World of Warcraft: The most addictive game of all time?

What is meant by Gaming Addiction?

Most of us wouldn’t consider our gaming antics to be an addiction, however lets have a look at the definition of addiction:

“Physically and mentally dependent on a particular substance, and unable to stop taking it without incurring adverse effects.”

In this sense the euphoria of playing games would be the ‘substance’ that we can become dependent upon. At what point would we become dependent on playing video games?

Professor Mark Griffiths, a Chartered Psychologist and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, has extensively researched addictive behaviour. In his opinion these were the core components of gaming addiction:

1. Salience
   Gaming becomes the most important activity in a person’s life, and dominates their thinking, feelings and behaviour. Even if the person is not gaming, they will be thinking about the next time they can play
2. Mood modification
   This refers to the subjective experiences someone feels through gaming, eg a buzz, a high or a sense of escape
3. Tolerance
   The amount of game-playing has to be increased, for the person to get that mood-modifying ‘buzz’ or ‘high’
4. Withdrawal symptoms
   These can be unpleasant emotions or physical effects, that are experienced by the person when game-play is stopped or reduced e.g. the shakes, moodiness and irritability.
5. Conflict
   This can take place in the form of conflict between the gamer and the people around them, conflicts with their job, school life, social life or other interests, and conflict within themselves
6. Relapse
   The tendency for old game-playing patterns to return after a period of abstinence or control

‘Does Internet and Computer “Addiction” Exist?  Some Case Study Evidence’, CyberPsychology & Behaviour

I think that most people reading this article will have experienced at least a couple of the symptoms described above. Despite how widespread video games have become, video game addiction is still not currently recognised as a psychological disorder in most countries unlike other addictions such as alcoholism or drug addiction.

Why are games so addictive?

It is in the interest of game companies for us to continue playing the games that they create. Many of the popular MMO or MOBA PC games are distributed using the freemium model. This is where the game is given away for free, but the gamers are then encouraged to spend their money on various enhancements to give themselves an advantage within the game. This has proven to be a very successful model that will likely become commonplace on the next-gen consoles.

League of Legends has become a prime example of the Freemium model.

The continued income from purchased items also acts as an incentive for the developers to release incremental updates for their games. On consoles this often comes in the form of Downloadable Content (DLC) which usually includes extra levels/maps.

If we were no longer playing their games then we would have no reason to purchase this additional content. It is for this reason that many developers aim to make their games as sticky as possible to ensure a steady income. Multiplayer games tend to offer the most stickiness through the unpredictability of playing other players. This helps to keep the games fresh and exciting.

Many of these multiplayer games include some form of leveling / experience based system whereby you are encouraged to continue playing the game to unlock additional weapons or other similar benefits.

In the original World of Warcraft the highest level you could reach was level 60. This has been continuously increased with each successive expansion. The latest expansion, Mists of Pandaria raised the maximum to level 90. Moving the goalposts in this way helps to attract the return of those who felt there was nothing more to accomplish within the game and at the same time it sets a new target for everyone to strive for.

What are the Consequences?

For many of us, our gaming addictions don’t cause any harm. We’ll play countless hours of Call of Duty, League of Legends or any other game that takes our fancy and then afterwards continue with our lives. What possible harm could that cause?

Video game addiction in severe cases can be a very serious condition, where people are physically unable to stop themselves from playing; resulting in people neglecting their own welfare and the welfare of their dependents.

In 2010 there was a big media outcry when a three-month-old South Korean girl starved to death. Her parents were repeatedly leaving her alone for twelve-hour stretches, during which they were nurturing a virtual child through a video game known as “Prius Online.” Last year there were reports of two Taiwanese men who both died from cardiac arrest after extensive (23 and 40 hours respectively) gaming sessions.

Can Call of Duty and other similar games really inspire real world violence?

These incidents are exceptionally rare and it is only the most severe cases of gaming addictions that have resulted in deaths such as these. Most of us understand our limits and will therefore never let our gaming addictions spin this far out of control.

However, excessive gaming resulting in physical harm is only one way that our gaming addictions might be affecting us. Our gaming habits could potentially be affecting the way we behave even when we’re not gaming.

In October 2012 a UK Survey (VoucherCodesPro) reported that Fifa 13 had contributed to around 12% of break-ups during the previous month. As with most statistics this will be dependent on several factors and cannot be taken at face value. However, it still suggests that there is a sizeable amount of disquiet being caused by video games.

Violent video games have often been used as a scapegoat when it comes to mass shooting tragedies. However, there is currently no real evidence to suggest that violent video games have a direct connection to mass shootings. In-fact there is as much likelihood that violent films or violent books are to blame for these unacceptable atrocities.

Why should you care?

Ultimately, only you can decide for yourself whether you are addicted to gaming or not. I, personally consider myself to have an addictive personality. Whether playing a game or reading a book I find myself wanting to concentrate solely on that one task until it is complete. This is why I’ve never attempted to play games (such as World of Warcraft) that have a reputation for being very addictive.

If it gets to the point where your gaming exploits result in the neglect of yourself or others around you then it is time to consider making changes to your lifestyle. Try and work out what it is that makes the games you’re playing so addictive and come up with a way to change that. Consider setting yourself a limit on the amount of time you spend gaming or set yourself tasks that you must complete before you allow yourself the reward of a gaming session.

Destiny: The next big addictive game?

