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Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Why do I play videogames? Thinking about all my recent time spent playing Team Fortress 2 lately, I realized there were two interesting reasons. The first was to find and savour those moments when videogames truly show artistic merit. Those moments in Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Final Fantasy VI, etc., when one actually does experience an insight into the human condition that could not get from any other medium. They may be rare, but I do love finding them.
If that reason is more artistic, the other is more closely tied to my mathematical interests - I have always liked thinking about, creating, and analyzing rulesets and conditions in games, video or otherwise. I find the study of balance in these quite fascinating - how can one create differing game items yet still retain balance between these elements? This was one of the reasons I liked Starcraft so much - the balance between the three distinct races was intriguing. With that in mind, I got to thinking about my current all-consuming pasttime:
Team Fortress 2
which is really quite brilliant. The game consists of two teams competing over "control points", each team composed of individuals who each play one of nine different classes. What has intrigued is how remarkably different each class plays, but yet how well integrated and balanced the game is. The experience of playing, say, a spy, differs vastly from that of the soldier, which is again vastly different from the sniper, or medic...etc. Yet all of the players, playing different roles all over the world somehow manage to contrive to work together and counteract each other's strategies. Of course, dozens of other games have done this for years, but this is the only one I've played that truly feels as if it's been done right.
The other aspect of the game is just how wonderfully non-serious it is. Valve's "meet the characters" videos - for the Soldier, Heavy, and Engineer (I urge you to check out the three links in the bottom right of this page) are quite entertaining, but remarkably, the "character" displayed in those videos carries through into the game itself - with Scouts running around hitting people over the head with bats, Heavys cradling their guns lovingly, and Spys smoking cigarettes behind paper masks (I've also forgotten to mention how brilliant the cartoon-style graphics are). I've been astonished how often I've just been playing the game, I will come across an unscripted moment which makes me laugh out-loud - no other online "competitive" game has done this.
That all being said, though, the reason I keep playing it again is the new combinations and strategies that come from the interaction of nine well-balanced classes. It's all really incredibly well done.
If that reason is more artistic, the other is more closely tied to my mathematical interests - I have always liked thinking about, creating, and analyzing rulesets and conditions in games, video or otherwise. I find the study of balance in these quite fascinating - how can one create differing game items yet still retain balance between these elements? This was one of the reasons I liked Starcraft so much - the balance between the three distinct races was intriguing. With that in mind, I got to thinking about my current all-consuming pasttime:
Team Fortress 2
which is really quite brilliant. The game consists of two teams competing over "control points", each team composed of individuals who each play one of nine different classes. What has intrigued is how remarkably different each class plays, but yet how well integrated and balanced the game is. The experience of playing, say, a spy, differs vastly from that of the soldier, which is again vastly different from the sniper, or medic...etc. Yet all of the players, playing different roles all over the world somehow manage to contrive to work together and counteract each other's strategies. Of course, dozens of other games have done this for years, but this is the only one I've played that truly feels as if it's been done right.
The other aspect of the game is just how wonderfully non-serious it is. Valve's "meet the characters" videos - for the Soldier, Heavy, and Engineer (I urge you to check out the three links in the bottom right of this page) are quite entertaining, but remarkably, the "character" displayed in those videos carries through into the game itself - with Scouts running around hitting people over the head with bats, Heavys cradling their guns lovingly, and Spys smoking cigarettes behind paper masks (I've also forgotten to mention how brilliant the cartoon-style graphics are). I've been astonished how often I've just been playing the game, I will come across an unscripted moment which makes me laugh out-loud - no other online "competitive" game has done this.
That all being said, though, the reason I keep playing it again is the new combinations and strategies that come from the interaction of nine well-balanced classes. It's all really incredibly well done.
