Poll: Is gameplay no longer the most important factor in a game?

[Gecko clown]

Gameplay is and always will be the most important aspect of a game, the story just adds and improves on that experience. If a game has a great world and story but a terrible game accompanying it, the game may not be bad but it will be unfullfilling when compared to a game with a good story and good gameplay. All the games mentioned, bar Gone Home, have at least ok gameplay so the story is enough to carry the game.

Also I notice you mentioned Gone Home as opposed to The Stanley Parable, which is clearly the superior game.

 

[chris89300]

Hell, I still play Warcraft 3 TFT

 

[SKBPinkie]

Gameplay = Cake.

Story = Icing.

So, as far as I'm concerned - the interactivity is the crucial component here. If someone tells me that the top 5 reasons they loved a game are all non-interactive elements, then I know I'm not gonna enjoy it as much as they did. Those can be experienced via a YouTube playthrough, IMO. And I have been better served viewing those types of games rather than spending a good deal of money on them.

To the folks saying "why not both?" - of course, the best games are the ones that tell the story through their gameplay. For example - Journey, Shadow of the Collosus, Brothers (especially the last 30 minutes), and here's a weird one - Halo Reach.

The last level of Reach, where -

Spoiler

You need to survive as long as you can, and it doesn't take long to realize that you will die. This works extremely well because I, as a player, felt like I was gonna lose no matter how good I was at the game. Death was inevitable at that point, and experiencing that via the gameplay was absolutely fantastic.

Hell, the game's level design, enemy variety, weapon variety, and pacing were already great. Add all of that to those final 15 minutes, and it was one of the best games I've played.

 

[Adeptus Aspartem]

Depends on what the game is trying to achieve.

Portal tells a great story, but without it's awesome gameplay it still woudl've fell flat. Beat em ups basically rely soley on gameplay.
But RPGs? Story, world building and characters are way more important, which doesn't mean it should have horrible gameplay - it's just secondary.

Black & white approaches to such things hardly ever work.

 

[mindfaQ]

You can do different things with games. Present an intersting story, give the player awesome gameplay, games can be different blends. Some might be educational, some go for silly fun etc. It does not make sense to talk about "gameplay is (not) important", it depends on what you want do. There is no universal answer to the question if gameplay is not the most important factor in a game nowadays.

You could ask for peoples priorities. I could tell you mine: I pour the most time into games that feature interesting gameplay, like in a ratio of 100:1 between "interesting gameplay"-games and story focussed games. So there you have it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No, I think gameplay should be top priority. second should be story/characters and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down at the bottom should be graphics. Although to be clear graphics =/= art direction.