Technology is rapidly improving allowing game developers to make more realistic and immersive games. It seems like as we get closer to games that look like real life and bring very intricate features and animations the games are becoming less fun. It wasn’t that long ago that video games looked like a group of blocks that vaguely represented people. Systems that were cutting edge for their time like the playstation one or even PC’s back in the day still didn’t have life-like graphics. I’m sure we all imagine being kids wondering how awesome games were going to be in the future when the graphics were super realistic. But I don’t think it ever occurred to us, at what point does an obsession over graphics and realistic features harm the gameplay and our ability to have fun. Obsessing over realism can cause both the fans and development studios to lose sight of the big picture of why we play games in the first place. FUN. A big part of the reason gaming is fun is because it’s a temporary escape from the limitations of real life. When we watch TV shows or movies, it allows us to suspend our current understanding of life, to buy into and imagine ourselves within the fictional world. Now Whether escapism is a good or bad thing is extremely interesting conversation but that's a topic for a different video. Growing up during what is considered the golden era of gaming, what made games fun is that they weren’t realistic and allowed us to experience crazy, insane or just outright silly things that were obviously completely unrealistic. This begs the question: is there something within us that longs for our imagination to be set free in games that break from the limitations of real life? Or maybe it’s the fact that realism limit’s the creative potential of a game's theme, gameplay or narrative.
While striving for realism has brought some amazing things to the table, like stunning graphics and intricate details, it's also making the games overly complicated and slow. It's not fun to walk at the speed of a person carrying 80 lbs of equipment, have limited movement mechanics or weapons balanced poorly all for the sake of realism. At some point it starts to feel like you’re playing a survival or military simulation instead of a fast-paced shooter. Now I think having games that solely focus on being a military simulation is cool but trying to force those mechanics into faster paced games with a competitive or casual focus is a mistake and ruins the core gameplay. Triple A Franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield are really going through an Identity crisis right now trying to figure out what type of game they want to be and figure out exactly what the fans want. In some ways Call of Duty has impossible task because the game has grown so big and the player base is so broad that there are almost factions or groups within the fanbase that want different things. You have the group of people that will only play battle royale games and within that group you have people who want a more traditional battle royale experience vs. the people who enjoy having loadouts. Then you have the group that likes the more “realistic” feel of some of the newer COD games with hyper detailed animations and gameplay mechanics like mounting your weapon. You have the group that now wants an extraction shooter similar to Escape from tarkov but a little more casual and streamlined with DMZ. Then we have the last group, which I believe is the vast majority even tho we’re being told we’re just a vocal minority, who wants the game to be unrealistic and creative while still being somewhat grounded in it’s theme. You can have a game set in the real world and boots on the ground combat, but with leave to door open to creativity when it comes to the story, cosmetics and even level design. There’s a reason that everyone knows the anime waifu camos always sell. They even shoved that camo into what was supposed to be a “gritty world war 2” game with Vanguard. In an attempt to please everyone, call of duty has spread themselves too thin and in my opinion is failing to really please any one community. It shows in the lack of depth recent games have had with basic surface level progression and the rest being buyable. I’m sure there is some old wise saying about how compromise leaves no parties with what they truly want. Instead of putting a flag in the ground and declaring the type of game they want to be they continue to try and appeal to everyone. Maybe it makes the most money IDK. but it most definitely does not make the best game.
In my opinion the beauty of FPS games lies in their fast-paced nature, offering quick adrenaline rushes and intense gunfights. I know the futuristic theme is a bit over done at this point but there’s a reason that Black Ops 3 is considered, by many, one of the best call of duty games. It was unapologetically a futuristic shooter with jet packs and wall running. While it may not have been everyone’s favorite game it most definitely served the people that enjoyed it. To find a perfect example of a game with a grounded theme but not limited by extreme realism, look no further than black ops 2, widely considered the best FPS game ever made. The game was set in the near future and the best, most fun aspects of the game came from the developers imagining what the future of military tech would look like. From the map design and score streaks all the way down to weapon attachments like the target finder this game was full of creative design. By definition focusing on realism comes at the loss of creative freedom for developers. Now imagine a world where a game like that is being constrained by the focus of “realism” that I keep seeing people argue for. With fewer fantastical elements, creative weaponry, and imaginative level design because of this obsession with replicating reality, a game like Black Ops 2 would have never existed.
Sometimes It's the fun, wacky fantastical elements that make FPS games so unique and memorable. It’s also what gives games their character and allows them to differentiate each game from their competitors. I don’t care to have 10 different flavors of realistic shooters. Let’s take something like your parachute in warzone for example. Is it realistic to cut and redeploy your parachute over and over again? Of course it’s not. And I’m bringing up Warzone and Modern Warfare 2019 specifically because I heard a lot of people defend what Is clearly poor game design in the vein of “it’s realistic” during that time period. And what’s the most hilarious to me is that if you’re going to make that argument that’s fine but realize you’re arguing for selective realism. And at that point you’re really just saying what your preferences are.
While realism may seem like the logical progression for the games industry it's time we question whether it's crossing a line and inadvertently robbing these games of the elements that make them so interesting. To maximize fun and have good competitive game balance you need to do things that just aren’t realistic. Even the most basic aspect of many shooter games, landing one shot to the head doesn’t kill your enemy, but nobody is complaining about that because it’s obvious that to make the game fun, fair or balanced this just has to be the case. So I would like people to extrapolate that out and just understand sometimes what’s realistic isn’t always best. And if you are big fan of realism then there are a handful of games that cater to that style of gameplay. So please stop asking for realistic features in other games that are meant to just be fun.
At the end of the day, if taken to extremes, constraining a game with this design philosophy can undermine the fundamental principle of making a game that’s fun. Remember when we could take out enemies with crazy trick shots or disable gravity in black ops 3 zombies? Even battlefield, a game known for it’s focus on realism, paid homage to trick shotting by adding a scene in the marketing trailer of a pilot jumping out of a fighter jet, firing a rocket launcher and climbing back into the jet and flying off. Those moments are disappearing as the focus shifts towards ultra-realism. Games like DOOM and Unreal Tournament were cherished because of their crazy gameplay mechanics. It's essential to strike a balance between realism and fun to keep players engaged, it's clear that realism, while appealing in certain aspects, cannot trump the core essence of these games: enjoyment, accessibility, and creativity. It's crucial for developers to remember that the fun factor should always remain at the forefront of their design.
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