Viewing Thread:
"Is rEaLiTy tHe nEw gAmE?"

Computer games started of a long long time ago, where you could take on the role of postman pat and deliver letters, or hop around on different coloured squares.
But have you noticed how the last game you brought didnt last as long as the one before.
The reason being is that they are becoming real, and therefore bore you sooner! When you were young you could spend hours in front of the screen playing simple games and the fun never ended.

But dont we play computer games to get away from real life, when we play computer games we play them for fun, for challenges, however maybe if we played a game which was so real we'd know what to do if that situation ever occured.
Depressing as it may seem ... companies and continuously making games that are so close to real life you start living them. Computer games may start resembling real life situations! Which is scarier then you think ...

I found your replies very interesting and i therefore forgive you for your bluntness :p (im kidding)
They got to the point and gave me a further insight into how different people feel towards the topic, your opinion is very valued and due to this i shall try to write a new and improved version of 'is reality the new game'.
I will look into the idea that games are 'based on things that could potentially happen in our reality', which i see is a good point and arguement.
Thank you for your posts and look out for my next topic which i hope you will reply to again with your ideas of what could be improved! :) Pandaeyes! @ @

And my point is that this topic isn't bothered about the definition of the word 'realistic'.

It's more to do with the fact that games are based too much (on a low level) on things that could potentially happen in our reality. A human driving a car, or shooting people with a gun. Something like tetris, mario, or lemmings however, is totally different.

My point is that none of the games are moddled on life on earth as we know it. We know the hum drum workings of life, not destroying mutant aliens on a far off planet. so games cannot be described as being 'realistic'!!!

CD

All true, but can you read the thread again, and whenever you read the word 'realistic', instead read 'modelled on the world as we know it'. See what thoughts that gives you.

I wouldn't normally be this blunt, but it's late and I'm tired... in my opinion you've valiantly gone crusading off on a vaguely related tangent without really addressing either the main topic of any of the replies.

Sorry I beg to differ, I have to side with Plato on this one. I think that reality is the things you have percieved in your life. That is reality. I have not been in the middle of a battle in WWII so I have no idea what it was like so I cannot say if it is realistic or not because I've never been there. That means games cannot be described as 'realistic'!

CD

Reality, in theory, is just where things act as we expect them to. In a game that is the essence of 'reality' you'd expect people to run from you if you attacked them with a baseball bat, or to find yourself gradually tiring over the course of a 'game-day'.

But what is reallity????

We all have different perceptions of what is normal or realities. You might think to go up to someone with a gun and rob them is a sensible thing to do in the reality of life. I dont think it is. In my life I will never be put ibehind enemy lines as an SAS soldier assigned to wipe out a deadly virus threatening to destroy all human life. That will never be a reality for me. My realities are what happens in MY life. Not anyone elses

Game producers need to think about what they are saying things like the most realistic game to date. A completely realistic game for me would be a game where you are at school learning. That is my reality.

No we play games to escape our hum drum lives. I dont think im ever going to be an ex cop trying to avenge the death of my wife and kid, in the process wiping out 3 drug barons. But that's what you are presented with in Max Payne. That is not ever going to be a reality in my life.

What game designers should be striving for is not a completely realistic game, but a game into who's world you can escape. and draw comparisons with real life.

Games like Majestic try to mix reality with fiction, and it doesn't work. People had nervous breakdowns because they couldnt draw the line between fiction and reality. so that is not the way forward. Games are meant to be fun, not a health hazard!!!!

Going back to my point about escaping into the game world. If I jump out of a window in reeal life, I'm likely to break my leg or ankle. In games however, I will lose a little bit of a bar that has the title of health. I will not be incapacitated and unable to carry on with the game. No i will carry on, as if nothing happened. Sinse it is impossible to recreate the human body, and how different forces affect it, on a computer; you will never have human characters acting as they do here on earth.

Sorry you cannot have a realistic game. Games should be fun and that's it. They are a means of entertainment not a politically correct psychological analysis on human life.

thanks for reading
CD

We're always striving towards reality though, and the gaming-industry has never been any different.

Ever game that is released is critiscised in some way with various aspects highlited for improvement. However, each time the graphics get better and the enemy AI gets better, are we not moving closer and closer towards reality?

Reality has always been the key-word, because ideally what is trying to be made is an enjoyable game SET in a realistic world, one which we can become a part of. Gaming's a psychological past-time as much as anything else.

I dunno...I like the idea of ultra-realistic people in games...then maybe I could settle a few scores;and beat some, by running over a few people I hate in my street. Now that would be sweet...

That's an excellent theory - games becoming boring more quickly because they are realistic. Deserves to be elaborated a bit more, I feel.

pandaeyes, would you like to do the honours?