Dana O'Brian on not completing games

[Thomas]

I just found a pretty fun British show on Games, that actually had some worthwhile stuff in it.

What I found really fun and interesting was when Dana O'Brian discussed how he never completes games and how they lock away content from the user:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdQK4Wp10qo&feature=related

Dana appears around 4.30 something.

The show is quite interesting and has some other fun moments like commenting on what kind of background stories enemies in an FPS might have. It also comments on how TV and other media usually view games.
First part here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjFiTd2nmI4&feature=related

[Jeroen D. Stout]

Gameswipe - lovely. Charlie Brooker is an excellent tv critic. Quite liberal and self-critical with the medium. Dara Ó Briain (which you write in this peculiar way) is an excellent host as well... I watched shows of theirs since before I went to the UK, my (Dutch) parents are huge BBC fans.

Yes, Brooker has some interest in advancing the medium if I remember Gameswipe correctly. He seems generally to just good at pointing out glaring flaws with 'things right now', though. I watch anything he makes and writes, still. He is a somewhat more mature Yahtzee and has more interesting things to say.

I like Dara Ó Briain's comments as well - 'perhaps he settles down for an office job - I don't know, I never fucking went to Manhattan' and the Rock Band thing. Perhaps games are just taking themselves too serious not as entertainment but as a 'way of life'. I hated getting a Wii game with friends and then having to unlock stages just so I could see Mario jump on a trampoline. Challenge is too big a thing in the palette of gamedesigners, they put it in so many parts of the game and the gamers are so very addicted to it.

On the subject of Yathzee, actually, Brooker always points out things he really likes (I forgot what he mentions in Gameswipe?) - Yahtzee kind-of mumbles Psychonauts and Portal and threw a fit over Heavy Rain, I do not think that radical critic is on 'our side'. I always wish Brooker would do a tv show about notgames, he seems more open to it.

[zerojuan]

on the issue of content, hardcore games allow cheats to make less skilled players enjoy the game.

i've played through the whole Starcraft campaigns and at times the game will be unrealistically brutal (or i'm just bad at it). i'd use cheats to get me out of a bad situation.

[Michaël Samyn]

From what I can tell, several contemporary AAA games seem to really lead you by the hand by continuously telling you what to do. At least on easy mode (which is always my default choice). It's nice that they allow you to get through the game that way. But sometimes it feels too much like you're just following orders and you don't even know why (i.e. you're not really following the story).

[Thomas]

From what I can tell, several contemporary AAA games seem to really lead you by the hand by continuously telling you what to do. At least on easy mode (which is always my default choice). It's nice that they allow you to get through the game that way. But sometimes it feels too much like you're just following orders and you don't even know why (i.e. you're not really following the story).

Ye, Dead Space was that for me. I had no idea what the story was about because I always felt like a puppet. "Go there!", "Do that!", etc. If one has to figure out and make choices you get more immersed in the story too. I have to say some kinds hand-holding in terms of showing the right way is really good, because it is bad to be stuck. However, the game still have this challenge moments, where a  certain amount of skill is needed in order to progress and that is an even bigger problem to me.

Cheats does not feel like a solution to me and every time I have had to use it, any sense of immersion was lost.

[Michaël Samyn]

This connection between following the story and interacting is very interesting! It's an interesting argument against the claim that story and gameplay exclude each other.

I don't believe requiring skill is the only way to connect the player to the game (and the story), though. Any form of interaction that makes sense would do the trick. "That makes sense" being quite crucial. Knocking over some crates might connect you to the game world, but if you're supposed to be hiding in the shadows, being this clumsy is completely out of character and disconnects you from the story (I have experienced this in Max Payne). But doing something that makes sense, and that maybe tells us something about the character's personality, is suitable. I don't think it has to be gameplay, it doesn't need to be problem solving or facing challenges (unless you're playing an inventor, perhaps, or a detective).

[Thomas]

But doing something that makes sense, and that maybe tells us something about the character's personality, is suitable. I don't think it has to be gameplay, it doesn't need to be problem solving or facing challenges (unless you're playing an inventor, perhaps, or a detective).

I agree! I think the key thing is get the player to "live" the character.