This was my fear when Ubisoft put followers in The Crew 2. I couldn’t care less about the experience of people who haven’t paid for the game and aren’t playing it. If I buy a game, I want the game to be fun for me and other people like me that are actually playing the game. That’s such a weird way to even think about games.
While I have no problem with the idea of games being made more accessible to players, I absolutely take issue with the idea of changing one of the foundational qualities of the franchise in order to improve the experience of people who aren’t even playing the game.
A fighting game that has always been known for being technical and difficult to master was made easier so that people not playing the game would get a more exciting show when watching people who hadn’t taken the time to master the game play it online. Capcom did this so that matches would look more exciting when being streamed or during live competitive events. The competitive community complained that the game had been made easier to complete special moves/attacks. Street Fighter V is a good example of this. We’re seeing games built around the idea of players being watched while playing rather than just playing with the understanding that some people will watch some people play games. More and more we’re seeing games that are being developed with the viewer and presenter experience in mind rather than just the gamer. Not just game playing, but more importantly game development. But what is different is that this idea is now seeping its way into gaming. It’s no different than politicians lying to get votes or actors pretending to support causes in order to increase viewership of their movies. The issue I had with this idea then, and still do now, is that it means people aren’t doing what they want to do, or even what’s the best experience for themselves, but rather they’re doing things in order to increase viewership. In other words, your accomplishments are defined by the number of people watching rather than the accomplishments themselves. Ultimately followers took the place of experience points in that game, but the point I made back then was that Ubisoft was addressing, kind of ironically but also not, the modern construction of value within our society. One of the topics I touched on was the inclusion of followers as an in game mechanic. Two years ago, I wrote a review for the closed beta of The Crew 2.
0 kommentar(er)