Gaming addiction isn’t going away any time soon. If anything, games are becoming even more addictive. Bungie’s recently revealed project titled Destiny promises to offer a “dynamic playing experience” for gamers in a world that will continue to evolve even when you’re not online. By continuing to offer new experiences, Destiny will keep itself fresh and should therefore encourage players to continue exploring within the game.

If you’ve got any thoughts on this article, or any generic comments about gaming addictions, post a comment below.

To answer this fundamental question we first need to consider the stakeholders who have an involvement in eSports. There are the professional players, the amateurs, the spectators, the event organisers, the game developers and possibly most critically the console manufacturers. These stakeholders each have their own priorities when it comes to eSports.

If anything the recent debate on whether Scorestreaks (Call of Duty: Black Ops II) should be included or not, has highlighted these difference of priorities. The game developers were looking to make the game as exciting for the spectators as possible whereas a big number of European eSport players wanted to keep the game as competitive and pure as possible.

Hardware Cost

Most companies running LAN events have their own stock of consoles that they use for the events that they run. The current console generation is the first since eSports arrived on a global scale. This creates a new conundrum for LAN organisers on how to handle the transition to the next-gen consoles.

Based on the existing rumoured pricing of the consoles we would be looking at around £250+ for each console. For a company with a stock of 100 consoles, this would be a very large expenditure. LAN organisers will need to consider other options such as arranging a cut-price deal with Microsoft and Sony or partnerships with the companies that sell consoles. An example of this is the partnership that European Gaming League had with GAME for EGL 8 which included the supply of Xbox 360 Slims and additional screen displays on the Mad Catz EGL 8 Main Stage.

We will likely see some LAN organisers struggling to make the transition to the next-gen, however with the ever increasing growth of eSports many more will appear in their places.

For the players (professional or amateur) this will also be an additional cost. For those of us with full time jobs the cost of a console isn’t likely to set us back very far. However for those still at College or University (the majority of eSports players), a brand new console can be a very costly expenditure. Some players will find themselves waiting until the following Christmas or Birthday.

So what can the event organisers do? Do they switch to the new consoles as soon as they are released or do they wait until the majority of the players have made the switch? In any case it’s likely to create a temporarily fragmented community.

Which Console

The main current-gen console used for eSports (in Europe) is undoubtedly the Xbox 360. Black Ops II showed that the gaming industry is finally starting to take notice of eSports via the introduction of competitive rulesets in its League Play and the much improved features specifically for casters and organisers.

Both Sony and Microsoft will be aware of the following that some PC games (especially League of Legends) have in eSports and they will be looking to capture some of this interest for themselves. What this means is probably functionality built directly into the console’s software for game developers to take advantage of.

If Sony were to release a console geared towards eSports we could potentially see a complete shift in the primary console used at LAN events. At this point we simply can’t assume which next-gen console will be best suited for eSports. Ultimately the decision on which console to use will depend on the players and which games they want to play. Sony have already been involved in eSports for a number of years through their continued sponsorship of MLG, so it is only natural to assume that they will be looking to take their involvement in eSports to the next level.

Likewise Microsoft’s next-gen credentials cannot be discounted. As already mentioned, they are currently – by a large margin – the main console used in eSports and with this we should expect to see brand loyalty from existing players. Microsoft also won’t be sitting on their laurels; they’ll know that they need to continue improving their online services. Given that certain games already offer the ability to stream directly to YouTube and Twitch it would be a natural step for Microsoft (or Sony) to incorporate this into their online services.

It may not necessarily become a choice between platforms. Recent EGL events have featured small PlayStation 3 events on Call of Duty and if there was enough demand for it I’m sure more LAN organisers would be willing to run events on both next-gen platforms (providing they can source the consoles).

Copyright Protection

Some of the recent rumours coming out have been about Sony and Microsoft protecting their consoles from the used games market. The next generation Xbox console will supposedly require an Internet connection for games to function, whereas Sony have patented a technology that will allow them to tie the purchase of a physical disc to a user’s PlayStation Network ID.

Whilst this news will be disappointing and frustrating for most gamers it would actually have a very minimal effect on eSports. Requiring an internet connection won’t cause any issues as this is the already norm at LAN events. Likewise, the vast majority of LAN organisers already require players to bring their own game discs to events.

From the console manufacturer and game developer’s perspective the desire for them to protect their games is understandable. Once a game has been sold the game developers don’t receive any income from subsequent sales. Locking a game to a player’s account would prevent the game from being traded in, therefore forcing everyone to buy brand new copies of the games.

In recent years we have seen an increase in the number of games incorporating online passes. An online pass is a system of restricting online functionality in games through a single-use code in order to discourage the pre-owned purchases of games, whilst allowing the publisher to still make a profit from pre-owned sales.

With the current pre-owned market it makes financial sense for us to play through our games as quickly as possible and then trade them in for a maximum return. If games were locked to individual consoles then this behaviour would be eradicated and game developers would likely see their games being played for longer.

Digital Distribution

During the current console generation, there has been a gradual shift towards digital distribution; and as worrying as it is, we’re likely to see that trend continue during the next-generation. Many retail games currently being offered on the digital stores are being sold close to their recommended retail price (RRP). Due to the lack of physical media there is less pressure on Sony and Microsoft to reduce their pricing.

The more worrying issue is that it could complicate matters when it comes to using a digitally distributed game at LAN. Digital content is tied specifically to the player who bought that content, additionally the consoles at LAN events will need the content downloading prior to the event starting.

