There is one controversy that keeps on coming up no matter what new RTS is coming out, that is the controversy over the drift of modern RTS's to a more "Newb-Centric" style. I would like to share with you my personal thoughts on the matter.
First, if you do not know me on the scale from hardcore to casual gamer I would say I am pretty far to the hardcore side. So take that in mind. This drift began back in AOK, and probably even further back, but in AOK, some people were upset by some new attributes to the game such as villagers automatically going to work once a drop of point was constructed or the fact that they added the ability to queue up farms. This trend continued in the next game made by Ensemble Studios, AOM. With the expansion pack, one could now queue up villagers to be built once the person had the necessary resources. Furthermore, the expansion pack also introduced a civilization that did not require a drop of point. This is not all that has changed however, for concepts such as the idle villager button have also been introduced. The point is though that each of these takes away the control and thought from the human and gives it to the computer. I think that some of theses have improved the genre such as villagers going to work after constructing a drop of point, yet other ideas such as the addition of queuing villagers to be built once enough resources have been gained goes a little to far. I do not mind if some of the aspects are automated to take out the parts of the game that really do not add anything, but they should not go to close to the core game play.
With that established I would like to do a little comparison between this problem and Shakespeare, so bare with me, it will not make you cry, to much. Shakespeare had a long career of writing plays, a career that spanned though a period in which the ways plays were performed changed drastically. In his early plays, he used very little music, if any, but by the time, he wrote his last play he had to include music in order to be competitive with the other playwrights. One can compare this with video games, for in modern video games one "must" include the modern technology to be competitive in the marketplace. The modern video game industry should take not of how Shakespeare integrated his "new technology". Shakespeare was among the many successful playwrights of his time, yet if you were a publishing company, which would, you rather own the publishing rights too, Shakespeare or one of the other ex-successful playwrights that we now do not even know what their names were? I think I know the answer. So what is it that made Shakespeare so much more successful than the others? It was the fact that he had a philosophical theme to his plays that appealed to the aristocrats. Like in Shakespeare's time, wherein there were the aristocrats and the groundlings, in video games, like aforementioned, there are the hardcore gamers and the Casual gamers, which match with the classes of Shakespeare time respectively. It was the flashy new technology of Shakespeare's period that sold the plays to the groundlings, like how the new technology and the more Newb-centric concepts drive the modern immediate sales. However, it was the philosophical themes that have made Shakespeare's plays timeless.
So one might ask why should the studios do anything differently, for is not the purpose of the game to make money for the company. It most certainly is, and while it would be nice if they just did what would make the best game, and to add the wants of the hardcore gamers they truly have to fulfill their own needs by doing what the casual gamers want. But truly they are doing their investors a disservice by not going for the heart and sole of the game, like the hardcore gamers would prefer, for as aforementioned while Shakespeare included the new technology he still kept the philosophical themes. These themes are what made the plays timeless and sell well just like the games would sell well if the studios made it their priority to cater to the hardcore gamers.
Theory is nice of course but it must be backed up by solid evidence. A great example of this is with the game of Starcraft. Any designer would love to be credited with this on their resume because it has arguably been the most successful RTS's ever. This game still sells in stores at prices that match or beat games that are much younger than it, not to mention the other commercial revenues. So why was this game so successful? It was because it was a game that the hardcore gamers could enjoy. Its graphics were ok but they were anything but groundbreaking. It used new concepts and ideas, so which people might say made it more Newb-centric, but they were careful in the way that they implemented it to preserve the aspects, which draw the hardcore gamers.
The people who make the games are required to also make them so that they sell. They therefore try to cater to the newbs who make them the immediate money, and fail to cater to the experts who will in the long run make them the money. The hardcore gamers lead, and the casual gamers follow, reluctantly but they still follow. Look at RON it was an interesting concept that when way to far for the casual gamer, and while it had pretty good sales in the beginning it now has a pretty small community since many experts have decided to leave it. Than there is RON, it was a great game for newbs that do not mind balance that much, but since most experts did not give, the reviews for it failed.
As the next game is about to be announced for Ensemble Studios were once again here the sounds of this controversy. While in the end I bet AOEIII will be an awesome game I am just trying to warn the Studios to be careful. Aspects such as the removal of drop of points, while they may attract casual gamers they will repel the hardcore gamers. Please the hardcore gamers, by preserving the basic components of RTS's. People beg for innovation, so give them it, but preserve the basics, which make this great genre.
Thanx, Mokon
Mokon | | | AoE3 Rate 2200~ | | |
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New TWC Recorded Games Posted on my Media Page![This message has been edited by Mokon (edited 01-02-2005 @ 10:35 PM).]