AdministrarotCurt Schilling, a former baseball player, realized his dream – he created a game that met his requirements and was intended just for him. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning . However, he did not have enough funds to implement this idea, and he had to turn to EA for help.
However, according to the millionaire, he was delighted with his brainchild. But the players did not appreciate his creation, and the project did not bring the expected profit. Thus, we can say that Kurt created this game exclusively for himself.
If a person does not have tens of millions of dollars, he will have to look for entertainment among already existing games. Production determines demand for ordinary people. But how to choose the right game??
SUITCASES!!1
The first thing that comes to mind is gaming journalists. They play games and analyze them. Instead of spending hundreds of hours on the game, you can just watch an interesting review. Or enjoy a fun stream with people you’ve known for years. But is everything so rosy??
How many games released last year do you know?? 50? 100?
On the Stopgame website.ru 53 video reviews and 107 text materials were published. At the end of the year, 118 games were mentioned, and in the referendum – 148. But these are only the games that were reviewed. And 14,531 games were released on Steam.
It turns out that we are told about literally 1% of games. Gaming journalists are supposed to watch all the games and pick the best ones. This may have been true at one time, but there are too many games coming out now to see them all.
Alexey Makarenkov, former editor-in-chief of Igromaniya, said that gaming journalists and bloggers receive games from publishers. Publishers don’t work for free. That is, in essence, we are offered a choice of games for which we have already paid.
It is worth noting that if the Stopgame site itself does not directly receive money from publishers, this does not mean that it is outside of this scheme. The number of views of reviews depends on the popularity of the game. PR campaigns for popular games are usually funded by. Even if a review of an unpopular game is done at the highest level, the number of views will still be low.
This means that YouTube channels such as Stopgame and others are forced to create content not about the most interesting games, but about those that are in demand due to financial investments. The reasons for popularity may vary, but game journalists often only keep up with publishers.
Where is the fun in this equation?? Nowhere, it’s just business.
Don’t publishers strive for successful sales?? After all, good games find their buyers. Large publishers have the opportunity to attract talented developers. They can create high-quality games with great animations, exciting plots and a lot of content.
Many people buy games precisely because of this. However, there are games that do not have all these qualities, but are nevertheless extremely popular. For example, Vampire Survivors does not boast outstanding graphics or animation, but sells in huge quantities.
Do big companies really know how to create a game that people will like?? Perhaps it was like this ten or twenty years ago. However, recently more and more low-quality games are being released, and management is making controversial decisions.
I would like to believe that publishers are thinking about profit and not being guided by erroneous judgments. But what do we, the players, care about their profits?? We’re not playing to make publishers rich, are we??
Corporations are striving to find a universal formula for making huge profits. Diversity in the gaming industry has decreased significantly since 2008. Budgets are growing, but innovative projects are becoming fewer.
In 2012, Far Cry 3 surprised everyone with its formula, but Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora could not repeat its success.
Alexey Makarenkov is a graduate of the Medical University named after N. AND. Pirogov. He believes players value new gaming experiences. However, if they are faced with monotony, this can lead to gaming burnout. I was convinced of this from my own experience and was able to get rid of this condition by following Alexey’s recommendations.
However, the main problem with the Nonukcasinosites.co.uk/casinos-not-on-gamstop/ “universal formula” is its excessive standardization. After all, all people are unique, and the words “I like this game” can hide a variety of needs and character traits. Therefore, there is simply no universal formula. Games that would be interesting to everyone without exception will actually be interesting to no one.
In the modern world, corporations face a serious problem: they strive for maximum profits and optimization of production. Sometimes this desire leads to endless improvements in productivity and expansion of the market, no matter how paradoxical it may sound.
The joint stock company system assumes that profits will increase. This leads to the fact that games become more and more gambling.
Games use our common deep features of the body, which appeared even before animals developed intelligence. In pursuit of productivity and mass production, they eliminate everything that interacts with the cerebral cortex. Scenario, narrative, difficult to understand mechanics. Only popular images from third-party works are retained.
We can already observe similar trends that even the most liberal governments cannot ban. Apparently they don’t want to cut the branch they’re sitting on.
On the other hand, the desire to bring everything to a single standard gives us the opportunity to communicate. People with different problems and personalities can find a common interest in conversation.
Marketing for multiplayer games is vital. They are unthinkable without a large number of people. In an unpopular game, searching for partners can take hundreds of times longer, or you may not be able to play at all.
Even though big-budget games are often third-person action games, they are still different from each other. Advertising convinces many people that the game will give them vivid emotions. This belief and anticipation causes players to release endorphins. And sometimes this anticipation is justified: AAA games really bring us a lot of positive emotions. However, this is not always the case.
