I grew up playing video games. Reading and watching films and cartoons too, but video games were my real first love. Films passed time, but were too long and insufficiently engaging, I appreciated them but could not involve myself in their worlds simply because I, by necessity, had no place in them. Books gave me a place, as the visionary which constructed the world from the information provided to me, but this information was monofaceted, and although deeply involving, always seemed to me shallow. Cartoons suffered as films did, but their brevity forced me to imagine what was missing, and in cases like Samurai Jack, I was indirectly constructing an entire world's history and many of Jack's adventures from episodes I felt conspicuously missing.
Video games redeemed these failings and I was involved in worlds and the lives of people at lengths that suited me, in ways that suited me, and within the constraints presented to me, I could approach them as I pleased. Unfortunately the economic requirements of the video game necessitated a limited scope in what a game could be, the costs of entry were high and so certain tropes were inevitable. This limitation has largely been done away with in our era of inexhaustible indie titles, many of which are ambitious, many of which are good, and some of which are both, but despite this fact I feel something is missing.
I dream of a perfect game, and I believe others likely do as well. We cannot conceive exactly what it would be like, but we have a vague, part aspirational, part nostalgic vision of this perfect game in our heads which is a construct of many games we have played or which we may not have played but remember in some form or another.
My games are as follows -
Tombi – A world made up of regions composed of interconnected planes, experienced in 2D but existing in 3, where there are many missions, secret experiences, and frequent reason to return to previous places to see what has changed or to fulfil some expectation or gather some item, all of which was not initially apparent, but may or may not be obvious later down the line. These different places not only change in small incremental ways, they change in large revolutionary ways.
Klonoa – A series of levels which are drastically different, with strong thematic and artistic specificities extending even to the realms of music and level design. The story is strongly tied to timeless human experiences and each degree of progress is met with the lasting impression a particular section, a particular challenge, a particular boss, a particular dynamic makes on the player. Many things are experienced once and only once, and the core dynamics are so strong that much more could be done with them than is ever fit into one game.
Okami – A world of rounded characters, different pacing, a beautiful art style, and, although the game as a whole lacks variation, particular set-pieces that use the game mechanics in such intelligent ways that they define the player's relationship to the game.
Vexx – A bombardment of mind-bending level design that often subverts the games own internal logic, which was fairly loose to begin with (this could also apply to Super Mario Sunshine)
Shadow Of The Colossus – Like Okami it is defined by it's set pieces and a large open world that does not have the many walls adventure games are prone to, but unlike Okami it lacks the many characters and stories that provide richness to the experience and instead condenses it to memorable boss fights, and although this sounds underwhelming, a boss fight can combine the aforementioned impression of the set-piece, with a triumphant sense of achievement, and in particular cases, accompanied by an equal portion of melancholy.
Final Fantasy games in general – Varied casts and worlds, emotionally engaging storylines, all the narrative aspects that could be considered desirable, but generally presenting a disconnect between the involvement presupposed in the story, and the detachment of gameplay.
Knytt – Worlds that do not feel they need to be filled or challenging every step of the way, which present themselves at their own pace, but focus challenge in specific ways to allow the player to enjoy the environment when it is appropriate, and focus on their skills when it is necessary.
What is my perfect game then?
It has beautiful large environments with strong attention to detail so the absence of challenge is not a burden, travelling is a pleasure in a multi-sensory way and if non-verbal environmental storytelling can be included, all the better.
Combat is tight and rare, each fight is a challenge that requires thought and skill, and filler is minimal.
Platforming is varied and contains the majority of traditional game mechanics.
A varied cast of colourful characters, each with their own self-contained story arcs.
A terse upgrade system, some achieved through specific challenges, others through incremental acquisition.
A world that changes over the course of the game, preferably in small and large ways.
A strong contrast between the openness of the rural, the density of the urban, and the devoted detail of 'the ruin', an area that is only visited once for the purpose of plot and challenge.
A world made up of many cultures, governed by various rules, going so far as different places having specific mechanics all to themselves.
A timeless storyline that has multiple arcs all converging on a single point, where the main quest is not always directly in sight, but is kept in mind even at times of quiet.
The ability to effect change in the world through your choices.
Memorable boss fights.
Set pieces which need not necessarily be challenging, but utilise game mechanics to make a strong impression on the player.
Length
Replayability through incentivised increases of difficulty only unlocked after completion.
Excellent music.
Not too much to ask for then.
But this isn't about video games.
I haven't played a video game properly in many years. I've dabbled on a couple of Indie titles, I finished Limbo a while back, and I try to keep up on various things that come out as and when (Rain World is something I've become fascinated by, though have no intention of playing), but on the whole I am done with gaming, and I don't have much interest in taking it up again because I feel like a creator rather than a consumer, not that I necessarily want to make games, I would if given a team of programmers and designers, but more than that I want to include all my favourite aspects of games into real life.
This desire can sound a little strange, there should be a division between games and life, right?
I disagree. In games you must survive the challenges the world throws at you, make progress, appreciate detail, and enjoy yourself. All of these things could equally be said about life as well, so I don't consider it a stretch to say that life, in many ways, is a game.
So if life already is a game, how can I further gamify life by paring undesirable or extraneous elements, minimising repetition, condensing beauty, maximising aforementioned 'set pieces', and providing myself with a smooth difficulty curve over the course of my entire life?
All of the above sounds difficult, and it sounds difficult for the same reasons that the long list of 'perfect game elements' is difficult to bring together into an actual game:
- Making games is hard
- Making complex games is harder
- Balancing complex games is harder still
As a result we often have to make a choice; between either a pleasant, simple, repetitive existence dotted with niceities, or between a relentless life of constant striving where the rewards are profound.
The idea of working 50 hour weeks so I can lead my dream life is contradictory, in my dream life I don't work 50 hour weeks grinding my way across the EVE galaxy so I can't even enjoy the scenery outside my house.
At the same time, Candy Crush holds no appeal to me, for obvious reasons.
I'm an opinionated person and I find people often fall into these two camps – They work their whole life frantically, live the dream and then die when they retire, or they plod along and never do anything particularly interesting.
If I had to choose I'd do the latter because I have working class parents and that's pretty much what the working class are defined by, their meek complicity in the ceaseless ambitions of the workaholic ruling class, but at the same time I've never seen myself as a person who never did anything interesting, and considering I'm from England and currently living in the Republic of Georgia I think it speaks for itself that I'm a person who lives outside whatever mould they find themselves falling into.
All of this is quite interesting, but it doesn't answer my question. Aside from any personal aspirations, ambitions and plans of how to achieve them, how does one gamify life? How does one pare the repetition down to a minimum, condense the challenge to particular pre-ordained sections, and spend a lot of time wandering around enjoying beautiful scenery, soaking up the ambience?
…go on a walk?