The Future of Videogame Aesthetics

daniil writes "Here's another look at the 'Realism vs Style' debate. David Hayward, a level designer involved with UT2004 mod Alien Swarm, among others, has written an interesting essay on the aesthetics of videogames, suggesting that, similar to other art forms, the peak of realism in computer games might also be a plateau that acts as precursor to wider experimentation: "We've come a long way since the flint-carved figures of early 3D games, but there's still progress to make before we're producing the game equivalent of sixteenth century marbles. Though it makes for a myopic obsession when compared to the vastness of the picture plane, photo-realism is nonetheless a worthwhile technological achievement to aim for, because it is through this that games will attain the sensation of a lucid dream.""

Why not both?

[Dogun]

Check out dreamfall.com - sequel to The Longest Journey.

DUPE!

[Anonymous Coward]

The future of dupes, however, is stead-fast: http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/10/09/1747256.s html?tid=10 [slashdot.org]

Re:Video Games as Reality

[jkind]

I agree with you whole-heartedly. I guess I should have included that the boy didn't even say hello to me or anything. I was simply looking at merchandise on the ground from the yard sale, when he starts talking to me "I have such a hard time when I have to go under water. "etc... It took me a paragraph of his to understand it was even a video game he was discussing. I guess it could be a condition non-video game related altogether (relating to social abilities)

Re:Realism IS a style!

[nine-times]

If you RTFA, I think you'll find that the author agrees. In fact, one of the things he shows is that "realism" isn't even sufficient to describe the style of a game. Would "Live motion" (as opposed to animation) be sufficient to describe the style of a movie? No.

I think this particular article, rather, is indicating that "style" is a pretty complex thing, of which "realism" is only one aspect. Therefore, realism is not the end-all-be-all, nor need it be the chief goal. (I wouldn't say that this is a summary of the essay, but just one point I drew from what the author wrote)

Re:Video Games as Reality

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

Sounds like he might be an aspie [wikipedia.org].

A real one that is, not a fake one like many geeks who like to claim the title for some damn reason.

Re:Video games as lucid dreams.

[Destoo]

"You would gamble your safety for a mere android.
Is this the human value you call friendship!?"

"Spare me the Star Trek crap will you Kryten, it's too early in the morning."

- Red Dwarf, The Last Day

Adult games? Go to Japan.

[CyricZ]

Seriously, go to Japan. Look for some games there. You can find some pretty odd adult games. Many of the games would make even the most extreme of Western perverts cringe.

I stayed with relatives who had been to Japan. I ran across some of their games while using their computer. Boy, was I surprised! There are games where you go around as a big octopus tentacle ripping the cloths off of people in the street. Then you proceed to tentacle rape them. In one of the games, for instance, you rape people up the ass. Then, for whatever reason, you were able to control their limbs. Now if that's not absurd enough, you can go to dance competitions. You have to make the person embedded anally on your tentacle dance.

They were addicting games, that's for sure. And challenging. Real mind-benders, too.

Re:How should they reinvent the genre?

[mikael]

There are othere genre's that don't involve killing - These include:

1. Coordination games (Dance Dance Revolution)- but needed special hardware
2. Team-sports games (Hockey, Soccer, Football, ...) - but still competitive
3. God games (Sim-whatever)
4. Puzzle games (Tetris variants)
5. 3D Platform games (collecting coins/stars - Super Mario)
                        (although the use of bad characters made these killing games)
7. Card/Board games (Poker, Blackjack)- but why play a machine when you can play against real people?
8. Adventure (Leisure Suit Larry, SpaceQuest)
9. Camera based games (EyeToy)
10. Simulations (Flying, Racing)

The tricky part is for each of these genre's to be a successful game, it has to be
easy to learn to play, but requires a gradually increasing level of difficulty in order
to keep the player interested . It really depends if the players want something that
organises their time for them, or something that gives them the chance to do whatever
they want to do. Pilot Wings 64, Super Mario 64, and Zelda: Ocarina of Time allowed you
to do both. Some puzzles within each level had a time limit, or required you to compete
against a virtual character, but at other times, you could explore the level at your own
leisure and just enjoy the view.

Re:The box still looks better than the screenshots

[Have Blue]

EverQuest is several years old, so you can't really call it "state of the art". Half-Life 2's characters really do look as good as the ones on the boxes (neglecting the fact that your monitor is probably 80-100 dpi and the box printing is an order of magnitude higher).