Over my years of gaming I've seen several interesting trends. However, one seems to stick out in my mind and I wanted to see if anyone else thought the way I do about this.
When video games were young, there was very little in the way of story. Considering most of the early arcade games like Pac-man and Asteroids, there was no story at all. Instead, those games relied on the mastery of skill. Quick fingers, quick thinking, endurance and in later games with preset stages, memorization of patterns. The shift away from this came with home gaming and battery backup allowing players to leave the game, and return at a later time. Thus, the ability to tell a long story, or adventure came about. While we could argue early text-based PC adventures as the forerunners of stories in games, we can't deny that by the 2nd and 3rd generation of gaming most games contained stories, and thus, ENDINGS.
You see, early games like Pac-man had no set endings. You could play as long as your quarter lasted. But when storylines were introduced into gaming, there needed to be an end to the game. Bowser or Gannon became the ultimate goal, and once the credits rolled, a gamer could officially cross that game off his/her to-do list and move to the next one. I make this as an important fact. For the better part of 20 years (most of my gaming-life) games had goals. Whether it took 1 hour or 40, you played one till the end, then moved on to the next. HOWEVER, this seems to have changed.
With the recent rise in popularity of persistent online game worlds (or MMOs) a new breed of games have appeared with some background story, but NO END! To this point I like to joke to my one friend, "Have you beaten Warcraft yet?" Although I dabble a bit in these games, I understand this fact all to well when I found myself playing them nearly 40 hours a week at one point. In the past, I'd rationalize my playing to my friends and family by saying "I only have 4 more hours, then I've beaten the game and am done with it."
Story has offered a purpose for many to play games. Its the reason I play games. To immerse myself in a world and a story, and invest myself through guided interaction with the story. A good game compels you care about the characters and associate with the end goal. Now I don't mean you must cry with a game, but if you aren't involved, what is the purpose for playing. Closure is not only healthy, but it offers a set goal and a finite timeframe to accomplish it. In this recent age, many gamers suffer from the loss of this ending. When there is no place to stop and set the game aside, when will they?
Now, by no means am I speaking ill against MMOs, but I wonder, for a game that never ends, what is there to gain?
When video games were young, there was very little in the way of story. Considering most of the early arcade games like Pac-man and Asteroids, there was no story at all. Instead, those games relied on the mastery of skill. Quick fingers, quick thinking, endurance and in later games with preset stages, memorization of patterns. The shift away from this came with home gaming and battery backup allowing players to leave the game, and return at a later time. Thus, the ability to tell a long story, or adventure came about. While we could argue early text-based PC adventures as the forerunners of stories in games, we can't deny that by the 2nd and 3rd generation of gaming most games contained stories, and thus, ENDINGS.
You see, early games like Pac-man had no set endings. You could play as long as your quarter lasted. But when storylines were introduced into gaming, there needed to be an end to the game. Bowser or Gannon became the ultimate goal, and once the credits rolled, a gamer could officially cross that game off his/her to-do list and move to the next one. I make this as an important fact. For the better part of 20 years (most of my gaming-life) games had goals. Whether it took 1 hour or 40, you played one till the end, then moved on to the next. HOWEVER, this seems to have changed.
With the recent rise in popularity of persistent online game worlds (or MMOs) a new breed of games have appeared with some background story, but NO END! To this point I like to joke to my one friend, "Have you beaten Warcraft yet?" Although I dabble a bit in these games, I understand this fact all to well when I found myself playing them nearly 40 hours a week at one point. In the past, I'd rationalize my playing to my friends and family by saying "I only have 4 more hours, then I've beaten the game and am done with it."
Story has offered a purpose for many to play games. Its the reason I play games. To immerse myself in a world and a story, and invest myself through guided interaction with the story. A good game compels you care about the characters and associate with the end goal. Now I don't mean you must cry with a game, but if you aren't involved, what is the purpose for playing. Closure is not only healthy, but it offers a set goal and a finite timeframe to accomplish it. In this recent age, many gamers suffer from the loss of this ending. When there is no place to stop and set the game aside, when will they?
Now, by no means am I speaking ill against MMOs, but I wonder, for a game that never ends, what is there to gain?
