Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

How real is too real?

AemiAemi Member Posts: 148

Realism can make many games super fun. And sometimes even super frustrating. Would you be willing to play a game that takes realism to the next level? Where while fighting monsters and saving the world you'd also have to worry about eating, using the bathroom, your period, quenching your thirst, taking a bath/shower, brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, etc. All these activities would be done through mini games.

Would you play a game like this?

 

Just to add some other activities:

 

Taking care of your in game "pets" or mounts.

Throwing away trash.

If there is housing in the game, keeping your house clean. Doing house activities.

Painting your nails.

Cooking..

 

«1

Comments

  • Gabby-airGabby-air Member UncommonPosts: 3,440

    I have real life for that or hell even sims, I don't play games so i could see my avatar taking a dump.

  • Torment1982Torment1982 Member Posts: 156

    Realism is best up until the point it stops being a game and looks more like a life simulator.  So yes you can incorporate things like eating and drinking, but if you make it take as much time proportionally as it can take people in RL, between planting/growing/raising, harvesting/slaughtering, transporting, purchasing, preparing and consuming it tends to get a little unpleasant, especially if you multiply that by all the other necessary life supporting behaviors.  But, part of what makes games challenging and fun is by making it a parallel to the same challenges we face in reality.  Because we can't for example punch through a brick wall in reality, it makes it more entertaining when it is possible in a game, the same goes for many, many behaviors.  All of these aspects suffer when a game moves closer towards reality. 

     

    Another point I'd like to make.  There is a difference between our reality and that present in other worlds, like in games.  Their reality can be different than ours, it doesn't make it any less real, just different.  If we do ever manage to find another planet out their that supports advanced life and they breathe xenon instead of oxygen are they less real, or is it in some way different than reality?  If we advanced our technology in such a way that we can avoid having to spend time sleeping, did we somehow change "reality?"  Its subjective not only in our own world by time, but entirely based on the story or world created, and that's some of the appeal.  Of course their "reality" must make sense, there has to be rules in that world just like in ours, of course sense is subjective as well, but to make it believable there must be some aspect of reason, "just because" answers as a child pissed me off just as much then as it would now.

     

    Edit: grammarized

  • UsualSuspectUsualSuspect Member UncommonPosts: 1,243

    If I was a 13 year old girl I might enjoy that stuff, but... uh.. No. I would never play something like that.

  • Mellow44Mellow44 Member Posts: 599

    Originally posted by Aemi

    Realism can make many games super fun. And sometimes even super frustrating. Would you be willing to play a game that takes realism to the next level? Where while fighting monsters and saving the world you'd also have to worry about eating, using the bathroom, your period, quenching your thirst, taking a bath/shower, brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, etc. All these activities would be done through mini games.

    Would you play a game like this?

     

    Just to add some other activities:

     

    Taking care of your in game "pets" or mounts.

    Throwing away trash.

    If there is housing in the game, keeping your house clean. Doing house activities.

    Painting your nails.

    Cooking..

     

    When dying in the game kills you in real life....    THAT is too real.

    Otherwise no, bring on smells and other senses, it can't get too real for me.

    All those memories will be lost in time, like tears in the rain.

  • AxehiltAxehilt Member RarePosts: 10,504

    I'm all about gameplay. If anything (realism or otherwise) comes into heavy opposition with that, then that's "too far".

    Not every realistic game element is opposed to fun gameplay, but there's definitely a point at which a developer's desire for realism starts to eat away at the fun.  It's a grey area, though, and not something where you can point to a particular element and say "this went too far."

    "What is truly revealing is his implication that believing something to be true is the same as it being true. [continue]" -John Oliver

  • just2duhjust2duh Member Posts: 1,290

     To put it simply, no I would not.

     Half the joy of video games is that you don't have the mundane everyday tasks to worry about, people mostly play a game to escape the real world for a bit, so why bore them with the stuff they already do on a regular basis.

     For me, when games force the mundane task we are forced to do day after day without even thinking about it, that's when I start to become bored. Look at Heavy Rain for example, it does this concept pretty well, but some of the most boring parts were performing the day to day stuff like brushing your teeth.

     

     I don't think there wouldn't be much mass appeal for something as extreme as to force every mundane task life has to offer in an mmo.

     Imagine if you didn't have expendable hours to devote to a game, you finally get an hour to play, but before you can you'll need to wake your character up, use the bathroom, shower, dress, eat, drink your coffee, comb/brush your hair and teeth, and maybe use the bathroom again (lol), ALL before even exitting your characters home. Then factor in stuff you might need to do before leaving town, and before you know it, hours likely more than up and you've accomplished nothing.

