Journey Creator: Games Aren't Good Enough for Adults

[joshuaayt]

Real world relevance, huh, Mr. Chen dude? When was the last time you teamed up with an anonymous mute to solve problems on mutually unknown ground?

You can't claim that your game has relevance beyond the obvious- And Journey does, I'm not denying this- and then dismiss other games because, on the surface, they don't relate to real life.

No, I will probably never find myself headshottin' noobs in a tiny, war torn arena- but aim is hardly the only skill your average FPS fosters. Teamwork? Tactics? Initiative? And that's just multiplayer shooter gameplay I'm talking about. I guess games don't have stories any more.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I prefer when there´s more to a story, but i don´t really think Chens games falls in this category, everything thatgamecompany makes is a shallow "experience" driven game without noteworthy gameplay and story. Journey is filled with emotional music and neat visuals, but there really isn´t that much more to it. It´s the story of some random dude in an anoynmous world that travels from somewhere to some other place. It isn´t exactly a game that reflects over real-life issues. It´s like watching Dead Man where they cut out all the important 30 minutes that helps characterize Depps character and motivations. The 30 minutes that brings depth to his journey.

I defineately prefer something with more weight on character development, and actual gameplay. Unfortunately it´s rare, extremely rare, mostly point´n click adventure games like Blade Runner, I have no mouth and i must scream and DreamWeb (to some extent Silent Hill 2, though a bit marred by bad voice acting). Defineately wouldn´t mind if there could be more heavy and mature subjects in games. How about a war game that handles the same subjects as the thin red line, a war game where war isn´t about glory but real people. (BUT it should still function as a proper game, not some pretentious indie art game crap). Ofcourse every game shouldn´t be intellectual, but would be nice if there was a couple of games to choose from. Would also be cool if the quality of stories in most action games could increase just a bit, would be nice if mindless action shooteres had funny punchlines and character you could care about.

 

[ScruffyMcBalls]

Having enjoyed Journey quite a bit, I'm kind of disappointed to learn its creator is a pretentious ****.

Thank you, so much. That's the hardest I've laughed all week, woo..

OT: As an adult and an avid gamer I'm genuinely offended by this whole concept. Sure we need intellectual games once in a while, they teach us things, they touch us emotionally and they prove to be unique. But if every game pitched at an 18+ audience was like that the industry would just stale, and I'd be bored out of my fucking skull. Fun is a real-world application, escapism is a real-world application, I enjoy my games even if they don't teach me anything so long as I at least had some fun and was told a decent story.

 

[Simonoly]

Yay, another pointless statement on the state of the games industry offered up by a pretentious small developer. I'm going to start collecting them like Pokemon cards now. Anyone want to trade?

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I think he's half right. More games like Journey will always be a good thing, but there's still a place for games just being fun and there always will be. There's no need for all games to be deep or meaningful, the same with music, film and art.

 

[Legion]

By that logic Catherine is the best game ever as it teaches you how to not get caught when you cheat on your girlfriend.

 

[Davroth]

It's fun to learn something and feel like you are improving. It's like people learning how to play guitar. Most of them will never be good enough to apply their guitar skills, but they still feel good learning it. And if doing something that makes you feel good is wrong, I don't want to be right. ^^

 

[Madman123456]

I like Atmossphere in Games. Which can be something as a well crafted environment in which my Character moves around in, with a fitting narrative, conveyed with something as light as ambient sounds. Dark room, haunting Music and when i move around the wooden Floorboards creak. That is enough to grip my adult Mind, which is apparently rather simple.

There are some Games that had my adult mind working. Whenever a moral Dilemma is presented i need about ten seconds to think of several Ways as to why this particular Dilemma falls flat on its Ass. Most of the time, whoever told the Story would have done a better Job to just skip the Dilemma part.
However, there have been certain dilemmas which didn't fall flat. Some Games actually manage that and stimulate my adult Mind.

 

[Abedeus]

So some dude doesn't like games, so nobody should.

EVERYONE OF AGE OF CONSENT, STOP ENJOYING WHAT HE DOESN'T ENJOY!

 

[Denamic]

Maybe someone should explain to him about escapism and how it works.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

There are tons of things you learn from video games. Problem solving, reaction time, teamwork, lateral thinking. I think this guy isn't looking deep enough into how computer games affect the players.

My young geordie friend got a job working as a team leader at his company because of skills he had learned leading a guild in WOW from the age of 16.

However, gaming does have a lot of potential. It would be very easy to make a game that teaches you another language or improves maths or English skills. You don't really see that kind of adaptation in games. The recent trend of dumbing down games is worrying as working out the subtleties of Baldur's Gate for example takes a lot more effort than playing Dragon Age 2 or Gears of War.

Adversely there is also the aspect of 'vegging out' if you are working in a stressful job the last thing you want to do is go home and mentally jump through hoops in your leisure time.

There is room in the industry for both types of games.

 

[Tiamat666]

Actually I'm inclined to believe that most games today aren't good enough for KIDS. Most AAA games today involve mature themes, the most obvious ones being violence, sex, and drug abuse. And many indie devs are turning the boat around and creating involving games that do not rely on these attention grabbers to be successful.

Seems to me he has it all the way around.