Most downloadable games have a file size of several GB’s so attempting to download the content onto every console could easily eat up the venue’s available bandwidth. It’s to be expected that you wouldn’t be able to sign into the same account on each console (at the same time) so the LAN organisers would need to purchase the downloadable content under multiple accounts.

Games

The Call of Duty franchise is expected to continue dominating console eSports for the foreseeable future. Microsoft and Sony will be looking to change this by starting the next-generation strong with highly anticipated sequels to their leading franchises – Halo and Killzone respectively – as launch titles.

The original Killzone and its highly anticipated sequel Killzone 2 were both very popular multiplayer games with large communities on sites such as GameBattles. On the other-hand Killzone 3 was seen as a disappointment throughout the eSport community. From its initial release there was missing functionality that had been in the previous Killzone games such as the ability to create custom games. This is an obvious requirement for eSports titles.

Custom games were patched into the game four months after release but by this point the community had already switched to other games. Sony will need to ensure that they do not repeat themselves with Killzone 4.

Since Halo: Combat Evolved first arrived on the scene the Halo games have been very popular eSports titles, helped largely by the support from Major League Gaming. However in recent years the community has become stagnant with attendance figures at European events steadily dropping.

Many hoped that Halo 4 could inject fresh enthusiasm into the franchise, however with the recent announcement that MLG would be dropping Halo – in favour of Call of Duty: Black Ops II – it seems this hope was (at least in-part) misguided.

Another on-going series that has seen its current-gen games criticised for their online functionality is Battlefield, particularly the Bad Company franchise. From the previous generation, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat has been fondly remembered by many gamers for being an excellent multiplayer game. Unfortunately the current generation Battlefield games did not continue this trend, with them either not including required features such as custom games or these features were rendered unusable by critical issues.

Summary

There are a couple of next-gen rumours that I’ve intentionally not discussed in this article such as the hardware specs. This is because I feel that the two consoles will have very comparable specs and I believe these specs won’t ultimately affect eSports.

Counter-Strike 1.6, one of the largest eSports titles of all time was still enjoying a lot of success – until Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s release – despite the fact that it was originally released in 2003 and now looks awful when compared to the games being released today. This just shows that eSports players are willing to ignore certain weaknesses as long as the competitive gameplay isn’t compromised.

The rumours about the lack of backward compatibility for this current-generation have also been a bone of contention for many players. In console eSports this shouldn’t have much of an impact due to how quickly we switch to newly released games. However it does mean that if the next Call of Duty isn’t released (unlikely) on the next-generation consoles, we would need to hold onto our current consoles for another year.

Many of the rumours that have been discussed in this article may get debunked by Sony and Microsoft in their upcoming console reveals. However, what this article has attempted to do is make you consider just how much of an impact that Sony and Microsoft could have in helping or hindering eSports.

Regardless, eSports will continue to grow exponentially throughout the next generation of consoles just as it has been doing over the last few years. Through this increased exposure we will also start to see larger sponsorships and therefore larger prize funds such as what is enjoyed by the PC scene. We may well finally get to the stage where professional console eSports players can be self-sufficient based entirely on their gaming exploits.

If you’ve got any thoughts on this article, or any generic comments about next-gen eSports, post a comment below.

Discworld

Discworld is primarily known for it’s novels by English author Terry Pratchett. So far there have been thirty nine novels released in the Discworld series. There have been several TV adaptions (with more to come), and more importantly (for this article) it also spawned three adventure video games.

The first (and it’s followup) of the series featured Discworld protagonist Rincewind (voiced by Eric Idle) as it’s title character. He was joined in the game by The Luggage (a large chest that follows him wherever he goes). This worked brilliantly in Discworld as a way of representing your character’s inventory. Most adventure games have characters who have impossibly long pockets (usually an in-joke for the game) .

“Did you catch the number of that Donkey Cart?”

The puzzles at stages in the games can be incredibly difficult to solve and I am not ashamed to admit that I had to look up the solution a few times (well more than a few times but lets keep that between us).

Unlike the other games in this article, the developers of the Discworld games had a source material that they needed to remain truthful to, whilst creating games that were still deeply enjoyable to play. Thankfully Teeny Weeny Games and Perfect 10 Productions managed to strike the balance perfectly, including a wide arrangement of characters from the Discworld Universe whilst making it a fun experience.

Monkey Island

The first Monkey Island game (The Secret of Monkey Island) was released in 1990 and features Guybrush Threepwood, a wannabe pirate as the bumbling protagonist. Whilst the first two games did not feature any voice acting (until the Special Edition releases a few years ago) the original music from the games are still instantly recognizable today.

Whenever a list of the best video games of all time is drafted, the Monkey Island series usually make at least one appearance – and rightly so. The puzzles in this game managed to frustrate you but once you found out the solutions, you would have been kicking yourself for not realizing it sooner.

“You fight like a dairy farmer!”

For those who don’t remember much about these games, the one thing you probably will remember is the insult sword fighting. This involved Guybrush facing off against other pirates whereby one of them would insult the other and their opponent would need to provide the correct counter to this insult. This game mechanism was a mainstay in the Monkey Island series featuring primarily in The Secret of Monkey Island and The Curse of Monkey Island (the first and third games respectively).

