Be the Grunt From Space
by Christo van Gemert
I
’m bored. I have unlimited Internet access, all the games I enjoy, all the gaming platforms to enjoy them on, lots of time to kill, and tons of friends to join me online. So what gives? Why am I bored? Is something wrong with me? Is it the way modern games are made? Or are the pressures of growing up, finding a girlfriend, and keeping a household are just making me apathetic? In short, am I getting too old for this? Given the significant – what’s a diplomatic way to put this? - seniority advantage our dear editor has over me, I doubt I’m getting too old. Games are fun. Fun is for all ages. I should be 40, 50 or 90 and still enjoy gaming. In fact, the times I do really want to play I am still drawn in and have a good time. Even the girlfriend thing shouldn’t factor in. I play games and any potential boobed partner should have to deal with that. Or join me. But really now – do girls even play games? Something could definitely be wrong with me. As demonstrated over the 25 or so columns I’ve written here I am a very fussy gamer and my peculiar tastes are far from the norm. So I don’t think that’s the problem here. Maybe modern games are the problem. I read something – or was it a YouTube video I saw? - a while ago about old games being the best because you never won. You never finished. Something along the lines of that you knew those space invaders were coming
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and you could shoot as many as you wanted, but you weren’t going to save humanity. In Missile Command you’d do your best to avoid the inevitable nuclear holocaust, but a Game Over screen was your ultimate destiny. Now we expect detailed storylines and satisfying endings. We want our protagonists to be invincible, especially because we are in control and don’t like bad things happening to us. Modern games defeat us on a personal level, after making us identify with the characters. It’s not Master Chief being crushed by the Covenant: it’s me. I am the weakest link. And I don’t like losing. Sometimes we need a dose of reality - something to bring us back down to earth. It’s like an action
movie, when the hero gets beat up pretty badly before making a comeback. You realise he’s not an unstoppable super human. Indiana Jones, John McClane, Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent – they all have their weaknesses. And, if you’ll excuse the tenuous link, I think that’s what our modern games need: flawed characters that make us realise we’re not the be all and end all. This can extend right down to game design, too. Don’t mollycoddle us with autosaves and checkpoints. And bring back healthpacks – this “take cover to heal” system is rubbish. Maybe then I won’t be bored playing the unstoppable action man in sandpit worlds where anything is supposed to be possible. g
gamecca column • issue 31 • January 2012