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I was thinking just now about how games represented death, as in when a player dies ingame.
With Medal of Honor: Frontline, the character wobbles about a bit, falls over and then the screen fades out, all in first person perspective.
With Max Payne, Deus Ex, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto 3 and many other games, the camera switches to a 3rd person overhead perspective and generally just swirls around the body of the player lying on the ground.
Not much is it? I mean, dying isn't just a spiritual thing where your mind fades away or you have an out of body experience, it generally involves pain, disfigurement and a lot of stress. But not many developers seem willing to express this artistically to enhance the realism of the moment.
The closest so far is probably the Resident Evil series or Dino Crisis series, because when you died in those games you also got 'rewarded' with a snippet of your character being eaten/jumped on/mauled etc., albeit a very short one, but it did drive home the message that you'd met your end.
Now Medal of Honor is a prime example of what needs changing. War is a bad thing, killing and getting killed is also a bad thing, and yet the death representation of a gentle rocking side to side, falling over and fading out desensitises the player to what has actually happened, and they feel no hesitation when reloading the level to try again, hopefully without getting killed this time. This is a 15+ rated game. Fifteen year olds have pretty much seen a lot of stuff over their last few years, but it does trouble me that EA (the developers) haven't done much to deter fifteen year olds from thinking that war is fun.
What I'd suggest is this: When Patterson (their character in MOH) dies, it shouldn't be a simple fadeaway, it should be a richly rendered sequence showing in full detail the cause of death (head shot, explosive dismemberment, bloodloss, impalement, crushing, compounded injuries etc), to make the player more aware of what exactly has happened here. It should be just enough to make a player really think about war and its consequences, just enough to make them perhaps remember what real people suffered, but it would also have to be careful not to go over the top to glorify violence.
This goes for most games these days where death is only represented in an abstract way by camera movement alone. This area of gaming is due for an overhaul, and I think developers should be looking hard at how death is to be portrayed in the future. As well as providing more variety to our games by different representations being put forth, it allows creative minds to apply different interpretations to what death should feel like in a gaming environment.
Gaming is all about having fun, so it's unusual to focus on a morbid topic such as this, but gaming is also about teaching us different things. We learn a lot from playing games, so it's about time we tackled death seriously to make gaming more involving for players, opening their minds to other peoples' view of what death is about and its possible consequences.
With Medal of Honor: Frontline, the character wobbles about a bit, falls over and then the screen fades out, all in first person perspective.
With Max Payne, Deus Ex, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto 3 and many other games, the camera switches to a 3rd person overhead perspective and generally just swirls around the body of the player lying on the ground.
Not much is it? I mean, dying isn't just a spiritual thing where your mind fades away or you have an out of body experience, it generally involves pain, disfigurement and a lot of stress. But not many developers seem willing to express this artistically to enhance the realism of the moment.
The closest so far is probably the Resident Evil series or Dino Crisis series, because when you died in those games you also got 'rewarded' with a snippet of your character being eaten/jumped on/mauled etc., albeit a very short one, but it did drive home the message that you'd met your end.
Now Medal of Honor is a prime example of what needs changing. War is a bad thing, killing and getting killed is also a bad thing, and yet the death representation of a gentle rocking side to side, falling over and fading out desensitises the player to what has actually happened, and they feel no hesitation when reloading the level to try again, hopefully without getting killed this time. This is a 15+ rated game. Fifteen year olds have pretty much seen a lot of stuff over their last few years, but it does trouble me that EA (the developers) haven't done much to deter fifteen year olds from thinking that war is fun.
What I'd suggest is this: When Patterson (their character in MOH) dies, it shouldn't be a simple fadeaway, it should be a richly rendered sequence showing in full detail the cause of death (head shot, explosive dismemberment, bloodloss, impalement, crushing, compounded injuries etc), to make the player more aware of what exactly has happened here. It should be just enough to make a player really think about war and its consequences, just enough to make them perhaps remember what real people suffered, but it would also have to be careful not to go over the top to glorify violence.
This goes for most games these days where death is only represented in an abstract way by camera movement alone. This area of gaming is due for an overhaul, and I think developers should be looking hard at how death is to be portrayed in the future. As well as providing more variety to our games by different representations being put forth, it allows creative minds to apply different interpretations to what death should feel like in a gaming environment.
