What's Important in a Video Game?

[Patrick]

http://gamingbolt.com/2009/12/03/what-do-you-look-for-in-a-game/

Thoughts?

Via Digg.

[sensei8]

Fantastic article! Thanks for it Patrick.

For me...as stated in the opening paragraph of that article..."An unforgettable gameplay experience...", this is what I look forward to and this is what I'm looking for in a video game and this includes but isn't limited to just great graphics and a rocking sound. The more difficult it is to win, the better for me.

I love a great game of chess, but, if I can win at will, then where's the challenge. A video game of chess might have great graphics and the like in its most simplistic layout/program, but, if the game of chess within its program is difficult to win....well...then that's what I want...

In a video game....I WANT A DIFFICULT CHALLENGE!

[Patrick]

Glad that you enjoyed it. The trick in game difficulty is it being difficult, but not too difficult. Hence the introduction of difficulty levels, I suppose.

[WireFrame]

Recently I've discovered I want, in a game, to be somewhere else. I lately spent an ungodly amount of time on Fallout 3, and after that I've returned to a game 4 years old, but imo ahead of its time, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (same developer, same engine).

These two games are so completely devoted to, as the team says, "Live another life, in another world" - and I've been having great fun doing so.

I also love exploring, something else those games have in spades, and am looking forward to buying Assassin's Creed II once I get another job.

Some people may say graphics don't matter, but let's be honest a game's visuals, animation and sound form a large part of the presentation that gets people into the game. Graphics can be simple and still good, but no-one could really enjoy for long a game that looks terrible and ugly. So I think presentation is important too, the likes of which you'd find in the Uncharted games is an excellent example of fantastic presentation.

[Patrick]

Yeah, it is all of some importance, at least, depending on your perspective. When it all comes together, that's what will be most enjoyable, more than a game who just has one of the two things (gameplay vs. graphics). I like to explore, as well.

I've been playing a lot of co-op Call of Duty: World at War zombie mode with my brother lately. We're on the last of the four maps now and it's fun to explore them and find everything together, while zombies are coming. But, we'll go back and play the other maps, too.

Man do I wish we could play two player co-op online with two other people, though.

Patrick

[Naked Snake]

A Good Story Line. I'm Okay If It's Like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas

About A Guy Getting Framed By The Police If

You Know What I Mean .

[evergrey]

Most of all, it needs to be fun and entertaining, and it needs to have just enough challenge to not be boring.

After that... it needs to not feel like an obligation or a grindfest. Nowadays I am much more likely to walk away from something, be it a movie or a game or anything else meant for sit-down entertainment, if I don't feel like it's worth my time. Life is too short.

I used to play WoW. It started to feel like an unpaid, full-time job. I joined the top raiding guild on the server and I ended up having to devote 5 nights a week for 8 hours to raiding. At one point I realized that it wasn't actually fun for me any more.

Then my back got injured and I couldn't walk any more. The ONLY thing I could really do was play WoW.

After my back got better, I lost all patience for it. I wanted to go outside and do all the things I'd taken for granted before I got injured.

Life's much better now. :}

I still game, but I limit my time, for sure, which means it had better really be fun and interesting.

As an artist and a rather visual person, graphics do count for a lot with me, but I will also play old games with (by today's standards) terrible, primitive graphics if I find them to be enjoyable enough.

[Patrick]

I used to play WoW. It started to feel like an unpaid, full-time job.