 

[jklinders]

I don't really pay any attention to PSN games as I don't use PS3 so my only previous exposure to this title was through a Jimquisition video. Sterling has his own reasons for disliking the concept and I will not argue against it having not played it myself. It looks like a very pretty game in a very simplistic way and Chen has every reason to be proud of it.

But, that does not forgive his arrogant assumption that just because he does not like mainstream type games then other mature players don't either. Apparently, to him I am an overgrown child because I am not engaged by the same type of entertainment he is. He probably didn't mean it and was speaking from his own taste but he was still rather insulting.

After I get home from childish job I will have to decide which of my childish games to play I guess. Maybe they are a little childish but from my perspective, after dealing with hard reality I have earned that.

 

[him over there]

Actually I'm inclined to believe that most games today aren't good enough for KIDS. Most AAA games today involve mature themes, the most obvious ones being violence, sex, and drug abuse. And many indie devs are turning the boat around and creating involving games that do not rely on these attention grabbers to be successful.

Seems to me he has it all the way around.

I'd just like to throw something in here and say that I love that most independent games while some may be violent are taking a much more kid friendly approach. I hate how the world is almost devoid of games for kids now except for Nintendo and horrible shovelware. The latter I'm sure exists because people don't believe that children have their own standards or will know a good game from a bad one. I mean there is a whole demographic to tap into that people are just ignoring. The games industry sort of grew up with the original gaming generation, as the people who play them got older the games got more adult. Everybody is competing for the same slice of pie.

 

[him over there]

Actually I'm inclined to believe that most games today aren't good enough for KIDS. Most AAA games today involve mature themes, the most obvious ones being violence, sex, and drug abuse. And many indie devs are turning the boat around and creating involving games that do not rely on these attention grabbers to be successful.

Seems to me he has it all the way around.

I think you are confusing mature themes with adult themes. There is nothing mature about violence.

I don't think violence is inherently immature, but I certainly can't think of anything that has utilized it well for the sake of complexity or importance in recent memory.

 

[Woodsey]

"For adults to enjoy something, they need to have intellectual stimulation, something that's related to real life. Playing poker teaches you how to deceive people, and that's relevant to real life. A headshot with a sniper rifle is not relevant to real life."

I may be taking this way out of context, but that's just wrong.


Real life applications doesn't inherently make something more intellectually stimulating.

Yeah, I can agree up until "something that's related to real life", but they're talking about it in terms of skills. 'Intellectual stimulation' comes from stuff that's related to real life, yes, but by way of feelings and ideas - stuff that you can identify with or that makes you think in a new way.

That doesn't mean there's no intellectual stimulation in stuff that can teach you skills, but that'd be found in stuff like EVE Online (which suits the poker comparison), and not at all in Journey. He seems to contradict himself in those two quotes.

 

[Doom972]

That's narrow-minded of him to say. It doesn't have anything to do with adulthood but with open-mindedness.
I guess younger people tend to be more open-minded.

 

[Xanadu84]

I think he has a point, but he underestimates even the shallowest of games. Sure as a gamer, we may see our favorite whipping boy Call of Duty (Funny, I love playing all the call of duties, and defend them in debate, but I STILL use it as "The problem" in explanations...) as an expression of the lowest, basest of gaming pleasure. However, you still learn the basics of cooperation, you get a sense of the chaos and unpredictability of combat, you learn to react to your enviornment, you experience a narrative where the main character you are in the shoes of can die, which at least was kinda innovative, and they always (to various degrees of success) include some sort of "shock" moment that changes how you think about certain ideas or concepts. In general, the stupidest of games still encourages you to approach its world in a goal oriented, practical way, and contains at least the basics of the Heroes Journey.

After all, what are the other adult, intellectually stimulating endevors? Classic literature, like when Thor got in a dress because cross dressing is funny, got pissed and then killed everyone? Or that other one where they decided to enact a scene from Jackass, and the asshole Loki got Baldur killed, and then everyone killed everyone else? Or those deeply intellectual Greek myths where Zeus just bones everything that moves? Keep making games like Journey, absolutely, but even those, "Childish" games contain a little gem of value that makes the escapism worthwhile.

 

[Bvenged]

I can see what he's saying here, as for the past 2 years or so I've found it less entertaining (19yo) to mindlessly kill on CoD's campaign, or BF3's. I still enjoy Halo & BF3 online, but simple entertainment just doesn't cut it.

Now I ruthlessly enjoy games with exceptional direction and narrative (Mass Effect, TES games and FO games with lore); as well as puzzles and games that really make you think (Total War, C&C, BFME). It tests your metal as a gamer and intellectually, which is fantastic - you really have to plan things out and think ahead in some games like Splinter Cell and the old Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six's.

You know what, this guy speaks truth. He's a developer who voices his opinions, and I agree with him.

Oh course, it doesn't have to have a real-world application - but intellectually stimulating more so than mindless smushing[sup]TM[/sup] (my new awesome word) is quite on par. Everybody enjoys an hour on CoD when it goes well, but it get stale fast after that and the same goes for all smushy games.

 

[Aeonknight]

Since when did there have to be some hidden life lesson in a game for it to be relevant to my interests? Hell if the game itself prompts me to do something or go learn something new, that should be "good enough" to be relevant to me. And that's not even including the whole "it's nice to have fun occasionally" reasoning.

Sounds like someone still thinks of games as toys. Too bad it's someone who's making them... But to each their own.