this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
41 points (78.9% liked)

Games

16800 readers
789 users here now

Video game news oriented community. No NanoUFO is not a bot :)

Posts.

  1. News oriented content (general reviews, previews or retrospectives allowed).
  2. Broad discussion posts (preferably not only about a specific game).
  3. No humor/memes etc..
  4. No affiliate links
  5. No advertising.
  6. No clickbait, editorialized, sensational titles. State the game in question in the title. No all caps.
  7. No self promotion.
  8. No duplicate posts, newer post will be deleted unless there is more discussion in one of the posts.
  9. No politics.

Comments.

  1. No personal attacks.
  2. Obey instance rules.
  3. No low effort comments(one or two words, emoji etc..)
  4. Please use spoiler tags for spoilers.

My goal is just to have a community where people can go and see what new game news is out for the day and comment on it.

Other communities:

Beehaw.org gaming

Lemmy.ml gaming

lemmy.ca pcgaming

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 24 points 3 months ago (29 children)

The video is great. A shame that it's getting downvoted.

In fiction there's the concept of suspension of disbelief. Wikipedia describes it better than I could, but to keep it short - when you're reading/watching/etc. a fictional story, you avoid applying your critical thinking and logic reasoning to certain story elements, in order to enjoy it.

I feel like a similar but not identical principle operates with game mechanics. I'll call it here suspension of scepticism. That suspension of scepticism makes you willing to trust that the information provided or implied by the game about itself is factual, accurate, and relevant.

For example, if it shows you a six-sided die, you treat it as a fair die, and you treat your odds of getting a 1 the same as getting a 6, a 5, or any other number. You won't save the game, throw the die a hundred times, and see if it's actually fair or not.

Those "design lies" use that suspension of scepticism to deliver a better experience. And it works - for the reason mentioned in the video, it makes playing more enjoyable.

However just like the suspension of disbelief can be broken, so does the suspension of scepticism. It's OK if the game designer is a liar, but he must be a good liar; if you lie too often or too obviously, the player will smell the lie from afar, and the suspension of scepticism is broken. And with it, the enjoyment of the game goes down the drain.

[–] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 months ago (28 children)

I watched 3 minutes and he advocates multiple absolutely game breaking terrible ideas.

"We don't want players to die" is cancer. "Silently changing difficulty" when people die is cancer.

Dying is a good thing. Players learning to get past difficult segments is a good thing. A game that doesn't respect that is broken.

[–] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Yes the people playing Mario Kart deserve to lose 100 times in a row until they git gud because every game needs to be frustrating or its not a real game

[–] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 months ago (2 children)

You don't get better if the game breaks the mechanics to prevent you from getting feedback for your actions, and yes, that's exactly why I can't tolerate Mario Kart.

[–] slimerancher@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

Well, not everyone plays games to get better. If I can enjoy the game, then what does it matter if games lets me think I am better than I actually am?

It's your right to like or dislike any features. Just as it's our right to like or dislike any features. There is no objectively good or bad in it.

[–] taladar@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

If you like self-improvement then why do it at something useless like a game? Maybe the people like to use the game to take a break from the time they spend on improving actually productive skills in their life.

[–] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

That's literally what play is and why our brains do it. It's exploration and learning in an imagined world.

Anything without a continuous ability to explore different decisions and their consequences is tedious and mind numbing. Mario Kart is less fun than watching paint dry.

[–] dvoraqs@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Fun is also what fuels exploration and learning. I think the overall point here is that there are people who have fun with different experiences that may be at odds with each other. Some people like struggling with something until they achieve success, and others just want to relax and have a good time.

Personally, I've had my fun with hard games in the past, but I'm turned off from the idea of getting stuck behind a skill barrier because I'm older now and have less time to spend on games.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Players can lower the difficulty themselves, the game shouldn't do it for them. The game can prompt, but it should never be automatic IMO, especially when strategies can change depending on the difficulty level.

load more comments (25 replies)
load more comments (25 replies)