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In the future,imagine there was a game that was created called “The Game of Virtual Life”. This game would be like no other. There would be no real story lines, just real life scenarios occur which you must solve the problem. All you do is just go on the “Generate Scenario” button and then a real life scenario will appear. This can range from fixing a screwdriver to working out what clothes to buy. If you are having problems getting this idea in your head (quite a few of you I expect) I will give you some examples to show you what I mean.
Example 1: You are generated into the body of 28 year old Peter Wilson who has a wife, a child and another expected in a few months. A perfect life you may think but I forgot to tell you one thing, he has ginger hair and his work colleagues are driving him suicidal with torment. You have a number of different options you can do to tackle the problem.
1) Do the manly thing and ignore them (yeah, right)
2) Stealth your way into their houses whilst they are asleep and dye their hair ginger
3) Walk into work and if they say anything about your hair then slap them silly
4) Walk into work and if they say anything about your hair then you pull out a sawn-off and pump them full of lead (with a ginger hair on the tip of each bullet)
5) Spend 5 years in your attic creating a formula for a special warhead which when detonated, everyone in a 100 mile radius is turned ginger, this incident is called “The Great Fire Balls of London”.
Once you have stopped the mischievous workers from making fun of your hair Colour then you are warped into another Real-Life scenario.
Example 2: You are 53 year old Colin Robinson, a bald man who has been entered into a beauty contest. The only problem is that there is only one wig left at the local wig shop. And his neighbor is also after the last wig, so the only way to get it is to get to the wig shop first. You have a few options to choose from to get the wig:
1) Call the wig shop and reserve the wig for yourself
2) Hit your neighbor over the head with a spanner
3) Challenge him to a lawn mower race to the wig shop
4) Go to bed
5) Fix your hearing aid
Example 3: As 31 year old Peter Ellis was sitting on a park bench eating his sandwich, a pigeon swooped down and released a huge dollop of excrement on to Peters head. To his dismay peter stood up in fright as the horrible substance oozed down his forehead and eventually onto his brow. Peter didn’t know what to do but as the pigeon flew away he decided to:
1) Take his anger out on a couple, who were kissing on the bench next to him.
2) Throw his Tuna sandwich at a young child
3) Suddenly grow wings and catch up to the bird and kick it
4) Paste the bird plop onto his sandwich and resume eating it
5) Sit down and cry out “why does this always happen to me!”
The point to all this? Are games better when they are realistic, or are they better when it is based on more of a fantasy world? The answer is both. The Getaway is arguably more realistic than Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. But is it better? Maybe a more fictional approach is the most popular in this example.
Yet, Pro Evolution Soccer is more realistic than red card and gamers tend to go for the most realistic when choosing a football game.
Would you enjoy a game about a mining colony on mars that rebel against their leaders or would you rather defeat German troops in a World War 2 based shooting game?
I think both fiction and non-fiction based games are needed in the gaming world today.
Example 1: You are generated into the body of 28 year old Peter Wilson who has a wife, a child and another expected in a few months. A perfect life you may think but I forgot to tell you one thing, he has ginger hair and his work colleagues are driving him suicidal with torment. You have a number of different options you can do to tackle the problem.
1) Do the manly thing and ignore them (yeah, right)
2) Stealth your way into their houses whilst they are asleep and dye their hair ginger
3) Walk into work and if they say anything about your hair then slap them silly
4) Walk into work and if they say anything about your hair then you pull out a sawn-off and pump them full of lead (with a ginger hair on the tip of each bullet)
5) Spend 5 years in your attic creating a formula for a special warhead which when detonated, everyone in a 100 mile radius is turned ginger, this incident is called “The Great Fire Balls of London”.
Once you have stopped the mischievous workers from making fun of your hair Colour then you are warped into another Real-Life scenario.