     So basically what i'm getting at is that it would be nothing but a huge time sink.

  • nariusseldonnariusseldon Member EpicPosts: 27,775

    Originally posted by Aemi

    Realism can make many games super fun. And sometimes even super frustrating. Would you be willing to play a game that takes realism to the next level? Where while fighting monsters and saving the world you'd also have to worry about eating, using the bathroom, your period, quenching your thirst, taking a bath/shower, brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, etc. All these activities would be done through mini games.

    Would you play a game like this?

     

    Just to add some other activities:

     

    Taking care of your in game "pets" or mounts.

    Throwing away trash.

    If there is housing in the game, keeping your house clean. Doing house activities.

    Painting your nails.

    Cooking..

     

     

    Prob not. I doubt a game like that would be fun. OTOH, there is SIMS .. if you want to play SIMS .. play SIMS.

  • wisesquirrelwisesquirrel Member UncommonPosts: 282

    Gravity, it can be troublesome at times like falling off a cliff or being cornered with nowhere to go.

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697

    You lost me at "period". Then lost me further at "painting your nails". Really? You think that 1) they had commonly available means to paint ones finger nails back in the medieval times where most of these games take place. 2) That someone who was going to go out and battle evil, with the real possibility of never making it home again due to getting a sword plunged through their chest, was worried about how their nails looked? Your thread is about having much higher levels of realism in the game and then you mention painting fingernails? Sounds as realistic as a female soldier out on the battlefield in high heels so that she looks sexy while in combat.

     

    I will take realistic in that sense over meaningless tasks in game any day. I'd like to see people wounded and act wounded, I'd like to see people get armor that actually covers their body and provides protection, maybe a non perfect hair-do for once too.

     

    Guess we have different ideas on what reality would be in a setting where there is battle raging on at all times and people are dying.

  • Arctic2006Arctic2006 Member Posts: 31

    I never got into the sims because stuff like that was not appealing. As several previous posters haved mentioned, if I want to worry about taking care of my pets and cleaning the house I got two dogs in real life that keep me busy in those regards. No thank you for that in games

  • ZookzZookz Member Posts: 244

    None of that sounds fun to me. Going to piss isn't something I consider fun. 

     

    "Sweet, I just shot fire out of my hands and killed a dragon! But now I have to go take out the trash and put a tampon in."

     

    Lol, no thanks. 

  • KithcaKithca Member Posts: 118

    Originally posted by Aemi

    Realism can make many games super fun. And sometimes even super frustrating. Would you be willing to play a game that takes realism to the next level? Where while fighting monsters and saving the world you'd also have to worry about eating, using the bathroom, your period, quenching your thirst, taking a bath/shower, brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, etc. All these activities would be done through mini games.

    Would you play a game like this?

     

    Just to add some other activities:

     

    Taking care of your in game "pets" or mounts.

    Throwing away trash.

    If there is housing in the game, keeping your house clean. Doing house activities.

    Painting your nails.

    Cooking..

     

    I wouldn't mind more realism, but I don't need to live an alternative life.


    1. I can get on board with having more interactions with pets and especially mounts.

    2. Throwing away trash; I have enough problems going through my inventory when I get back to town and managing bank space already.

    3. I do house work all the time already, enough that it limits what I play most of the time; I refuse to clean someone elses home too, especially if it's my char's house.

    4. I enjoy painting nails, but I refuse to do it online as well. I already have to take out time for nail care due to other activities that require it from me.

    5. Cooking: this already happens in MMO's, but if you want to add in cleanup time than no... Unless, maybe you can contract it out to another player???

    I'm alright with adding more realism, on the condition that it makes certain things more intense, more immersive, and/or makes you put your thinking cap on; but if more realism means making it more tedious, than no.

  • ComnitusComnitus Member Posts: 2,462

    No.

    image

  • VonLundVonLund Member Posts: 19

    I am all for realism when it makes a game more fun or interesting or immersive.

    For example, realistic caluclation of bullet trajectories/penetration in games.

    However, adding a feature where my character has to brush their teeth or the like, not so much.

    I put on my top hat.

  • AmarantharAmaranthar Member EpicPosts: 5,785

    Lots of ways to look at this. For me, I agee that I like realism when it adds to the game play. I don't want to have to worry about "relieving myself" in a game, but I'd like to see eating food have some meaning. I'd like to see a game where clothes get travel worn, and wearing clean, expensive clothing and washing and brushing your hair makes you "more attractive" in the right social arenas.