“How appropriate, you fight like a cow”

The first two games (created primarily by Ron Gilbert – adventure gaming hero) had a unique sense of humour and often featured in-jokes. The Curse of Monkey Island (CoMI) was the first Monkey Island game that Ron Gilbert didn’t have any involvement with, this led to a change in direction in terms of plot, art etc. CoMI had a cartoon-like graphic style which for me made it the best looking of all the monkey island games. On top of this the game also (and the special edition releases of the original games) featured Dominic Armato as the voice of Guybrush for the first time which helped propel the game to a new level, lending a much needed authenticity to the fantastic humour that the series had already become known for.

in 2009 and 2010 LucasArts released Special Edition versions of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge. The remakes featured highly detailed hand drawn visuals, voice work from the other games’ voice actors, and a hint system designed to assist gamers in solving the troublesome puzzles. For the fans of the original games, the developers also included the ability to switch back to the original visual and audio assets (you could play the entire game in this style) which helped highlight just how much work had been done in creating the game.

Broken Sword

Broken Sword was the only adventure series mentioned in this article to continue releasing games well into the next decade (the noughties). Neither of their latter two games performed spectacularly well in sales but they helped prove that there was still an appetite for adventure games.

In the original Broken Sword game (The Shadows of the Templars) you take control of American George Stobbart who is on vacation in Paris. He then gets embroiled in a mysterious adventure when a suspicious character in a clown costume blows up a cafe right in-front of him. Along the way George teams up with French journalist Nico Collard who acts as a sidekick (and a love interest) throughought the adventure.

Whoa, don’t shoot! I’m innocent! I’m an American!

In the follow-up games Nico becomes a playable character with the player switching between characters at various points throughout the series. The mechanics of the games play like most adventure games whereby you must converse with the other characters within the game and solve elaborate puzzles with the items within your inventory.

After a six year absence Revolution Studios are looking to add a new iteration to the series with the help of some crowd-funding (discussed below) to help fund their latest Broken Sword project: The Serpent’s Curse. It has been announced that the game will be in HD whilst returning to it’s 2D roots with 3D characters being pre-rendered into 2D frames. Serpent’s Curse should be released early next year (Q1 or Q2 2013) on the following platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS and Android.

Current Picture

The landscape of gaming genres has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. Nowadays FPS (first person shooter) and RPG (role playing game) dominate the console market whilst MMO’s (massively multiplayer online) and MOBA’s (multiplayer online battle arena) dominate the PC market. Adventure games today are primarily developed by Indie studios, who are more willing to take a chance on what is commonly seen as riskier projects.

Telltale Games have managed to create their own niche in the video game market by concentrating solely on adventure/puzzle games with the likes of Sam and Max, Tales of Monkey Island and Back to the Future all being received very positively.

Part of the issue today is that many of today’s gamers have never played any of these classic adventure games. Instead they grew up on first person shooters and naturally that is what they have become accustomed to. Most games being released are expected to include a multiplayer aspect and those that don’t are often criticized (unfairly) for that. However it would be interesting to see an adventure game include multiplayer gaming, i.e. co-operative puzzle solving (similar to Portal 2), having to share your inventory with other people etc.

The future of Adventure Games

Other developers are starting to explore other opportunities for funding their adventure gaming projects. In recent months we have seen both Broken Sword and Dizzy appear on the crowd-funding website KickStarter (the latter of which I hoped for in my previous Nostalgia blog post). Whilst the Dizzy project isn’t currently going to plan (only £20,000 pledged out of £350,000 with 19 days to go), the Broken Sword project managed to almost double it’s goal of $400,000 (meaning they’ll be able to create an even better game than originally planned).

Unfortunately the series I would most like to make a proper return (Monkey Island) has been locked away by LucasArts for many years (except for a brief escape thanks to Telltale Games’ Tales of Monkey Island). However recently, LucasArts and their parent company Lucasfilm were acquired by The Walt Disney Company, so I’d like to hope that over the next few years the shackles might be relaxed, allowing  the lovable Guybrush Threepwood to thwart LeChuck once again, whilst sword insulting even more pirates.

One of the first projects on KickStarter which helped validate crowd-funding as a legitimate way to fund games was Double Fine Adventure (a codename at this point) being developed by Double Fine Productions. This will be a point and click adventure game in a similar vein to the other games mentioned in this article. The project raised a phenomenal $3.45 million spread amongst 87,000 backers.

Double Fine Productions was founded by Tim Shafer who worked with Ron Gilbert (as a co-designer) on the first two Monkey Island games and then went on to design the critically acclaimed Grim Fandango. Not much else is known about the project other than the fact that it’s been slated for a Q2 release next year. Another up-coming adventure game (platform rather than point and click) in development by Double Fine is The Cave which is being directed by Tim Shafer’s old Monkey Island collaborator: Ron Gilbert. This game will be released in January and will focus on a selection of three characters (from a total of seven) who will explore a mystical cave.

Hopefully these upcoming adventure games will be well received by the gaming communities, potentially resulting in an adventure gaming revival. Publishers have been far too unwilling to take any chances on adventure games so it would be great to see these games prove that adventure gaming can be a critical success.

I went to PlayExpo in the expectation of meeting the EGL guys that I’ve been speaking with over the last 18 months and to get first hand experience of how their LAN events are managed. I came away with so much more. I met loads of fantastic people over the weekend, I had a great time playing some of the unreleased games being demonstrated and I found myself getting genuinely invested (along with the rest of the crowd) in the matches on the main stage.