Little games
Luckily the world has Gabe Newell and his Steam. Unlike other platforms, it has created a platform where you can publish any game. This allows even developers with a small budget to create and show off their creations.
Due to small budgets, the variety of games on the platform is much greater. Contrary to popular belief about "Steam day", high competition leads to the fact that most games turn out to be of high quality. I recently became convinced of this.
In March I purchased games that were released on March 1st. This is a great way to find and try out something you really like. This search for games gives me (I don’t know any other crazy people like this) great pleasure. In addition, I found games that suit my interests and needs.
But it seems only mine. Ilya Sharifov, for example, called these games inexpressive. Lyaden described my selection as flash drive level. According to reviews, the games I liked were purchased by only a few dozen people. However, these are the games I really enjoyed that were more enjoyable than the popular games released this year.
However, this method of playing can be quite expensive (I spent about 15,000 rubles). You have to (not without pleasure) sort through dozens of games to find the few best. If you want to save time and money, you will have to succumb to advertising. By advertising I mean any external influence that encourages us to buy a game. It could be a trailer, a cover, a meme, a blog, or even advice from a friend.
Demos.
Gabe revived the tradition of game demos. Now everyone can download demo versions of games for free and try them out. This allows players to formulate their opinions about the game based on their own emotions.
Of course, developers can use demos to showcase only the most interesting aspects of the game. However, despite this, demos remain a great way for players to choose a game without being influenced by outside opinions.
Rely on the opinion of a similar person.
A popular way is to find a friend, blogger or streamer with similar interests. Many bloggers are, in fact, gaming journalists, they try to be trendy and discuss the most popular games. However, there are those who are more focused on their personal preferences.
If your friend, streamer or blogger liked something, then perhaps you will like it too. However, it is worth considering that neither a friend nor a blogger can know all the games, and may also be influenced by advertising. Without advertising, you may not get the same experience.
Even if a person liked something, we are all different. You may not like it because of your differences. In addition, tastes may change both for the blogger and for you. Bloggers need to understand that their audience is maturing and change accordingly. But they don’t always hit the target.
It’s also worth considering that even the review we watched after beating the game can affect our emotions. I want to write about this separately because it is an important topic. For now, please take my word for it.
Choose a specific genre, game series, developer.
Many people prefer games of a certain genre, series of games, developer. If you liked the game, this means that the developers know their business well and know how to create exciting projects. Therefore, when choosing games of a certain genre or developer, you can be sure that you will get maximum pleasure from the gameplay.
However, there is another aspect. As I already mentioned, Makarenkov claims that we get our main pleasure from finding new patterns in the world around us. Using these patterns also brings satisfaction, but to a lesser extent. Over time, the pleasure of this process may decrease.
This is why, over time, interest in the genre/series/games of one developer can fade, and the brain gradually becomes weaned from new impressions. This situation can be aggravated if a person only plays one game. While game updates can help, they are often designed for all players at the same time, and it’s not always possible to get in tune with the developers. As a result, a game or series of games may simply become boring after a series of updates. In this case, you will have to look for an alternative, and you don’t always have the energy and time for this.
Top games.
Judging by the latest The Game Awards, the ceremony is valued more for announcing new games than for presenting awards.
In my opinion, this is not the best way to choose a game. It would seem that if a game is named “game of the year”, then this is the best choice for spending time. However, in practice this is not always the case.
Game selection is very limited. And sometimes we see such misunderstandings in the lists of nominations as Starfield in the category of innovative games.
The most popular game always wins user polls. Even the most popular game is not suitable for everyone. Of course, if you are asked which game to lose, “The Witcher 3” or “GTA V” will immediately come to mind. But popular does not mean universal.
It is worth mentioning the problem of nominations. Game genres are constantly evolving, and this article covers the topic well. I recommend everyone to read it.
Nikolai Dybovsky, game designer at Ice-Pick Lodge, notes that game design in games changes approximately every few years. And new genres and subgenres are constantly emerging. Nominations change less frequently. Many games either don’t match them or their compliance seems artificial. For example, Hitaman 2 received only 2.58% of votes in the action category in 2018!
I have studied all the ways I know to select games and want to share my thoughts. The more games you find on your own, without relying on the opinions of others, the more likely you are to find a game you really like.
It seems to me that blogs are usually read by experienced gamers who combine different methods and rely on their experience. They use these methods to find games that give them maximum enjoyment.
However, even experienced players cannot completely avoid the problems associated with game selection. Therefore, I want to wish everyone who reads this article to easily find games that will bring you joy and satisfaction.