Gaming is all about having fun, so it's unusual to focus on a morbid topic such as this, but gaming is also about teaching us different things. We learn a lot from playing games, so it's about time we tackled death seriously to make gaming more involving for players, opening their minds to other peoples' view of what death is about and its possible consequences.
Starlight wrote:
.
>
> Half Life makes me laugh though as although you die superbly quickly
> with no big ending sequence at all you can still look around to your
> hearts content until you press something.
LOL, what makes me laugh is the way you can see bits of your insides scattered all over the floor. Put on Zero Gravity and watch your intestines bounce down the corridor.
.
>
> Half Life makes me laugh though as although you die superbly quickly
> with no big ending sequence at all you can still look around to your
> hearts content until you press something.
LOL, what makes me laugh is the way you can see bits of your insides scattered all over the floor. Put on Zero Gravity and watch your intestines bounce down the corridor.
I agree with old Tilty down there about people would want to die to see the "cool" death sequence but still I see what you're saying.
In Goldeneye it poor blood down the screen (bond style) and would replay the death three times in 3rd person so the result of you've just dies hit home there.
Half Life makes me laugh though as although you die superbly quickly with no big ending sequence at all you can still look around to your hearts content until you press something.
Heh.
In Goldeneye it poor blood down the screen (bond style) and would replay the death three times in 3rd person so the result of you've just dies hit home there.
Half Life makes me laugh though as although you die superbly quickly with no big ending sequence at all you can still look around to your hearts content until you press something.
Heh.
If that happened then i'd keep killing myself in new and intresting ways to see what happens. I don't think anyone would take it seriously and you'd just find the majority of gamers flinging their characters off the side of cliffs to see what happens in slow motion and from different angles.
Infact I think the only way gamers would take their characters dieing seriously is if everytime they died it shot an eletric current up the control pad and gave you a dirty great shock, but that would just be stupid. Intresting post though..
Infact I think the only way gamers would take their characters dieing seriously is if everytime they died it shot an eletric current up the control pad and gave you a dirty great shock, but that would just be stupid. Intresting post though..
Excellent point FantasyMeister.
If that happened I wouldn't want to die again in the game!
If that happened I wouldn't want to die again in the game!
Death plays a major part in games, and it would be cool to see how exactly the lead character was killed.
It would be a bit gruesome to be given a detailed analysis of the fatal injuries, but it would be an original way of depicting this all-to-frequent gaming occurrence.
It would be a bit gruesome to be given a detailed analysis of the fatal injuries, but it would be an original way of depicting this all-to-frequent gaming occurrence.
FantasyMeister wrote:
>killing and getting killed is also a bad thing
Is it i always thought getting killed would be quite groovy. Does anyone agree?
*Looks around*
>killing and getting killed is also a bad thing
Is it i always thought getting killed would be quite groovy. Does anyone agree?
*Looks around*
very true.
i am wondering what turok evolution will be like death wise.
death scenes should be improved in the violent games like residant evil/perfect dark etc.
BUT only on games already retaed 18 cos if the death scenes make a game higher rated then it would make it harder for younger people to play.
I mean many shoot em ups are mainly fun without any blood/gore (TWINE, agen under fire)
hmm
well written anyway
i am wondering what turok evolution will be like death wise.
death scenes should be improved in the violent games like residant evil/perfect dark etc.
BUT only on games already retaed 18 cos if the death scenes make a game higher rated then it would make it harder for younger people to play.
I mean many shoot em ups are mainly fun without any blood/gore (TWINE, agen under fire)
hmm
well written anyway
I was thinking just now about how games represented death, as in when a player dies ingame.
With Medal of Honor: Frontline, the character wobbles about a bit, falls over and then the screen fades out, all in first person perspective.
With Max Payne, Deus Ex, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto 3 and many other games, the camera switches to a 3rd person overhead perspective and generally just swirls around the body of the player lying on the ground.
Not much is it? I mean, dying isn't just a spiritual thing where your mind fades away or you have an out of body experience, it generally involves pain, disfigurement and a lot of stress. But not many developers seem willing to express this artistically to enhance the realism of the moment.