For those who don’t know, PlayExpo is a brand new video gaming expo incorporating events catered for four distinct areas of gaming: re.play, now.play, pro.play (EGL 8) and cos.play. This was a smart move by the organisers of the expo as it encouraged the visitors to explore the other parts of the event that they may not have come to see individually.

For example, as I’ve already explained my primary reason for going to PlayExpo was for EGL 8, however I found that I really enjoyed exploring the now.gamer area and playing some of the games that will be released over the coming months.

First Impressions

My only other experience of being at a gaming event / LAN was at XL2 which was over 4 years ago (and was tiny in comparison) so I came to PlayExpo not knowing what to expect. Unfortunately the first impressions weren’t very good. I arrived at the event to find a very long queue of people waiting patiently to get in.

The communication between the queue and the organizers left a lot to be desired. There were people (already registered or volunteers like myself) who were queuing who didn’t know that they were allowed to walk straight in through another door. However I’m sure this issue would be improved upon with any future events at Event City. The unexpected delay of letting people into the event resulted in tournament registrations needing to be postponed for a short while.

However once I had gotten into the event my initial impressions were instantly forgotten. The size and scale of the event took me by complete surprise. I was lucky enough to skip the majority of the queue which meant that I was able to take a long look around whilst the staff were still setting up.

Re.Play

There’s not a lot I can say about the Re.Play area as I didn’t get the chance to explore their area. However being the primary organizers of PlayExpo they had a huge amount of floorspace and with that a very impressive collection of arcade machines, classic video games and consoles ranging from the Dreamcast, to the Sega Mega drives and I believe I even saw a Sinclair Spectrum (I can only hope that Dizzy was playable).

There’s not many events where you can go down memory lane, perusing the games from your childhood. I’m sure this would have been a huge pull for those older gamers. And by having the other parts of the event it also allowed the younger gamers to browse the area and see how games used to play and look 15-20 years ago.

Now.Play

There weren’t a large number of exhibitors but considering this was their first attempt at organising an expo it was a real coup for them to get Microsoft, Nintendo, EA, Konami and 2K Games all providing playable games at the event. If they would have been able to get  Activision demoing Black Ops 2 then it would have been icing on the cake. However it was not to be.

Electronic Arts

EA showed a lot of support for the event by providing no fewer than three playable games – Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and FIFA 13. With Medal of Honor and Need for Speed’s impending release this was a great opportunity for EA to give gamers a chance to try out the games and encourage a few more sales.

EA’s Need for Speed area was by far the most impressive amongst all of the exhibitors. Having not heard much about NFS: MW I assumed it was going to be a simulation racer however it felt like a more mature Burnout (which is by no means a bad thing). If the upcoming gaming season wasn’t so packed then I’d have been heavily tempted to pick up a copy when the game hits the stores next week. If you enjoyed previous Burnout games then I would seriously recommend making the purchase.

Nintendo

Nintendo were showing off their upcoming console, the poorly named Wii U. They were provided with a large area in the middle of the event and made full use of what they were given with plenty of games and staff crammed in. Players were allowed a generous 15 minutes game-time, resulting in very long queues with expected waiting times of well over an hour.

I joined the queue on Sunday afternoon and after a long wait (and a chat with an overly excited Nintendo guy), I was rewarded with a session on the atmospheric looking Zombi U. I’m sure this would be an enjoyable game to play at home, late in the evening, however due to the noise at the event the atmosphere was lost in an instant.

I think this game would have worked better if it was in an enclosed area like EA’s Need for Speed. The controls of the game were rather cumbersome and the use of the controller screen felt forced rather than an extension of the game.

Konami

Konami’s main attraction at PlayExpo was Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Having not seen much of the game since Platinum Games took over development I wasn’t sure how much it would have changed from the original direction. Whilst it played like a typical game from Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Vanquish) it also had the distinct DNA of a Metal Gear game. It was clear that the two companies had been working close together to ensure that the game could still be recognised as belonging to the Metal Gear family.

I couldn’t personally work out the controls but I’m sure like with Bayonetta that once you pick them up, you’ll be able to kick butt in no time. Throughout the weekend Konami were handing out some very cool looking Metal Gear Rising posters and I was lucky enough to get my hands on one (just by asking!). Hopefully we’ll see more free goodies provided by other exhibitors at future PlayExpos.

Halo 4

Microsoft showcasing Halo 4′s multi-player at PlayExpo was a late addition for the event, so as a result it was a low-key affair with a 12 console setup pitching players against one another. From what I saw of the area it looked incredibly popular throughout both days, with several players going straight back into the queue after completing their games.

Meeting Graham Boyd AKA AceyBongos (Social Marketing Manager, Xbox EMEA) was a particular highlight of the event and I look forward to meeting him at many more events in the future. He and the rest of the Microsoft team kept the Halo 4 area running incredibly smooth throughout the whole weekend.

Due to Graham’s increasing interest in the competitive community and a growing relationship with the EGL management they managed to secure the first ever European competitive Halo 4 match which was streamed live on Twitch to thousands of gamers.

Unfortunately I couldn’t stay to watch it live but watching the recording the next day was great as it highlighted how the competitive players approached the game. Competitive gaming has been becoming much more mainstream over the last few years and as a result game developers are now starting to get advice from the competitive gaming communities on how their games should work.

