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.
The Present
Most video games provide an “arcade” experience, with few leaning towards accurate reality. Shooters rely upon such tropes as regenerating health, and racing games now provide guidelines on the tracks to show where you should be driving and the best speed to take turns. But there are still games like Gran Turismo for example, that struggle to replicate real world mechanics as best they can. However, a common complaint with Gran Turismo now is that it is “too realistic”, and “not fun,” leading to the rise of games like Forza, which lean slightly more towards arcade-like experiences.
However, some attempts at realism, like Far Cry 2’s rusting weapons and malaria virus, ultimately make the game no fun. Where Arma 2 succeeds is its consistency, and while difficult and off-putting to many players, some players love it. Incredibly, there is a hungry audience for Arma 2’s sort of gameplay, which is vastly different from popular military shooters like Battlefield and Call of Duty. From the look of the soon-to-be-released Arma 3, these features seem to only be getting more intense.
We mostly play games to escape reality, and we prefer these escapes to be more forgiving and more exciting than accurate representations, but I think that will change, or at least the niche of simulations will grow. That’s why the “pseudo-simulation” of DayZ is so important. Finally, somebody has combined accurate life with a fantastic reality, and this mod is unique among realistic simulation games because it specifically simulates something that is a fantasy. This is a sign of a growing trend in games where more mundane details will be added to the typical arcade experience to further immersion.
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