Quality Gaming

I don't know about all of you, but I'm starting to expect more from my games. I love open worlds and being given choices to influence the story, every game should have those elements. Everyone always flips shit over Call of Duty, particularly Modern Warfare because every frat boy and bro-gamer can't stop making love to it. I hate linear games, I don't care how many explosions and scripted events it has, it's still linear, even if you call if "cinematic" -- it will happen that way every single time you play the game. Call of Duty is the pinnacle of linear gaming. Want the game to hold your hand and breast-feed you while you mow down unintelligent AI? Go for Call of Duty, can't go wrong there. I will say, however, that the multiplayer can be fun, although with Modern Warfare 2 they have made a mistake by forcing you into game chat. X-Box Live is the scumbucket of society, no one wants to talk to those people. If you want to hate your life as well as humanity, go play X-Box Live for a while.

Unlike Call of Duty, a game should really be worth the money. Sixty dollars is a lot of dough, and having to burn that every time you want a new game is rough. I want my money's worth, and games like Call of Duty do not deliver that. Games like Grand Theft Auto IV do, you can literally have hundreds of hours of gameplay from just screwing around. Not to mention all the other elements that make it worthwhile. Games need to feel like their own world, and allow you to do what you want in that world. Every game would benefit from having that level of immersion.

Oh, what's that? You don't like open-world games because you can't figure out what to do? Well grow a brain stem and then try again.

While I'm somewhat on the topic of quality games, I'd like to touch on MMOs. MMOs are an entirely different ballpark as far as what you should expect. Every day I see more people complaining about how this game isn't polished enough, or this game is buggy. WELCOME TO MMO GAMING. MMOs have bugs, get over it. MMOs don't start off with the five years of polish that World of Warcraft has, get over it. I miss the days when taking part in an MMO was a journey, and it was enjoyed even if it was rough. I miss the days when people expected there to be bugs. Everyone in the MMO world has this idea that all games need to be perfect by launch, well unfortunately things don't work like that.

My theory on what happens is that World of Warcraft is the gateway game. WoW didn't start off popular, it slowly grew to what it is today. WoW is currently the "hip" MMO, so everyone plays that game first. Then, once they play it a while and find out it's boring as hell, they move on to other MMOs. Disaster then occurs of course, because these idiots expect every game to have the polish and following that World of Warcraft does; and by extension they get on forums and cry about the game. World of Warcraft has done good and bad things to the MMO business. It's brought it more attention, but it has also ruined the experience of other MMOs (only if you're a dolt though.) WoW is too successful, it's so successful that it harms other games' chances. Other, BETTER games, I might add.

I could go on and on about why I hate World of Warcraft, but I've honestly said it so many times I bore myself when I talk about it.

BORED

I'm an avid MMO gamer, I love being inside a living world where I can make persistent progress every day; and for one of the first times in my MMO career, I have nothing to play. I've played almost every major MMO on the market, but they're all lacking something on some level.

The greatest MMO experience I ever had was Star Wars Galaxies, back before the NGE update. It had an awesome community, an excellent open class/career system, a large world, player housing, player cities, and an interesting PvP system, and I also happened to love Star Wars. The game was doing well, and many people were in love with it but yet Sony Online Entertainment/LucasArts put through this new NGE update that completely changed the game on a fundamental level. Just after the update, people left the game in droves and it has never been the same. Play the game now, and sure you may enjoy it, but it's a shadow of its former self.

Ever since that game died I've been on an everlasting search for a new MMO. I've gone from MMO to MMO trying to find one I can truly enjoy, as it stands I usually don't play one for very long periods at a time, as I get bored with something about it. However, usually I move on to a new one that I think I can enjoy for a time, but this time.. I can't find one. I've played them all, and they all bore me.

World of Warcraft is a joke.

I'm afraid to touch any of SOE's games because all they care about is the almighty dollar.

Fallen Earth seems to have a lot of potential, but they need to work on introducing new players to all the possibilities, not just dump them into the world.

EVE Online I think is awesome, but it's just not my kind of game.

Guild Wars is good, but it feels like a dead-end with Guild Wars 2 on the horizon.

Warhammer Online is great, but it needs more class balance and engine streamlining.

I know there are many more MMOs, and I've played them, but I'd run this off the page detailing them all. So it looks like I'm sticking with console and non-MMO PC games for a while. Drat.

Go to hell, hype

     So, I've adopted a new philosophy when it comes to video games.  I've actually been doing this for the past year, but chosen now to write about it.  I have decided to stop hyping myself up on games, I've even grown to expect less from games.  When you think about it, hype is responsible for the majority of disappointment when it comes to playing a new game (apart from it downright sucking.)  We read so much about a game and watch videos and read speculative previews that we get this idea of what the game is in our head, essentially it becomes our perfect game.  Fast forward a year or so and you're playing the game and you are highly disappointed because it has not lived up to your fantastic vision of it.

     I realized that game developers promise things they can't deliver.. I've accepted that, they just say shit and vouch for features they aren't certain will make the cut.  This is the basis for hype, and it's just made to make people want the game (and it works.)  Think about it for a moment though.. I'm sure there's a game on the way now that you can't wait for, this is a game you've never even played, and you're freakin' out because it seems to be everything you'd want from the genre.  You've seen some videos and maybe a developer talking about how great it is.. but you've never played it, what reason do you have to be excited?  

     If we all just slow down and take games for what they are, not what they were promised to be, you can find a lot of enjoyment where there was none before.  (Yes I know it's wrong that those features weren't in the game even though they said they would be, but you've been tricked so many times!  How are you still falling for it!?)  

     I've applied this theory to my life currently and so far it has worked wonders.  Many games, when taken by themselves are a blast to play through.  When you know what could've been, it ruins the gameplay because that is all you can think about.  One game that comes to mind that I just finished is the new Wolfenstein on X-Box 360.  The game was a solid shooter with some interesting elements, overall I thought it was pretty bland, albeit enjoyable.  Now.. had I known of any features that were promised to be in it, it would have been a downright poop-chute of a game, (and from what I gathered from seeing the face of the game on magazines and websites, it seemed to have some decent hype.)  

     So I invite all of you to adopt this doctrine, and start enjoying your games again!  Stop hyping yourselves up, in fact, just downright refuse to expect good things from a game so then when you do play it and it blows you away, it will truly be a transcendent gaming experience.  Perhaps then forums won't be overflowing with crybabies.  

    On a side note, welcome to my blog!  I've been itching to do some writing and I hope to keep the articles flowing, if anyone bothers to read it.