I don't get it. I write this articles up in Word first before I publish them. Mostly, I just copy paste the words and the formatting comes right along with it. It works when I post things to tumblr, but not here. Formatting doesn't work here. It is a pain.

Pound of Flesh

Let me give you a quick rundown of how I spend most of my time:

• In school (if it's during the school year obviously)
• Playing videogames
• Writing about videogames
• Thinking about videogames
• In school thinking and writing about videogames

Did you notice anything?

That's right!

I don't have a job.

And it’s not for lack of trying that I am unemployed. No one wants to hire a seventeen year old whose primary goal in life is videogames. And that is a shame. But there is something that is even more shameful plaguing the videogame industry. The cost of videogames is just too high. On a consumer level, development level and even publication level the current cost is unsustainable.  In the past year I have bought three games. The truth is that I do not have the funds to buy games as I please. The result is that in one of the fastest moving and growing industries in the world people like myself are getting left behind. Those without the money to afford to stay current are being lost to the tide of change. With next-gen systems on the horizon, now is the time to address the issue of the cost of videogames. 

So, what exactly is the cost of a videogame? On average, a new game is somewhere between $40 to $60 depending on where you buy it and for what system it is on. A used game can range anywhere from $5 dollars to the-not-worth-buying-it-used-price of $55. The average used game price however, tends to be around $13.67. (This price was calculated using averages from http://videogames.pricecharting.com). But, that is just the consumer end of it all. There are also development and publisher costs to be considered. The average AAA game can cost upwards of $200 million dollars. That number may seem extensive, but it is in fact the actual development cost of Star Wars: The Old Republic released in 2011. Now, that may be an extreme example, but it goes to prove the point. The development cost of AAA development is outrageous. Followed by production costs and marketing the total is raised further by several million dollars. 

I mentioned before that the cost of videogames as it is unsustainable. Without change or some type of intervention the entire system of development with collapse upon itself.  Recently, Square Enix claimed that the new tomb Raider had not sold its expected amount of units. To be clear that game sold 3.5 million units in its first four weeks on the market. Tomb Raider is the second fastest selling game this year with Bioshock Infinite taking first place with 3.7 million units sold. Sony’s The Last of Us comes in at third with 3.4 million units sold. And yet, Square Enix still believes Tomb Raider did not met seals expectations. As a result the entire company is now undergoing a “fundamental review” in which the company looks to “cast all of our resources towards extending what makes us successful and thoroughly squeezing out what doesn't”. That means people will be fired. 

And this is not meant to vilify Square Enix anyway. They are a prime current example of something that happens all too commonly in the videogame industry. The cost of development is so high that when a game does poorly the only result is for the publisher to either down size and fire people or go completely belly up. Even the untouchable big three of third-party publishers; Activision, EA and Ubisoft, do this all the time. In fact Tony Key, Ubisoft’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said: “That's what all our games are about; we won't even start if we don't think we can build a franchise out of it”. It is for this reason that yearly installments of Call of Duty (Activision) and Madden and Fifa (EA) are made. The cost of development is so high that publishers cannot afford to lose any possible revenue. Without the constant cash cows that are these massive franchises the industry will collapse. That is unsustainable, the system will not last. 

 

One of the early controversies surrounding the announcement of next-gen systems was the cost for consumers for next-gen games. As the foreseeable development costs increase the backlash will untimely hurt the consumer. Games’ going for $70 to $80 new was a frightening reality that most consumers did not want to face. That fear was displaced with statements from both Sony and Microsoft that their games would remain that the $60 price range. However, specifically within Sony’s statement the wording unclear: “we have announced the pricing for our first party line up of PS4 launch and launch window games … $59.99.” Nothing is said of games post launch window. Third party publishers are also continuing to be stinging with information regarding pricing. Only EA has announced that they plan for their games to be approximately $72.00. I wonder how many consumers can afford to continue buying games at that price.  

