The Brown Argument
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That's also part of the problem. If all these games are set in the same place and at roughly the same time, then why are there so many of them? That is why people like me hate most modern FPS's. They are the same thing, only the newer ones have better graphics. If i want to shoot people in a midle-eastern setting I'll do it in the only game that did it right, Counter-Strike.SammiYin said:
Also if the game is set in a brown setting the developers cound atleast gives some areas of contrast. In Half-Life 2 there was places that were brown/grey, but the environments change enough to other color schemes that the contrast made the brown acceptable.
Sorry.. I kinda ranted a bit
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I don't think that when people say that "games are brown" they actually mean that games are brown. I think they mean that the aesthetics are muddy and look washed out because there is not enough contrast.
Look at the following pictures:
The image on the left has lower contrast than the picture on the right. As such, the entire picture looks much more dull and lifeless, even though both pictures have the same amount of color.
It works the same way in games. Increase the contrast of pretty much any game and it'll instantly seem more colorful.
Look at the following pictures:
The image on the left has lower contrast than the picture on the right. As such, the entire picture looks much more dull and lifeless, even though both pictures have the same amount of color.
It works the same way in games. Increase the contrast of pretty much any game and it'll instantly seem more colorful.
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SammiYin said:
This is the inside of a Covenant ship in Halo. While the ground may not have a floral pattern, it is purple and pink, and you do fight blue enemies. I have yet to find anyone who gets headaches from the color scheme while playing this.
CoD may be a lot of things, but I wouldn't exactly call it "brown". Hell, MW2 has got some EXTREMELY colorful levels. To the point of eye strain sometimes.
The last game I played where the lack of color was really noticeable was Gears of War 1, and that was more of a predominant grey. Though I didn't really mind, it worked with the art style and really contributed to the overall moody atmosphere. However, then Gears of War 2 rolled around and got all Bob Ross up in that ish and slung color around like it was going out of style.
Actually, you wanna know a REALLY brown game?
BA GAWD, 1998 was a brown year.
You win, argument over, case closed. I cannot disagree with the photos you provided.Cheshire the Cat said:1) People are affected by colour. Bright vivid colours help stimulate the mind while non stop greys and browns are depressing.
2) I do. Does not mean all shooters get a free pass to be smeared in poop.
3) And back then there were also more games that were other colours. Now, everythings brown.
Besides, Mario had other vivid colours to break up the brown.
4) Must just be because you are english since I see a vivid blue sky, green grass, different colour cars, flowers, hedges, some asshole down the street has a candy floss pink house...
If I wanted the "brown real life" experience I would move to a big city and do boring real life shit.
5) Viva Piñata! I want some fucking variety. Even a fantastic steak needs some mash and greens to complete the experience.
Just ask yourself what you would rather have.
1) Do you honestly place zero value on visual aesthetics? What about variety in that aesthetic? If no, then fine, but a lot of people do.
2) This more or less irrelevant. Why should someone have to choose a different genre if they want a different visual style? Genres primarily determine gameplay, not how pretty something is. Also, what if FPS is your favorite genre and you want to play mostly them?
3) Fair enough really. There's a difference between 'has brown in it' and 'is brown' but yeah, this is not entirely a new problem.
4) Some people want gritty realism, some people don't. That's pretty simple. Brown being the appropriate color for the setting is fine, but that shouldn't be a shield to hide behind.
5) That there is what you call a false dichotomy. What a lot people want is variety, not all brown or all some other color. Interesting worlds, with good visuals which include things like contrast and a bunch of stuff I am not well versed enough to explain.
2) This more or less irrelevant. Why should someone have to choose a different genre if they want a different visual style? Genres primarily determine gameplay, not how pretty something is. Also, what if FPS is your favorite genre and you want to play mostly them?
3) Fair enough really. There's a difference between 'has brown in it' and 'is brown' but yeah, this is not entirely a new problem.
4) Some people want gritty realism, some people don't. That's pretty simple. Brown being the appropriate color for the setting is fine, but that shouldn't be a shield to hide behind.
5) That there is what you call a false dichotomy. What a lot people want is variety, not all brown or all some other color. Interesting worlds, with good visuals which include things like contrast and a bunch of stuff I am not well versed enough to explain.
Ummm, aesthetics? People like pretty things. Science agrees. I like pretty things. Game companies spend millions of dollars on increasingly realistic graphics, so graphics apparently matter to a large portion of gamers today.SammiYin said:
I like brown. Brown is a good color. But when everything is desaturated and varying shades of brown/red/muted green, nothing really pops out. In Dragon Age, I occasionally can't find what I need to click on because everything just blends together.
On the other hand, look at Borderlands. There's a hell of a lot of brown there, but everything that needs to stand out DOES stand out.
Also, I'm going to going to say that Half-Life 2 was shit, and it's desaturated environments didn't help make it any better.
Heck I like brown, but:SammiYin said:
1) It sets the atmosphere - this is especially important in FPS's where the combat is often short, and setting also is important for immersion. More importantly brown on brown shows a lack of imagination on effort on the part of developers - it may be an attempt to be gritty and realistic, but it looks uniform and lacking in thought, as no, the world is not just various browns. But the laziness in not attempting variation makes gamers feel short changed.
2)Saying if you don't like it so much, don't buy it isn't a very good argument because it precludes improvement. The intended goal is to improve the game, but excluding a major complaint by throwing your toys out of the pram and screaming go buy something else is a poor way to respond to a criticism of one aspect of a game. In any case it is a common problems of many games as it is cheap and easy.
