Gamercide Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://gamercide.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/no-fun.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5216" title="no-fun" src="http://gamercide.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/no-fun-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="253" height="253" /><br><br></a></p><p>Where did the fun go? Over the past few years games have become more and more dependent on real world situations, social commentary, and political correctness to drive their narratives along. The days of the simplistic story and overall fun gaming seem to be slowly coming to an end, with little resistance from us, the gamers. The select few games at the top echelon in gaming are becoming more and more like simulations and less and less like the games that started the industry. “Games as art” has become the battle cry for almost every company out there trying to reach the top. While I have no issue with that comparison, what concessions are we allowing companies to make their art? Sacrificing fun for art, in a hobby that was built for fun, is truly sad and somewhat asinine.<br><br></p><p><span id="more-5215"></span>Back in 1985 when I received the NES and Super Mario Bros. as a birthday gift, after much begging and pleading, I knew from pressing Start that I was a gamer from that day forward. The story, as everyone knows, revolved around a kidnapped princess. However, without reading the manual you didn’t know that until the end of world 1-4 when the major crux of the story was, “I’m sorry Mario but the Princess is in another castle”. No matter how hard you try the sheer fun of running, jumping, and shooting fire from god knows where never felt forced or serious at all. It literally was just fun in its simplest form. Even before the NES the Atari, Commodore 64, and even Tennis for Two were all just “fun”. No social commentary. No “art” comparisons. Just fun.<br><br></p><p>Fast-forward to present day. The biggest franchises in gaming are arguably Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War and many others of the same type. All of which amount to “war simulations”. The stories try and try to take themselves seriously to convey the argument of “Videogames should be considered art” as best they can, but at what cost? I tried playing through Call of Duty 4 and found myself getting more and more depressed by the story that was playing out. The “shocking twist” that happens to one of the main characters did more to make me not want to continue than anything else in the game. If I want to see death, images of war, and the horrors of history or present day, I would turn on the history channel or the nightly news. Yet a game that resorts to dick and fart jokes or making off color jokes about things such as abortion are literally shit on by critics and most players alike for being juvenile/crude. The people that find these diversions from reality fun and funny are more often than not ostracized or called out for not wanting to have everything in gaming be so damned serious. A good story does not have to have some social or moral commentary to be meaningful or fun. Hell, some of the best games don’t even have a story.<br><br></p><p>This is not to say that the games mentioned can’t be fun but I have yet, in a single-player environment, found anything remotely fun about them. Multiplayer can be a plus in quite a few of these games. Whether it be rolling through the story in co-op and saving your buddy’s ass from certain death or just making up your own game types in open world environments, this can be the saving grace for some games. Take GTA IV, it is/was a critical darling. Yet, the overall story just got monotonous and wasn’t very fun. However, get a group of friends together (drunk or otherwise) and get set for some truly fun times. Non-scripted, no story, everything as YOU make it. Boiled down to its simplest form, it is fun.<br><br></p><p>Yes, I understand the word “fun” is all a matter of opinion and everyone has their own views on what the word means. However, any gamer my age can agree that pouring hours and hours in to Super Mario Bros. was a hell of a lot more fun than seeing a group of innocent people being gunned down with machine guns, mass graves being covered up, or an atomic bomb going off in the middle of a populated city. If “games as art” have to sacrifice the fun to gain critical acclaim or we have to be serious constantly throughout our pixelated adventures, this old timey gamer may need to find a new hobby.<br><br></p><blockquote><p>The views expressed here are not Gamercide’s, nor are they endorsed by the site. They are the views of the author and the author alone.</p></blockquote><br><br>View the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeeKnuckle Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Serious high five! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylark95 Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Very good, thought provoking article! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevnvek Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 That was a good read, nice work Spawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWB Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 The average age of a gamer went from eight to thirty five. Nuff said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kira Onime Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Amen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timber King Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Good read. I've often times thought the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green grenades Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Id rather play a serious game I lose interest when the story is to silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylark95 Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Id rather play a serious game I lose interest when the story is to silly.I think that it takes a balance of both. Too serious is the game is boring... too silly and it is not fun because it just feels dumb. I would say there are a lot of games out there that reach the serious side of things too much. Don't get me wrong... there are a bunch of games out there too that are just silly as hell... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
green grenades Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I think that it takes a balance of both. Too serious is the game is boring... too silly and it is not fun because it just feels dumb. I would say there are a lot of games out there that reach the serious side of things too much. Don't get me wrong... there are a bunch of games out there too that are just silly as hell...tha's why i said "to silly", not just silly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevnvek Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I myself play most games for a good story. Of course good gameplay is a must, but I see games as another storytelling medium just like books and TV shows/movies. If the story is weak, it's often hard to get into for me. Then again I often enjoy some things with plots that are ridiculous upon scrutiny, but have good writing and humor (Portal 2).There are many great games with minimal or no story, that have excellent gameplay though. I kind of enjoy both types, but like it best when they come together well. So I usually enjoy either games with great gameplay and minimal story that doesn't hinder it (Like Mario or Beat Hazard), or games with great story that play well (Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, various Final Fantasies, most of Rockstar's games).Setting also is a big part, especially for games trying to come off as artsy. Having beautiful and detailed environments can add to the experience, like Enslaved and Uncharted. But they shouldn't be the main focus all the time, they should be fun to play in.End rant. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dateranoth Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Honestly, the most memorable moment I can recall in any game was when I finally beat Super Mario Bros. I had spent so long trying to get through it all. I don't think I'll ever forget beating it and being so ecstatic about my accomplishment. I had to tell everyone, and the entire time it was fun. There have been many fun experiences since then and great stories to boot, but that's the most memorable moment for me. Loved the opinion Spawn, good read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eminutia Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 I miss enjoying a single player campaign on a single player game. I think those days are over, though there are a select few games coming out that match that fun that was had in the early days of single player only games. Multiplayer games offer a different kind of fun - it's almost as if you're not playing the game for yourself, but to gloat over your kill death ratio to your friends. I remember coming to school in grade 6 and talking about how I beat Sonic The Hedghog twice, or that I found a fun cheat to play with and spent all night doing that. I think those days are over, and less and less people are playing games for personal enjoyment, but instead to have some little stat on the leaderboards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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