The Gaming Experience: Part 1

What is it that keeps gamers gaming? Why do we spend so much time and money on games when there are cheaper and simpler forms of popular entertainment? A good game is like a good book, it has to have a good story and has to keep you interested somehow. The key with games is they create a two way experience, an input and an output. A good game meshes this idea of input and output seamlessly to create a genuine and unique experience that keeps people coming back for the new and the interesting. As an example of this I will use the game Earthbound(SNES), because I believe this game represents what’s good about all games.

First of all Earthbounds style is extremely unique and quirky as is its story, but in this way it's able to be extremely immerse and memorable. When it was first released it was not well received as other games of its genera at that time were really pushing forward graphically and gameplay wise while Earthbound was relatively simple in both respects. However today it has a cult following because years later we can look back and not be so hung up on how cutting edge it was and realize what a wonderful experience the game is. An example of something Earthbound does to achieve such memorability is the in game coffee talks it gives you. In the game at a select few points the player is presented with a table and a coffee cup on it. If the player interacts with it they are presented with a “coffee talk” which is basically a cut scene with a trippy back round, soothing music and scrolling text. The text is basically the game acknowledging you have been playing it, praising you for your accomplishments and treating you as if you are actually the character you have been controlling. It’s a very grounding experience for the player and immerses you emotionally unlike most games today are able to even with their hyper-realistic HD graphics.

I believe this type of gaming experience is what keeps us playing over the years even though a new generation of gamers are being introduced to games that operate more like classical conditioning experiments rather then experiences. Multi-player FPS games and cookie cutter MMOs work by giving rewards at certain intervals that keep the player engaged in repetitive tasks so they can get a small reinforcement. I know how it feels to sit in a halo server for hours running around the same map, getting a rush every time I kill someone. The end result of this experience usually ends up being frustration when the rewards stop coming at the same frequency i.e. you start losing. Also, you start become alienated from those experiential games that you love so much, because you are addicted to the impulse games. So remember kids; Hugs not Halo.