Goals in Games

Having a goal, and being able to ‘win’ a game, is what separates a game from a simulation or a toy (as Ryan notes in his comment here.)

I thought it might be useful to look at some of the type of goals present in video games. Here’s the list I came up with:

• Defeating Enemies
• Collecting Items (Rings, gold pieces, stars, mushrooms, food)
• Researching tech (For RTS games and games like Civilization and Sim City)
• Exploring a map
• Solving puzzles
• Hitting a Target (not just an enemy)
• Coming first in a race
• Feat of Skill (climbing, jumping, spitting)
• Correct Timing (dodging spinning blades, crushing pillars etc)
• Relationship Development (By doing favors for people, hanging out, flirting)

Can you think of any more?

Most games will have more than one type of goal present. But the combination of goals, and the different emphasis placed on them, will define what kind of game it is. A platform game may focus on collecting items and solving puzzles, whilst a sm’mup will focus on hitting targets and defeating enemies.

What goals do you prefer working towards and why? How does the type of goal impact on gameplay? How are goals combined to create complex games? What kind of ‘win’ has meaning for you, and what doesn’t?

The Value of Strength

Corvus has recently been discussing gender in video games (and related media). His comments are well-founded and insightful, and you should definitely go read them.

I see video games as a media most similar to comics, in terms of how they have evolved. Because for a fairly significant time, the typical gamer was seen as a young male, whilst various cultural pressures kept women out of the designers chair. Both of these situations have rectified themselves, but we find ourselves still dealing with the legacy. The language of video games has been shaped by men, and the typical stories don’t explore issues that are specific to women, nor do they present a female perspective on a universal issue. Female character are frequently written and designed by men, creating characters that are mainly ‘fantasy woman’ and ‘man in woman’s clothing’.
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That’ll Larn Me: Do video games teach socially responsible lessons?

As this month’s Round Table puts it:

There is a commonly held belief that videogames are not the equal of literature and film. One conservative acquaintance of mine on Facebook doesn’t even consider them on par with “public speech and music.” On the other hand, we have anti-video game activists claiming that video games have the power to train children to be emotionless assassins. Even within the video game community I’ve often heard the reaction, “they’re just video games.”

I’ve spoken a little about using games as educational tools before. Video games are an interesting media, because they have only recently made a push into the mainstream - and even now, certain types of games are still marginalized as being mainly negative. (more…)

The Death of the Adventure Game

Open the door to the small bridge. A seagull will land and start eating the fish. Go out to the end of the bridge, the plank will flap and scare the seagull away. Do this a few times and quickly pick up the fish.

Michael Abbot at the Brainy Gamer recently wrote a post called Puzzles are for geezers, which talked about the way in which “combat has replaced puzzles as the progress-impeding mechanic du jour for modern gamers, and fast-paced action, quick reflexes, and gamepad dexterity are the premium skills.”

He is, of course, absolutely right. There are no more bizarre combination’s of items to find, and no more of the irreverent, sarcastic humor that used to permeate those games. Mainstream developers have turned their back on the logic puzzle, in favor of tactics, reflexes and strategy.
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Video games are Modern Day Myths

It is interesting to see how many video games deal with stories that are mythological or legendary in nature, as opposed to creating a realistic, complex plot in the same way that a novel or a film might.

If we look at video games as diverse as Patapon, God of War, Age of Mythology, Grim Fandango, Age of Conan, Final Fantasy, and Viking: Battle for Asgard we can see obvious mythological aspects. However, even the less obvious games set themselves up in a mythological framework, as opposed to a plot-driven framework.
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Video Games are not all the same

I like to read. I have a pretty mighty collection of books in my house. However, I don’t read everything. My books mainly fall into two or three genres.

My partner really enjoys films, but again, his collection is hardly encyclopedic. For the most part, they fall within a few genres, with a little bit of fudging at least.

Go and talk to a gamer, and you’ll find certain kinds of games in their collection. They might have lots of FPS games, a couple of old retro platformers, a RTS for variation and Sim City. Another gamer might own Rock Band, every Final Fantasy, along with a few of the smaller experimental games such as Patapon, and World of Warcraft.

There is a strange assumption that if you like video games, you’ll like all video games. If you don’t like a video game, it is either not a video game at all, or a really bad game.
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