When Roger Ebert wrote about how “Video games can never be art”, gamers quickly took to social media to defend that their beloved medium. Gamers brought up how titles like Bioshock and Limbo could hold deep meaning. It’s clear that people are beginning to view our young interactive medium with more respect than anyone would have thought capable 10-15 years ago, but have games earned their new found respect?
A few days ago, a great editorial was posted on PC Gamer describing the safety precautions and "child-proofing" found in modern mainstream games. The article delved into how games were seemingly catered to the lowest common denominator as a result of immature gamer behavior. It stated that gamers and developers are "locked in a destructive cycle of dickification"; where developers act like a dick by restricting controls and gamers rebel by just acting like bigger dicks. It’s crass theory, but it’s arguably correct in defining our relationship and its negative effects. The caveats and boundaries placed in today's games may strengthen the narrative structure and progression pace, but it also displays a lack of trust in the player.
For a medium that has issues being associated with toys, it's surprising how patronizing some of the games are made to be. Notifications in modern games display the simplest of information that even monkeys could keep track of. Rewards are handed out for small menial tasks. Jesse Schell's gamified vision of everyday life is taking shape within the games of today.
Games that trust and respect their players are not impossible to find. One AAA game that I didn’t expect to display trust in their player is 2008’s Prince of Persia. This game was heavily criticized pre-release when it was revealed that the main character could not “die” in the game. Some gamers became livid at this approach to player death because it was seen as removing challenge from the game. While seeming to have another way to baby players, Prince of Persia showed a degree of player trust by simply removing of a button prompt.
;)
In the game, the Prince and Elika must free the land of corruption through the use of Elika’s magic. The player (Prince) has to get Elika to a fertile land tile and press the Elika button to trigger a pretty cutscene of the land being brought to back to life. The first time you encounter a fertile land tile, the game displays a button prompt telling you which button to press. In the later hours of the game, this button prompt is removed.
The subtle disappearance of the button prompt conveys a transfer of responsibility. It's acknowledgement that the player made progress and learned the action for the context sensitive situation. On the opposite end of the spectrum are games like Call of Duty: Black Ops, which will prompt you to press "X" to reload every time you are nearing the end of your magazine.
Games need to start matching the respect we give them, as well as the maturity we expect from them. If games want to be appreciated by the general public like other mediums of entertainment, they must undergo the same scrutiny. Movies are criticized for being too blatant in their storytelling; it's only fair that games are criticized for being condescending in their gameplay.