As a consumer, videogames are becoming increasingly expensive. As a developer, the high costs are increasing development and creative risks. As a publisher, the increasing costs are forcing a system of either winners or losers. Just look at THQ. As an industry, the cost of videogames is unsustainable. Without change the entire industry will come crashing down. I think that is the most shameful of all.

Healing

When I first met Corporal Betsy I had every intent of killing her. The Corporal was a sharpshooter for the New California Republic. My allegiance was with the Legion for this playthrough. She and everyone else at Camp McCarran were going to die if I had my way. Allow me to explain. The universe presented in Fallout: New Vegas is one that I find highly appealing. Dark cynicism and black humor are the hallmarks of that world, a retro-futuristic result of the 50’s obsession with science fiction and paranoia about atomic weapons. It rides the fine line between tongue-in-cheek humor and dead seriousness. And it does so well. There are times when you will laugh and there are other times when you will seriously ponder the moral ramifications of your actions. Take for example this dilemma: Do I kill Corporal Betsy because she is my enemy or do I take her quest anyway?

The quest, I Don’t Hurt Anymore, isn’t really even Corporal Betsy’s. She does not give it nor does she finish it. However, she is the main focus of it. Corporal Betsy was raped. The event happened long before my new Legion Courier could have done anything to intercede. I am informed by her commanding officer that she will not seek help on her own. Instead, she has taken to hitting on every woman that passes by as a coping mechanism. Corporal Betsy is a self described “stone-cold bitch” and behaves in a way that I am told is “unacceptable in the 1st Recon”. Her commanding officer would disciple her, but he rather that she gets help. The quest is to convince Corporal Betsy that she needs psychiatric help/emotional healing.

I have been in that position before. 

So, I lay my options out in front of me: I could kill them all; I could accept the quest to gain their trust and then kill them all; I could complete the quest to gain the XP and then kill them all; or I could complete the quest and let them live suffering damage to my reputation to the Legion. I considered my options, five in total if you counted just walking away. But I was lying to myself. There as only ever one option and I knew I would take it. Reputation with the Legion be damned.

She was raped. Nothing is ever the same.

There is a line that I refuse to cross. Everyone has them. We set barriers for ourselves to keep who we are and who we want to be away from the things that might destroy us. Corporal Betsy represented that line to me. There was no possible way that I would not complete her quest. Not for the XP, but because I could not bring myself to let her suffer.

She was shy when we first met. I remember that with clarity. She was beautiful and I stood there thinking that I should get to know better. She was quite and withheld. It was so obvious something was wrong, but I could never have known what it was. She was brave, perhaps the bravest woman I have ever met. There was also sadness there. Just below the surface. Her eyes would cautiously sweep before settling on any one person or thing. She had a big secret that made her sad, but she never let it show. She was so brave.  

When speaking to Corporal Betsy about getting help she counters that she is a soldier. No one else in her squad complains about the little cuts and bruises. If your character has enough speech or medical skill you can right then and there convince her to get the help she needs. I was building up my Legionary to have a high medical skill that will be needed later in the game. I told her that just like bruises and scrapes emotional wounds need proper time and care to heal. She seemed to like that logic and agreed to go get help. After a firm thank you from her commanding officer the quest was complete.

Even though I never wanted to, there was no way to stop myself from seeing it, the wound in her heart. Watching her suffer was the hardest thing about being her friend. She would smile, laugh and make it look like everything is okay. At first I believed her. I wanted to. There was a desperate desire within me to believe that she was alright. That everything really did turn out alright. But, I looked into their eyes and I could see it; the fear, the anger and the pain. There is so much pain that it would over flow leaving myself and the few others who really deeply cared to soak up the rest. Then we held her as she cried and let her pain fill us because it was the only thing we could do.

