Poll: First Person Shooters: Why all the hype?

[CulixCupric]

I, alas, do not enjoy FPS games. I can't figure out why. I'm more into RPG's, but only if the story AND game-play is good, like Baldur's gate, or Strahd's possession. Also, witty, humorous adventure games, like the first Spyro, and Psychonauts. I also couldn't enjoy WoW due to continuous grinding.

Enough about me though. Help me explain the "hype" about fps games, and if it is just hype. I need to figure it out. Modern Warfare had good controls, but the storyline just cuts off. and the rest, i can't even play without boredom. It's all the online play I guess. Camp here, shoot there, and the infamous, "I call sniper!"

I want to know what makes people play them, why they enjoy it, if these games have a future, or if they're just hype, and how they could be improved.

 

[iseeyouthere]

Some people like shooty things.

That about sums it up.

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

Cause it's fun to shoot shit.

 

[Thaius]

It's simply a matter of preference. I enjoy shooters quite a bit, but I also enjoy pretty much any type of game besides racing and sports.

They're certainly not just hype; the idea of telling an interactive story from a first-person perspective is a worthwhile one, and will not be going away anytime soon. We're just currently too focused on traditional military shooters to really make full use of it at the moment.

Personally, Halo made me love the genre. The first one. I hated shooters before then, but when I played through the masterfully designed campaign of the first Halo, I fell in love. It has a great story, incredible music, good controls and mechanics, immersive atmosphere, and though the gameplay is relatively simple now, a decade later, it certainly holds up. If you want to give the genre one last chance, I highly recommend checking out Halo: Anniversary when it comes out (the first one redone in a modern engine with awesome graphics). But it really just comes down to preference.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

FPSs are about player empowerment, and a lot of players like to be empowered. There are exceptions, of course, but that's the main drive of the genre itself.

 

[CulixCupric]

so, i take it it's a preference to game play over storyline and immersion?

 

[Valagetti]

FPS shooters are easy to make, half of the engines these days for FPS's have the colours, shadows, textures all rendured and ready to go, extra credits did an episode all about this.

 

[I Have No Idea]

From a game design perspective, games are about conflict. No conflict, no game. Even in Tetris, you're in a conflict against the clock, against the limited amount of space you have. Killing and shooting are just easy conflicts to replicate in games. They're primal, visceral, and fun. FPSes are popular because people like that sort of conflict.

 

[CulixCupric]

so, they're easy to make, and a simple cash-in for companies, and for players, they just enjoy sniping people over the internet. THIS is why i think they'd be better with melee weapons, armor, mages with magick and nothing but robes, and no cover. think of it like this:

Mages nuke you from afar, but you stab him just once and... DEAD.
You tank against the mages, keep away from buddies to avoid area-of-effects, and sstab him in the gut.
warriors can armor themselves vs weapons, but spells fry them, and mages fry the warriors, but a single sword slash and they're dead. so very simple rock paper scissors. you could throw in rogues for stealth-nuts. (note: i liked thief the dark project)

 

[spartan231490]

It's a fast paced genre with active, exciting gameplay.

 

[F4LL3N]

Personally, I used to play with toy army men and run around the back yard with toy guns or wood, pretending they were guns. So naturally, I grew up liking that sort of thing.

If you used to be a big Star Wars fan, you probably love Sci-fi. If you grew up liking swords and magic you probably like fantasy RPGs. Etc... Or maybe you just think they're fun.

FPSs are about player empowerment, and a lot of players like to be empowered. There are exceptions, of course, but that's the main drive of the genre itself.

I would have disagree with that. But if it's true you could say that about pretty much any genre, from fantasy RPG to racing.

 

[krazykidd]

Shooting is fun. Shooting people( in video games of course ) is fun, shooting people who are shooting at you is fun. It's kind of an adrenalin rush kinda thin if you ask me, plus it's always fun to feel like " I HAVE THE POWER".

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Enough about me though. Help me explain the "hype" about fps games, and if it is just hype. I need to figure it out. Modern Warfare had good controls, but the storyline just cuts off. and the rest, i can't even play without boredom. It's all the online play I guess. Camp here, shoot there, and the infamous, "I call sniper!"

You know what, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you've never actually played Modern Warfare. How can I make that accusation, you say? Because you can't "call" sniper in a game where everyone can be a sniper at the same time.

As for why people like shooters, I dunno. They are fun. I've spent way more time playing CoD, Battlefield, Halo, and TF2 than I'd care to admit. And thats not even counting the other games I've played or online communities I've dabbled in. Some of my favorite games are shooters. I couldn't really tell you why, there is just something about the competitiveness that I enjoy. You just don't get that sort of thing in a single-player game. And they are better than TPS, in my opinion. More reflex focused. And TPS always feels so slow to me.

I like being able to pull that trigger and know that someone, somewhere, is raging. I like learning map flow, weapon spawns, weapon balance. I like that rush when you come around a corner and run headfirst into an enemy; that split-second where time just stops before all hell breaks loose. You just don't get that in other games. And especially not from bots, either. There is a VERY real difference between playing a computer and playing a human, even one you can't see. And in my opinion, the human always provides the more satisfying challenge. Even if I'm stomping them, at least my victory means something to someone, as opposed to killing a bot which just rings hollow.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's more immersive. If you have no concept of what the word means.

 

[CulixCupric]

i did play modern warfare. the i call sniper was from halo reach. everyone rushes for that spawn on one map where the rifle is on top of a mountain, and whoever's team didn't have it were trying to kill "that guy" who rained down snipes of judgement.

MW had weapon packs if i remember, like some kind of class system.

edit: when talk about immersion, i meant into a storyline, and a world where choices had an effect beside a setting and a reason to shoot mr. baddy.

