.  Monster Hunter is a very dangerous game, but doesn't trigger much anxiety in me.  Bioshock has a lot of atmosphere and is really pushing my buttons, despite death having very limited consequences.  I think a lot of stressful games are worth the trouble, and I will eventually get past my issues.  Just sometimes it takes me a little while to work up to it.

I do continue to get better at pushing past my anxiety problems.  Which is cool, because I was missing out on a lot of worthwhile experiences.  I also think there is a level where I don't want to get better at turning off those impulses.  I want to be able to feel something and get involved in what I'm playing, and that is currently very easy for me.  I am at least very glad of that much, even if it means sometimes having to turn a game off to calm down for a little while.

There is a good reason for how quiet I've been this week, I promise.  More on that soon.

I visited some friends yesterday to try out some Band Hero.  I have managed to avoid the rhythm game trend thus far and so I'm a bit out of my depth with them.  I would have expected a party game to be a bit more accessible for a newcomer like me, though I can certainly see the fun that could be had with enough time to get the hang of things.  I wasn't feeling brave enough for singing, and the guitar felt slightly awkward in my little hands.  I probably had the best time on drums, but I was keeping to beginner mode where it doesn't matter at all which drum I hit.  Some things really do bring out the newbie in me.

There are a bunch of games that are not recent but I've heard good things about and would really like to try.  One of these games is Beyond Good & Evil, which I just aquired and spent a bit of time with today. I'm enjoying it so far, and I agree with comments I've seen about Jade being a good example of a female game protagonist who kicks some arse without being hyper-sexualised.  That is really quite refreshing.

On gender, I found this article interesting.  Their introduction takes a while to get going, and probably focuses a bit much on some specific games.  I haven't read the actual thesis, but I hope it's a bit more well-rounded.  I was interested by what they actually did, which is altering some of the character models for Team Fortress 2 to make them female instead of male, and then surveying a bunch of people about their impressions of the designs.  Essentially, they conclude that there is scope to include different builds and genders in character design while still having these be well-received (and presumably marketable?).  Food for thought, at least.

I've been very excited about the upcoming release of Rebecca Mayes' first album "The Epic Win".  The official release date is May 28th, but it is already available for download.  Check out her videos on the Escapist for an idea of what to expect.

I've spoken before about how I wish more people would discuss games from their unique viewpoint.  It's difficult to think of a better example.  From game reviews to discussions of game culture in general, Rebecca Mayes unashamedly puts forward her own perspective.  I find her vision valuable and inspiring.

It's difficult to pinpoint my favourite album songs.  I really appreciate the important message in 'The Mirror', reminding us not to be downtrodden by poor body image.  I love seeing my favourite game series in song ('UFO', based on Silent Hill: Shattered Memories).  I love seeing games I probably wouldn't appreciate in themselvses turned into something beautiful ('Revenge' from Wet; 'Shadows' based on Velvet Assassin).  Pacifist ideas are utilised in tracks such as 'Don't Shoot Them' (Resident Evil 5) and 'Batman's Tea Party', which may seem strange in an often violent medium like gaming, but it's all part of the individual character and appeal.

When looking at games in this way there seems to be a lot to critisise.  Issues involving body image and idenity; violence and power dynamics; disconnection from physical reality and so on.  These issues are all present and commented on.  But overall I get a feeling of beauty and hope.  I am always happy to see more of gaming's unique voices, and involving music is definitely a bonus.