The closest so far is probably the Resident Evil series or Dino Crisis series, because when you died in those games you also got 'rewarded' with a snippet of your character being eaten/jumped on/mauled etc., albeit a very short one, but it did drive home the message that you'd met your end.
Now Medal of Honor is a prime example of what needs changing. War is a bad thing, killing and getting killed is also a bad thing, and yet the death representation of a gentle rocking side to side, falling over and fading out desensitises the player to what has actually happened, and they feel no hesitation when reloading the level to try again, hopefully without getting killed this time. This is a 15+ rated game. Fifteen year olds have pretty much seen a lot of stuff over their last few years, but it does trouble me that EA (the developers) haven't done much to deter fifteen year olds from thinking that war is fun.
What I'd suggest is this: When Patterson (their character in MOH) dies, it shouldn't be a simple fadeaway, it should be a richly rendered sequence showing in full detail the cause of death (head shot, explosive dismemberment, bloodloss, impalement, crushing, compounded injuries etc), to make the player more aware of what exactly has happened here. It should be just enough to make a player really think about war and its consequences, just enough to make them perhaps remember what real people suffered, but it would also have to be careful not to go over the top to glorify violence.
This goes for most games these days where death is only represented in an abstract way by camera movement alone. This area of gaming is due for an overhaul, and I think developers should be looking hard at how death is to be portrayed in the future. As well as providing more variety to our games by different representations being put forth, it allows creative minds to apply different interpretations to what death should feel like in a gaming environment.
Gaming is all about having fun, so it's unusual to focus on a morbid topic such as this, but gaming is also about teaching us different things. We learn a lot from playing games, so it's about time we tackled death seriously to make gaming more involving for players, opening their minds to other peoples' view of what death is about and its possible consequences.
With Medal of Honor: Frontline, the character wobbles about a bit, falls over and then the screen fades out, all in first person perspective.
With Max Payne, Deus Ex, Final Fantasy, Tomb Raider, Grand Theft Auto 3 and many other games, the camera switches to a 3rd person overhead perspective and generally just swirls around the body of the player lying on the ground.
Not much is it? I mean, dying isn't just a spiritual thing where your mind fades away or you have an out of body experience, it generally involves pain, disfigurement and a lot of stress. But not many developers seem willing to express this artistically to enhance the realism of the moment.
The closest so far is probably the Resident Evil series or Dino Crisis series, because when you died in those games you also got 'rewarded' with a snippet of your character being eaten/jumped on/mauled etc., albeit a very short one, but it did drive home the message that you'd met your end.
Now Medal of Honor is a prime example of what needs changing. War is a bad thing, killing and getting killed is also a bad thing, and yet the death representation of a gentle rocking side to side, falling over and fading out desensitises the player to what has actually happened, and they feel no hesitation when reloading the level to try again, hopefully without getting killed this time. This is a 15+ rated game. Fifteen year olds have pretty much seen a lot of stuff over their last few years, but it does trouble me that EA (the developers) haven't done much to deter fifteen year olds from thinking that war is fun.
What I'd suggest is this: When Patterson (their character in MOH) dies, it shouldn't be a simple fadeaway, it should be a richly rendered sequence showing in full detail the cause of death (head shot, explosive dismemberment, bloodloss, impalement, crushing, compounded injuries etc), to make the player more aware of what exactly has happened here. It should be just enough to make a player really think about war and its consequences, just enough to make them perhaps remember what real people suffered, but it would also have to be careful not to go over the top to glorify violence.
This goes for most games these days where death is only represented in an abstract way by camera movement alone. This area of gaming is due for an overhaul, and I think developers should be looking hard at how death is to be portrayed in the future. As well as providing more variety to our games by different representations being put forth, it allows creative minds to apply different interpretations to what death should feel like in a gaming environment.
Gaming is all about having fun, so it's unusual to focus on a morbid topic such as this, but gaming is also about teaching us different things. We learn a lot from playing games, so it's about time we tackled death seriously to make gaming more involving for players, opening their minds to other peoples' view of what death is about and its possible consequences.