A key example of this is Mike Rufail aka Hastr0 who has been acting as eSports advisor for Treyarch on their upcoming Call of Duty game: Black Ops 2. I didn’t get to meet Mike as he was constantly surrounded by other people throughout the weekend but it is fantastic to see key members of the competitive community becoming involved with the direction that games are taking. This can only be a good thing for the future of competitive gaming.

EGL 8 – Fifa

Leading up to the event I decided to enter the FIFA 13 – 1 vs 1 tournament, partially as a laugh and also to help show support for one of the smaller games at the event. (even though I’m awful at Fifa). I was expecting to play a single game, get absolutely dominated and then move on to the rest of the event. However to ensure that everyone got value for money (£10 entry per player) the organizers decided to put the entrants into groups of five with everyone playing each other twice.

6 hours later and having lost every single game (except for a win by default), I had been well and truly humiliated by much superior players. I was hoping to steal a few points over the course of the day, however every shooting opportunity that came my way ended up being shot into the crowd or against the woodwork.

Even though I was being thrashed I actually really enjoyed myself, it was great watching the other players playing, hearing the banter etc. The SweetPatch.tv (on behalf of EGL) guys running the FIFA 13 tournament (Dave Wittser, Aubs Morrison and Nigel Morrison ) were really easy to get along with and I’m looking forward to meeting all of them at future events. Their website (were they run online tournaments and leagues) has been up and running for over 10 years so it was great to be able to talk to them about how they run it (considering my history with GameBattles and  ConsoleGaming).

EGL 8 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

This tournament was an opportunity for EGL to write the final chapter for competitive Modern Warfare 3 and what an ending it turned out to be. Over 80 teams signed up for the tournament, showing just how popular Call of Duty currently is for the competitive scene. Teams came to the event from all over the world, with several of the top American teams making the journey over.

The last few UK EGL events have been dominated by the US teams, specifically Optic Gaming who had prior to this event won both EGL 5 and EGL 7 and had never lost a match on MW3 at LAN. They went into this event as the early favourites and their early form suggested they would soon be celebrating a hat-trick of EGL victories.

However, in a thrilling (post-midnight) finale, the European team TCM Gaming managed to beat Optic Gaming 6-4, having recovered from a loss against Optic Gaming earlier in the tournament (double elimination). TCM Gaming which consists of Mad Cat, Joshh, Rich and Flux took home the grand prize of £3,600.

The tournament went smoothly throughout the weekend thanks to the hard work from the Call of Duty admins – Nick Mitchell (ex ConsoleGaming staff member) and Alex ‘Razor’ McBride and also the core EGL staff – Dan Kynaston, Joshua Nino, Chris Mellow, Glen Elliott and Mike Bembenek.

Additionally the commentators did a great job on the main stage, keeping the matches exciting (although they switched between commentators a little too often for my liking) for both the gamers at the event and those listening on the stream. Unfortunately, after watching the recordings it seems that the atmosphere from the event couldn’t be heard on the stream which was a shame as the audience were really pumped at times. Hopefully this can be addressed at future events.

EGL 8 – Other Tournaments

As well as the above events EGL 8 also featured team tournaments on Halo: Reach, Gears of War 3 on the Xbox 360 and Modern Warfare 3 on the Playstation 3. I’ve not gone into detail about these tournaments as I didn’t have any time to check these areas out. I’m glad to see that these games are still featuring at EGL and hopefully Halo 4′s release will mean an even bigger area and attendance for Halo at EGL 9.

Summary / Going Forward

The increased footfall of the event (compared to previous EGL events) lead to many more spectators for the EGL matches. As a result they have hopefully created a good first impression of the competitive scene for these gamers and possibly convinced them to come to future EGL events.

From a personal viewpoint I would love to see expo’s continue to feature at EGL events in the future as I believe these events worked extremely well together. However this would be dependant on venue size and cost amongst many other factors. Next year EGL will be making the transition to three day events which should result in less delays for the tournaments and hopefully give them opportunity to run a couple of extra side events such as a Call of Duty FFA.

EGL 9 will take place over the Easter holidays (30th March to 1st April, 2013). I am currently working with EGL to provide the players and teams with something to do between now and then. This will be going live soon. I’m not sure yet if I’ll be going to EGL 9, at least not until a venue gets announced (hopefully not Blackpool).  Though, as my involvement with EGL increases, I will be looking to become more involved with the Call of Duty communities so that I can get to know even more people next time around.

The Good:

• Meeting lots of fantastic people
• The overall organisation of the event – especially the tournaments
• The professionalism of the setup, ranging from the admins to the commentators and to the media/technical team
• The improved attendance
• The expo – especially the Halo 4 area

The Bad:

• Entrance to the event could have been handled better
• Delays in the tournaments – this will be helped by the three day events next year
• The Chip Barms were rubbish – though I could easily overlook this!

The Ugly:

• Mark ‘TheHatchetMan’ Smyth in a tutu dancing for his free Hauppauge PVR
• The cringeness of some of the photos with me in them
• The male bare-chested cos-player

A big congratulations to all the staff involved with the organisation of the event and a thank you to everyone who attended for making it such a great event.

The credit for most of the photographs belong to European Gaming League with the Fifa photograph belonging to Sweetpatch.tv.

In my first couple of blog posts I mentioned that I currently work full time for a website development company called Formability. We have a long history of working with companies in the construction industry (amongst several other industries) primarily for their inspection and auditing needs.

