Video Game Trends: The Good, The Bad and The Questionable

Video Game Trends

As extensive as the spectrum of video game types is, there remains a number of trends and patterns which permeates the gaming world. Here is a shortlist of the good, the bad, and the questionable video game trends.

 

The Good

overwatch

Going free-to-play
This one concerns MMOs in particular, due to their reliance on the number of players. All games experience a downturn at some point in their lives, where the number of active users begins to dwindle. Perhaps players have been burnt out and need a break, maybe the content is lacklustre, it could be that the game is simply not-so-perfect.

The general rule of thumb is that the more players leave, the quicker others will; empty servers are disastrous to gaming communities. Consequently, a decision could be taken up to lift the game – or a large part of it – up and over the paywall. A prime example of that is Guild Wars 2; the critically acclaimed MMORPG became free-to-play, much to pleasant surprise from gamers and critics. More recently, EVE Online introduced an option to play for free, although in a moderately limited fashion. Free-to-play might be a bit of a stretch in this case, with ‘infinite trial’ slightly more appropriate. Tell us in the comments which MMOs you’d like to see climb over the paywall.

Easter eggs
Whether coming across the ‘Notched Pickaxe’ of Skyrim, or discovering the ‘Chimney Santa’ of DayZ, Easter Eggs are little quirks, subtle or overt, implemented to make a player smile or go “AYYYY!”. Usually consisting of minor references to pop culture or fourth-wall breaks, they can also be shockingly intricate and complex.

The Phantom Project of Battlefield 4 was shockingly popular, bringing the community together in attempts to solve riddles and seek out obscure information for in-game rewards. One of the first few Watch Dogs 2 missions is all about screwing over a very unlikable ‘Big Pharma’ CEO whose actions not-so-covertly mirror those of infamous Martin Shkreli. All-in-all, let’s sincerely hope that Easter Eggs are here to stay.

Demos, Betas, Trials, Free Weekends
A long time ago, in Developistan, the ancient sages proposed releasing an unfinished, limited, barebones version of the game for the general public. Thousands of magazines distributed CDs with a teasing taster for those uncertain of quality and fun factor. This art, lost with the popularisation of digital distribution, has returned stronger than ever. Hundreds of demos are available, whether through Origin, Steam or even the Internet.

Papers, Please received a lot of coverage at the time of its development due to the free demo, which in itself is to this day available. For the past few iterations, the Battlefield franchise eagerly conducted large-scale open betas to fix bugs, collect player feedback and generate hype. Developers opt in for ‘Free Weekends’ on Steam with intention to momentarily expose their products in their full, unhindered beauty. Schemes like these are essential to player satisfaction, whether short or long term, so let us hope this trend sticks.

 

The Questionable

DayZ
Image source: www.craveonline.com

Day one patches
This one’s a bit of a mix. On one hand, I should be able to play immediately, instead of downloading the game only to find myself grumbling under my nose as the patch steals another ten minutes from my life. Gamers with poor connectivity are the most affected, as both the download and patching speed are inflated. But then again, if it is of high importance, maybe it’d be better to spend a tad more time waiting than trying to get an unplayable mess working.

First impressions are vital, and it’s not ridiculous to claim that poor initial opinion could be one of the factors responsible for the crashes in player numbers post-launch. It is not out of the question that day-one patches are a result of either laziness or rush, and that aforementioned open Betas could provide valuable feedback which could reduce the need for the updates.

Early Access
“A beta? Why not an Alpha? Or a pre-Alpha?”

It is hard to argue that in the past few years we have been subjected to an ever-increasing surge in unfinished products. Most of the time, it’s a Pandora’s Box. There are many gems amidst ‘early access’, such as DayZ, Squad, Star Citizen and Space Engineers, though you also have to take into account the less polished games such as Infestation: Survival Stories and Godus. Not to mention, there is always the risk of the game being abandoned, as is the case with Towns. Early Access likely made as many people happy, as it frustrated. Be careful with your budget!

 

The Bad

infinite-warfare

Day one DLC
It’s utterly frustrating to see ready, finished, polished downloadable content come out on the same day as the main game itself. There is simply no excuse to leave the additional stuff out of the prime course, if it is prepared for launch.

Such money grabbing has been most prolific in Mass Effect 3: From Ashes DLC, for example – what can you expect from EA, huh? An antithesis to this arrived with CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3, which featured 16 pieces of small DLC and two massive, worthwhile expansions.

Microtransactions
Regardless of the nature, microtransactions can be annoying. Selling items with game-affecting attributes is simply unfair on the players whose pockets are not filled with an abundance of cash. A huge upset was caused recently by the developers of Payday 2: The Heist.

Whilst initially, the microtransactions revolved around cosmetic updates, one of the updates introduced ‘improved’ weapons only obtainable from pay-to-open crates. Coincidentally, other weapons were nerfed and seemed frightfully weak in comparison. Huge backlash from the community and a hail of negative reviews on the Steam page of the game brought a degree of change.

Microtransactions which provide cosmetic changes are also increasingly coming under fire. Avid gamers are unlikely to have missed out on the high-profile legal trouble with CS:GO gambling sites. The shady dealings, scams and questionable practices seem to be currently limited to Valve games, but they do not set a good precedent.

Yearly sequels
Now, yearly sequels are not inherently bad, although time and time again the gaming community has been shown that this corporate strategy leads to inferior games. The two suspects easiest to identify are Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty. Lack of ground-breaking changes post AC II and CoD: Modern Warfare 3 made the formula seem stale, and each new sequel (besides a few unexpected highs, such as AC IV) became arguably worse. More and more developers choose to disengage from yearly releases, to emphasise their desire to produce quality content.

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