Realistic

[Popadoo]

So I've been thinking, and sorry if this topic has already been posted before, but you hear a lot about how things have to be realistic to be immersive. Again, before I get right into things, sorry if this has been posted before.
Take for example the Health Meter. Many games have had a health meter, and many immersive games ave had one too. But people say that it is more immersive to have no health meter, like in games such as Call of Duty. Then I wonder, why don't they say anything about the HUD, telling you your ammo and such like. THAT isn't realistic.
In the end, what do you find more immersive. Bioshock, or Black Ops?

What other examples of unrealistic game mechanics can you think of that the 'realistic games' crowd haven't mentioned yet?

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

I haven't played Black Ops, but I thought that Bioshock was super immersive. I got really into the game and think it was one of the best stories I've played through, not because of the story itself, but the way in which it was delivered. I think Extra Credits talks about it in their episode about plot and such.

 

[Antari]

I don't find either of those games immersive. Armed Assault 2 is alot better for that, and you can disable the hud so you have to keep track of how many shots you've taken.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

No balistic trajectories, oh wait...

A real one that they've not mentioned is breaking out of a first person view, it works perfectly well for the Assassin's Creed series, but everyone will gripe about it if it happened in an FPS.

 

[Z4N5H1N]

I'm not sure realism and immersiveness have anything to do with each other, and I definitely don't think people who think a health bar (or lack thereof) have a significant impact on the immersiveness of a game have any idea what they're talking about.

Immersiveness comes from having a convincing and emotionally compelling narrative. The way it's given to us matters much less than what we're being given. When's the last time you were reading a book and decided it wasn't immersive because of the font it was typed in? When's the last time you didn't find yourself immersed in a movie because of the size of the television you were watching it on?

If developers (and consumers, to a lesser extent) spent more time worrying about being emotionally sincere in their narrative, and less time worrying about what HUD elements to include, we'd all be better off.

 

[nuba km]

regenerating health isn't realistic because if a grenade nearly kills you sitting in a corner for 5 seconds won't perfectly heal you. also near perfect accuracy when looking down the barrel while not looking down the barrel is like trying to shoot while break dancing, thought this mainly applies to CoD.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Bioshock by far. Turn off Vita-Chambers and I actually feel threatened every once in a while. If I don't have any health on me then I can get so into it, focused on survival and finding something to bring me away from death.

 

[northeast rower]

I think that immersion has more to do with the HUD than anything else, actually. There are, to date, only two games that I have really become immersed in: Dead Space 2 and Red Dead Redemption.

Redemption has a HUD, yes, but it isn't obtrusive, and the actual happenings on the screen were often the centre of my focus rather than the ammo count or mini-map (a testament to the beautiful open world).

Dead Spce 2 has no HUD, plain and simple, other than that which is displayed on your body. It really is something that allowed me to get drawn in that much more.

There are exceptions to this, yes- I often find myself leaning into the turns in Forza 3, despite the huge HUD there- but I find that I can immerse myself more if the HUD is unobtrusive.

As for unrealistic mechanics... there aren't many games that have really addressed crosshairs yet. Far Cry 2 was one, and that was immersive as hell (one of my personal favorites), so I think that that says something about what crosshairs do to immersion.

 

[CleverNickname]

One of the best solutions to the health bar was Dead Space. Isaac has one on his back, not the player on his screen.

Sure, you can ruin that by asking what exactly it measures and how healing works, but then it's your own fault, not the game's.

Though I never had anything against a "100" in the lower left corner. Nothing wrong with it at all.

But the only blood on your screen should be from the enemies you just murdered, not from 3 bullets you took.

 

[demoman_chaos]

I much prefer health bars. There have been countless times I died playing a FPS with just redding screens just because I couldn't tell how much health I had left. The screens aren't always 100% consistent so it makes it neigh impossible to know for sure.

 

[-Samurai-]

A real one that they've not mentioned is breaking out of a first person view, it works perfectly well for the Assassin's Creed series, but everyone will gripe about it if it happened in an FPS.

I loved 3rd person in Modern Warfare 2. And the Conflict games(Desert Storm 1 & 2, Vietnam, Global Terror) are some of the best games I've ever played. It's a shame there aren't more 3rd person shooter games.

First person isn't really first person anyway. It's more like a camera was mounted onto a guys head. Unless my soldier doesn't have a nose(don't know about you guys, but I can see my own nose) and never has to blink. Hell, I can pretty much see my whole body by looking down slightly.

It has to be a head-mounted camera.

 

[Bags159]

Calling the COD franchise realistic is a joke.

 

[MrShowerHead]

I've said this many times: If you want realism in your FPS games, play ArmA II. It is awesome.

 

[DaHero]

Calling the COD franchise realistic is a joke.

Calling CoD/Battlefield good is a joke.

OP: I think what you're looking for is not realism but logic. Bioshock isn't real but it's very logical and as such things "feel" like they work. Games today have mostly lost all sense of logical flow. This is especially apparent in FPS games where moving is not logical moving but floating. Deus Ex is a great example of logic in a game, if you weren't trained in using a weapon it was well nigh impossible to use it. Oblivion had bad logic, especially with Archery. Games that fail on a logical standpoint fail on an immersible standpoint. CoD4 is the biggest offender of breaking logic though, the camera is above the actual player model, allows for players to shoot clean over cover without being exposed.

 

[archvile93]

One of the best solutions to the health bar was Dead Space. Isaac has one on his back, not the player on his screen.

Sure, you can ruin that by asking what exactly it measures and how healing works, but then it's your own fault, not the game's.

Though I never had anything against a "100" in the lower left corner. Nothing wrong with it at all.

But the only blood on your screen should be from the enemies you just murdered, not from 3 bullets you took.

Another good question is what good does it do on his back where he can't see it. And why do Isaac's limbs show the ability to perform deliberate cordinated movements when separated from the brain (See guardian decapitation kill, and twitcher special kill for examples)? Well, I suppose that second one could be handwaved by claiming Isaac is part insect.

OT: I don't find either very realistic. In BO I can do things no human being could ever do (Not that that's a bad things). In Bioshock, enemies can take absurbed amounts of damage (fucking leadheads, why doesn't 5 point blank explosive shotgun shells to the face kill you?! You're still walking after being filled with an entire clip of antipersonell rounds? Am I firing blanks?) especially when they can kill you far quicker (9 rounds from full health with health boosts and damage reduction plasmids, yes I counted).

Also, blood on your screen from close range kills doesn't make much sense either unless you have some sort of eyewear, and it wouldn't just dissapear. Otherwise it means it ended up in your eyeballs, and I don't think you'd just see splotches if that happened.