A few years ago we began creating our own products that we could license out to potential customers. We would then provide our customers with ongoing support/development. The first of our products following this model was AuditForm.

Auditform

AuditForm allows companies to conduct audits on their staff or locations to ensure that they are meeting all of their legal requirements. At the start of this year we went live with our first Mobile/Tablet (Android, iOS and BlackBerry PlayBook) Application called AuditForm which concentrates on the completion of the audits. You can log into the demo area of our website by using a username and password of ‘demo’.

We built the Mobile/Tablet Application using Adobe Flash Builder which uses a combination of ActionScript and the open source Flex framework. This allowed for us to create an application that we could deploy to multiple platforms without having to create separate applications for each platform. Please feel free to check out the app on any of the platforms below.

If you would like to find out more about AuditForm please use our Contact Form to get in touch with us.

OnSiteForm

These last few months we have been working very hard on bringing our next product to market. In keeping with our company name and our suite of ‘Form’ software we called this project OnSiteForm.

OnSiteForm is aimed at providing construction companies a place to record and view the inspection/examination history of their assets. The website has recently gone live and we are currently getting companies on board providing feedback on the system.

From the onset we wanted to create a website that took advantage of the latest technologies available to us. This is why we used HTML5 and CSS3 for the design to provide progressive enhancements to the website. We also used media queries so that we could create a responsive website which adapts the layout based on the users’ screen size.

Our user area was built using a PHP Framework called CodeIgniter. CodeIgniter is a Model View Controller (MVC – describes how the project is structured) Framework, this provided a base for us to work from and therefore saving crucial time in development. The public facing section of the website was built using a Content Management System (CMS) called WordPress with the design courtesy of Avenue Design.

We have now begun working on the Mobile/Tablet app for OnSiteForm and expect to see it ready some-time around Christmas. In the meanwhile if you would like to find out more about OnSiteForm please use our Contact Form to get in touch with us.

In this current console generation it is common to have large development teams working non-stop for two or more years to produce the games that you will then spend your evenings or weekends playing. However it didn’t always used to be this way. In-fact the culture that we are now seeing with some mobile games is how console games were originally being developed.

Just over 25 years ago the Oliver Twins were developing game after game whilst working from a bedroom in their parent’s house. They were often working 18 hour days but their enthusiasm for what they were doing and the continual demand for more games kept them going. In 1986 the twins started developing games for a new company called Codemasters who are now one of the longest surviving British developers.

A year later  (1987 – coincidentally the year I was born) the Oliver Twins came up with their idea for Dizzy. The design of the character (an egg) was chosen primarily because they needed a simple character model so that they could rotate it (without distortion) using their graphics package.

For those unfamiliar with the Dizzy games, they were platforming games (excluding the spin-offs), with puzzle solving and plenty of head scratching. Dizzy was one of the first games I played (alongside Postman Pat – I was only a few years old) and it helped kick-start my love for platforming/adventure games.

In games today there are certain features expected such as automatic checkpoints and being able to save your progress manually. However this was not possible in the days of Dizzy. This meant having to play through the games in a single sitting and resulted in deaths much more punishing than they are today.

A standout memory of mine from the Dizzy games is of my sister (who wasn’t much of a gamer) who had managed to get to the end of one of the games only to be told to go back and collect all the cherries. Soon after she met her demise at the hands (or rather wings) of a bat. Suffice to say she didn’t play that game again.

Last year, one of the Dizzy games (Prince of the Yolkfolk) received a facelift which was released on Android and iOS. If this article has piqued your interest then I would heavily recommend getting the game and seeing what you think. The controls can be a little clunky and it definitely runs smoother on tablets rather than phones but it was great being able to play a pretty faithful recreation of the original Prince of the Yolkfolk.

Otherwise there are countless fan tribute games that have been created, so that the original Dizzy’s can still be enjoyed by people today.

The Oliver Twins were incredibly influential in their gaming generation, today’s equivalent of Bleszinki (Gears of War) or Kojima (Metal Gear Solid). Adventure/Puzzle games are starting to make a mini return with the likes of Ron Gilbert and others experimenting with the crowd funding service KickStarter. Let’s hope this is a sign of a resurgence in Adventure gaming.

This is the first of a series of articles where I’ll be exploring the games that had the biggest impact on me since I first started gaming over 20 years ago.

Do you have any fond memories of Dizzy? What were the most influential games that you played? Comment below and let me know!

This post explains the social networks and services that I have come across since starting this website, and what each of them can be used for. It also acts as a shameless plug for my various accounts.

Usual Suspects

Twitter: @RobertJSettle

Twitter first launched in March 2006 and as of 2012 has over 500 million users which is phenomenal for a service that is less than 7 years old. Part of the appeal with Twitter is how the messages (tweets) that you post are limited to 140 characters. This means that what you say has to be straight to the point.

Most businesses now use twitter as a significant part of their marketing portfolios. Earlier this year Twitter brought in a new feature called promoted tweets which are tweets that companies have paid for, to be shown alongside your usual tweets and accounts.

Facebook: Robert Settle

Facebook is the largest social network around today. It has over 900 million active users which is almost an eighth of the entire world population. The website started in 2004 (less than 10 years ago) and has already sparked a film portraying how the site was founded.

Facebook was originally aimed at students from Harvard but soon became a worldwide phenomenon. We use Facebook for conversations, playing games (this has become a huge market) and even for commenting on articles from other websites. Businesses create pages so that they can interact with their fans, providing them with information about their products/services.