Example 2: You are 53 year old Colin Robinson, a bald man who has been entered into a beauty contest. The only problem is that there is only one wig left at the local wig shop. And his neighbor is also after the last wig, so the only way to get it is to get to the wig shop first. You have a few options to choose from to get the wig:
1) Call the wig shop and reserve the wig for yourself
2) Hit your neighbor over the head with a spanner
3) Challenge him to a lawn mower race to the wig shop
4) Go to bed
5) Fix your hearing aid
Example 3: As 31 year old Peter Ellis was sitting on a park bench eating his sandwich, a pigeon swooped down and released a huge dollop of excrement on to Peters head. To his dismay peter stood up in fright as the horrible substance oozed down his forehead and eventually onto his brow. Peter didn’t know what to do but as the pigeon flew away he decided to:
1) Take his anger out on a couple, who were kissing on the bench next to him.
2) Throw his Tuna sandwich at a young child
3) Suddenly grow wings and catch up to the bird and kick it
4) Paste the bird plop onto his sandwich and resume eating it
5) Sit down and cry out “why does this always happen to me!”
The point to all this? Are games better when they are realistic, or are they better when it is based on more of a fantasy world? The answer is both. The Getaway is arguably more realistic than Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. But is it better? Maybe a more fictional approach is the most popular in this example.
Yet, Pro Evolution Soccer is more realistic than red card and gamers tend to go for the most realistic when choosing a football game.
Would you enjoy a game about a mining colony on mars that rebel against their leaders or would you rather defeat German troops in a World War 2 based shooting game?
I think both fiction and non-fiction based games are needed in the gaming world today.
Your last sentence sums it all up really:
"I think both fiction and non-fiction based games are needed in the gaming world today"
Games that try to be too realistic sometimes fall on there face with the developers trying to spend too much time on this, and forgetting to actually put a game in there. I was worried that this is where the Getaway was heading, but that seems to come out ok. Another thing is, some of the games that try to be too realistic often can be a little on the boring side, like we have seen it all before and long for something new. But then, they also allow for some tence gaming, like in stealth games and such.
But we too need as you say the non fiction games, they give us something new to see and play, and often are more exciting too.
In the end though, its probably more likely that you will enjoy one game more than the other, depending on what type of game that you are playing. Obviously if its a war game or something its more than likely going to be realistic as thats what suits it, and visa versa.
"I think both fiction and non-fiction based games are needed in the gaming world today"
Games that try to be too realistic sometimes fall on there face with the developers trying to spend too much time on this, and forgetting to actually put a game in there. I was worried that this is where the Getaway was heading, but that seems to come out ok. Another thing is, some of the games that try to be too realistic often can be a little on the boring side, like we have seen it all before and long for something new. But then, they also allow for some tence gaming, like in stealth games and such.
But we too need as you say the non fiction games, they give us something new to see and play, and often are more exciting too.
In the end though, its probably more likely that you will enjoy one game more than the other, depending on what type of game that you are playing. Obviously if its a war game or something its more than likely going to be realistic as thats what suits it, and visa versa.
In the future,imagine there was a game that was created called “The Game of Virtual Life”. This game would be like no other. There would be no real story lines, just real life scenarios occur which you must solve the problem. All you do is just go on the “Generate Scenario” button and then a real life scenario will appear. This can range from fixing a screwdriver to working out what clothes to buy. If you are having problems getting this idea in your head (quite a few of you I expect) I will give you some examples to show you what I mean.
Example 1: You are generated into the body of 28 year old Peter Wilson who has a wife, a child and another expected in a few months. A perfect life you may think but I forgot to tell you one thing, he has ginger hair and his work colleagues are driving him suicidal with torment. You have a number of different options you can do to tackle the problem.
1) Do the manly thing and ignore them (yeah, right)
2) Stealth your way into their houses whilst they are asleep and dye their hair ginger
3) Walk into work and if they say anything about your hair then slap them silly
4) Walk into work and if they say anything about your hair then you pull out a sawn-off and pump them full of lead (with a ginger hair on the tip of each bullet)
5) Spend 5 years in your attic creating a formula for a special warhead which when detonated, everyone in a 100 mile radius is turned ginger, this incident is called “The Great Fire Balls of London”.
Once you have stopped the mischievous workers from making fun of your hair Colour then you are warped into another Real-Life scenario.
