True Gaming Academic Research: Tell us about your favorite memory with your favorite avatar, for a video game oral history project |
- Academic Research: Tell us about your favorite memory with your favorite avatar, for a video game oral history project
- Never played a Zelda game before, so I bought all the 3D mainline ones.....where and how should I start?
- I wish games had better pacing and "evolution" of mechanics, enemies, etc.
- Feeling guilty about new computer and playing games
- The Birth of the Loot box
- Does the developer's intent matter?
- Let's face it in order to play on competitive level in fast peaced FPS games like Quake III on your trackball you have to master pointer acceleration.
- What if games in general, especially RPGs, offered substantially distinct, realistic scenarios based on the player character's gender?
| Posted: 13 Aug 2018 12:01 PM PDT Hi there! I'm Dr. Nick Bowman … my colleague, Dr. Jaime Banks, and I are professors/researchers at West Virginia University. We're currently working on a project on gamers' favorite memories of their avatars, and how they think and feel about their avatars in general. This project is part of our ongoing research on the topic (with more than 4,000 gamers now!), but we're really excited about this particular project because it is both a research study and a curated public digital collection. NOTE: You might have heard about this project, as we had a few folks participate back in May 2018. We've got room for more, so we're making a second announcement! So what does that mean, exactly? Well, there are two parts to the project. Part 1 is the research portion, and it's open to anyone who wants to participate … just check out our online survey, identify your favorite avatar, and then tell us the story of your favorite memory with that avatar. (This can be a WoW avatar, or one from any other game.) Then we'll ask you to fill out some multiple-choice questions about it and tell us a bit about yourself. You can also, at the end, tell us if you're interested in participating in Part 2. That takes about 20-30 minutes to complete, and everyone who finishes that survey will be entered into a random drawing for a $100 Amazon e-gift card. For Part 2, we'll sift through all of the stories from Part 1 and select 100 people from those who say they want to participate in the second portion. Those 100 people will be invited to offer extended versions of their story – in written format or audio recording or video recording – to be included as part of a public online collection hosted by the WVU Libraries. (Don't worry – if you're selected, you'll learn more about this and you can tell us if you want to be identified or not.) This survey takes 20-30 minutes to complete (depending on how much information you offer) and everyone who is invited and participates fully in this part will be paid $10 via an Amazon e-gift card. From those 100 stories, 10-12 will be selected for a curated exhibit in the physical WVU library. All information from this second survey could also be used for research purposes. The main idea here, though, is to curate a collection of interesting stories about games and avatars to help the general public get a better understanding of the role they play in peoples' lives and why and how they matter in contemporary culture. They don't have to be epic stories or show how l33t you are … they just have to be authentic stories. This study has been acknowledged by the WVU research ethics board (protocol #1805112352) and adheres to federal standards for protecting research participant rights and privacy. Please be aware that if you participate in this study, the information you provide will be kept forever in order to facilitate scientific review and (for the second study) to sustain the digital collection. If you wish to participate in this study, please use the following link to be automatically redirected to the survey: https://wvu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0N8crESPwa5bVv7 If you have any questions about study, you're very welcome to send me a message or email me at the address below. Thanks! :) ~Nick [nicholas.bowman@mail.wvu.edu](mailto:nicholas.bowman@mail.wvu.edu) // https://communicationstudies.wvu.edu/faculty-and-staff/faculty-directory/nick-bowman // u/bowmanspartan ~Jaime [jabanks@mail.wvu.edu](mailto:jabanks@mail.wvu.edu) // http://comm.wvu.edu/fs/faculty/jbanks // u/amperjay [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 13 Aug 2018 11:47 AM PDT I've played Breath of the Wild and I really ejoyed it, but I'm used to Mario and Sly Cooper sorts of platformers and not too well adjusted with puzzle based games likes these with dungeons [link] [comments]  |
