The Future of Gaming

[jbm1986]

Sorry if this has been done more recently but the only post I saw on this topic after doing a quick search was http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/editors_note/5469-The-Future-of-Gaming
and that was back in 2008.

So my fellow Escapists, what do you think the future of gaming will be? Maybe a better question is what do we want it to be? We're all so quick to judge and criticize all of the things the gaming industry has done so far so what would you change and why?


Here are a few questions for discussion purposes:
[hr]
-Do you think we should make DLC free, or just get rid of it?

-Do you think the gimmicky motion controls are a something that should be built upon and embraced or do you want to make it go away forever?

-Should VR/3D be more common in gaming? What about holograms?


Personally, I'd like to see huge rooms like the "danger room" from xmen to run around in.

 

[MBurdock]

Motion controls? Outside of the basic sysaxis stuff, they ruin immersion. Besides, if I want to play sports, I will play sports.

DLC is here to stay and there is nothing to do about that.

As far as realism goes, I'm against it. It costs too much. It's clear that many gamers see day 1 purchases as too expensive. They're $60. Super Mario Bros 3 apparently cost $50 back in 1988 which is $85 today. Clearly, cutting edge realistic games cost more to produce, so turning a profit means going with something you know will sell. This drives down innovation because the risks are too high for both cutting edge graphics and innovative gameplay.

Besides, a chess board doesn't have a battlefield nor does monopoly actually have roads with sidewalks going around the board. Gameplay is waaaay more important than realism to me.

I would like to see the drive towards realism and the high costs of marketing big games drive down innovation in the big publishers even further. I would like to see their games become even more similar and bland. I would like to see them try to extract more money from the consumer and include advertising in-game and have on-disc DLC. In general, I would like to see the big publishers do everything that the marketing department and MBAs who don't game tell them to do. Why? It will fail catastrophically once they suck the fun out of games and people will go with the indie games who are actually playing around with interesting gameplay ideas.

I think medium to small publishers are the source of the unknown unknowns. That is, the things that will kick such ass - a kind of ass that we didn't even know could be kicked - that it will reshape games. It's either that or more third person cover-based shooters (possibly with grappling hooks, webs, or super powers) in a sandbox, maybe with a skilltree thrown in there or a second rate sci-fi, comic book, or fantasy story and some expensive voice acting.

 

[krazykidd]

You know you can die in the danger room right? Just saying .

OT: virtual reality would be really cool . But very dangerous . I could imagine people being unable to distinguish reality from the virtu world. VR Sims would be catastrophic . Then people could blame gaming for a shitload of things . Imagine a person going on a killing spree in VR GTA, then doing it in real life , and blame the fact he couldn't tell the difference .

 

[Euryalus]

Do don't show... Plus all the technical stuff (the non-gimmicky ones).

 

[ToastiestZombie]

1: Make DLC worth the price, getting rid of DLC is silly and making it ALL free would make developers not make it at all. DLC is good, but you should get enough content to justify the purchase.

2: Some should work on motion controls for people that enjoy them, some shouldn't for people that don't. So I believe it should be embraced, some motion control games are a lot of fun.

3: It could be neat, but not required. I would like to see it in the future, who hasn't dreamed of virtual reality?

Also, the future of gaming is golden...Persona 4 the Golden that is...

I agree with making DLC worth the price. For example, the reason I'm perfectly fine with the Hearth Fire DLC for Skyrim is that it's going to be priced at a measly 400 microsoft points. Which is about 3 pounds, not much for something that will probably require a lot more mining, crafting and collecting. If they had priced it at 10-15 pounds then that shit would be unacceptable.

 

[frobalt]

I'd like to think gaming is going in many different directions. After all, there's so many different things you can do with gaming.

For instance, motion controlled gaming could separate and be an entity upon itself. Kinda like the Kinect, but more expanded, with games created solely to use that.

Then there's also social gaming, which could get more complex than it currently is. There's always lots of room for expansion there.

Games could also be used for social experiments, such as what Peter Molyneux is doing with "Curiosity", although with a lot less hype and a lot more science.

Research could be done with games as well, getting the human race pooling brain power. Such as cracking DNA patterns [http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2010/12/01/video-game-genetics-phylo.html]. Or, imagine a game where you design things (such as roller-coasters) that could be used by companies in real life if they like what they see.

As such, I don't think it's possible to say what the future of gaming is, as games can take so many different forms these days.

 

[xDarc]

The run and gun spastic twitchy shooters of the 90's will return. Just like bell bottoms... excuse me "flared" jeans came back in the 90s.

The pendulum will swing back the other the way, everything is cyclical.

 

[jbm1986]

You know you can die in the danger room right? Just saying .

OT: virtual reality would be really cool . But very dangerous . I could imagine people being unable to distinguish reality from the virtu world. VR Sims would be catastrophic . Then people could blame gaming for a shitload of things . Imagine a person going on a killing spree in VR GTA, then doing it in real life , and blame the fact he couldn't tell the difference .

