Artifacts of History: Enriching and Burdening

Precedent is a powerful force.  It is so powerful that it is one parent of two other powerful forces: expectation and tradition.  American history students know that George Washington, simply by being the first President and improvising as necessary, created artifacts of government that persist today.  Video games have their own artifacts. Which of these artifacts are part of the enriching tradition that implies culture, and which are burdens of expectation that impede progress?

The title screen is an artifact of the "attract mode" setting of arcade software.  Attract mode is the cycle arcade software repeats when there are no players, and is designed to entice players to part with their quarters.  The mode usually consists of gameplay video, artistic video similar to a cutscene but not one of the actual cutscenes in the game, a warning not to do drugs, and the title screen in case there is no cabinet art.

A common anti-drug message seen in arcades

Somehow, title screens persisted in software as the software moved out of the arcade, moved past the need to entice players considering the sale is already made, and moved away from functionality altogether.  The worst offenders are title screens that simply state "Press Start."  Enough players, upon inserting a disc or running the program, want to start from the last checkpoint reached (if continuing the game) or simply begin (if starting the game for the first time) that it is worth inconveniencing players who want to select a different checkpoint or select different options by making the latter press start during the game rather than making the former press start before the game.  It will be remarkable when, upon starting the latest triple-A title and leaving the room, the player can return seeing that she has died thirty times because not only was the title screen abolished, but the "You are dead.  Press start to continue." screen was similarly abolished.

An Easter egg in Adventure

Easter eggs are artifacts of pride, conspiratorial fun, or revenge by creators who are sometimes denied the attribution they deserve.  In any event, they have become part of the rich heritage, lore, and tradition of the industry.  They show us the human side of what can seem like an impersonal relationship between creators and customers.

In Super Mario Bros. 3, there are many ways to get many lives

Lives are artifacts created by the necessity of extracting more quarters out of the player. The notion of lives is the implementation of a time limit based on skill rather than time itself, which would no doubt be unpalatable. Also, being a game of skill is an important differentiator in the eyes of those legislating against games of chance. An artifact begat by lives was the concept of continues. In most instances, losing a life restarted a level, but using a continue restarted a larger increment than a level. Most likely, this resulted from software that was unable to retain the particular state of the player. That lives and continues made it out of the arcade was inevitable, as authentic arcade gameplay was the barometer of success of the console. Perhaps the price of one game was set at the value of quarters the average player would use to complete the arcade version. Speculation aside, lives and continues lasted longer than necessary in games where they served no function.

In Wario Land 3, there are no lives

Code modification is an artifact of curiosity, enthusiasm, and respect for the game by the player.  A player that cares enough about a game to go under the hood to increase replayabilty by tweaking rulesets and physics is the kind of loyal customer any business would love.  It is the height of short-sightedness for a creator to reproach the player for not playing the game as it was expected to be played.  Note that the code modification discussed here differs in degree from code modification that arouses a moral rights issue.  Preventing code modification that rises to the level of defacement and besmirching the creators product by making the game behave in inappropriate ways relative to the target audience is separable from the above.  Similarly, an effort to profit off the code of another can be distinguished from the love letters freely offered by loyal customers.  The differences between the loyal customer and the profiteer or defacer are usually much wider than creators care to admit.  Code modification merely takes advantage of the level of interactivity so unique in the industry by giving the customer an alternate avenue of feedback than the usual complaints and comments department.  As such, this artifact is worth preserving.

Ryu Hyabusa and his health bar

The health bar, and HUD in general, is an artifact of limited memory.  Each piece of information in the HUD was a placeholder for when memory caught up to the point where the information could be displayed intuitively, naturally, and realistically.  For example, in order to reuse sprite animations, the health bar placeholder was devised.  As such, Simon Belmont and Ryu Hyabusa did not need to be redrawn in various states of disrepair, which would consume copious amounts of creator time and software memory.  These limitations are inapplicable today, yet Hyabusa remains freshly modeled even on the verge of death.  Progressive fighters allow the hiding of health bars, injecting a fun suspense in matches, but Ken and Ryu (no relation) do not receive black eyes after being hit in the eye during the match; nor does some part of their clothing burn off after being hit with a fireball.  

Ryu and his health bar 11 years later

It is possible that the flagship character of a series should not be depicted as bloodied or bruised, and it is also possible that a sorely wounded Ryu (either) still able to jump with the agility of a fresh Ryu would appear dissonant, but there are subtler ways to represent the gamut of health states.  It may even be a fun challenge to decrease the ability of wounded characters.  Usually, attempts at realism taken too far would take the fun out of the game, and while no one would consider adding tedious tasks in order to inject realism, the placeholders of the HUD are ripe for revisiting. Similarly, cutscenes themselves are an artifact of limited memory.  

Hit point inflation is an artifact of marketing.  Screenshots of upcoming games with characters and enemies having higher hit points are a regular part of the fuel of hype machines. While hit point inflation can be implemented for more nuanced gameplay, allowing finer gradations of battle scenarios using only integers, having hit points reach the million mark is far more nuance than could ever be efficiently implemented.  As such, the tactic is revealed as a marketing tool disguised as gameplay.  While marketing has a respected place in the budget in every enterprise, and certainly adds to the bottom line, effective marketing need not be deceptive.

