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Humour, or possibly humor if the U.S. of A. have their way, seems to be something that we lack these days in games. Most other elements of good movies seems to have crossed over to the games arena, like special effects, stunts, car chases, all star casts and so on......but what about humour?
Sure, it's kinda funny to blow your mates up with a bazooka from 4 feet away as he walks around the corner like in Grand Theft Auto multiplay, or it makes you laugh when he's just pulling back his leg to shoot the golden goal in a FIFA match and you send a defender in with both feet to bring him down on the edge of the penalty area, or on the final lap of a 30 lap race you rear end him on Gran Turismo to send him spinning onto the grass and out of contention, but it doesn't seem so funny when you are playing against an AI opponent, because you know instinctively that a silicon chip doesn't have feelings, so you can't really take the mickey out of it as you would a mate.
Since games are meant to be a source of entertainment, why has humour not made such a big impact yet? Sure, it's hard to translate some of that wacky Japanese humour on our shores, but perhaps a British developer might like to tackle the problem of creating a game sometime that, as you play, it actually makes you laugh, for various different reasons. It could be in the form of something like Earthworm Jim, who as a character made you laugh at his antics, but the game itself was still your average shooter, humour wasn't exactly essential to its plot.
Maybe if we could agree on what makes us laugh we could start to get somewhere, so:
When was the last time you were laughing out loud playing a computer game, and why?
Sure, it's kinda funny to blow your mates up with a bazooka from 4 feet away as he walks around the corner like in Grand Theft Auto multiplay, or it makes you laugh when he's just pulling back his leg to shoot the golden goal in a FIFA match and you send a defender in with both feet to bring him down on the edge of the penalty area, or on the final lap of a 30 lap race you rear end him on Gran Turismo to send him spinning onto the grass and out of contention, but it doesn't seem so funny when you are playing against an AI opponent, because you know instinctively that a silicon chip doesn't have feelings, so you can't really take the mickey out of it as you would a mate.
Since games are meant to be a source of entertainment, why has humour not made such a big impact yet? Sure, it's hard to translate some of that wacky Japanese humour on our shores, but perhaps a British developer might like to tackle the problem of creating a game sometime that, as you play, it actually makes you laugh, for various different reasons. It could be in the form of something like Earthworm Jim, who as a character made you laugh at his antics, but the game itself was still your average shooter, humour wasn't exactly essential to its plot.
Maybe if we could agree on what makes us laugh we could start to get somewhere, so:
When was the last time you were laughing out loud playing a computer game, and why?
I'm with wookie on this one, unintentional humour can be the best kind. I too was playing Medden 2001 with my mate, and it was hilarious simply 'cause neither of us had a clue what we were doing...
The only other games I can remember laughing at were the insanely stupid ones that you used to get on those compilations of DOS games...Avoid the Noid (giant pink ninja rabbits assaulting a pizza delivery boy) and Evelators from Hell (Collect every gem in a building and get out before the stick robot with a little laser shot you). Both of these were just so wierd you had to laugh.
The only other games I can remember laughing at were the insanely stupid ones that you used to get on those compilations of DOS games...Avoid the Noid (giant pink ninja rabbits assaulting a pizza delivery boy) and Evelators from Hell (Collect every gem in a building and get out before the stick robot with a little laser shot you). Both of these were just so wierd you had to laugh.
All you would have to do to make a game funnier is to have a laughing gas add on that blew the gas at you every time it was programmed to. Actually, that could be the answer for all those programmers who create terrible games, just constantly send out signals to blow laughing gas in your face and you won't care how bad the game is.
But seriously, another problem is the cross atlantic humour problem. Some sit-coms can get it right, Friends, Fraiser etc but a lot of americans don't 'get' our dry humour and we don't always laugh at all their over-the-top stuff either. So a humour based game has to be very careful where it treads if it is going to be sold in more than one country. Then you have the language problems for language-based and slang based jokes. It's a minefield.
But seriously, another problem is the cross atlantic humour problem. Some sit-coms can get it right, Friends, Fraiser etc but a lot of americans don't 'get' our dry humour and we don't always laugh at all their over-the-top stuff either. So a humour based game has to be very careful where it treads if it is going to be sold in more than one country. Then you have the language problems for language-based and slang based jokes. It's a minefield.
WWF No Mercy ladder matches are hilarious.
Infact WWF No Mercy is simply hilarious.
Especially when you play through the Womens title as the Rock and see him in the bikini contest.
It's side splitting!
Infact WWF No Mercy is simply hilarious.
Especially when you play through the Womens title as the Rock and see him in the bikini contest.
It's side splitting!
From what I can gather pretty much all successful comedy games have been made by designers from our shores, e.g Lemmings, Simon the sorcerer, Earthworm Jim, Worms, Giants : Citizen Kabuto, etc... (barring LucasArts of course) though often sold through American distributers.
The main problem with comedy games is the by and large they've not been very funny... It was a subject that used to come up a lot during the early ninites Amiga/ST era. From what I remeber, people kinda decided at the time that the problem was that people were trying to make a game that appealed to a wide audience, comedy, being very much a personal object doesnt hold up well against such treatment (prime time sit-coms being a good exampe :) )
It didnt used to be a problem in the early eighties, since the market was much smaller, and many games were written wholly by one person, so the personal humor of the person was often very evident (Minor Willy, Everyones a Wally, etc.)
Although with the current batch of humorous games (No One Lives Forever, Giants : Citizen Kabuto, etc...) hopefully things will change in the future
The main problem with comedy games is the by and large they've not been very funny... It was a subject that used to come up a lot during the early ninites Amiga/ST era. From what I remeber, people kinda decided at the time that the problem was that people were trying to make a game that appealed to a wide audience, comedy, being very much a personal object doesnt hold up well against such treatment (prime time sit-coms being a good exampe :) )
It didnt used to be a problem in the early eighties, since the market was much smaller, and many games were written wholly by one person, so the personal humor of the person was often very evident (Minor Willy, Everyones a Wally, etc.)