3)Doing something wrong for a long time doesn't make it better. And we now have the capacity to not by necessity rely on it like may have happened in the past. Again, this is just one aspect of a game - it can still be great, but can be improved. It isn't even necessarily brown that is the problem, but the lack of effort and imagination in settings and as a result resorting to block colours.
4) The real world involves a lot of variation, often in small details which cumulatively make a big difference to how you feel about the game. Very few places are "all brown". Many involve a complex array of similar colours. You won't see this often, as it is a level of detail which is expensive and it is often thought not worth the effort. Urban areas are a small part of the world's land mass, but if you are looking out of your window in the middle of a city even, and just seeing brown or grey, you are either living in a adaptation 1984, or are just glossing over the palette in your mind.
5) More imagination, attention to detail, and effort over easy, cheap and short-cut taking uniform blocks of colour which indicate a lack of concern, or time, or effort about the setting of a game which directly impacts on your immersion or feelings from the game, but most importantly make you feel valued by the producers of games, rather than treated as too foolish to notice. There are other ways to get gritty, with imagination, and many games achieve this and with colour, even if it is subtle. But many others could improve on this, which could for small effort, improve the game greatly, and it is right to point that out.
Well done for having an opinion though. Even if it was only sporadically thought through/deliberately trying to rile peopleSammiYin said:
Man, it doesn't matter if it's brown or not. Even filters (Like Fallout 3's kind of green filter or Deus Ex: Human Revolution's yellow filter) are cool in my book. If the game plays and runs well, and there's some detail in the world (not color wise, but texture-wise), I don't care if it's brown.
Also... Real is brown...
Also... Real is brown...
1) Colour adds to the atmosphere of the game, making it presented nicer, etc.
2) There are plenty of genres but FPS's are dominating the markets so the games in those genres are few
3) I have no problem having a few brown games but it used to be that most games did have colour, Mario wasn't very capable but it had green hills, blue sky, it's much better then a lot of modern FPS's
4) See, I don't really care for games to be realistic, realism is boring and i'd gladly sacrifice realism for a nicer looking game
5) Well yes, but it's still better then brown, I just think things should show all the colours vividly, Zelda Wind Waker is a nice example of how to do colour well
Those are my arguments ^-^
2) There are plenty of genres but FPS's are dominating the markets so the games in those genres are few
3) I have no problem having a few brown games but it used to be that most games did have colour, Mario wasn't very capable but it had green hills, blue sky, it's much better then a lot of modern FPS's
4) See, I don't really care for games to be realistic, realism is boring and i'd gladly sacrifice realism for a nicer looking game
5) Well yes, but it's still better then brown, I just think things should show all the colours vividly, Zelda Wind Waker is a nice example of how to do colour well
Those are my arguments ^-^
I wouldn't consider Southern California rural by any stretch of the imagination. Looking at the area at night leaves no considerable dark spot for hundreds of miles around my house, yet a street away there's lavender in the trees, and just outside my window there are regular green trees and a bush with white flowers and red fruit. Whenever I got to work (at Target) I'm greeted by a rainbow of towels 
Colors are good, and a lot of greys and browns lend themselves to a heavy, depressing atmosphere.
Colors are good, and a lot of greys and browns lend themselves to a heavy, depressing atmosphere.
My biggest problem with "The Brown Arugment" is that most of the games subjected to it AREN'T FUCKING BROWN.
Seriously, if these people had actually PLAYED a Killzone game, a Call of Duty game, a Halo game, or a Gears of War game, they'd realize that each of these games has plenty of color and variety in the environments.
Seriously, if these people had actually PLAYED a Killzone game, a Call of Duty game, a Halo game, or a Gears of War game, they'd realize that each of these games has plenty of color and variety in the environments.
It's
Compared to
Don't get me wrong, I completely understand Fallout and Enslaved are two very different takes on a wasteland, but if you're going to spend a notable amount of time in a game, having it visually appealing helps. It never needs to be a neon rave, but having a bit of greenery or even people with colourful clothing helps. Honestly, games with colour are an utter relief after many games these days that take the 'dead zone' to the extreme.
And as for Half Life, I've never heard it called a brown game. When I think brown, Fallout is what comes to mind, and of course that will be a picky example, because it's suppose to be a dead wasteland, thus the brown suits it. I don't hate the game because it's brown, it's just that beyond all else that's what comes to mind. Brown. But Half Life? Half Life had loads of colour, I honestly can't fathom what people claim was brown about it.
I think you're taking this out of proportion though OP. I don't know who you've gotten opinions from, but stating that because people don't mind grey buildings we're simply racist against brown.... If you want to make a point, lay out your views without belittling those with alternate view points.
Don't get me wrong, I completely understand Fallout and Enslaved are two very different takes on a wasteland, but if you're going to spend a notable amount of time in a game, having it visually appealing helps. It never needs to be a neon rave, but having a bit of greenery or even people with colourful clothing helps. Honestly, games with colour are an utter relief after many games these days that take the 'dead zone' to the extreme.
And as for Half Life, I've never heard it called a brown game. When I think brown, Fallout is what comes to mind, and of course that will be a picky example, because it's suppose to be a dead wasteland, thus the brown suits it. I don't hate the game because it's brown, it's just that beyond all else that's what comes to mind. Brown. But Half Life? Half Life had loads of colour, I honestly can't fathom what people claim was brown about it.
I think you're taking this out of proportion though OP. I don't know who you've gotten opinions from, but stating that because people don't mind grey buildings we're simply racist against brown.... If you want to make a point, lay out your views without belittling those with alternate view points.
