My last post on choice architecture got me thinking about what has been bothering me in a lot of games. There is almost too much content. I mean this in a way that a lot of games are just trying to stack way too much in that has nothing to do with the core gameplay and or is unnecessary. This is far more evident in mobile games but there are some games I have trouble getting back into because of how much shit there is.
With mobile games, it's easy to see that they are all trying to back the same garbage into the game. Daily login rewards, quests that will give rewards, upgradable hero, upgradable weapons, and so on. There is so much going on outside of the actual core gameplay itself it almost feels like the core gameplay is just on the side.
For example, I am trying out Game of Dice finally. It is a mobile game that has all the same loot box/reward crap that most games do. There are cards you can use in a game that gives you bonuses and on top of that, there are die you can upgrade. At some point, it just feels like to too much work to get through all of this upgrade stuff to even be competitive.
Tripple AAA titles are showing that they are not immune to it. One of the early issues with Halo was the fact there were so many map settings. With all the map modes available you start to spread your player base thin. This only became an issue when the popularity of a given title of the series started to fade and you would never be able to get certain game modes because of a lack of interest. You would also see the lack of players in some Titanfall modes as well. When there are too many options you can spread your player base thin, which can be detrimental to the game.
One genre that seems to be able to get away with this is MMO. They are packed steep with content and after having played Final Fantasy 14 for a few years, there were still parts of the game I never touched. The Chocobo races did ok for a while but there are other games that don't tend to carry a large population of players like the minion battles. These though are simple additions to the core gameplay which is still rich enough on its own. I think there is also the mindset that not everyone is going to have the time to max out every character, so a level of incompletion is expected.
They don't all come away scot-free though as the insane amount of content that these games have acted as a natural barrier to anyone wanting to pick them up. While its easy for someone who has been playing a lot to know the system, someone who is new is going to be faced with a lot of stuff fairly quickly. Warframe is a prime example of this. While the core game seems simple enough there is so much content stacked on content, getting gear, doing raids, upgrading your ship, etc.. starts to seem a little overwhelming.
It's always nice to have a lot of content in games and stuff to do but sometimes the extra stuff can just feel like busy work. Sometimes there is just too much of a good thing and can be detrimental to the game as a whole. It wouldn't hurt if some game developers took a step back and maybe paired the systems down to be more manageable. That way the floor of entry would be a bit lower and maybe more appealing.
With mobile games, it's easy to see that they are all trying to back the same garbage into the game. Daily login rewards, quests that will give rewards, upgradable hero, upgradable weapons, and so on. There is so much going on outside of the actual core gameplay itself it almost feels like the core gameplay is just on the side.
For example, I am trying out Game of Dice finally. It is a mobile game that has all the same loot box/reward crap that most games do. There are cards you can use in a game that gives you bonuses and on top of that, there are die you can upgrade. At some point, it just feels like to too much work to get through all of this upgrade stuff to even be competitive.
Tripple AAA titles are showing that they are not immune to it. One of the early issues with Halo was the fact there were so many map settings. With all the map modes available you start to spread your player base thin. This only became an issue when the popularity of a given title of the series started to fade and you would never be able to get certain game modes because of a lack of interest. You would also see the lack of players in some Titanfall modes as well. When there are too many options you can spread your player base thin, which can be detrimental to the game.
One genre that seems to be able to get away with this is MMO. They are packed steep with content and after having played Final Fantasy 14 for a few years, there were still parts of the game I never touched. The Chocobo races did ok for a while but there are other games that don't tend to carry a large population of players like the minion battles. These though are simple additions to the core gameplay which is still rich enough on its own. I think there is also the mindset that not everyone is going to have the time to max out every character, so a level of incompletion is expected.
They don't all come away scot-free though as the insane amount of content that these games have acted as a natural barrier to anyone wanting to pick them up. While its easy for someone who has been playing a lot to know the system, someone who is new is going to be faced with a lot of stuff fairly quickly. Warframe is a prime example of this. While the core game seems simple enough there is so much content stacked on content, getting gear, doing raids, upgrading your ship, etc.. starts to seem a little overwhelming.
It's always nice to have a lot of content in games and stuff to do but sometimes the extra stuff can just feel like busy work. Sometimes there is just too much of a good thing and can be detrimental to the game as a whole. It wouldn't hurt if some game developers took a step back and maybe paired the systems down to be more manageable. That way the floor of entry would be a bit lower and maybe more appealing.
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