Poll: is game design going in the wrong direction?

[spartandude]

now i would like to clarify that i do not think there is anything inherently sacred about old game design or that all these new games are rubbish

in recent years it has become increasingly more apparent that with the introduction of casual gaming, many developers have no realised that with clever marketing showing off explosions and good graphics they can make fairly average games and still make enough money to perchase a small island.

This has meant that developers are also becoming incredibly lasy and leaving half the balancing unfinished and left glitches in the game. now i understand having users give feedback is a really good way to improve games, but it also seems that developers need to decide wether to listen to the fans or themselves, as is with the case of many betas, games become only half balanced as developers keep getting the wrong end of the stick.

another major problem is that many gamers these days being 12-25 (me being 17, and i know many gamers are older) people seem to be completely enthralled by amazing visuals, and developers can easily exploit this and hold people over for a month and that is long enough to get enough sales to make a 200% profit. now i know that it takes alot of effort to render these graphics, but that effort could be better speant on story writting and gameplay fixing. but the trap that developers are further falling into is that the closer we get to realism, the more uncanny and noticable the flaws are.

My last point, and i know many people will dissagree with me on this, the massive shift from single player to online multiplayer. now dont get me wrong i like multiplayer (i play WoW)but it seems the developers have no realised that the idea in allowing people to kill eachother also makes more money. however like many people i love a good single player. but multiplayer really takes away attention towards sp, im not saying its easy to make MP but once servers are up amd basic balancing has been done, it must be really easy as you do not have to program AI, creat scripted events, invest in story and what not.

your thoughts?

 

[Mr. In-between]

What exactly does "with the introduction of casual gaming" mean? Games have for the most part, been "casual" up until about the beginning of the last decade. Hell, there were countless nights as a kid that I stayed up until dawn playing Final Fantasy or Castlevania, sometimes numerous times in a row. But seeing as these games weren't chock full of violence and sexuality to appeal to "mature gamers", I guess that just makes me another one of these pesky "casual gamers" that are starting to emerge.

Anyway, back to the topic.

Developers are shifting away from single-player games because it's easier to churn out a game when you don't have to write a story for it. This is exactly why I hold American developers with such a high degree of contempt because this is exactly what they do-- churn out yet another space marine/zombie FPS with a high level of gore and realism, putting little actual effort into offering a memorable single player experience. I was absolutely disgusted by MW2 when I saw how incredibly short the single player campaign is because the $60 that my friend paid for it equates to highway robbery. Of course, many would argue that you pay for the online experience, but keep in mind that some people still do not have internet.

As for leaving bugs in games... companies do this because they are lazy and are more interested with getting the product out on the street and making their quick money off of it than they are interested in presenting quality. ***** all you want about Nintendo, their games are repeatedly delayed for exactly this reason and it's that reason why they have the high reputation that they do.

 

[LarenzoAOG]

I can't really say, but I do want developers to stop making crappy games trying to wring out as many pennies as they can, I want developers to take their time making games that are well written with good stories and gameplay, is that too much to ask for?

 

[F'Angus]

It's not that I don't find the current games amazing in terms of graphics. But I'd much rather a low graphic game with an Awesome storyline, which would last for a long time and I could replay. I find that the more sequels there are on the game the producers feel they can just exploit that and make 3 short, average games instead of 1 great game.

 

[NyteRaven]

I can see your point here, but it isn't really the developers fault as much as the publisher's.

Let me explain, say your a developer working on a new game, you've got a big name publisher, like ActiBlizz or EA, or, hell, THQ, they are the ones who are putting deadlines on you, they are the ones paying you in the short term on the understanding that the money is a loan. So the publisher wants you to make A game as fast as possible to make they're money back, so they put more and more pressure on the developers to get the product out ASAP, whether it is really ready or not. So don't blame the developers, it's not really they're fault, as if they don't get something out the door, they get they're funding cut and so the development team dies.

What I'm saying here is its the fault of the impatient publisher's, not all publisher's are impatient, but its still enough for a steady stream of buggy, imbalanced mess to be released, unfortunately.

To get back to the topic, I don't think game design is going in the wrong direction, its more that the bigger publishers tend to be too impatient to wait an extra month or two for a game to get properly balanced at release, or has a good story mode.

That being said, some balance issues only become apparent with regular use, I mean with WoW, they picked up that letting warlocks wear Leather armour was a bad idea after the original beta tests, they didn't realise that the entire rogue class was broken at the time, until people started to realise that rogues really were broken and told blizzard, but that's just the way things are.

 

[Truehare]

The problem in game design nowadays is the same with the movie industry, really. The big publishers (and the big studios) are trying to maintain the same business model from the last decade, and that is just impossible in face of the internet and "piracy" (I use the term very loosely here, because that is another discussion entirely).

Because of that, they are afraid to invest their money in something innovative, and we have endless sequels and GTA/Oblivion/God of War/etc clones. And then there's the problem you mentioned, releasing a buggy game to meet a deadline. Which, once again, is defined by the publisher, not the developers (as NyteRaven pointed out).

What it all comes down to is money. As I mentioned earlier, all the creative industries (movies, music, games...) are used to an obsolete business model that can't survive the internet, and instead of trying to change the paradigm (yeah, I know how "Dilbert" that sounds), they stay on the safe side and just rehash old ideas to squeeze all the money they can from them. That's why we have not only the same old games, but also endless movie sequels and comic adaptations, and don't get me started on boy-bands...

EDIT: One short-term solution while the industry doesn't get its act together, be it games, music, movies or comics: go indie. You'll always find hidden gems in the indie scene, in any area.