    Mainly where I think "realism" is in dire need in MMOs is in worldly interaction. If you can interact with the game world around you (levers, crates, pushing boulders, writing, marking trails, building constructions), then that game world can be used in all sorts of ways to enhance game play. Secret and hidden places and items can become something that players can be creative with and add to the game, as opposed to relying solely on the world builders. (Thieves guilds, Assassins, cults)

    Once upon a time....

  • AemiAemi Member Posts: 148

    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf

    You lost me at "period". Then lost me further at "painting your nails". Really? You think that 1) they had commonly available means to paint ones finger nails back in the medieval times where most of these games take place. 2) That someone who was going to go out and battle evil, with the real possibility of never making it home again due to getting a sword plunged through their chest, was worried about how their nails looked? Your thread is about having much higher levels of realism in the game and then you mention painting fingernails? Sounds as realistic as a female soldier out on the battlefield in high heels so that she looks sexy while in combat.

     

    I will take realistic in that sense over meaningless tasks in game any day. I'd like to see people wounded and act wounded, I'd like to see people get armor that actually covers their body and provides protection, maybe a non perfect hair-do for once too.

     

    Guess we have different ideas on what reality would be in a setting where there is battle raging on at all times and people are dying.

    People have been painting their nails since 600 B.C, so yes. Men and Women by the way.

  • EdliEdli Member Posts: 941

    I've been doing those things every day for all my life. Except painting my nails. Is boring. I do it because I have to not because it's fun. You want it in a game too? These little micro managing things we do everyday in real take enough time from our life already. The op is a girl I guess. 

  • KilltaskKilltask Member UncommonPosts: 37

    I would play an MMO where my character needs sleep, only if I get to play around in my character's dreams.

     

  • JoliustJoliust Member Posts: 1,329

    Here is some ideas how they could do it without making people want to hang themselves.

    Cleaning the house. In SWG you had to pay maintenance on your buildings or they will stop working and eventually fall apart. Now imagine there were different settings, low and high. You could choose the low settings and your house will look dilapidated and some of the space would be taken up by trash.

    Finger nails/personal hygiene. You could have another maintenance for this. As 0 you would turn into a wild crazy looking person with crazy mangled hair and an old prospector beard, dirty cloths/finger nails. On highest setting everything would look pristine.

    In general game creators have a job of trying to turn real live into a fun game mechanic. Real life occurrences put into the game, even when something very small, can really bring the world to life. You might be playing in some fantasy world with wizards and knights but you want to feel like that world could actually exist. You want that world to truly feel living. However, you don't want to fill up a game with annoying and frustrating mandatory tasks.

    I agree with previous statements Gameplay and Fun > Realism

    Sent me an email if you want me to mail you some pizza rolls.

  • uquipuuquipu Member Posts: 1,516

    I've never played a video game that seemed real.
    .
    I've experienced the 'uncanny valley' syndrome where the NPCs were done in a realistic fashion and it creeps me out.
    .
    Never seen much realism in an MMO though, there are too many hardware requirements.

    Well shave my back and call me an elf! -- Oghren

  • JosherJosher Member Posts: 2,818

    Originally posted by Aemi

    Realism can make many games super fun. And sometimes even super frustrating. Would you be willing to play a game that takes realism to the next level? Where while fighting monsters and saving the world you'd also have to worry about eating, using the bathroom, your period, quenching your thirst, taking a bath/shower, brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, etc. All these activities would be done through mini games.

    Would you play a game like this?

     

    Just to add some other activities:

     

    Taking care of your in game "pets" or mounts.

    Throwing away trash.

    If there is housing in the game, keeping your house clean. Doing house activities.

    Painting your nails.

    Cooking..

     

    I find none of those activities particularly fun in real life, so I have no interest in doing them in a game.  If its a simulator, knock yourself out;)  Make people go to the bathroom and force them to sleep in real time.  In a videogame designed for entertainment, anything tedious is counter to the whole point of being entertained.

    The most realism I'll accept is like Stalker...you get hungry, you click a button and eat to turn the hunger icon off.  You want to pass the time fast, you sleep in a bed and 12 hrs goes by in a few seconds.  You want to carry 150 pounds of ammo and guns..sorry, you're not strong enough, drop some gear.  A shot to the head is death.   None of that is tedious.  It just makes sense for immersion.  

