We Want What We Want
We Want What We Want
Since I got my iPhone a year and a half ago, I've been playing this fun little game called UltraDeep where you're this little falling stickman trying to avoid obstacles and gather jewels while you fall. Like so many games of its ilk, it starts out slow and simple, and then speeds up.
About 30-60 seconds into it, the speed is such that it's really fun.
About 30-60 seconds after that, it's so fast that it's really, really hard. Not so hard that I can't do it (for a while), but so fast that it's nerve wracking and relies as much on luck as skill.
In other words, it's a game that is fun for about 30-60 seconds.
And that bugs me. I mean, I get it. They want you to give them money to buy upgrades and whatnot. But as a game it would be so much more fun if that medium-speed part of the game lasted much, much longer. I wish there was a way for me to customize the gameplay so that it was more to my liking. If I could, I'd play the game a LOT more. (And I'd pay for the ability to do so.)
It's become clear to me over the last few years that game players should be able to play the game they want to play, not the game a game designer wants them to play. (That there are game players who disagree with this shows me that there are game designers who are also persuasive marketers, or who work alongside persuasive marketers.) This is particularly true with tabletop roleplaying games, in my mind, because so much of rpgs involves players customizing characters, game options, and creating their own material. (And, even if a player chooses not to do any of those things, they're still choosing not to, so they're still playing the game they want to play.)
Games are for fun. Playing a game that someone else has inadvertently made unfun (or has made some portion of it unfun) shouldn't be a part of gaming. Gamers shouldn't have to put up with "necessary evils." I can't reach into my iPhone and change the speed at which UltraDeep plays, but I can monkey around with an rpg to make it the way I want it. Maybe that's why I like rpgs so much. And if it's in my power to make an rpg that's easier to monkey with, should monkeying be desired, then I will.
Since I got my iPhone a year and a half ago, I've been playing this fun little game called UltraDeep where you're this little falling stickman trying to avoid obstacles and gather jewels while you fall. Like so many games of its ilk, it starts out slow and simple, and then speeds up.
About 30-60 seconds into it, the speed is such that it's really fun.
About 30-60 seconds after that, it's so fast that it's really, really hard. Not so hard that I can't do it (for a while), but so fast that it's nerve wracking and relies as much on luck as skill.
In other words, it's a game that is fun for about 30-60 seconds.
And that bugs me. I mean, I get it. They want you to give them money to buy upgrades and whatnot. But as a game it would be so much more fun if that medium-speed part of the game lasted much, much longer. I wish there was a way for me to customize the gameplay so that it was more to my liking. If I could, I'd play the game a LOT more. (And I'd pay for the ability to do so.)
It's become clear to me over the last few years that game players should be able to play the game they want to play, not the game a game designer wants them to play. (That there are game players who disagree with this shows me that there are game designers who are also persuasive marketers, or who work alongside persuasive marketers.) This is particularly true with tabletop roleplaying games, in my mind, because so much of rpgs involves players customizing characters, game options, and creating their own material. (And, even if a player chooses not to do any of those things, they're still choosing not to, so they're still playing the game they want to play.)
Games are for fun. Playing a game that someone else has inadvertently made unfun (or has made some portion of it unfun) shouldn't be a part of gaming. Gamers shouldn't have to put up with "necessary evils." I can't reach into my iPhone and change the speed at which UltraDeep plays, but I can monkey around with an rpg to make it the way I want it. Maybe that's why I like rpgs so much. And if it's in my power to make an rpg that's easier to monkey with, should monkeying be desired, then I will.
No comments have been added yet.
Monte Cook's Blog
- Monte Cook's profile
- 124 followers
Monte Cook isn't a Goodreads Author
(yet),
but they
do have a blog,
so here are some recent posts imported from
their feed.
