Developer cannot deliver both values at the same time

Aug 30, 2014 16:29 GMT  ·  By

There was a time when a gamer who had a good knowledge of the industry might have had the money and the time to master 10 or 12 titles in the course of a year and there were moments in my childhood when I focused on just one experience for months at a time.

Modern times, with the advent of digital distribution, gaming consoles and smartphones, might mean that even the biggest releases from the likes of Activision and Electronic Arts only have a few weeks at the most during which they stay in the spotlight before they are replaced by other experiences.

But the desire to engage with a game for a long period of time, learning its secrets and exploring as much of its universe as possible, remains despite the change in circumstances, and that means players are often demanding to get access to video games with plenty of depth.

These two realities are creating a kind of paradox: depth requires energy and time to be uncovered, but players have a tendency to move on quickly, which means that they are pressuring developers to make it easier to get to the essence of a game, often without too much of an investment, be it of energy or emotion.

There are players who pick up Game of Thrones Ascent, a browser-based title linked to George R.R. Martin's books, and want to get a dragon in less than a week rather than spend months with it like I have done in order to create a bond with my alliance and become useful in AvA.

There are gamers who jump into Company of Heroes 2 or Wargame Red Dragon and express disappointment when they fail to win matches, despite the fact that they spend just a few hours getting familiar with the mechanics.

I myself have avoided getting into DOTA 2 or Diablo 3 because I know I do not have the time to understand the two experiences and derive clear enjoyment from them.

We are living in a golden age of gaming, but it’s impossible for one player, even if he has almost unlimited time and resources, to enjoy all that it has to offer.

This means that we need to accept that some experiences will pass us by and decide whether we want to focus on depth or on variety when it comes to the titles we will explore in the future.