Another Gaming Poll for my studies, please participate!

[redmoretrout]

1. 21
2. a
3. Canada
4. a
5. c
6. g (RTS)
7. b
8. probably not
9. definitely not
10. definitely
11. I don't know
12. probably not
13. Fallout 2

 

[alphamalet]

Spoiler: snip

1 29

Pretty scary when this many people consider the story, something that doesn't even define a game, as the most important part for them. You can have a game with no story. You can't have a game with no gameplay. Which do you think is more important? Sheesh!

You can have a movie without a story too but most people like movies with stories.

You're still missing the point. Yes, story can compliment gameplay in the same way the story can compliment a film, but that does NOT make story the most important part of either of these.

What differentiates a game from other mediums of entertainment is its gameplay. You can't play a movie, a book, or a painting. If you took gameplay away, then you wouldn't have a game, and the entire medium of entertainment disappears. I don't care how compelling or how well a story compliments the gameplay of a game, if you say that story is more important than the aspect that makes a game a game, then you're wrong.

Like I said earlier, your example misses the point. Yes, a story can compliment the visuals of a film, but it is the unique way a film displays its visuals that makes a film a film. If you remove a plot from a film, you still have a series of captured frames being played in quick succession to convey to the viewer some sort of imagery that occurred in a specific place and time. An example might be some of the home movies taken by the people who witnessed some of the events in World War II. There is no story to these, but what they convey is powerful and the way they convey it can't be done by a still image or by a sound byte. Now what if you took away the film's unique way of conveying information? What if films were no longer a series of captured images played in rapid succession to give the appearance of motion? You don't have a movie anymore, you have either a still frame, or a sound byte. So is story still the most important aspect of either of these artistic mediums?

I'm all for story in games. I think a story can be powerful, and emotional, and help motivate a player to keep playing. I don't want you think that I am advocating that there be no stories in video games. What I am advocating is to put this specific aspect of video games into perspective.

As someone who is currently studying video game design at a university, it has always confounded me how avid players of video games seem to understand so little as to what makes a game tick. Worship what makes a game a game and sets it apart from all of the other mediums of entertainment you could be experiencing instead! Don't worship one of the pieces that does nothing to define the medium of entertainment you enjoy so much!

Actually you're the one that does not get it everyone understands that gameplay is necessary for it to be a game and very few people will want to play a game with terrible gameplay, but lots of people would rather play a game with mediocre gameplay and a good story, than a game with good gameplay and a mediocre story. The same is true for film, while story is not necessary how many people would pay $12+ to go see a 2 hour movie with no story or sit though the hundreds of hours of show/commercials that some TV shows run if their was no story.

So you acknowledge the necessity of gameplay, but then go on to argue that story is still more important than the unique features of both mediums. Yeah, you missed the point. Quite frankly, I don't know how much clearer I can say it, so I'm not going to waste my time further with this discussion. By the way, people might take you more seriously if you used proper grammar and punctuation.

 

[Wing Dairu]

1 21
2a
3 USA
4a
5c
6a
7e
8 probably not
9 definitely not
10 definitely
11 definitely not
12 probably
13 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

 

[StBishop]

1. 21

2. a - male

3. Australia

4. c - XBox 360

5. b - 1 - 2 hours (On average)

6. c - Adventure and Role-Playing Games

7. a - A captivating story

8. Probably not

9. Probably

10. Definitely

11. I don't know

12. Probably

Bonus question:
13. Baldur's Gate

 

[Mauler]

1 21
2 a
3 Latvia
4 a
5 d
6 c
7 a
8 probably not
9 definiteley not
10 defineteley
11 i dont know
12 defineteley
13 Planescape: Tourment

 

[Trek1701a]

Spoiler: snip

1 29

Pretty scary when this many people consider the story, something that doesn't even define a game, as the most important part for them. You can have a game with no story. You can't have a game with no gameplay. Which do you think is more important? Sheesh!

You can have a movie without a story too but most people like movies with stories.

You're still missing the point. Yes, story can compliment gameplay in the same way the story can compliment a film, but that does NOT make story the most important part of either of these.

What differentiates a game from other mediums of entertainment is its gameplay. You can't play a movie, a book, or a painting. If you took gameplay away, then you wouldn't have a game, and the entire medium of entertainment disappears. I don't care how compelling or how well a story compliments the gameplay of a game, if you say that story is more important than the aspect that makes a game a game, then you're wrong.

