Poll: Social Console

[JudgeGame]

I've been thinking on the PS4's emphasis on sharing, social media and possibly remote viewing and playing your friends games. The kneejerk reaction by and many is to think it's kind of dumb and a cynical attempt to conform to stuff or whatever.

I've been thinking about it and I realized the social features that Sony promises might be an answer to videogames' curse: the entry barrier. There doesn't seem to be any solution for games that want to appeal to both experienced gamers and more casual ones. Things that are totally obvious and accepted by a gamer will be like learning a whole new language to a non-gamer and mechanics hinge on the player's capacity to understand them. At this moment, the majority of the potential market have no incentive to overcome this obstacle. I think social gaming is a possible solution.

Let's say that I know someone and want to introduce them to games. I give them a really easy game and maybe we can play it together and I can explain things they don't get e.g. pressing X longer will make you jump higher, holding O will charge a supershot. That's all good but that person won't go home and play by themselves because without advice they are stuck on the second stage, maybe they don't know the boss is only vulnerable after they headbutt the wall or maybe the timing is too hard. With the PS4 they could theoretically message me and I'll just turn on my PS4, do it for them and explain how they can do it too in 2 minutes.

Thought anyone?

 

[JudgeGame]

IMO your solution is an overkill to a relatively small issue. With youtube tutorials and guides everywhere I don't think there's much benefit in the approach you suggest to be honest.

I still think videogames will have to eventually find a way to broaden their appeal. Although maybe making games that aren't about shooting people in the face is a better solution.

 

[Da Orky Man]

The only social media site I use to any degree is Facebook, and the only reason I maintain an account there is because I get a faster response than email. I can see how people more into it could like it, but its not for me. I'm happy for them to stick social stuff in there, but I want to be able to easily turn it off. I'm one of those people who keep on 'appear offline' unless its for a specific event.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I think that this mythical "entry barrier" that gets mentioned on occasion doesn't exist as pervasively as so called "innovators" would like us to believe.

It made sense 40 years ago, when videogames were newer and you either had to pay a relative fortune for a home console or go into an arcade. The latter was mostly populated by kids and teens, so unless you were a pedo you probably felt uncomfortable spending all your time there.

Games were simplistic, and the spectrum of genres and experiences on offer were few.

Home computers themselves were almost unheard of by your average person.

Fast forward to today. Most people under the age of 70, in the more well off countries anyways, have used a computer or smart phone or something with the ability to perform tasks by using your fingers on the device for an intended result.

Most keyboards + mouses, smart phones, and touch interfaces are way more complex than a basic gaming controller. Unless you are playing that one mech game with the $50 set up.

So the interface itself isn't that complicated. And games have been around for millenia. People get the concept of a game, specific ones might be harder to explain, but the idea that there is a desired outcome that you control in some way is pretty universal.

The only real barrier is the one that people used to have regarding the "kinds" of people that play videogames. And this has pretty well been broken thanks to things like freecell, minesweeper, or farmville.

Or Halo, CoD etc.

Popular things attract people. It doesn't NEED to be super new and awesomely innovative. We don't NEED motion controls, a dedicated social button, vitality sensors and thought activated taint scratchers. These are the superfluous devices and gimmicks put forth by an industry that is failing to produce GAMES that people are willing to drop that $60 on when they can just as easily play a F2P MMO or DL 12+ apps etc. for free or under $5.

The REAL barrier of entry into gaming is the one that says you have to have millions and millions of dollars and a team of 80 people working for 3 years to even MAKE a successful one. Its untrue, naive, and if not for the BOOMING indie scene and the repimping of beloved "classics" on every new digital platform by those companies that had the luck to have existed back in the days where there WERE classics, it would be ruining the industry even more than it is.

When I was a child the first videogames I had EVER seen was SMB. I had no idea wtf I was looking at on the TV. I may as well have been seeing anime porn for the first time.

Today, kids are VERY aware of the internet and games in general. Hell, every kids tv channel, cereal, toy etc. has their own site with random games etc. in order to brainwash them into even more rampant consumerism than we ever were.

I grew up in the pre-pokemon world and I'm thankful.

That being said, I can't really speak for the target audience of the PS4. I didn't grow up in a world were my every brainfart and meal at a restaurant was recorded, annotated, and given a whimsical optical effect/filter on the internet.

I actually had friends that called me, ON THE PHONE! It was plugged into the wall like some kind of parasite.

We hung out, in the SAME ROOM!

I know it sounds crazy.

 

[JudgeGame]

-???-

In my experience, introducing someone to videogames is very difficult and slow. I'd rather not go off-topic.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

My post was direct response to the OP that you made, which posited that Sony was doing this dedicated social aspect in an effort to appeal to "nongamers" and dissolve the "barrier to entry."

The TLR of my post was that "nongamers" in 2013 are fewer than they used to be. And if they are a nongamer, they probably don't take an especial interest in social media, smart phones, or much of the near omnipresent modern tech that has been around for the last decade. And that I doubt Sony is going to make it big converting the stereotypical "aging technophobes" with a "Social Console."

