Games People Play
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Ouch.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
You clearly don't appreciate the recursive potential of work, the degrees of productivity to tap into.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Also @suspended Death Stranding is one to consider. Unusual but interesting gameplay, in my opinion, and excellent in terms of world-building.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Work within work. Feedback on an amplifier, live footage of a television displayed on the same television, etc.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Also "default" is another good term with special significance gaming. Default settings, such as the control scheme, the difficulty, the other parameters of play.
And difficulty is interesting in its own right. I just recently played some more of Death Stranding, which I was playing on hard without serious difficulty, until I got to a certain part of the game that I was unable to finesse on that difficulty, and thus had to stoop down to normal to get through it.
I find interesting this notion that there are parallel versions of the universe of the game that have slightly tweaked parameters, or have even introduced new ones: the enemy behavior is less tactful, their weapons less accurate, the regeneration rate of the player's health is slower, etc.
But what I really find interesting is the psychological impact of these games, how they may impart a certain logic to the maturing minds that engage in them.
And difficulty is interesting in its own right. I just recently played some more of Death Stranding, which I was playing on hard without serious difficulty, until I got to a certain part of the game that I was unable to finesse on that difficulty, and thus had to stoop down to normal to get through it.
I find interesting this notion that there are parallel versions of the universe of the game that have slightly tweaked parameters, or have even introduced new ones: the enemy behavior is less tactful, their weapons less accurate, the regeneration rate of the player's health is slower, etc.
But what I really find interesting is the psychological impact of these games, how they may impart a certain logic to the maturing minds that engage in them.
luka
Well-known member
How Computer Games Shaped Our Imaginations.
Let's do a thread about this finally. I'm always on about it.
www.dissensus.com
william_kent
Well-known member
@Clinamenic - I'd be interested in your thoughts on 'speed running' - personally I'm fascinated by the rejection of what the developers imagined - I find it hilarious to watch videos of speed runs viewed by the programmers of the game in question and their reactions as their years of effort to create an 'experience' are just tossed aside as the runner exploits the glitches and bugs in the program to skip over huge portions of the levels, jumping over the triggers to avoid the boss fights, consigning the 'story' to oblivion as they rush to complete the game in the shortest time possible - are these techniques that can be applied to IRL?
william_kent
Well-known member
for example - Fallout - new Las Vegas trashed in 10 minutes
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
I would watch that, but I'm preserving my forgetfulness of it until I play it again in the future.
In general yeah I find speedrunning to be an interesting sort of contest with its own character. As you say some may exploit glitches in order to trigger the completion of the game without having to go through the motions that were laid out as a narrative.
Haven't seen much of it, though, nor have I tried it. I had a roommate in college who bought borderlands 3 right when it came out, and we played through it together. He was speeding through it, and I was more inclined to linger and explore and enjoy the first experience, etc.
Your IRL point is interesting. Speedrunning the game is like gaming the system.
In general yeah I find speedrunning to be an interesting sort of contest with its own character. As you say some may exploit glitches in order to trigger the completion of the game without having to go through the motions that were laid out as a narrative.
Haven't seen much of it, though, nor have I tried it. I had a roommate in college who bought borderlands 3 right when it came out, and we played through it together. He was speeding through it, and I was more inclined to linger and explore and enjoy the first experience, etc.
Your IRL point is interesting. Speedrunning the game is like gaming the system.
william_kent
Well-known member
in, let's say 'kung fu', my teacher would say that when faced with an opponent you have a choice - you can play their game, or fuck that, play your own game because if you abide by the attackers rules you will lose
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Aside from speedrunning, there are other glitches to exploit which may benefit you in other ways. One of the Left 4 Dead survival mode maps was a lighthouse on a cliff, and there was one rock on the edge of the cliff that, if you jumped behind it, none of the mobs could touch you, barring some freak accident.
In Fallout 76, as with the Borderlands games, seeing as these games are social and involve dropping/picking up weapons, there have been major weapon duplication trends, which totally upends the developer's intentions of rarity across in-game items.
The gun that Bob had to farm X boss seventeen times to get, he can now duplicate for Alice. He would just drop the gun in the presence of Alice and immediately quit the game before his character state saved. He would then relaunch the game and find the weapon still in his inventory. Did it plenty of times in Borderlands 2, but I'm a renunciate in Fallout 76.
In-group cooperation. Thats how this can be compared to say microeconomic game theory.
In Fallout 76, as with the Borderlands games, seeing as these games are social and involve dropping/picking up weapons, there have been major weapon duplication trends, which totally upends the developer's intentions of rarity across in-game items.
The gun that Bob had to farm X boss seventeen times to get, he can now duplicate for Alice. He would just drop the gun in the presence of Alice and immediately quit the game before his character state saved. He would then relaunch the game and find the weapon still in his inventory. Did it plenty of times in Borderlands 2, but I'm a renunciate in Fallout 76.
In-group cooperation. Thats how this can be compared to say microeconomic game theory.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
Personally haven't yet waded out into the waters of fanfiction, but that would be another fascinating dimension of games with communities that have accrued around them. Canon becomes gospel.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
But one way this sort of system-gaming is different from system-gaming IRL, is that the developers can reconstruct the world of the game faster and more entirely than policymakers can reconstruct the world of the real game.
The first forum I was active on was Gearbox, the developers of Borderlands, and we had a milieu of members with their own standings, not unlike Dissensus in this sense, and there was at least one time, although probably more, when a running joke on the forum was acknowledged in the game.
An interesting instance of hyperstition.
The first forum I was active on was Gearbox, the developers of Borderlands, and we had a milieu of members with their own standings, not unlike Dissensus in this sense, and there was at least one time, although probably more, when a running joke on the forum was acknowledged in the game.
An interesting instance of hyperstition.
william_kent
Well-known member
This reminds me of one of the Wolfenstein games ( I think "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" ) where in one of the boss fights you could just crouch behind a wall and the boss couldn't touch you, but you could spam bullets at their feet and defeat them without losing any health
although one of my favourites was Grand Theft Auto 3 where if you situated yourself on top of the multi story carpark you could snipe at the NPCs - the authorities were unable to enter the car park due to programming errors, but once you had a 5 star wanted rating the army despatched a tank, and if you exited the car park without them shooting you, then you could commandeer the tank and cause even more chaos
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
GTA is an especially lovely setting for these kinds of exploits. Certain walls that weren't meshed properly and you could just walk right through them, in GTA V even, and shoot out through the walls at the police, who could not shoot back in.
Clinamenic
Binary & Tweed
I'd imagine this would be even more popular now, seeing as streaming has become as big as it is. Watching people do novelty runs would in many cases prove more entertaining than watching people do unthemed or realistic runs.