Like I said earlier, your example misses the point. Yes, a story can compliment the visuals of a film, but it is the unique way a film displays its visuals that makes a film a film. If you remove a plot from a film, you still have a series of captured frames being played in quick succession to convey to the viewer some sort of imagery that occurred in a specific place and time. An example might be some of the home movies taken by the people who witnessed some of the events in World War II. There is no story to these, but what they convey is powerful and the way they convey it can't be done by a still image or by a sound byte. Now what if you took away the film's unique way of conveying information? What if films were no longer a series of captured images played in rapid succession to give the appearance of motion? You don't have a movie anymore, you have either a still frame, or a sound byte. So is story still the most important aspect of either of these artistic mediums?

I'm all for story in games. I think a story can be powerful, and emotional, and help motivate a player to keep playing. I don't want you think that I am advocating that there be no stories in video games. What I am advocating is to put this specific aspect of video games into perspective.

As someone who is currently studying video game design at a university, it has always confounded me how avid players of video games seem to understand so little as to what makes a game tick. Worship what makes a game a game and sets it apart from all of the other mediums of entertainment you could be experiencing instead! Don't worship one of the pieces that does nothing to define the medium of entertainment you enjoy so much!

Actually you're the one that does not get it everyone understands that gameplay is necessary for it to be a game and very few people will want to play a game with terrible gameplay, but lots of people would rather play a game with mediocre gameplay and a good story, than a game with good gameplay and a mediocre story. The same is true for film, while story is not necessary how many people would pay $12+ to go see a 2 hour movie with no story or sit though the hundreds of hours of show/commercials that some TV shows run if their was no story.

So you acknowledge the necessity of gameplay, but then go on to argue that story is still more important than the unique features of both mediums. Yeah, you missed the point. Quite frankly, I don't know how much clearer I can say it, so I'm not going to waste my time further with this discussion. By the way, people might take you more seriously if you used proper grammar and punctuation.

I believe, and people will probably correct me if I'm wrong, but those who are saying story is the most important thing (I'm one of them), are saying it because if there is a good and compelling story, they could overlook most of the games other flaws and other areas of lacking. No one is saying the other areas, like gameplay, aren't important, it's just that story above else would keep them playing the game longer than any of the other choices. Ultimately, it comes down to what makes a gamer keep playing a game and for a good portion it is for the story the game provides.

 

[Garland]

1: 20
2: Male
3: United States of America
4: C - Xbox 360
5: C - 2-4 hours
6: C - Adventure and Role-Playing Games
7: B - Unique or Compelling Gameplay
8: Definitely Not
9: Definitely Not
10: Definitely
11: I Don't Know (Impartial)
12: Definitely
13: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

 

[Hagi]

1. How old are you? (Please state your age as a number)
23

2. You are...?
Male

3. Your country?
The Netherlands

4. Which gaming platform do you mainly use? (state only one)
A) PC

5. Approximately how many hours a day do you play videogames? (state only one)
C) 2 - 4 hours

6. What is your prefered genre (state only one)
C) RPG

7. Which aspect of a game is most important to you? (state only one)
A) A captivating story

Please state your answers to the following statements as follows (state only one):
definitely
probably
probably not
definitely not
I don't know

8. I am more likely to buy newly released games over games which are older than a year.
Probably not (waiting a year means a serious drop in price)

9. The quality of graphics in videogames has an influence on my purchase decisions.
Definitely (not a major factor but definitely a factor)

10. A captivating story/well-written characters/compelling gameplay can compensate for outdated graphics and physics
Definitely

11. I prefer fully-rendered cutscenes over cutscenes which are implemented into the gameplay (e.g. Half-Life 2).
Probably (don't care much either way, but fully-rendered is usually a bit prettier)

12. I am following the technical developements within the gaming industrie with great interest.
Definitely

Bonus question:
13. Name your favorite videogame if you have one (state only one).
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

1.
34

2.
a male


3. Your country?
UK

4. Which gaming platform do you mainly use? (state only one)
a PC


5. Approximately how many hours a day do you play videogames? (state only one)

a less than 1 hour
b 1 - 2 hours
c 2 - 4 hours
d more than 4 hours

I can't answer this with the choices provided. Sometimes I'll not touch games for weeks, then I'll go and play a game for 8 hours a day for the whole weekend. My gaming is very sporadic. If you averaged it out over the year it would be 1-2 maybe?

6. What is your prefered genre (state only one)
a First Person Shooter
b Sports and Racing
c Adventure and Role-Playing Games
d Strategy
e Action and Platformers
f Puzzle and Casual
g other (please state)

Difficult to define. Fallout 3/Oblivion style 1st person games.

7.
b unique/compelling gameplay.

8.
definitely not

9.
probably

10.
definitely

11.
probably not

12.
definitely not

13.
...oh god...what a choice... Fallout 3.

 

[ChaoticLegion]

1. 22

2. a

3. United Kingdom

4. a

5. d

6. c

7. b

8. Definitely not

9. Definitely

10. Definitely

11. Definitely not

12. Definitely

Bonus question:
13. Name your favorite videogame if you have one (state only one).
Far too difficult a question xD
Hope these answers help.