I argued that this "barrier to entry" is not the hurdle it was when the Wii/FB games came along and got these people interested in games.

How this is "off topic" to you is proving to be MY "barrier of understanding."

 

[Doom972]

I'm not a console gamer, but I would prefer not to have annoying social features on next-gen games.
Whenever I have a problem getting into a game, I watch a Let's play of it until I get the hang of it.

 

[krazykidd]

What entry barrier ? Do you mean learning ? Have our society become so lazy , that people can' be bothered to learn something new ? There are games that are for beginners and there are games that are for the more experienced . Just like in every other thing on the planet . You start at the bottom and make your way to the top . You don't START by climbing mount Everest . But everyone wants to be cool and play what everyone else is playing and get frustrated when they can't do it .

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Personally I think that the whole, gamertag, guild, clan, voice chat, friendslist etc. are already regarded as pretty standard social features that people expect. All Sony is really doing is expanding upon this, and I think its really the fact that they went so far as to devote valuable controller real estate to it is rustling people's jimmies.

LPs and Walkthroughs are pretty much ubiquitous, and have been for years. But they were on the internet. This hugely social network of gamers that you could either delve into or ignore if you chose to. Your whole gaming life could be inside your room, with your RL friends or whatever. But by putting this whole social network literally at your fingertip and making a big fuss about it, it forces you to be aware of it. Much like the Kinect. When its an optional addon people see its appeal or not and go about their business.

But on Xbone it sees and hears all. Which, gee, kind of turns a lot of people off.

I don't see even 30% of PS4 users even touching the controversial button. Also, there are a lot of people that don't even have internet. Which means they already spent a full console gen getting screwed out of patches to every broken game. I don't think THOSE people really give a crap about social media on a console. If they use it at all its on their phone.

I think Sony should have better things to spend their time on than developing features that have already existed on smartphones/computers for a decade. I mean if their intent is to have people use their social network INSTEAD of Youtube/Facebook/forums like this one, its not going to happen.

They would have a better chance of marketing the PS Move as the king of motion control.

 

[JudgeGame]

My post was direct response to the OP that you made, which posited that Sony was doing this dedicated social aspect in an effort to appeal to "nongamers" and dissolve the "barrier to entry."

The TLR of my post was that "nongamers" in 2013 are fewer than they used to be. And if they are a nongamer, they probably don't take an especial interest in social media, smart phones, or much of the near omnipresent modern tech that has been around for the last decade. And that I doubt Sony is going to make it big converting the stereotypical "aging technophobes" with a "Social Console."

I argued that this "barrier to entry" is not the hurdle it was when the Wii/FB games came along and got these people interested in games.

How this is "off topic" to you is proving to be MY "barrier of understanding."

I at no point implied I knew Sony's intentions. I don't see how consummerism, absurd game budgets or the loss of face-to-face human interaction has anything to do with this topic. Unless we come from different planets, I can't reconcile the fact you think it's incredibly easy for most people to enter traditional gaming when I've repeatedly tried to introduce people into videogames other than Farmville and Angry Birds to find that they have no idea how to jump.

 

[JudgeGame]

What entry barrier ? Do you mean learning ? Have our society become so lazy , that people can' be bothered to learn something new ? There are games that are for beginners and there are games that are for the more experienced . Just like in every other thing on the planet . You start at the bottom and make your way to the top . You don't START by climbing mount Everest . But everyone wants to be cool and play what everyone else is playing and get frustrated when they can't do it .

In your consideration, what is a game "for beginners"?

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Let's say that I know someone and want to introduce them to games. I give them a really easy game and maybe we can play it together and I can explain things they don't get e.g. pressing X longer will make you jump higher, holding O will charge a supershot. That's all good but that person won't go home and play by themselves because without advice they are stuck on the second stage, maybe they don't know the boss is only vulnerable after they headbutt the wall or maybe the timing is too hard. With the PS4 they could theoretically message me and I'll just turn on my PS4, do it for them and explain how they can do it too in 2 minutes.

That completely defeats the point of playing. I get wanting to introduce people to games, but you don't need a social console for that. In your example, if they do play after being introduced and get stuck on the second boss, and you do it for them, what does it tell them? That they don't need to learn anything, just ask you for help, and you'll do it. Congratulations, you just rendered any effort they put in completely meaningless and completely rendered void you introducing them to the game in the first place. It's one thing to be shown a way to beat a hard bit, it's another completely to do it on your own.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

I put "Wait and see". To clarify, I want streaming and video capture, and even possibly a more user friendly "Friends List" that allows you to adjust who sees you as online and whatnot. Also willing to give co-op features the benefit of the doubt. Anything with Facebook, anything to do with my real self, especially if you need some sort of social media account to upload pictures and videos from the PS4, no, fuck that, take it away.

As for new players learning to play, that's a game design issue, but ignoring that, I don't see why not. I'm all for an optional feature that allows some people to do things they were going to do anyway more conveniently. Just don't force it on me or into my game.