What is the relationship between a player and a video game?

What is the relationship between a player and a video game? Keith Stuart, The guardian of the UK, Kenz Start that when a player is engrossed in a game, it is likely to be a love-hate relationship that is as mysterious as a person falling in love. The Guardian's online edition, recently titled "This is Complicated: Why play video games is like a development relationship," in the article, Starte to the Bungie studio under the game "fate" as an example, a detailed understanding of the analogy between game and love. The following is the main content of the article compiled.

Video games are the most demanding entertainment medium. Playing games takes time and often requires skill and perseverance; they seem to have a logical system, but sometimes it's not fair. They hide things so you don't get a glimpse of the picture, or tweak the rules to give the computer-controlled character an edge. Sometimes you don't even know where you stand.

"Destiny" (Destiny) is a good example. Bungie Studio of this online shooting game, because of its insipid no plot and moronic solution was ridiculed. Once you've cleared the plot, all the work that follows is to upgrade the role of the game and to complete the task with friends. But the system itself is not clear, acquiring and unlocking new weapons has become a chore ... You have to kill yourself for hours in a row and expect to drop the equipment you need from the enemy. The game hides some elements and keeps you at a distance.

But we still play "destiny". Of all the game reporters I know, almost everyone is addicted to the game. It is like a damaged relationship--full of fun and attractive, but it hides a lot of facts. It won't let you know that you can't fathom its details.

Many games are like this, "the Soul of Darkness" (Dark Souls) is one of them. In the soul of darkness, there are many interconnected and interacting systems that make it look like a giant clockwork toy. But you have to work on them (System)--the Soul of darkness won't tell you anything. Richie Stanton, a game journalist, likes the Ghost of Darkness, thinking that the game respects the player-not the player, the possessive or the arrogant. These are certainly good qualities, but at some point when your life is low and your equipment is scarce and you have a 20-foot-tall monster, you think, "Oh my God, give me something!" ”

Of course, linear media such as books, movies and TV shows may be fascinating, giving people deep thought or anger. But the way we participate in these mediums is to understand them. The game is different, the good games occupy the players: they occupy hundreds of hours of your life, become part of your life habits. Compared with the "consumption" of a film or TV series, play "Ancient Scrolls 5: Horizon" or "Grand Theft Auto 5" and other systems rich, task-related game, more like a relationship with them. The game and the player need to create this experience together, and the two sides do not fully understand each other. There are days when the skies are clear and you both laugh, but at other times you get angry when the game system crashes or collapses.

All games exist between the player and the designer, for the game experience, the two sides have different ideas and demands. The game play method is born under the overlapping and conflict of the demand of both sides. Both sides have to interact positively, as in the relationship between men and women.

Playing games is like experiencing life. We test ourselves in the game and the rules of the world, learn and gain experience-and you're tired of wanting to quit, just one of the important experiences. I have withdrawn from destiny because I have seen a foreseeable future: the constant gain of experience in a beautiful but soulless planet in the same environment. I know it's still interesting, but for me, fun can be "calculated" and not worth spending more time with. We are entering an interesting new era. The internet world has created a game environment that can be permanently settled, artificial intelligence to create a game role that can simulate human emotions, while the virtual reality system of Oculus Rift and Sony Morpheus projects, and Microsoft HoloLens and Google-funded magic Leap and other augmented reality devices will enhance and deepen the strange, symbolic relationship between the player and the game. In some ways, games will become more "possessive" than in the past.

Games are relationships, and if we don't keep going, they're gone. They respond to us and evolve with us, and in the process they sometimes seem annoying and frustrating. Cara Ellison, author Kara Allison, told me that she felt that "the soul of Darkness" did not welcome her: every move made her uncomfortable, like the toes constantly hitting the bedstead. But the player still plays the game because the player wants the game to fall in love with, or at least to respect. But the reality is that you're probably going through dozens of hours of hard work and still can't find the feeling you need.

Games, like broken love--you know they bring trouble, but the obligation indomitable to indulge them.