    Who the heck wants to play a clean the house game besides someone with OCD?  Seriously=)

  • hadith93hadith93 Member Posts: 3

    The 'uncanny valley effect' -- that's why Hollywood CGI houses do audience tests on their animated films before release. Hell, the first crack at Shrek made children cry. 

    The UVE works like this:

    If you make a robot that's 90% human, people will think its a cool robot.

    If you make a robot that's 95% human, people will think its a very cool robot.

    But...if you make a robot that's 98% human, people will think its a defective human.

    A lot of psychologists have theorized about why that is. One of the most accepted is that our instincts perceive the defective human as carrying disease and because we are animals, we tend to shy away from diseased members of our "pack" as a self-preservation method.

    Needless to say, a game that is too real would die a very fast death, no matter how well it was designed.

    Some robotics dude coined the phrase, but I don't remember who. Google it if you need to know ;-)

  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 43,435

    I have mixed feelings on this. I recall one of the early Ultima single player games, (6?) where my characters (controlled a party of 4 or so) all had to eat or drink at regular intervals or they would suffer stat loss.

    You had to make sure to always have enough food to go around and yet not overload your characters because everything has weight.

    While it did add a strategic element to the gameplay, i recall being more annoyed than anything else by the constant feed schedule.

    As for more mundane activities like cleaing, or doing the wash, I don't think so, not my style of MMO anyways.

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • AemiAemi Member Posts: 148

    Originally posted by Josher

    Originally posted by Aemi

    Realism can make many games super fun. And sometimes even super frustrating. Would you be willing to play a game that takes realism to the next level? Where while fighting monsters and saving the world you'd also have to worry about eating, using the bathroom, your period, quenching your thirst, taking a bath/shower, brushing your teeth, brushing your hair, etc. All these activities would be done through mini games.

    Would you play a game like this?

     

    Just to add some other activities:

     

    Taking care of your in game "pets" or mounts.

    Throwing away trash.

    If there is housing in the game, keeping your house clean. Doing house activities.

    Painting your nails.

    Cooking..

     

    I find none of those activities particularly fun in real life, so I have no interest in doing them in a game.  If its a simulator, knock yourself out;)  Make people go to the bathroom and force them to sleep in real time.  In a videogame designed for entertainment, anything tedious is counter to the whole point of being entertained.

    The most realism I'll accept is like Stalker...you get hungry, you click a button and eat to turn the hunger icon off.  You want to pass the time fast, you sleep in a bed and 12 hrs goes by in a few seconds.  You want to carry 150 pounds of ammo and guns..sorry, you're not strong enough, drop some gear.  A shot to the head is death.   None of that is tedious.  It just makes sense for immersion.  

    Who the heck wants to play a clean the house game besides someone with OCD?  Seriously=)

    The mini games would not be "real time" I don't think anyone would play a game where your character needs to sleep 8 hours for real (who sleeps for 12 hours?) but it would be neat to have to sleep. It would be neat for your character to function just like you do. I believe the Avatar is supposed to be a virtual representation of yourself. And these things would add more depth to the MMO world you are playing in.

  • bifodusbifodus Member Posts: 21

    I think a certain amount of upkeep would make for an interesting game.  Food, for example, would be nice.  It all depends on the context, of course.  Suddenly requiring WoW characters to feed themselves would be seriously detrimental.  However, if the game were based on the idea of survival, it could make for a very interesting game, IMO.

     

    I was actually thinking about this very thing while trying to construct my version of the ideal MMO.  The idea that I came up with would be a game involving prehistoric nomads.  It could have a colorful surrealism to it, a la Monster Hunter.  And like Monster Hunter, there would be no leveling up or skills.  The whole purpose of the game would be to fend for your tribe (consisting of other players) by hunting, cooking, building, gathering, crafting, etc.  There would be no story or NPCs (with the exception of wildlife), and all "quests" would be assigned by players above you in your tribal hierarchy.  For example, if you're a hunter, you might band together with other hunters and form a hunting party, which would leave for x amount of time and come back with the requested animal products for the tribe.  How good of a hunter (or cook, etc) you are would depend solely on how knowledgeable you are as a player and how good your gear is for that particular task.  

     

    The game would be entirely about survival and upkeep and the necessary tasks associated with these things.  For example, perhaps your territory is suffering from drought, so your tribe needs to migrate.  On migrating, your tribe may come into contact with another tribe.  Competition over resources would thus ensue, creating some cutthroat PVP action, a la EVE.

     

    I'd play it.

This discussion has been closed.