Poll: Ever see the little patterns in gaming?

[Irridium]

I've noticed a pattern where every main "base" or similar thing for the player always gets attacked

Possable spoilers:

Spoiler: seriously, all the time it happens

Quake 4 - The Hannibal gets attacked
Killzone 2 - The main ship your on gets attacked
Mass Effect - The Citidel gets attacked
Half Life 1 - The lab gets attacked
Fallout 3 - Vault 101 gets attacked... kindof, its infected with roaches and people try to kill you
Half Life 2 ep2 - The base where they have to launch the missle into space gets attacked
Halo 3 - The Marine base at near the beginning of the game gets attacked.
Resistance 2 - the inhibiter base in San Francisco where you start

Thats just off the top of my head.

Seriously, Its been done so much its become predictable, the only thing that changed is when the base gets attacked.

 

[Blanks]

the only pattern i see is that there are fun games, and there are games that are boring and not fun

 

[Epifols]

They all use something called "skill points"! And guns! Good and Evil!

Wow, you're totally right, like half of the games out there totally ripoff Life. (Just look at Americas Army!)

*vote no*

 

[Scrythe]

Not so much "patterns" as it is "everyone jumping on the band wagon".

Street Fighter made lots of money? Everyone! Make fighting games!
Double Dragon and Streets of Rage made lots of money? Everyone! Make beat-em-ups!
Doom and Wolfenstein made lots of money? Everyone! Make first person shooters!
Metal Gear Solid made lots of money? Everyone! Make stealth games!
Max Payne made lots of money? Everyone! Put bullet time on everything!
Devil May Cry and God of War made lots of money? Everyone! Make "extreme action" games!
Halo and Killzone made lots of money? Everyone! Make space shooters!


And then it just repeats with every popular game type at the time, in no particular order. If I were to design a game consisting entirely of bright, flashing colors and monotone-voiced people with giant, grotesque penises on their foreheads and bloody wrists, and it makes tons of cash for whatever mundane reason, you bet your sweet ass that every game made within that half-decade will feature our lovable Penishead Emos from Candyass Land.

 

[Sevre]

Ever noticed how there's a maximum of 12 units selected in Starcraft and there also were 12 apostles in the Bible?
What does it mean? What does it mean?

Spoiler

Nothing, that's right.

Actually you have a point there, there's only one logical conclusion. The Koreans know something we don't.

 

[RusticMonkey]

Ever notice that in every FPS you play, you wield a lethal weapon? Weird. I kid.

what im mainly trying to get at seeing that both are made by differnt companies and have different gameplay theres always that little niggling thing at the back of your head when youve played one that its similar to the other.

I'll assume you're pushing for more originality.

It's easier to attract publishers/investors if you have a game which resembles a previous commercially successful game. Less risk, higher chance of return on investment.

Also, I think alot of game devs have been life long gamers and find it hard to leave general gaming conventions by the wayside. Thirdly, gaming technology (think: isothermic view, fps, controllers, etc) often already imply a certain usage within a given virtual space, genre. Lots more original content on the DS and Wii, go figure.

 

[mkg]

Wait, purification of what? What does picking a gender have to do with that, I'm lost...

 

[Zombie Badger]

The only pattern in gaming is that all post-2001 EA games are shit.

 

[Cavmatrix]

Wait, purification of what? What does picking a gender have to do with that, I'm lost...

In fallout 3 purification of the water in the wasteland in fable 2 lucien wants to purify/destroy the world.