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[Column] General: A Game for a Mood
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Sometimes, the right game speaks to the right mood even if it's not a "perfect" game. In today's Devil's Advocate, we examine why that is so. See what we think before telling us your "mood game" is in the comments.
Between Trion Worlds’ Rift and Defiance, Rift is perhaps the more technically excellent game. A few days ago, RIFT opened free access to the game for people who owned a copy of Rift. For the most part, this meant people who purchased the game previously now had access to the game’s content indefinitely, though without the game store.
RIFT has plenty of PVE and PVP to provide people with stuff to do, a relatively challenging endgame (for raiders), one of the best housing systems in an MMO to date, a means to get past the leveling hurdle faster, and a pretty deep character development system.
Why is it then, that I prefer playing Defiance more these days?
Read more of Victor Barreiro Jr.'s The Devil's Advocate: A Game for a Mood.
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Comments
MMORPG Gamers/Developers need a reality check!
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
i completely identify with this. at first i was rather put off by Defiance, but now i am racking up hours like a noob's first love. and i am not sure as to why except that i am currently 'in the mood' for a run and gun.
honestly i wish Rift allowed for crouching and position behind object for more strategic combat.
how long Defiance can sustain this interest is anybody's guess. 2 weeks more? 2 months? a year? i honestly have no idea, not just b/c of the lack of things that i want from mmorpg's in the game, but because as noted above this is about mood. and if anything in this world changes it is certainly our moods.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
I am definitely a gamer who has to be "in the mood" for a game. My Steam account has about 50 games ( and that's not even counting the 8 or so MMOs on my computer). Sometimes the choice is overwhelming and I default to Magic: The Gathering. Must be since I have over 700 hours on that game...heh.
I recently returned to GW2, after a 2 month stint in SWTOR. Maybe I just get bored easily. Variety is never a bad thing,but sometimes an overwhelming thing.
Victor, you definitely hit the nail on the head. Instead of leaving games nowadays, I take breaks. Perhaps this will continue the trend of games like Wildstar to really cater to all those varied elements the gamer wants in a game.
To add another one to the list
Want a good 20 minutes to an hour of spaceships, lasers, and rockets - Star Conflict.
Gaming since 1985; Online gaming since 1995; No End in Sight! My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8POVoJ8fdOseuJ4U1ZX-oA
Defiance benefits from the TV Show tie-in. With some clever advertising, they can keep pulling in players from the viewerbase, maybe enough to keep the game alive longer than it otherwise would be.
Didn't Warhammer come out with an iOS game that was reportedly really good? AH! Warhammer Quest I think its name was.
A writer and gamer from the Philippines. Loves his mom dearly.
Can also be found on http://www.gamesandgeekery.com
"Today’s discussion was mostly brought about by my wondering why I could never get into Rift"
Rift is a technically excellent game.
And Yngwie Malmsteen is a technically excellent guitar player. And there are plenty of people who love him. Malmsteen could probably play circles around Dave Gilmour, but Gilmour's tone just resonates with me. Gilmour certainly isnt the most technically proficient guitar player out there, but i enjoy listening to him more than Malmsteen.
Sounds naughty
if i'm in the mood to yell at europeans i play eve
because as any eve person knows, that's half of eve.
I know when i'm in an escapist frame of mind i'll load up LOTRO from time to time. some of the areas in that game just really remind me of having a good time reading the books.
and if i want to feel like a kid again there's EQ1, because, well, i spent a lot of time as a kid playing it
RIP Ribbitribbitt you are missed, kid.
Currently Playing EVE, ESO
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
Dwight D Eisenhower
My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.
Henry Rollins
I'd be willing to bet that this is how the majority of people play, and it's part of the problem. It used to be that people stuck with a game and built their reputation and community from within it, back when there weren't many choices. Now there are, and people don't stick around anymore, they leave to find something else or something new when the mood strikes them. I'm the same way. The people left behind are those that actually want what they preach, a 'world' instead of a 'game', but when they're left on dead servers because everyone else has moved on, they're the ones you see in the forums complaining about the state of gaming.
I'm not saying it's an easy problem or one I even know how to fix, if it even can be. A game will never be everything to everyone, and the choices we have in MMOs aren't slimming down any time soon. On one hand it's said people don't have that kind of dedication anymore to their choice of game and the people they meet within it, but on the other...it's just a friggin' video game, who gives a shit? Dilemma, dilemma...
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
I agree with the premise as I too enjoy different games depending on my mood.
However I would like to speak about this bit from the article
"For some reason, excellence isn’t everything in this day and age of choice. With the gradual shift from maintaining long-term adoptees to making games fun for more people in short bursts, the paradigm of online gaming is shifting as well."
I think the question is making games fun for short bursts only a good design match for F2P? I honestly don't see how it could be. I am not going to put money in a game that I don't put a lot of time into. If I was a F2P game designer I would be aiming more for maintaining long term adoptees than short burst game players. If they want people to spend money in their games it seems like making quality games with stories and/or action that really suck you into their world and keep you there would be the way to go.