| I wish games had better pacing and "evolution" of mechanics, enemies, etc. Posted: 13 Aug 2018 03:47 PM PDT There seems to be a pretty big problem with "front-loading" gameplay elements such as enemy variety and mechanics, especially in Ubisoft games. This particularly applies to open world games. I'll be briefly describe the problem: by the time you've played 25% of a game, you've already experienced 90% of what the game has to offer you in terms of weapon variety, enemy types, gameplay mechanics, etc. While I definitely don't condone obscenely lengthy introductions that hand hold you a la Final Fantasy 13 and older Monster Hunter titles, I strongly prefer a "slower burn"--new elements progressively being introduced to keep things fresh. I'll pull up a few examples of bad pacing, Far Cry 5: You unlock almost all the weapons by the time you finish your first region, and I say this because many of the later unlocks are literally just reskins of cheaper/more common guns. Furthermore, the amount of weapons and variety of vehicles is paltry compared to previous titles. And unfortunately...the enemies don't really change. All the enemies pretty much look the same, drive the same trucks, etc...they didn't even bother changing their appearance to be unique to their zone. I think the only "new" enemy I encountered after the first 6 or so hours are the "Angels", super wolves, and the ones with flamethrowers. The game also isn't as vertical as previous titles, so unlocking the wing-suit didn't really change much. Zelda Breath of Wild: Again, this is a game that people sink 70+ hours into. For a Zelda game, this one aspect was a little bit disappointing. After the initial stages, the game doesn't really change much. The enemy variety was also sorely lacking, with 90% of "new" enemies being reskins of Bokoblins and Lizalfos. I think that the only "new" enemies I encountered after my first dozen or so hours were Lynels and Yiga soldiers. You also pretty much utilize every game mechanic in the game very, very early, and there is a dire lack of unique/epic gear with novel functionality like in previous games. The shrines were also a bit disappointing, there were very many, but the overwhelming majority of them had the same color scheme/art style and interactive elements. I would have preferred less, but more unique shrines. I loved the game, so don't get me wrong... Assassin's Creed Origins: According to howlongtobeat.com, the average player who completes only the main quest spends close to 30 hours, with an additional 20-25 hours on additional content (average of 47 hours spent on the game). By the time you've played for about 8-10 hours...you've pretty much seen literally every enemy type, almost every weapon type, most animals, almost every type task that you could conceivably told to do in a quest, the steeds are pretty much identical besides skin and different speed, almost every gameplay mechanic, etc. The only "new" things you encounter later are a few skills you unlock, but most are simply incremental upgrades that don't fundamentally alter the gameplay. The sense of discovery, really, only becomes limited to the environment and advancing its mediocre plot. For such a long game, I wish they spaced things out. Some good examples, Half-Life 2: You are consistently introduced to new gameplay mechanics, weapons, vehicles, enemy varieties, etc as the game progresses. Almost every chapter has its own "thing" be that special kind of enemy, vehicle, gameplay mechanic, etc. Anyone remember Ravenholm, Water Hazard, or the trip in the buggy around the mountain bluffs? Impeccable pacing. The same could be said for its prequel. Horizon Zero Dawn: You progressively get access to new bows as the game progresses. The enemy variety was also impeccable, and excellently placed. Almost every zone saw you encountering new machines, to the point where I was still being introduced to new ones right up the end of the last few missions in the game. The Witcher 3: I'll keep it short, but again, you are constantly encountering new enemy varieties up the end. [link] [comments]  |
| Feeling guilty about new computer and playing games Posted: 13 Aug 2018 12:02 PM PDT A few days ago I got my new computer. It has a gtx 1080 and an i7 8700k and was about 1500€ (with monitor & everything rather 1700€) I've longed for sth. that could perform better than my laptop (gtx 880m + i7 4810MQ) for quite some time now and I have been constantly checking for deals on laptops and computers. Even before I got this machine it felt somehow wrong. Now that I have it that feeling is massively amplified and something in me keeps telling me „Give that waste of money back and spend your money on something useful! Oh yeah, and stop wasting time playing video games!!!" So now I'm in a huge indecision. On one side I'd like to give it back and maybe get sth. cheaper that is still a littler bit better than my Laptop. However I feel shy and guilty giving stuff back and that I'd dissapoint and molest my father, who ordered it for me on amazon. On the other side though, I want to keep it since it is very powerful and really runs everything buttersmooth. Any advice? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 13 Aug 2018 02:54 PM PDT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTLFNlu2N_M Spread the word. [link] [comments]  |