There is another way the quest can be completed. If your character lacks the skills necessary to convince Corporal Betsy on your own, you can talk to the other members of the squad to try and get their input on the situation. Each one will tell you that they found some way to work past their troubled pasts. One was tortured by the Legion. One is of the few survivors of a massacre. Each of these soldiers is just a person that needed help. Without the care and support of others they would never have survived. That is what you tell Corporal Betsy and she seems convinced.  Quest completed. 

There is an uncomfortable feeling of powerlessness when you know someone who has been raped. I always wonder ‘What if I had known her earlier? Could I have prevented it?’ And it comes back to me that no matter what I do in the here and now I can never protect her from that horror. She has been raped. It happened and there is nothing I can do to undo that. When I hold her close and whisper that everything will be alright it burns in the back of my mind that it won’t. How could anything be alright ever again? And suddenly I’m holding her tighter. I want to comfort her. I am also deathly afraid of what will happen if I let go.

There is one last part of Corporal Betsy’s quest that seems almost trivial. After I convinced her to get help I must journey to the clinic and let the doctor know that Corporal Betsy is coming. It is not even a very far walk. Upon entering the clinic I speak directly with the doctor in charge. She says that Corporal Betsy can be scheduled in and sessions will begin immediately. It is a small gesture. By now I have known Corporal Betsy for a full fifteen minutes, but it feels like I have known her much longer than that. Being able to insure that she gets the care she needs fills a space deep within my heart. I know that I will leave the clinic and never return to Camp McCarran. I cannot kill Corporal Betsy nor can I kill her squad. They are her support and care. She needs them so she can heal.

She was raped. She is healing.

The Language of Videogames: Part 7 Fluency and Enjoyment

(I almost thought I would not make it to the end).

Almost a year ago now my friend and I were playing Journey. I had invited her over for the specific purpose of playing the game. Hey babe, come over to my place and let’s play videogames. I am a classy guy. No matter how self-deprecating my humor may be something did happen that day, an idea formed. First a question: Just how do we understand videogames and how in turn does that affect our experience with them? Then an answer: Videogames are a language. 

The player learns this language through similar ways in which they would learn anything else. They begin with Observation, Experimentation and Response. After that the player begins to Apply Assumptions made in one game to another. From that an understanding of the “Win-State” is formed. After the ludic elements of the game have been comprehended the narrative elements begin to form within the player’s understanding. Narrative Significance takes shape followed by Ludonarrative Comprehension; are the ludic and narrative elements of the game dissonant or resonant? Once all these pieces of understanding are in place the player finds themselves with a Combined Understanding of the entire game experience. The player can engage with the developer in the language common to both of them: the language of videogames.   

Like all languages practice makes perfect. Fluency develops over time and repeated exposure to the language. Beyond more in depth study of game theory there is nothing that can be done to make someone more fluent in the language of videogames. The only option is to play the games. And once the player has become fluent they will most likely not even recognize it. True fluency goes unnoticed. Everything the player has learned and every cognitive thought developed by study works to provide the player with fluency. It is not a conscious process unless deeply examined. Once the player has become fluent everything will just work and they won’t even notice it.

Or perhaps they will notice that they are having fun. The one side effect of fluency in the language of videogames is immense enjoyment. No longer will the player get turned around or lost. Feelings of discomfort and aggravation at a game disappear. Because the player is fluent in the language of videogames their experience is greatly increased. It becomes apparent to the player what the developer’s intention was with the game. The player is able to engage in the game world as an equal with the developer. They both are fluent, fully understanding what one is saying to the other. Videogames are artistic, creative expressions at the forefront of modern innovation. They are also meant to fun. Fluency benefits the player by increasing their enjoyment with the game.

There is one last thing I want to say on this topic. The best way to become fluent in any language is to immerse yourself in that language. So go out and play some videogames!  

