Koki on 24/8/2008 at 11:36
Do I smell videogames vs. storytelling argument coming?
Shakey-Lo on 24/8/2008 at 11:52
I firmly believe that singleplayer story-based games and competitive multiplayer games are a different medium. Competitive multiplayer games are sport, it's that simple.
It's like looking at theatre and sport and saying "Well, they both have people in costume performing roles in front of an audience within a set boundary for a set amount of time, so they're the same medium!!"
belboz on 16/9/2008 at 13:54
x-box owners have to pay for the update because normaly you would get the update through microsoft live, which you have to pay for, so microsoft have force valve to put a payment on it, the money that gets paid goes to microsoft, valve wont see a dime.:thumb:
EvaUnit02 on 16/9/2008 at 14:24
Live for Windows was made permanently free in July.
Angel Dust on 17/9/2008 at 01:05
Quote Posted by Aja
A sense of accomplishment, the completing of a journey, the joys of escapism... You don't complete online FPS games, you just play them till you get bored. And they certainly aren't escapism, since any shred of immersion is destroyed by the legions of morons with nothing better to do than get pissed off at one another over the headsets. I suppose there's a sense of accomplishment, but it's fleeting because if you want to maintain it you have no choice but to keep playing. Until one day you realize you've spent 73 straight days playing Call of Duty 4 online, and then you kill yourself.
This is a whole lot of
opinion Aja. Personally I have the same preference for single player games but don't then think multiplayer games are not escapism, have no sense of accomplishment etc just because they don't satisfy
my requirements for those criteria. There very much is escapism and accomplishment in these games, not the kind that you or I go for but it is there.
Aja on 17/9/2008 at 03:59
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
This is a whole lot of
opinion Aja.
Um, you think? I did give reasons for each criticism though. Maybe some claim to become immersed with some greasy twelve-year-old screaming about "shotties" over the chat, but I think those people don't really understand the concept.
Compared to escapist games like Thief or Half Life or even something like Viva Pinata, most of these multiplayer games just don't offer the same level of immersion. So far the only counter-argument I can endorse is that they're more sport than escapism. That makes sense. I can't escape into sports either.
And the fact that unless you get in on these things Day One you'll never be able to really compete is a big factor in my lack-of-accomplishment criticism. I mean, sure, if I really wanna devote my LIFE to a game, I can get good at it, but man, I'm not playing these things for THAT MUCH of a challenge.
june gloom on 18/9/2008 at 01:31
That Day One argument is BS. I've played several MP games that had been around for at least a year or two beforehand and unless it's one of those games with levelling or some nonsense where you'll be behind everyone else (such as most MMOs) you're mostly on even ground, or at least you will be once you've hones your skills. I largely avoided TF2 for months after MedicFaggotry Week, and when I finally started playing it again it became apparent that there really was no reason to worry about all these grindwhores having the new weapons- they don't horrifically unbalance the game, though you
will see the occasional (
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t185/dethtoll/circleofjerks.png) Medic Circlejerk still.