| Does the developer's intent matter? Posted: 12 Aug 2018 06:39 PM PDT I just finished playing Celeste. I liked the game, though it was a bit hard for me in the beginning. However, I heard a lot of outrage regarding its Assist Mode - and in general, these difficulty mods are always behind "you are unwanted for choosing this option". It's not how the developer envisioned for you to play the game. The developer matters more than the player does. Who gives a damn? Since when has the sale of an item been anything but interest on the part of the buyer? Let's also remember that for every open-world game, if you can't do absolutely everything possible, there is an outcry for it. Can't kill that NPC via dumpster fire? Not giving the player agency. Yet, when it comes to something as simple as letting certain people with slower reflexes actually play the game, we shun it and all of a sudden care what the developer thinks. Convenient. If we cared about developer intent, we would still have JRPG's with great, wacky stories like the PS1 era. We'd maybe be able to focus on quality more than quantity (assuming the devs are more focused on releasing a good game than a good selling one). But we don't care, we've never cared. I don't understand why we pretend to now. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 13 Aug 2018 11:28 AM PDT |
| Posted: 12 Aug 2018 06:13 PM PDT For the most part, skills in RPGs are determined entirely by stats and class, any of which is equally accessible by either gender. This accomplishes two things from a developer's perspective: 1) it simplifies the process by avoiding having to design around multiple scenarios, and 2) it avoids the potentially controversial depiction of women as being weaker than men. But I think, if handled correctly, it could actually be a really interesting, insightful, and respectful design choice if a dev really went for it in terms of gritty realism. Imagine a game in a Shadowrun type setting (other settings could work as well, but this is the one that comes to mind for me.) You can choose all sorts of features in an open-ended character designer at the beginning, but if you choose a male character, you will be locked into a range of stats that includes significantly higher strength and endurance, while a female character will have significantly higher spirit and charm stats. The scenario and goals will be the same in either case, but a successful approach will require different strategies. A male character will be much better suited to combat, can go toe-to-toe and take a few hits before going down, but will be attacked on sight by all enemies and has to acquire and spend a lot of money to get items. No one outside of a couple close friends will help him unless he recruits mercenaries or finds an angle to blackmail or threaten someone. If a woman has an item he needs and he beats her up and takes it rather than buying it from her legitimately, his reputation can begin to suffer horribly to the point that random NPCs will attack him everywhere and the police will eventually come after him. A female character will be quickly outmatched if surrounded by hostile armed men, unless equipped with a very powerful firearm. She will have realistically lower health and melee damage, but people will be more sympathetic in general, and some enemies will be hesitant to attack her, allowing her to set up sucker punch first strikes. There will be many people who offer her free or cheap help in the form of items, ammo, and co-op, but part of the challenge will be ferreting out who has the means and the motive to help and who is trying to show off or take advantage of a woman. If done well, with just a focus on an immersive world and good gameplay and no heavy-handed MRA or SJW message, this could really be a subtle way to help everyone experience empathy. Imagine people playing through once as their own gender, thinking "Yup, that's the way the world works," and then doing a second playthrough as the opposite gender and really being made to think what a survival situation would look like. Suddenly a woman, through the eyes of a man, sees a world where no one cares about him, everyone is rude, and money talks. A man, likewise through the eyes of a woman facing a difficult gang combat scenario, accepts an offer of help from some big-talker who ends up barely chasing off one enemy while the player does all of the heavy lifting, only to have the "ally" turn and say "You know you basically owe me your life..." while leering at her. In my opinion, showing is much more powerful than telling. This would be the kind of game that could get real dialogue going, not to mention would avoid the strange, immersion-breaking tendency for RPGs to have women and men have the exact same strength and social stats. TLDR: A realistic game where men are stronger and more durable and women have an easier time networking for help and tricking enemies would be very interesting to me. [link] [comments]  |
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