Although with the current batch of humorous games (No One Lives Forever, Giants : Citizen Kabuto, etc...) hopefully things will change in the future
> When was the last time you were laughing out loud playing
> a computer game, and why?
Believe it or not, it was about 2 weeks ago, while playing Madden NFL 2001 on PS2.
Me and a friend are playing a Franchise game, and have put ourselves in as players on our respective teams.
So I'm playing a game, and 'I' catch a long pass and run it in for a touchdown. Then 'I' throw the ball down and yell out, "I'm a baaaaad dream."
Me any my mate just looked at each other and cracked up laughing.
Okay, doesn't sound much now; I suppose you really had to be there, but it was hilarious to us.
I usually find that 'unintentional' humour the funniest kind - something that strikes you as funny, but isn't intentionally designed to be funny. Often, something that tries to be deliberately funny falls flat on its face - like a lot of the humour Monkey Island (much as I love the games).
> a computer game, and why?
Believe it or not, it was about 2 weeks ago, while playing Madden NFL 2001 on PS2.
Me and a friend are playing a Franchise game, and have put ourselves in as players on our respective teams.
So I'm playing a game, and 'I' catch a long pass and run it in for a touchdown. Then 'I' throw the ball down and yell out, "I'm a baaaaad dream."
Me any my mate just looked at each other and cracked up laughing.
Okay, doesn't sound much now; I suppose you really had to be there, but it was hilarious to us.
I usually find that 'unintentional' humour the funniest kind - something that strikes you as funny, but isn't intentionally designed to be funny. Often, something that tries to be deliberately funny falls flat on its face - like a lot of the humour Monkey Island (much as I love the games).
Nice topic. You have a very good point there - games just aren't funny on your own. When you outwit a friend you can laugh at their feebleness, yet do the same thing to the computer and you'd call it dodgy AI. Some games have attempts at humour though, Oddworld for example, and everyone must have laughed at something on the earlier Earthworm Jim games. Duke Nukem also had it's own kind of black humour.
The real amusement in games though, comes from seeing your friend's reactions - the constant cries of "You git!" and "I swear I pressed 'grab'!" coupled with the screams of anguish,or somebody's silence as they unconvincongly try to pretend they're not getting angry..
..which is why multiplayer net gaming can never be quite as much fun.
As for jokes 'built in' to the game, there's not a lot you can really do besides slapstick, is there? I suppose with enough FMV clips you can add jokes in the same way as they appear in films.....it depends, how serious do you want your games?
The real amusement in games though, comes from seeing your friend's reactions - the constant cries of "You git!" and "I swear I pressed 'grab'!" coupled with the screams of anguish,or somebody's silence as they unconvincongly try to pretend they're not getting angry..
..which is why multiplayer net gaming can never be quite as much fun.
As for jokes 'built in' to the game, there's not a lot you can really do besides slapstick, is there? I suppose with enough FMV clips you can add jokes in the same way as they appear in films.....it depends, how serious do you want your games?
Humour, or possibly humor if the U.S. of A. have their way, seems to be something that we lack these days in games. Most other elements of good movies seems to have crossed over to the games arena, like special effects, stunts, car chases, all star casts and so on......but what about humour?
Sure, it's kinda funny to blow your mates up with a bazooka from 4 feet away as he walks around the corner like in Grand Theft Auto multiplay, or it makes you laugh when he's just pulling back his leg to shoot the golden goal in a FIFA match and you send a defender in with both feet to bring him down on the edge of the penalty area, or on the final lap of a 30 lap race you rear end him on Gran Turismo to send him spinning onto the grass and out of contention, but it doesn't seem so funny when you are playing against an AI opponent, because you know instinctively that a silicon chip doesn't have feelings, so you can't really take the mickey out of it as you would a mate.
Since games are meant to be a source of entertainment, why has humour not made such a big impact yet? Sure, it's hard to translate some of that wacky Japanese humour on our shores, but perhaps a British developer might like to tackle the problem of creating a game sometime that, as you play, it actually makes you laugh, for various different reasons. It could be in the form of something like Earthworm Jim, who as a character made you laugh at his antics, but the game itself was still your average shooter, humour wasn't exactly essential to its plot.
Maybe if we could agree on what makes us laugh we could start to get somewhere, so:
When was the last time you were laughing out loud playing a computer game, and why?
Sure, it's kinda funny to blow your mates up with a bazooka from 4 feet away as he walks around the corner like in Grand Theft Auto multiplay, or it makes you laugh when he's just pulling back his leg to shoot the golden goal in a FIFA match and you send a defender in with both feet to bring him down on the edge of the penalty area, or on the final lap of a 30 lap race you rear end him on Gran Turismo to send him spinning onto the grass and out of contention, but it doesn't seem so funny when you are playing against an AI opponent, because you know instinctively that a silicon chip doesn't have feelings, so you can't really take the mickey out of it as you would a mate.
Since games are meant to be a source of entertainment, why has humour not made such a big impact yet? Sure, it's hard to translate some of that wacky Japanese humour on our shores, but perhaps a British developer might like to tackle the problem of creating a game sometime that, as you play, it actually makes you laugh, for various different reasons. It could be in the form of something like Earthworm Jim, who as a character made you laugh at his antics, but the game itself was still your average shooter, humour wasn't exactly essential to its plot.
Maybe if we could agree on what makes us laugh we could start to get somewhere, so:
When was the last time you were laughing out loud playing a computer game, and why?