 

[joshperry94]

Its easy to just sit back and immerse yourself in a FPS game with ease and not have to think too much... That's why i play them xD

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

FPSs are about player empowerment, and a lot of players like to be empowered. There are exceptions, of course, but that's the main drive of the genre itself.

I would have disagree with that. But if it's true you could say that about pretty much any genre, from fantasy RPG to racing.

Most games are like that, yeah. But I would say FPS more than most other genres, because the mechanics are built to give the player direct control and pit them against apparently insurmountable odds that they overcome with ease. The same could be said of RPGs, of course, but in RPGs it's more about the progression and the journey than the constant blaze of glory.

Basically, it's fast-burning empowerment compared to other genres. Especially multi-player, where the player gets to repeatedly get the satisfaction of dominating someone else in the span of seconds. Other genres with multiplayer give you the same chance, but rarely in a situation where you can get that thrill from equally-powerful opponents in a tiny timespan. RPGs are slower and less even-handed, fighting games are even-handed but much slower to get to the point of domination, and racing games are perhaps the slowest of the bunch from what I can see (although arguably with a lot of pay-off).

 

[ZeroMachine]

so, i take it it's a preference to game play over storyline and immersion?

I'm almost 100% sure it isn't your intention, but I don't think you could sound more condescending if you tried.

My favorite fictional universe of all time is Halo, born from a first person shooter. I get very immersed in those. I also get very immersed in the Modern Warfare games and I love the story they tell (I have a guilty pleasure for good action movies, which is basically what it is). Metro 2033 has a damn good immersion factor as well.

A majority of the hardcore community that was gaming earlier last decade will also swear to the Half Life series being one of the most immersive games with one of the best told stories.

And let's not forget Portal.

So no, it's just a preference of gameplay. It's rare I can play a game that I don't enjoy the story of, and yet I LOVE first person shooters.

Again, I'm sure your intention wasn't to condescend. Trust me when I say that, for a lot of us, we enjoy the story and immersion of first person shooters as much, if not more, than other gametypes.

Enough about me though. Help me explain the "hype" about fps games, and if it is just hype. I need to figure it out. Modern Warfare had good controls, but the storyline just cuts off. and the rest, i can't even play without boredom. It's all the online play I guess. Camp here, shoot there, and the infamous, "I call sniper!"

You know what, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you've never actually played Modern Warfare. How can I make that accusation, you say? Because you can't "call" sniper in a game where everyone can be a sniper at the same time.

He may have played Halo. My friends and I call sniper every now and then. Or, we did... when we thought we were good with 'em

EDIT: Called it.

 

[CulixCupric]

so, i take it it's a preference to game play over storyline and immersion?

I'm almost 100% sure it isn't your intention, but I don't think you could sound more condescending if you tried.

My favorite fictional universe of all time is Halo, born from a first person shooter. I get very immersed in those. I also get very immersed in the Modern Warfare games and I love the story they tell (I have a guilty pleasure for good action movies, which is basically what it is). Metro 2033 has a damn good immersion factor as well.

A majority of the hardcore community that was gaming earlier last decade will also swear to the Half Life series being one of the most immersive games with one of the best told stories.

And let's not forget Portal.

So no, it's just a preference of gameplay. It's rare I can play a game that I don't enjoy the story of, and yet I LOVE first person shooters.

Again, I'm sure your intention wasn't to condescend. Trust me when I say that, for a lot of us, we enjoy the story and immersion of first person shooters as much, if not more, than other gametypes.

Enough about me though. Help me explain the "hype" about fps games, and if it is just hype. I need to figure it out. Modern Warfare had good controls, but the storyline just cuts off. and the rest, i can't even play without boredom. It's all the online play I guess. Camp here, shoot there, and the infamous, "I call sniper!"

You know what, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you've never actually played Modern Warfare. How can I make that accusation, you say? Because you can't "call" sniper in a game where everyone can be a sniper at the same time.

He may have played Halo. My friends and I call sniper every now and then. Or, we did... when we thought we were good with 'em

I meant by immersion "your choices have consequences." instead of "you have a reason to shoot mr guy", although my judgement may be due to the fact my definition wasn't "sucks you into the world" so, it was a miscommunication on my part. and i played both modern warfare and halo reach, and the calling sniper was from reach, i was referring to the whole genre, with different parts from different games. I never did play battlefield though, just MW and Reach. plus, my memory of them may have been corrupted due to self-admitted fanboyishness towards the elder scrolls. I AM A TES FANBOY! i admit it. daggerfall was my favorite, morrowind my least. please shoot the target on my chest. I just couldn't get into shooters I guess cause it was point-click-kill, all guns looked the same, no loot, no puzzles, and i wanted magick that did different things and had multiple uses. I think I went into FPS games looking for rpg's. I am an idiot for doing so, and it killed any chance of loving the genre. I have a problem. I need help fixing it, and to do so, understand FPS games. I do not, it is like a foreign language from mars to me.

edit: also forgot to mention, i am a pc gamer, played reach at a party.
edit#2: I do enjoy Half-life, but it's more adventure/platformer to me, and portal is more of a puzzler. I don't count them as fps games.

 

[Lunar Templar]

FPSs are about player empowerment, and a lot of players like to be empowered. There are exceptions, of course, but that's the main drive of the genre itself.

you could actually say the same about a lot of genres, after all, do you not feel empowered in a game like god of war after brutaly slaughtering the cannon fodder hoards, or Devil May Cry after destroying a boss on a high difficulty setting.

i know i feel empowered after a round of Space Marine, also, giggling, there is giggling, >.> but i should probably talk to some one about that >.>