 

[Hectix777]

1.17
2.A
3.USA, Texas
4.B
5.C
6.C
7.A
8.Probably
9.Probably not
10. Definitely
11.I don't know
12. Definitely
13. Megaman Legends

 

[Techsmart07]

1.24
2.Male
3.United States

4.A
5.C
6.C
7.A

8.Probably
9.Probably Not
10.Definitely (can't go higher than that, i guess)
11.Probably not (although when used right, i love them)
12.Definitely

13. Favorite? I guess Cave Story is still at the top of my list, although i have many close seconds.

 

[Darknacht]

Spoiler: snip

1 29

Pretty scary when this many people consider the story, something that doesn't even define a game, as the most important part for them. You can have a game with no story. You can't have a game with no gameplay. Which do you think is more important? Sheesh!

You can have a movie without a story too but most people like movies with stories.

You're still missing the point. Yes, story can compliment gameplay in the same way the story can compliment a film, but that does NOT make story the most important part of either of these.

What differentiates a game from other mediums of entertainment is its gameplay. You can't play a movie, a book, or a painting. If you took gameplay away, then you wouldn't have a game, and the entire medium of entertainment disappears. I don't care how compelling or how well a story compliments the gameplay of a game, if you say that story is more important than the aspect that makes a game a game, then you're wrong.

Like I said earlier, your example misses the point. Yes, a story can compliment the visuals of a film, but it is the unique way a film displays its visuals that makes a film a film. If you remove a plot from a film, you still have a series of captured frames being played in quick succession to convey to the viewer some sort of imagery that occurred in a specific place and time. An example might be some of the home movies taken by the people who witnessed some of the events in World War II. There is no story to these, but what they convey is powerful and the way they convey it can't be done by a still image or by a sound byte. Now what if you took away the film's unique way of conveying information? What if films were no longer a series of captured images played in rapid succession to give the appearance of motion? You don't have a movie anymore, you have either a still frame, or a sound byte. So is story still the most important aspect of either of these artistic mediums?

I'm all for story in games. I think a story can be powerful, and emotional, and help motivate a player to keep playing. I don't want you think that I am advocating that there be no stories in video games. What I am advocating is to put this specific aspect of video games into perspective.

As someone who is currently studying video game design at a university, it has always confounded me how avid players of video games seem to understand so little as to what makes a game tick. Worship what makes a game a game and sets it apart from all of the other mediums of entertainment you could be experiencing instead! Don't worship one of the pieces that does nothing to define the medium of entertainment you enjoy so much!

Actually you're the one that does not get it everyone understands that gameplay is necessary for it to be a game and very few people will want to play a game with terrible gameplay, but lots of people would rather play a game with mediocre gameplay and a good story, than a game with good gameplay and a mediocre story. The same is true for film, while story is not necessary how many people would pay $12+ to go see a 2 hour movie with no story or sit though the hundreds of hours of show/commercials that some TV shows run if their was no story.

So you acknowledge the necessity of gameplay, but then go on to argue that story is still more important than the unique features of both mediums. Yeah, you missed the point. Quite frankly, I don't know how much clearer I can say it, so I'm not going to waste my time further with this discussion. By the way, people might take you more seriously if you used proper grammar and punctuation.

I really don't care if you take me seriously, I was just explaining why people are saying that they think story is more important then gameplay. If you are going to work in video game design you will probably to accept.

 

[kyuzo3567]

1. 20
2. A
3. Canada
4.B
5.B
6.C
7.A
Please state your answers to the following statements as follows (state only one):
definitely
probably
probably not
definitely not
I don't know

8. I Don't Know

9. Probably Not

10. Definitely

11.I Don't Know

12.Probably Not

Bonus question:
13. Onimusha 3/ Ninja Gaiden (NG is a little more preferred)

 

[Whispering Cynic]

1. 24
2. male
3. czech republic
4. a
5. c
6. c
7. a
8. probably
9. definitely not
10. definitely
11. probably
12. definitely
13. Knights of the Old Republic

 

[Traun]

I was just explaining why people are saying that they think story is more important then gameplay. If you are going to work in video game design you will probably to accept.

The most successful video games out there have little to no story, it's always been like this.

1. FIFA, NFL, Football Manager and sports game in general have no stories - you get a team, go vs another and that's it.

2. Neither Sims, nor SimCity has any story.

3. The Elder Scroll, the most selling single player-RPG to date, series is famous for it's freedom of play, instead of railroading to a story (similar to Bioware games)

4. Mario has little-to-no story. Bowser kidnaps the Princess - GO THROUGH ALL THE LEVELS

5. Minecraft and Terraria ( and Kerbal and Dwarf Fortress) have no story in their games.

6. Quake III Arena, Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament, Halo and Call of Duty, a.k.a one of the best-selling shooters of all times, have all been sold on their multiplayer aspect, in fact only two of those have a story-mode.

