Poll: Are you a 'realism' or 'arcade' person?

[StriderShinryu]

Why is arcade the opposite of realism? Arcade games are played in arcades they have don't have any special designation beyond that.

What would your chosen terms be then for, say, the difference between a simulation game like Madden and a game like NFL Blitz?

"Realistic" and "not realistic".

That's still a fairly arbitrary choice though. Arcade and simulation/realistic fit better with terms that gamers are familiar with as they encompass both aesthetic and, more importantly in this case, gameplay. You could easily have a game that looks realistic but is purely an arcade style game with little/no realistic aspects to it's actual play. The Tony Hawk series for example.

 

[MagnetoHydroDynamics]

I like the mix. I do a little bit of hobby game programming myself, and I find that doing narrative is often more interesting than graphics.

Also I am not very good at sprite making.

But very good at storytelling.

Game Boy Advance level graphics + Current Gen story telling (a. la. mass effect) = win in my books.

 

[BloodSquirrel]

When it comes to games genres (quite a few in fact, not all) there are usually two categories of which to put them in, those that focus on realism and those that focus on arcade, take Gran Turismo 5 vs Split / Second for example, or WWE Smackdown vs Raw vs WWE Superstars. You get my drift.

So do you prefer realism in your games or arcade frantics?

I prefer to think of it as "immersion" vs "streamlined".

Realism, by itself, is just boring. Realism used as a tool for immersion can be very powerful.

 

[Gigatoast]

That really depends, I can stand realism if there's a real good story to go along with it, like Half-Life 2 (if you can call that realism), or Heavy Rain. But a "realistic" game that's plot is cheesecake tugboat retarded, like pretty much any CoD, or Resident Evil then no, GAWD no.

Actually come to think of it, I'm also a big fan of the skate. series, but that's because those games have great juxtaposition. In Tony Hawk, where you're bouncing off hot air balloons one minute, and grinding on a T-Rex the next it makes everything seem like it's not a big deal. But in skate. with it's hyper realistic physics based gameplay, you pull any of that stuff off and you'll feel badass.

 

[SSX-BlueFlames]

I just turned on manual targetting in Silent Hunter IV for the first time, something I've been working myself up toward for a while. That means I now play a game that requires me to remember Trigonometry.

Realism.

That's not to say I only play realistic games, but when I play a game with a basis in reality, I like it to model the real world as accurately as possible.

 

[CrashBang]

In most cases I'm not a fan of realism. I prefer Burnout to PGR and I love RPGs and platformers. I prefer Halo to COD etc etc. Videogames are escapist and so I don't want them to be too realistic

 

[MrShowerHead]

Hmm... bit of both, maybe realism a bit more than arcade.

ArmA and Operation Flashpoint are just awesome games

 

[Racecarlock]

If I can get both in the same game i'll go for it, but if not, I go for more arcadey games.

 

[Trolldor]

Neither. I want it to play well.