Is it any surprise then, that games would braved the worst kind of challenge. also have these particular sections of slowness? Of course not. That is why we I had never thought much about why it have endless cheats, walk-throughs, might be this way, but you described the Combating the drudgery – the constant mods, house rules and other such In response to Pleasurable Genres entire thing perfectly. Thanks for the read! battle of … well pretty much everyone. gamer-created accoutrement to the from The Escapist Lounge: Sooner or We have varying degrees of drudge, and gameplay experience. later it had to happen. Sooner or later - Nathan varying options by which we can go The Escapist was going to publish about defeating it. Whether it’s a slow And so we’re discussing this something that sucked. In response to Breaking the Fourth day at work, a long, hot summer day, phenomenon of drudgery in games and Wall from The Escapist Lounge: I am too hot to move, or a much needed the on-going battle against it this week - Michael Eaton very deeply involved with Perplex City study break, diversion, something to in “Where There’s a Whip.” Peter (the Alternate Reality Game mentioned break monotony, is key. Robinett discusses the psychology In response to Afraid of the Dark behind boredom and puts it in the from The Escapist Lounge: Wow, what But what happens when that which is context of games. Russ Pitts talks about a great feeling to know that you’re not supposed to break boredom becomes his own experience with variants of one the only one out there living their lives boring itself? What do we do when the of the most popular console games, Halo as a SHP. I’ve spent many hours activities we used to enjoy become 2. Allen Varney discusses another player- obsessed over the creepy goings on in yawn-inducing? And why does it always created mode of freshening up an old Silent Hill, yet I couldn’t make it past the seem to happen? favorite, speedrunning games. Find first scene in Silent Hill 1. these articles and more in this week’s We all have our favorite movies or books issue of The Escapist. - Tad or TV shows. And each one of these, I’ll bet money, has a scene or a chapter that Cheers, In response to Afraid of the Dark you just “gloss over” when you re-read from The Escapist Lounge: Fantastic! or re-watch it now. You know that scene I always wondered if I was the only where they have this long, drawn-out person cowardly enough to read FAQs discussion that just should have been and guides for horror games that I edited out, but the editor probably got couldn’t bring myself to actually play! sleepy and “glossed over” it, too. Hey, it And yes, the feeling when you actually happens. do finish a game is fantastic, like you in the article - Ed.) - I am the one know why but some sort of venom-crab- referred to as “Paul” in the killer’s phobia must have been building since I recording. That spooked me to no end - completed the game - in the end I cured we did in effect “compose” the murder. it by standing still and letting one of But not everything is quite what it seems them bite me repeatedly to try and in Perplex City - music files can have desensitize myself. Great level. hidden tracks, documents have hidden messages, images have hidden data, - Zuben and we never know what to expect next. It really is quite an experience. In response to Sony vs. Ronald Regan from The Escapist Lounge: - skenmy Sell your stock in Sony Corp as soon as possible. In response to Escapist Anniversary from The Escapist Lounge: Great - Patrick news! I’ve been reading the magazine since issue #1 and I haven’t missed one yet. The quality and integrity of the publication haven’t wavered since that first issue many moons ago, and I look forward to those new goodies you’ve mentioned. - Benoit In response to Return to Revenholm from The Escapist Lounge: When I replayed [the Ravenholm level in Half- Life 2] recently I found myself repeatedly hitting the pause button and backing away when it all got too much. I don’t There I was, blasting through corridors the situation when they stop having fun full of mercenaries and rampaging with their investment. Obviously, people mutants, almost to the exit of the can return or sell games they don’t complex, when I hit a tricky spot in Far enjoy, but there are a variety of other Cry. After repeated failures, I resorted to methods, like purchasing products to cheating in order to press on, only to make the game experience more fun. soon realize that the gameplay I had One option is to use strategy guides and liked was long over, and the game was walkthroughs to solve difficult challenges no longer interesting — I was bored. I or find the most efficient way through a have found myself getting bored in the game. While players use strategy guides middle of many games and finishing few. to make a game less difficult rather than Am I alone in my plight? What does it all less boring, boredom enters into strategy mean? Is this a sign of mild attention guides’ appeal; getting stuck in a game deficit disorder on my part, or is it for hours isn’t fun. And with sales figures something in the games, in their of $90 million in 2004 and $67 million in respective designs? Could you even say 2005, it’s hard to deny that strategy guides games are (inadvertently) inherently are an industry serving a real demand. boring in parts of their design? Cheat codes are a time-honored It seems counter-intuitive to say an component of single-player games, but entertainment form can be boring, yet it the demand goes beyond that. Witness obviously happens, because everyone’s the long-running success of products tastes are different. But do we have an that modify console games’ memory — epidemic on our hands? This is obviously in effect, hardware-based cheating. The a difficult thing to quantify, but an Action Replay was the first of such economics-influenced approach should devices, first on the Commodore 64 and point us in the right direction. First, then on most subsequent game games are an investment of time, effort consoles. Similar products include Game and money, and people want a return on Genie, now defunct, and GameShark. their investments. Thus, it’s safe to While these devices can help a player assume that people will seek to change deal with a boring game, this is just one of their uses, according to Action represent progress in the game. playing is often the primary determinant Replay’s maker, Datel. However, there is a significant group of of player level. The most striking people who disagree. example of player boredom in gaming Ian Osborne, a Datel PR representative, must surely be the secondary markets in said they view their product as one that How could this be addressed by game MMOGs, in which in-game characters, allows users to unlock content (such as designers? One idea would be to alter items and currencies are bought and sold new characters or racetracks), in opponents’ difficulty levels (a much- for cold, hard cash. IGE, one of the main addition to something that lets people touted feature of the recently released players in the field, valued the marketplace cheat. If hardcore players tend to find SiN Episodes game). Additionally, at $880 million in 2004. With the games less challenging, the fact that changing the prerequisites to advance explosive growth of World of Warcraft, most of Datel’s customers are hardcore such that the goals don’t become it’s surely much larger than that, now. gamers would imply that exploration and unattainable and the process isn’t re-playability are the main reasons for frustrating would keep people interested The system of goals and rewards holds purchasing the Action Replay, not boredom. in playing the unmolested game longer. little interest for a large group of players. As Osborne put it, “Consequently, demand But this doesn’t help players who dislike While a significant portion of this can be is spread across genres, but focused on the unlocking pretense at its core. Many attributed to players buying rare in-game the games hardcore gamers buy. For games alleviate this problem by offering items, the fact that players are spending example, there’s more demand for two modes of play, one that lets people money on in-game currency suggests cheats for a GTA or Tomb Raider game bypass stated progression goals to play that there is a meta-commodity here: than a Disney title.” the bulk of the game immediately and the time players are willing to spend in one that gives them the opportunity to order to advance. It’s fair to say that So, perhaps people are cheating and advance more traditionally. many players using these services find unlocking features, not because they’re the time commitments required of them bored but because they’re enjoying the But what about the massively online to be distasteful — in a word, these game and want to extend the space? The unique situation of MMOGs games are boring. experience. But if players are not content makes it difficult to address player to play through a racing game to boredom in the same way, as developers MMOGs tend to provide players with gradually unlock racetracks, isn’t that a must balance player achievement in the repetitive tasks - killing rats, whacking sign that there is something boring or name of fairness and technical moles, etc.