Reviewing the list, it is mostly the artifacts of technology that shackle and the artifacts of human nature that set free.  Even George, that precedential President, would approve. 

During which part of playing a video game does the actual "playing" occur?

During which part of playing a video game does the actual "playing" occur? Unfortunately, the answer to this question, like the answer to too many other questions, is: It depends. For purposes of this discussion, playing a video game can be divided into the following categories:

A. Pressing the buttons
B. Viewing the short-term consequences of button presses
C. Deciding which buttons should be pressed next
D. Viewing the long-term consequences of button presses

Angband, a Roguelike

Roguelike enthusiasts have long championed that the answer is C only. Consider the characteristics of the genre: a GUI that prizes efficiency of communication above all; unlimited time to decide which buttons to press next; and an input system that prioritizes efficiency over steepness in learning curve. As such, it is no accident that A, B, and D are nigh instantaneous. To entrants in the genre, there is a distressing lack of time between "You swing! You miss!" and "It breathes. You are dead." To devotees, however, it is the hallmark of design.

From this perspective, the similarities between Roguelikes and chess are unmistakable. Although pounding the chess clock is no doubt satisfying and theatrical, there is little doubt that the "play" in chess is primarily in C. As such, aficionados of Roguelikes are burdened with the knowledge that, as with chess, a majority of the population is unsatisfied with C-only play, and the genre is reserved for the niche with the most fervent imagination, the most tenacity to learn a complex interface, and the belief that utilizing both is worthwhile.

Vanguard Princess, a fighter

Fighting fans understand that the simple joys in life are the best. The "play" in fighters resides primarily in A and B. As any mind unclouded with ego can attest, the simple act of pressing buttons, even when taken apart from its short or long-term consequences, is delightfully sensory. If not, why are the buttons colored? Why are they smooth? Why do they click and clack so satisfyingly when mashed to the irritation of arcade owners who must replace them?

That the button presses create such stylish visuals to hold passers by, and their quarters, in a trance is the arcade owner’s solace. Darwin, shown a student computer lab in California, shown a fighter, shown an arcade in any town, and shown a Roguelike would not hesitate in deducing which game evolved from which environment despite an alarming unfamiliarity with any of the above.

RPG addicts tout interesting cause and effect relationships, and the replayability that they provide, as the font of play. As such, an evolving narrative over time is what they crave. The best way to supply their fix is to provide as much substance D as possible.

Guitar Hero hardware

Rhythm game lovers have only recently been satisfied, but the games have exploded with success across all platforms with a fervor to compensate. Arcade games such as Galaga, Centipede, Operation: Wolf, Dance Dance Revolution, and a plethora of fighters have long experimented with input style. Console makers were understandably dubious that many would want to pay for game specific hardware multiple times over. As such, more general non-standard inputs were created such as a generic gun or running pad. However, most arcade inputs were shoe-horned into the existing control pad setup with varying results. Most likely, Nintendo's recent success with varied inputs is a result of two understandings combined: 1) That the A-only demographic is the largest; and 2) That the customers have matured, i.e., those actually spending are the ones playing the games or grew up playing video games. As such, the market will bear much more specific inputs than even currently available. The plastic guitar and DJ inputs will soon give way to piano, violin, and trumpet inputs to those who understand that today's parents recognize video games as tools to shape minds in a way that previous parents could not. Furthermore, considering that the marriage of game and music is not the only way to create an A-only game, the A-only game has not been exploited to its natural boundaries, and it provides the most fertile ground for innovation to those bold enough to satisfy this long-suffering market.

A only	Rhythm
B only	Zen, FPS
C only	Roguelike, Text Adventure
D only	RPG
A and B	Fighter, Shoot-'em-up, Sport
A and C	Simon and similar games
A and D	Action
B and C	Puzzle
B and D	Relationship Building, Visual Novel
C and D	Adventure, Time Management
A, B, and C	Flight Simulation
A, B, and D	Party
A, C, and D	Driving Simulation
B, C, and D	Management Simulation, Strategy
A, B, C, and D	Platformer

Cave Story, a platformer

The case can be made for all of A, B, C, and D to apply to any genre, but as to the primary source of play, the genres differentiate themselves admirably. Recommended for future study is the extent to which, e.g., fighter fans buy shoot-’em-ups; RPG lovers buy biographies; etc.

While it is axiomatic that different people find fun in different experiences, it is instructive to understand from where the fun emanates. As the future brings more letters to the list, those that realize more genres will be needed will be in the best position for success. As proof, one need only consider the A-only demographic for which deliverance lied in rhythm games, a genre whose recent popularity was not bottlenecked by technological constraints but by inaccurate understanding of the large demographic's desire for play.

Flower, a Zen game

Dudebro II, a mock cover for a parody of FPS games in production