Greg Costikyan looks at 3-D in gaming and concludes that it’s not always a good idea in gaming. I have to agree, and I’ll add a caveat that he didn’t: If the 3-D affects game play, then it’s a good idea. If it’s just there to look pretty or because it’s a way to update a game without actually improving it, then it’s a bad idea. And that’s the trouble for both the games he cites — Heroes of Might and Magic V and Civilization IV — it’s just there to look pretty without affecting gameplay. It’s not like the games are 3-D, they just look 3-D. And that leads into another pet peeve — I’ll play an ugly but fun game, but I won’t play a gorgeous but dull game. And it seems like far more time and money is spent on looks and not on gameplay. Kind of like the Spy Kids movies.
Posts Tagged Computer Gaming
Yes, I Am A Game Geek
May 26
Virtual Sexual Inequality?
Jun 25
A computer game researcher, Jason Rutter, claims that women characters are worth less on eBay than male characters from Everquest, the massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMOPRG). I love the statement about a growing body of literature about women adopting male characters to keep from being hassled. Clearly, I’m in the wrong line of work – I should be trying to persuade Washington University to hire me as the computer gaming chair. Sadly, I missed the boat on this opportunity as I have so many others. As to the sex difference, it could be that because there are more males playing (“vast majority”) than male characters (80 percent), it could be that old fashioned supply and demand thing instead of that old fashioned male chauvinism, although I wouldn’t rule it out based on the age and geekiness of the average EQ player.
I lost a lot of time this weekend to Civilization III, which I got Friday for my birthday. Yep, 41 and still playing games. I was gaga over versions 1 and 2, although it was SimCity that convinced me to buy my first Mac. The Fruit of the Murphy Loins also like it, so now the squabbling over computer time, the whining about why they don’t have their own computers, and complaints about the old computer not being able to run it have begun. The only game of mine I don’t let them play is Diablo II because all the killing and sets are too graphic. So all three of us are building our civilizations to withstand the tests of time, and swapping tips, techniques, and info. It’s another gardening game, but what a beautiful garden. Unlike a real garden, this game gives your brain a workout, not your back. When I think of how much time I’ve spent playing Sid Meier’s games (Civilization 1-3, Colonization, Railroad Tycoon 1 & 2), I think “time well spent!” I’ve spent hours at a time telling myself and my wife “one more turn!” That’s a phrase that should go on every gamer’s tombstone.
It’s been awhile, but I played Tropico last night. It has a knack for getting me in trouble with the Other Fearless Leader, since I spend too much time playing it, or as the case was last night, I messed up taping Friends while playing. And my excuse, delivered in a lousy Spanish accent, that the people need their el presidente doesn’t go over at all with her. At all. Tropico is a fun game where you are in charge of a small Caribbean island. You build the buildings, you set the wages, and you can ruthlessly suppress the people or get voted out of office (your choice!). Most people would call it a strategy/simulation game; I call it a game about gardening. To me, it’s a sublimation of the gardening drive, as all the activity involved is best understood as gardening – designing, planting, weeding, watering, eliminating pests, and expanding your garden. There are a bunch of games like this, starting with Sim City, the granddaddy of simulation games, and including Warcraft, Master of Orion, or Age of Empires to name a few popular titles.