Example 2: You are 53 year old Colin Robinson, a bald man who has been entered into a beauty contest. The only problem is that there is only one wig left at the local wig shop. And his neighbor is also after the last wig, so the only way to get it is to get to the wig shop first. You have a few options to choose from to get the wig:
1) Call the wig shop and reserve the wig for yourself
2) Hit your neighbor over the head with a spanner
3) Challenge him to a lawn mower race to the wig shop
4) Go to bed
5) Fix your hearing aid
Example 3: As 31 year old Peter Ellis was sitting on a park bench eating his sandwich, a pigeon swooped down and released a huge dollop of excrement on to Peters head. To his dismay peter stood up in fright as the horrible substance oozed down his forehead and eventually onto his brow. Peter didn’t know what to do but as the pigeon flew away he decided to:
1) Take his anger out on a couple, who were kissing on the bench next to him.
2) Throw his Tuna sandwich at a young child
3) Suddenly grow wings and catch up to the bird and kick it
4) Paste the bird plop onto his sandwich and resume eating it
5) Sit down and cry out “why does this always happen to me!”
The point to all this? Are games better when they are realistic, or are they better when it is based on more of a fantasy world? The answer is both. The Getaway is arguably more realistic than Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. But is it better? Maybe a more fictional approach is the most popular in this example.
Yet, Pro Evolution Soccer is more realistic than red card and gamers tend to go for the most realistic when choosing a football game.
Would you enjoy a game about a mining colony on mars that rebel against their leaders or would you rather defeat German troops in a World War 2 based shooting game?
I think both fiction and non-fiction based games are needed in the gaming world today.
Example 1: You are generated into the body of 28 year old Peter Wilson who has a wife, a child and another expected in a few months. A perfect life you may think but I forgot to tell you one thing, he has ginger hair and his work colleagues are driving him suicidal with torment. You have a number of different options you can do to tackle the problem.
1) Do the manly thing and ignore them (yeah, right)
2) Stealth your way into their houses whilst they are asleep and dye their hair ginger
3) Walk into work and if they say anything about your hair then slap them silly
4) Walk into work and if they say anything about your hair then you pull out a sawn-off and pump them full of lead (with a ginger hair on the tip of each bullet)
5) Spend 5 years in your attic creating a formula for a special warhead which when detonated, everyone in a 100 mile radius is turned ginger, this incident is called “The Great Fire Balls of London”.
Once you have stopped the mischievous workers from making fun of your hair Colour then you are warped into another Real-Life scenario.
Example 2: You are 53 year old Colin Robinson, a bald man who has been entered into a beauty contest. The only problem is that there is only one wig left at the local wig shop. And his neighbor is also after the last wig, so the only way to get it is to get to the wig shop first. You have a few options to choose from to get the wig:
1) Call the wig shop and reserve the wig for yourself
2) Hit your neighbor over the head with a spanner
3) Challenge him to a lawn mower race to the wig shop
4) Go to bed
5) Fix your hearing aid
Example 3: As 31 year old Peter Ellis was sitting on a park bench eating his sandwich, a pigeon swooped down and released a huge dollop of excrement on to Peters head. To his dismay peter stood up in fright as the horrible substance oozed down his forehead and eventually onto his brow. Peter didn’t know what to do but as the pigeon flew away he decided to:
1) Take his anger out on a couple, who were kissing on the bench next to him.
2) Throw his Tuna sandwich at a young child
3) Suddenly grow wings and catch up to the bird and kick it
4) Paste the bird plop onto his sandwich and resume eating it
5) Sit down and cry out “why does this always happen to me!”
The point to all this? Are games better when they are realistic, or are they better when it is based on more of a fantasy world? The answer is both. The Getaway is arguably more realistic than Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. But is it better? Maybe a more fictional approach is the most popular in this example.
Yet, Pro Evolution Soccer is more realistic than red card and gamers tend to go for the most realistic when choosing a football game.
Would you enjoy a game about a mining colony on mars that rebel against their leaders or would you rather defeat German troops in a World War 2 based shooting game?
I think both fiction and non-fiction based games are needed in the gaming world today.