7. The whole MMO genre, there's been only one MMO with strong story aspect - Star Wars: The Old Republic, you can tell how well it's fairing. While most of them have story, a lot of it actualy, the great majority of players skip it.


Stories are nice, but it's just to make the game look pretty.

 

[ADyler]

Oh shoot, I'll chip in too.

1. How old are you? (Please state your age as a number)
15

2. You are...?
a male

3. Your country?
Latvia

4. Which gaming platform do you mainly use? (state only one)
a PC

5. Approximately how many hours a day do you play videogames? (state only one)
d more than 4 hours

6. What is your prefered genre (state only one)
First Person Shooter / Strategy
Kinda torn up between both.

7. Which aspect of a game is most important to you? (state only one)
a A captivating story
b unique/compelling gameplay
Hrm, going more for story, but I also like to have great gameplay.

8. I am more likely to buy newly released games over games which are older than a year.
Definitely not

9. The quality of graphics in videogames has an influence on my purchase decisions.
Probably not

10. A captivating story/well-written characters/compelling gameplay can compensate for outdated graphics and physics
Definitely

11. I prefer fully-rendered cutscenes over cutscenes which are implemented into the gameplay (e.g. Half-Life 2).
Probably not

12. I am following the technical developements within the gaming industrie with great interest.
Probably not

Bonus question:
13. Name your favorite videogame if you have one (state only one).

Doom (nothing like good ol' demon shooting (and messing around with other space marines on MP))

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

1. 21
2. Male
3. USA
4. PC (that and console emulators)
5. RPG/Action/Platformer (I despise most turn-based combat though)
6. E
7. A/B (Telling story through gameplay is a +)
8. Probably
9. Probably not (Again, gameplay guy. Graphics are a +)
10. Definately
11. Probably not (That and cutscenes benefit being more dynamic if done in real-time)
12. Definitely (Mostly because I'm doing 3D modeling work)
13. Spyro the Dragon. (There's just something about the way the lighting and music is in that game along with it's simple gameplay that compels me. Hardly see anything like that anymore.)

In short, I like action driven gameplay with the story told through it as well dynamically. Aka I like choice.

 

[Okamiyasha]

1. 18
2. a
3. Australia
4. Playstation 3
5. C
6. G (stealth)
7. A
8. Probably
9. Probably not
10. Definitely
11. Probably
12. Definitely
13. Metal Gear Solid 3

 

[Joccaren]

1. 17

2. a - Male

3. Australia

4. a - PC

5. d - More than 4 hours, though this really depends on the day

6. g - no favourite genre. I have genres I like and dislike, but none that I'd call my favourite, each I prefer at a different time for a different thing.

7. a - A captivating Story. If a story is good enough I can go through it again and again. With gameplay... Generally you finish the first level you've experienced the whole game in that department.

8. I am more likely to buy newly released games over games which are older than a year.
Probably not.

My purchase decisions are unrelated to release date. Generally modern games are becoming more and more crappy IMO, but if a good one comes out, I'll get it. If there's a good old game that I don't have, I'll get that.

9. The quality of graphics in videogames has an influence on my purchase decisions.
Definitely.

I'll call myself a graphics whore. I like my games to look good. So long as they don't look like ass I'll still play them, but I will generally go for the better looking game over the worse looking one out of two games that are complete unknowns to me, especially if they're first/third person and/or action adventure games/FPS.

10. A captivating story/well-written characters/compelling gameplay can compensate for outdated graphics and physics
Definitely.

I don't demand that games be the most modern graphics things out there. I'd like them to be, but so long as the rest of the game is good, and the graphics aren't terrible, I'll play.

11. I prefer fully-rendered cutscenes over cutscenes which are implemented into the gameplay (e.g. Half-Life 2).
I don't know.

Each has there place, and each is appropriate for different genres. RTS and 4X should use pre-rendered, whilst personally I prefer gameplay cutscenes for first person titles, unless they are showing something happening far away that I need to know about.

12. I am following the technical developements within the gaming industrie with great interest.
Definitely.

I look forward to where the future is taking us, and monitoring what goes on in the games industry gives me an idea of what to expect from upcoming games. It also helps me determine which games won't be worth my time - namely the ones with stupid DRM.

Bonus question:
13. Name your favorite videogame if you have one (state only one).
Hmm. I'm going to have to say Civilization IV. I like a lot of games, but Civ IV is one I will never grow tired of, especially with all its mods.