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Cookie-Cutter Hero School
Why are bad guys far more interesting than good guys? Despite games technology advancing by leaps and bounds every year, we're often left with the same tired plot concept: you are the unstoppable hero, traumatised by your recent past, with only a machine gun and conveniently-placed health powerups to speed you towards your Destiny.As Shannon Drake asks in the latest Escapist, "If we can make world-class boob jiggle physics, someone out there can write a compelling, interesting good guy who's as interesting as the bad guys we know and love." Good guys exist for us to project ourselves on to, but bland, cardboard cut-out heroes are still unappealing. In MMOs this is still the case--we can shape our characters in almost any way we choose, but fundamentally we'll still end up bashing at the same monsters as everyone else, with little care for why we're doing so in the first place.Some games have attempted to put more depth into the player-to-protagonist experience--Fable, Jade Empire and Black and White all encouraged you, the player, to shape your character and the world. However, that's only a step in the right direction. Believable enemies and sidekicks may require intense AI, but writing a good story with complex characters isn't impossible.
Good deeds
Issue 28 of The Escapist has two pieces that look at the good deeds players do, and both are interesting to read. Mark Wallace's "One Night in Arathi" is a tale of cross-faction co-operation, and John Walker's "Sick of Healing" talks about the problems healers can face as a support class.I've encountered cross-faction friendliness a number of times, occasionally instigating it. My PvE server characters shy away from unnecessary combat, and although my PvP toons are much more battle-hungry, some bad ganking experiences make me steer clear of any rogue Alliance players. Sure, it's the carebear way to play, but one of the great things about WoW is that you can have moments like Mark Wallace's Arathi adventure as well as some terrific in-the-field PvP.As for the healing, I wholeheartedly agree that healers tend to get a raw deal. One slip up--one!--and it can all be over in a heartbeat, with the healer getting the blame for everything. Fortunately, the death penalty in WoW isn't as severe as in some other games--John Walker's article talks about City of Heroes, which uses an "XP debt" system to make death a real pain. I enjoy playing a healer most of the time, but John is spot on about many players' attitudes to us.
Does gaming cost too much?
This week's Escapist has a Casual Friday piece concerning the cost of gaming. According to the article, games--as compared to movies--cost too much, providing a barrier to entry that will stop the industry from hitting mainstream. The short shelf-life of games is also a problem: instead of having new, expensive games every six months, why not have cheaper games that are available for longer, just like movies can be bought years after their release?It's an interesting point, but Jason Smith seems to have entirely overlooked one of the hottest segments of the gaming market at the moment--casual games. Casual games meet all the criteria--they're cheap, there's a low barrier to entry technologically (they're even available on multiple platforms), they're widespread and available for long after their release, especially if they're good. Casual games may well be the key to the mainstream, and yet this article entirely ignores their existence. Nice work.
How one game changed 2005
No prizes for guessing which game the title of this post refers to; this is WoW Insider, after all. Online magazine The Escapist has a piece up charting the tremendous effect World of Warcraft has had on massively multiplayer gaming, and how WoW has changed the MMO landscape forever. WoW has realised many visions as well as plotting its own course in the MMO space, but will it stand up to the onslaught of competing titles that think they now have what it takes to hit the mainstream? We hope it will; the Burning Crusade expansion is a good start, and we can't wait to see what other cool stuff Blizzard has in store this year![via Joystiq]
