Treatise on Video Game Types
While probably slightly doped up on some pain killers last week, or maybe just the fatigue associated with being on a near-liquid diet, I believe I had a break-through as to what kind of game World of Warcraft (WoW) is. Abstracting the thought which I had lead me to begin to categorize various types of video games. I'm sure most of you would believe this has little to no practical employment, but I'm still going to go through and explain the different types and then tie them all together at the end. Critism is appreciated.
There are a few different variances on what a game could be. When I talk about traditional I would mean a game like Super Mario Brothers. It's pretty obvious when you beat it and there's only one real ending sequence (besides the one that ends up with you starting all over because you died too much).
One step from this would be a game similar to Kirby's Dreamland Adventure. You still have multiple levels to beat, there are multiple level-bosses to crush, you have a limited number of lives (to a point), you still have to defeat the end-boss to win the game, and there is one ending sequence. However, this one also has a side objective: reach 100% complete on the game. See, throughout the game there are little switches and hidden doors that unlock a special power or 1ups or secret sections of the level that you otherwise would not get. So while the primary objective of the game is to beat the end-boss, there is a secondary objective of gaining 100% complete for the game.
Parallel to Kirby runs the type of game which contains multiple endings. This is where you play through the game, making a series of choices (sometimes purposefully, others which are not fully realized until a later moment), which will affect events on the way to the end-boss or end-game sequence. There are many examples of this such as Deus Ex, Half-Life, Resident Evil, and many many others.
The next three types are difficult for me to place in terms of levels (this one is 1.5 Mario Bros while that is 2.3 Kirbys) as I have not yet strictly set out the spectrum from which they are judged and placed. So let's start out with one of the all-time classics that has been ported to countless platforms: Tetris.
I should clarify something before I get in too deep. When I talk about Tetris, I am talking about the free-play gametype in which you try to achieve the highest score possible. I'm not talking about heads-up play, or Type B in which you select a level and a speed and try to reach 20 lines. Those obviously fall under the traditional type of a game. The end-goal isn't always firmly defined in free-play. At any given time you can go for most points, most lines, highest level, most time played, or most Tetris'. The freedom of being able to choose your own end-game when coupled with the actual management of the tetrominoes turns this into a game that is indeed one step beyond the others discussed so far but are tied to the following types of games.
The next one I would like to discuss is sports games. Again, clarification is needed here. When talking about sports games I'm talking about an all-encompassing season within the game. That would include a draft, trades, free agency, injuries, creating players, playing schedules, and things of that sort in addition to the actual games themselves. Here you have the traditional scope of a game which would be to win whatever type of sport is being played. In addition, you also have the management (there's that word again) aspect that surrounds the season and it's games.
Finally, we come to MMORPGs such as WoW. These games, as I see them, have no truly end-game to them. When you beat some incredibly tough dungeon or boss the game still continues. When you max out your level you can still keep playing but you won't get bumped up any higher. You can be one of the best players in PvP but guess what, more and more players are going to be gunning for you with their newly found levels and gear. The point is that this type of game rewards management over skill whereas other games reward your skill in completing a task or goal.
I played WoW on a few friends' accounts for maybe a total of a year. During that time, I never got a toon above level 45 (this was when the level cap was 60). Even still, there were plenty of tasks to accomplish dependent on what I felt like doing. Did I want to grind XP? Okay, where should I do that? What about an instance run? I would get loot in addition to XP. With the loot I sell, I could make money to buy items I need for whatever craft I was doing. I only need items x and y to make 10 more of this really high-profit item. Or I could get those by accomplishing quests. Maybe I just want to explore and see what the game has to offer. These were things that I had to struggle with and prioritize based on what I felt like doing that day.
Which brings me to my point about tying these all together. In the working world, proper management of your time becomes an important factor in getting things done right and on time. Is there a link between how successful a person is in WoW and what kind of work they do in real life? Maybe it's not even their work, but how efficient they are able to function in day-to-day tasks.
There are a few different variances on what a game could be. When I talk about traditional I would mean a game like Super Mario Brothers. It's pretty obvious when you beat it and there's only one real ending sequence (besides the one that ends up with you starting all over because you died too much).
One step from this would be a game similar to Kirby's Dreamland Adventure. You still have multiple levels to beat, there are multiple level-bosses to crush, you have a limited number of lives (to a point), you still have to defeat the end-boss to win the game, and there is one ending sequence. However, this one also has a side objective: reach 100% complete on the game. See, throughout the game there are little switches and hidden doors that unlock a special power or 1ups or secret sections of the level that you otherwise would not get. So while the primary objective of the game is to beat the end-boss, there is a secondary objective of gaining 100% complete for the game.
Parallel to Kirby runs the type of game which contains multiple endings. This is where you play through the game, making a series of choices (sometimes purposefully, others which are not fully realized until a later moment), which will affect events on the way to the end-boss or end-game sequence. There are many examples of this such as Deus Ex, Half-Life, Resident Evil, and many many others.
The next three types are difficult for me to place in terms of levels (this one is 1.5 Mario Bros while that is 2.3 Kirbys) as I have not yet strictly set out the spectrum from which they are judged and placed. So let's start out with one of the all-time classics that has been ported to countless platforms: Tetris.
I should clarify something before I get in too deep. When I talk about Tetris, I am talking about the free-play gametype in which you try to achieve the highest score possible. I'm not talking about heads-up play, or Type B in which you select a level and a speed and try to reach 20 lines. Those obviously fall under the traditional type of a game. The end-goal isn't always firmly defined in free-play. At any given time you can go for most points, most lines, highest level, most time played, or most Tetris'. The freedom of being able to choose your own end-game when coupled with the actual management of the tetrominoes turns this into a game that is indeed one step beyond the others discussed so far but are tied to the following types of games.
The next one I would like to discuss is sports games. Again, clarification is needed here. When talking about sports games I'm talking about an all-encompassing season within the game. That would include a draft, trades, free agency, injuries, creating players, playing schedules, and things of that sort in addition to the actual games themselves. Here you have the traditional scope of a game which would be to win whatever type of sport is being played. In addition, you also have the management (there's that word again) aspect that surrounds the season and it's games.
Finally, we come to MMORPGs such as WoW. These games, as I see them, have no truly end-game to them. When you beat some incredibly tough dungeon or boss the game still continues. When you max out your level you can still keep playing but you won't get bumped up any higher. You can be one of the best players in PvP but guess what, more and more players are going to be gunning for you with their newly found levels and gear. The point is that this type of game rewards management over skill whereas other games reward your skill in completing a task or goal.
I played WoW on a few friends' accounts for maybe a total of a year. During that time, I never got a toon above level 45 (this was when the level cap was 60). Even still, there were plenty of tasks to accomplish dependent on what I felt like doing. Did I want to grind XP? Okay, where should I do that? What about an instance run? I would get loot in addition to XP. With the loot I sell, I could make money to buy items I need for whatever craft I was doing. I only need items x and y to make 10 more of this really high-profit item. Or I could get those by accomplishing quests. Maybe I just want to explore and see what the game has to offer. These were things that I had to struggle with and prioritize based on what I felt like doing that day.
Which brings me to my point about tying these all together. In the working world, proper management of your time becomes an important factor in getting things done right and on time. Is there a link between how successful a person is in WoW and what kind of work they do in real life? Maybe it's not even their work, but how efficient they are able to function in day-to-day tasks.