The Weakest Link

Only a cow doesn’t change its mind – it’s a saying we have here in Poland and I would like it to be the main thought of this editorial.

EVOLUTION

Evolution is a process of gradual change and development. Human beings evolve, a person’s identity evolves, the industry evolves and games evolve. It is a natural, and in most cases unstoppable process. The problem with evolution is that it doesn’t advance with the same rate for all nexuses in our system. This leads to discrepancies which can cause the system to degenerate or collapse altogether. Taking into account that there is no way to accelerate evolution, the only way a slowly evolving constituent can prevent a system failure is by…

ADAPTATION

Adaptation is a rapid change (at least compared to the process of evolution) to suit a situation or conditions. Adaptation is essential in evolution. If it wasn’t for the constituents’ ability to adapt to the various changes the system undergoes no system would prevail the process of evolution. However, not all constituents can, or are “willing” to adapt. In such case the number of “impaired” constituents and their strength decide if the system will prevail or not. If the “proper” constituents are in majority, or are particularly strong, the “impaired” constituents are disposed of and the system continues to function. If not, the system fails. This is a part of…

NATURAL SELECTION

Natural selection is a process in which the constituents best adapted to the changes within a system survive, and those that did not adapt are disposed of by the system. Here, I would like to note that since I’m discussing an artificial system, hence I cannot use notion of heritable traits. I will be discussing only traits developed by the constituents during the process of adaptation.


You’re probably wondering what the hell I’m writing about?

I’ll use this diagram.



As you can see, we, the gamers, are a constituent of a larger system. Unfortunately, we are the slowest evolving constituent, hence we need to adapt to the changes in the system. Bear in mind, that the system is not the electronic entertainment industry. I will not try to name it for the purpose of this editorial. If any of you does come up with a good name though, do not hesitate to let me know.
Gamers are the fastest growing part of the system, but the core gamers, do not adapt as fast as they should. We are very hesitant to change; we tend to keep to our habits a bit too much for our own sakes.

Ok, this is a bit confusing, so let me use myself as an example. I am a gamer since I was seven. Actually, I’ve been playing games before that, but at the age of seven I got my first machine (c64). That was eighteen years ago. That means that the games from mid 90s impacted my gamer perception the most. This is a case for many core, or rather statistical gamers (male in late 20s, early 30s). We’ve got an almost twenty year gap since 1990 and 2008 (I’m not even talking about earlier years which had many revolutionary games) – the industry, the technology, the philosophy and the cultural absorption of games changed tremendously during that period. I will even risk a statement, that apart from IT the EE industry made a bigger “evolutionary” leap that anything else. But did we?

My answer is “no”. We’re still the same people, only a bit older. We had no choice but to get used to the new technologies – 256 colour graphics, 3D, surround sound and now HD, but that doesn’t mean that we perceive games differently than we did eight, ten or fifteen years ago. Even through we embrace the changes, we personally did not change that much. If you ask a 25-year old what is his favourite game he’ll probably name a title from somewhere in the 90s. Ask him about his favourite survival horror and he may tell you it is Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Ask him about his favourite platform game and it may be Super Mario Bros. 3 or Crash Bandicoot. Ask him about an RPG and it’s gonna be Diablo or Final Fantasy 6.
People do not like changes. Gamers do not like changes.
When we look at new games, we look at them through the prism of our old favourites and this is where we fail to adapt. And believe me, this is a way to a hell of boredom. I know, I do it myself. When I buy a new survival horror I always compare it to either Silent Hill or Resident Evil. If I see a new hack’n’slash I always wonder how it is compared to Diablo. It can have great graphics, cool idea and whatnot, but if it doesn’t have at least 5 diverse character classes and randomly generated weapons I always lose interest. When I want a new jRPG I always wonder if it will be as good as Final Fantasy VII… it never is; I lose interest. I remember how pissed off I was when they first showed footage from Resident Evil 4 (I mean the version that got released). I thought: “What the fuck is that? What the hell did Capcom do with my favourite game, it’s nothing like it”. It took me a while to get used to the fact that Resident Evil is evolving into something different. Now, RE4 is one of my favourite games, but it wasn’t easy to love it at first.
We gamers may cause the system failure ourselves without even knowing about it. It takes us way too much time to welcome new ideas. And don’t you dare bring Wii into this! I know you’re itching to do it. I know it’s selling extremely well, but how many core gamers play it a lot? How many CORE gamers? Wii is being bought by Sunday gamers and Sundays that play their Wiis an hour a week will not become core gamers… ever. They will get bored with games before they can get into them.
I will be even so bold to write, that Nintendo may be paving the road to a dark alley where hardcore gamers are screwed over with motion sensor controllers. Just look at what they are doing. The Wii sales stutter? Bring out another peripheral and make another silly sports game. That’s it. I realize that Nintendo was always a company that made games for the whole family, but all their previous consoles had at least something for cores. And now? Nothing. The Wii is successful and now the Big N is just cutting away the coupons. Will other companies do the same? Yes, but to what extent? Unfortunately for cores, Sunday are needed because games are too expensive to make. M$ knows it and we get cartoon-ish avatar in a console that is targeting 18-40 year old males. Odd?
There is one “glitch” in evolution. Sometimes, instead of slowly changing, a constituent of the system mutates. The mutant turns out very powerful and kills off all normal constituents and becomes a dominating one. The problem is the mutant is hyperactive due to high metabolism which means it is short-lived. It prematurely dies and the system goes to hell. For me, Wii, or rather Nintendo is such a mutant. The mutant can either be given gene therapy (hardcore games) or is killed before it goes on rampage. Otherwise we may face a future where in 5-10 years time games are made for Sundays and hardcores get served with small, independent games via PSN, XBLA or whatnot.
Am I exaggerating? Probably.

And now for the solution.
We need to keep an open mind. This is our biggest problem. We just can’t get around the though that a big change might be a good change. You remember when it was first revealed that Bethesda is making the third Fallout? I can tell you what I was thinking. “God, just don’t let them make it 1st person and the combat in real-time”. Does God hate me? Is it a test? No, I think God knows that if I don’t stop thinking about Fallout 3 as of Fallout 2.5 I will get no Fallout at all.
Similarly with games that I dismissed when they first came out for some stupid reasons. Take Ratchet and Clank for example. What the first one came out for the PS2 I immediately labelled as a “stupid game”. A 3D cartoon platformer with a lot of shooting involved was a travesty for me, a game that will contaminate one of my favourite genres. Well, after finishing Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction I realize how big of a moron I was. The game is excellent, the shooting is fun and the dialogues are hilarious. I sure will be getting the next one.

Now I’m trying to be faithful to the Keep an Open Mind rule. I finished Alone in the Dark (5) because I think it’s a game that will set new standards in gameplay for future titles. I didn’t mind shooting everything in Metal Gear Solid 4. I’m very much looking forward to playing Fallout 3. I accepted WoW-ish graphics in Diablo III. And I will not be upset if Silent Hill: Homecoming turns out to be a piece of crap.
Games will change, it’s inevitable. We should look forward to those changes. And the next time you will want to compare Final Fantasy XIII to Final Fantasy VII just turn on your PSOne and play FFVII and let the XII be its own entity.