The Language of Videogames: Part 6 Combined Understanding

Previously I mentioned how the future of videogames lay within ludonarrative resonance, the seamless melding of story and gameplay. The idea was briefly mentioned and championed. Yet, a further look into the realities of how narrative and ludic elements can be combined is needed. To just say they can be without explanation would be incomplete and lacking. To fully comprehend the language of videogames the player must have an understanding of the ludic elements; “win-states”, gameplay and interactivity, as well as the narrative elements; plot, setting, characters. Total fluency amounts from a combined understanding.

After watching the developer commentary on Journey for the first time I was dismayed. The game’s designers, artists and programmers explained how each part of Journey was made. They were all quite proud of the work they had done. Yet I could not accept what was being told to me. I was Dorothy having just seen behind the current. Journey was not the magical, rapturous game that stood as the foremost example of games as art; it was a bunch of men and women behind a fancy screen using cloak and dagger misdirection to make Oz. It ruined part of the experience for me. Of course I always knew that games were made by development teams sometimes ranging into the hundreds of people, but that somehow floated away from my recollection at the time. Here were the people how made Journey explaining that the gameplay worked like this, this art was inspired by this, this level was designed for this reason. They broke the game apart into its individual ludic and narrative elements. I was crestfallen.

Eventually I regained sense of myself and of videogames. When I watched the commentary again I was amazed by the synergy thatgamecompany was able to create with Journey. The ludic and narrative elements of the game work in tandem to create an experience unlike any other offered in videogames. Of course Journey is just a bench mark example of ludonarrative resonance; not perfect, but damn near close. That is because Journey was designed from the beginning with emotion in mind to be the final end goal. The “win-states” in Journey consist of exploration and flight. Both are actions that are intimately tied to joyous feelings. The narrative is one of redemption and rebirth that again builds a strong emotional connection. Journey has very little ludonarrative dissonance because both the ludic and narrative components of the game were designed with the same goal in mind. 

Focused development on the core aspects of the experience is often the best way to avoid ludonarrative dissonance within a videogame. When the entire team is focused on one end goal the total project benefits. The ludic elements of the game must work with each other to further the experience the developer is attempting to make. “Win-states” need to have functioning input from the player to work. Simply put, if the player cannot interact with the game in a constructive way then the “win-states” serve no purpose. A similar manner must be applied to the narrative elements. Story needs to work with art direction and sound design to effectively build a narrative worth exploring through the game play. Finally the two must be merged in a way that benefits both of them. When reading a book, to continue to the next plot point in the story all the reader has to do is turn the page. The action is not very disturbing to the experience at all. However when playing a videogame to progress to the next plot point the player must engage in game world via the ludic elements the developer has designed for the player to use. When done incorrectly the ludic elements can be very disruptive to the narrative and the narrative can be disruptive to the ludic elements. 

When done properly the player should not be able to discern the difference between the gameplay and the narrative portions of the game. A combined understanding of both is necessary for the player to do this. Videogames are a language through which the developer engages with the player.  Just as the developer must put forth to create, the player must put forth to accept. A combined understanding of ludic and narrative elements will make the game experience better. Most ludic elements fostered through the language of videogames can be learned through observation, experimentation and response followed by applied assumptions. I say ‘most’ ludic elements because videogames are still evolving. The language of videogames is in a constant state of expansion and growth. Narratives on the other hand have been around much longer. That is not to say that they have no room to grow, just that they have already been long categorized and explained. Narrative elements such as plot, setting and characters are already well known and understood. The player can be considered fluent in the language of videogames when they have a combined understanding of both ludic and narrative elements of game.

Combined understanding fosters ludonarrative resonance in videogames. The developer must be fluent in the language of videogames to make, write, an experience that the player can then pick up on as someone playing, reading, the game. Engagement between the player and the developer is the basic unspoken pack that all videogames operate on. Both parties expect something from the other for the total experience to work as it was intended. And no matter how fluent either party, developer or player, is the game will ultimately be un-engaging if either one of them does not accept the agreement. Videogames are the developer’s artist and creative expression, the player is there to experience it. True combined understanding is the understanding between developer and player.