Probably. But heck, aren't they already blaming video games for doing crazy things now?

...

Games could also be used for social experiments, such as what Peter Molyneux is doing with "Curiosity", although with a lot less hype and a lot more science.

Sounds cool. I will have to check that out.

Research could be done with games as well, getting the human race pooling brain power. Such as cracking DNA patterns [http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2010/12/01/video-game-genetics-phylo.html]. Or, imagine a game where you design things (such as roller-coasters) that could be used by companies in real life if they like what they see.

I was meaning more of an entertainment medium but that's awesome that they're using games...FOR SCIENCE!

As such, I don't think it's possible to say what the future of gaming is, as games can take so many different forms these days.

True. Nobody knows for sure but what do YOU want to see happen and why?

 

[Silent Protagonist]

1. I am perfectly willing to pay for DLC if it is worth the price. All free dlc means no dlc. Sorry it takes a great amount of time and resources to make good dlc so you have to make that money back.

2. Most motion controls as is are pretty terrible and gimmicky. Right now they ruin immersion. Hopefully sometime down the line though as tech progresses we can have immersive motion controls that blur the lines between the real and virtual.

3. Same as #2. Right now they are usually just lousy gimmicks. One day in the future though, they may be absolutely amazing and immersive.

 

[frobalt]

[

Research could be done with games as well, getting the human race pooling brain power. Such as cracking DNA patterns [http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2010/12/01/video-game-genetics-phylo.html]. Or, imagine a game where you design things (such as roller-coasters) that could be used by companies in real life if they like what they see.

I was meaning more of an entertainment medium but that's awesome that they're using games...FOR SCIENCE!

As such, I don't think it's possible to say what the future of gaming is, as games can take so many different forms these days.

True. Nobody knows for sure but what do YOU want to see happen and why?

I'd like to see games being used for science a lot, or for stuff that could be useful as more than entertainment, but at the same time still be entertaining to the players. After all, imagine you have a fun game that is actually helping people in the real world. Would that make it more fun to you knowing you're having a bit of an impact on the real world?

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I foresee games being made. Games being played. And then, games being commented on by a variety of people.

However, no game ever made in the future will feature the fetus of all evil inside a uterus, that mirrors the portrait of the main protagonist, as a final boss battle.

This is my prediction.

 

[KINGBeerZ]

Motion Controls: Let Them Go
realy i just find they break the emmersion and ruin the gameplay experied
3D: Never really liked it, makes my eyes hurt.
DLC: Don't mind it but it needs to stop being focussed on by companies so much.

 

[jbm1986]

I foresee games being made. Games being played. And then, games being commented on by a variety of people.

However, no game ever made in the future will feature a fetus in a uterus as a final boss battle.

This is my prediction.

True that probably will happen. I'm asking what people WANT the future of gaming to be. What do you want to happen?

 

[WoW Killer]

However, no game ever made in the future will feature a fetus in a uterus as a final boss battle.

That sounds like a challenge. No wait. That sounds like a kickstarter. Who's aboard?

OT: I'd like for games to be more overtly focused on gameplay rather than graphics or story. But developers will resist that with all their might and I suspect it may never happen. I think DLC is a decent enough idea if they'd just get the price right. Motion controllers, in their current form, are a gimmick, but I would nonetheless like to see more in the way of new control mechanisms for games, as this is a very good precursor for new gameplay innovations. VR/3D/Holograms again could have potential, but I don't think the technology is there for a proper implementation. The problem is that such things are being forced upon us when the technology isn't ready yet.

 

[TheLizardKing]

Heres the future:
Dlc will be milked until the point where you pay $80 dollars for the first chapter/act/couple of missions then the rest will be $20 dlc and you pay another $20 for the ending. Then every game will have always online drm, motion controls will be used in nearly every game and video game story lines will be streamlined garbage that could be written by 5 year olds. But at least they have pretty graphics.

 

[Lawyer105]

Personally, I hope they start making more interesting and less generic stuff. With far less focus on zomg-sparkle-graphics-eyecandy and more on engaging gameplay. I'm honestly finding it difficult these days to muster up the enthusiasm to even start a game, let alone finish it.

Yeah, I know about all the indie stuff, but that brings it's own (completely separate) problems.

 

[thethird0611]

I foresee games being made. Games being played. And then, games being commented on by a variety of people.

However, no game ever made in the future will feature a fetus in a uterus as a final boss battle.

This is my prediction.

I totally agree! Games will be played!

....but....

http://bindingofisaac.wikia.com/wiki/It_Lives

Yeah... #2 is a little to late.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I foresee games being made. Games being played. And then, games being commented on by a variety of people.

However, no game ever made in the future will feature a fetus in a uterus as a final boss battle.

This is my prediction.

I totally agree! Games will be played!

....but....

http://bindingofisaac.wikia.com/wiki/It_Lives

Yeah... #2 is a little to late.

OK, I have an addendum to my original post then:

No game ever made in the future will feature the fetus of all evil inside a uterus, that mirrors the portrait of the main protagonist, as a final boss battle.