Very cool article. I haven't heard a new viewpoint like this in awhile. I suppose that was why ZombieU was popular. Once your character died, they were gone forever. I wish Skyrim was more realistic as well. Even though it was fun to be godlike in those aspects you mentioned, I found it strange that you could swim in the arctic ocean as well. heh
DayZ and the Future of Virtual Realism
The rise of simulated fantasy is all around us.
Landscapes
I’ve heard of Fallout’s “Hardcore” mode; where you need to eat and drink to survive, and radiation is as threatening an opponent as super mutants, but as I played Bethesda’s other big franchise hit, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I couldn’t help but wish that it too had such a mode. Skyrim takes great pains to conjure a real place, with real people in it, with hearty voice-acting and intricate lore. When I played the game I found myself wandering wintery wastelands; but then I also found myself easily swimming across frigid rivers when I was too lazy to find a bridge – and emerging from the water unharmed and nonchalant among the supposedly harsh environment. I didn’t have to eat or sleep. I didn’t bleed from axe wounds or get singed by lightning magic. I didn’t have to worry about the details.
For some, these mundane components would be an exercise in boredom. However, for me, in an otherwise immersive game, these lacking minutiae kept me from enjoying a fantastical world. I liked Skyrim a lot, but in this never-ending winter, my character never shivered once. While I wouldn’t want to have to pee every fifteen minutes, or have a button on the controller that controls breathing, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like as more of simulation, less of a game. It’s the tropes of games that draw us out of the experience and reduce our anxiety: whether it’s the fact you have to knowingly hit each Zelda boss three times or the fact that after death in a shooter you can happily respawn not only in near proximity to where you died, but with refreshed ammo and armor.
Most of us play games to escape reality, but would a little more realism really hurt, especially if it was optional? I think part of the draw of a game like DayZ is that it ISN’T optional. Life is cheap in most video games; you spawn, you die, you spawn again, losing nothing of any real importance.
But how can we make these games more “dangerous”, without making them into experiences that are no longer enjoyable? Would Skyrim be better as a rogue-like? I don’t think so, but what if we had to worry about shelter in snowstorms or if various races dealt with the cold in different ways? Perhaps your cold-blooded lizard warrior would be particularly affected by the cold, or maybe traversing an icy river would lead to certain death.
On the other hand, this is a game where you can save anywhere and reload at any point. While I’m not arguing against these features, I’m just positing that less forgiving and more realistic experiences might appeal to certain audiences. I’m not talking about difficulty here, necessarily, but something else; something almost intangible: a taste of adventure spiced with the mundane, because for some players, more simulated risk equals a more enjoyable experience.
Comments