Google+: Robert Settle

Google+ compared to the other main social networks is a relative newcomer to the party. Google+ was introduced in  just over 12 months ago and with the backing of Google has already amassed 250 million registered active users.

The service like it’s main competitor (Facebook) allows you to add friends (via it’s circle functionality) and share interesting/funny articles via your posts.

Professional Use

It’s not what you know but who you know.

You might be the most talented individual in your industry but if no-one knows about you then you’re wasting your abilities. Websites like LinkedIn are there as a way of getting your name out there, communicating with others in your industry etc. You can also use these websites to build connections with other company directors potentially leading to work further down the line.

LinkedIn: Robert Settle

LinkedIn allows for users to connect to others that they know through their professional network. Those you have worked with can recommend you, leaving messages for prospective employees to see. LinkedIn can effectively act as your online curriculum vitae (C.V.).

It allows for you to input your employment history, your skills and experiences and pretty much anything else to do with your career. You can join groups aimed at particular industries where you can have conversations with like-minded individuals. LinkedIn has now become an integral part of the job searching/recruitment process.

Zerply: RobertJSettle

Zerply is a relatively small site when compared to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It launched last year (late 2011) and is aimed towards the creative users (designers, writers, photographers etc) who wish to display their work rather than simply list it (like on other social networks).

Like with LinkedIn it allows for other users to endorse (recommend) you based on the tags that you decided for your profile. These tags describe what it is you are and what you do. It will be interesting to see how the Zerply website enhances it’s services as it becomes more popular.

Design & Development

Dribbble: No Account

Dribbble is a website similarly to Zerply, where you can showcase the design work that you have done. It could be sneak previews of websites, UI examples, landing pages etc. As a developer this site isn’t aimed at people like me but for designers it’s a great site to be a part of.

You can get feedback on your latest work or even get inspiration from what other people have posted. Dribbble works off an invite system where you must receive enough invites/endorsements from other designers before you can start sharing the work that you have done. The ability to get instant feedback from other like-minded designs is an invaluable tool to have at your disposal.

Forrst: Rjs37

Forrst like Dribble is another site which works from an invite system.The main difference (for me) between Dribbble and Forrst is that Forrst isn’t solely aimed at designers, it’s also accessible for developers too. You can share snapshots, links, or code samples or you can start a discussion by asking a question.

It is useful to get feedback on what you have been working on, in-case you are making incorrect assumptions about how something works/appears. BTW If you’d like to join, drop me a line on my contact page and I’ll see what I can do.

Other Services

StumbleUpon: Rjs37

I only recently joined StumbleUpon so I have not yet become familiar with the service. However the basic premise of StumbleUpon is that you tell it what topics you are interested in and then it will randomly show you an article from one of these topics with you then stumbling from one article to another.

Klout: RobertJSettle

Klout is a service I came across shortly after signing up to Twitter. At first it seemed to be nothing more than an ego boost, giving you a score for how influential you are. However after spending more time using it and following the scoring it has convinced me that it could be a very useful part of my social networking strategy.

The scoring in Klout is worked off many factors spread across your usual social networks. Essentially though, the more people mention you, re-tweet your tweets or post on your facebook/google wall the higher your score will be. However Klout also shows you which topics you are influential in, this allows you to quickly see whether your social strategy is paying dividends.

Summary

Ultimately this is only a small selection of a ever-growing number of social networks and their services. There are also a large number of applications around that are designed to make it easier and quicker to get your message out. Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Seesmic all allow you to share your posts across multiple social networks at the same time, they also act as a way of managing your social networks in one place.

I am not professing to being a social media expert, I am simply sharing the experiences that I have had since starting on this website less than 2 months ago. Several years ago if a business did not have a website then they were in huge danger of being left behind, a similar situation now applies to social networking.

People are spending more and more time on these social networking websites so it is natural for businesses to want to interact with their consumers through these websites and services. Ignore social networking at your peril, they are here to stay and as such will continue to be a huge part of our lives for the foreseeable future.

I’ll apologise now for anyone who finds the title (or any of the content) of this article offensive. This article is not intended as an attack on women rather as satire, pointing out the contradictions that we make when discussing the portrayal of women in gaming and the violence against women in video games.

Whilst writing my last gaming article about hunting for achievements it was pointed out to me that the two achievements I was highlighting (accidentally) both involved violent acts towards women. This is why I made a small mention (in that article) of the recent rape controversy surrounding the new Tomb Raider game. However I think such a huge talking point deserves an article of it’s own.

Please Note: If you are suffering from or have suffered from domestic violence then the BBC have compiled this support page which provides help, advice and useful contacts.

For those that have not already heard it was revealed at E3 that in the latest Tomb Raider (a 2013 reboot of the gaming franchise) will feature a group of men holding Lara hostage and it was said that ‘those scavengers will attempt to rape her’. This single sentence from an interview has caused a huge backlash from the public and media alike. Crystal Dynamics have since tried to emphasize that there was no intention to use the word rape and that they don’t view the incident as a sexual assault.

If you wish to come to your own conclusions, then you can view the scene that sparked all of this controversy.

Impact of Controversy

I’m interested in exploring what impact this controversy has had on other games and if the backlash was even justified.

Since this controversy, it has been revealed that other games (such as the upcoming God of War game) will now be scaling back the violence against women in their own games. This is a rather worrying trend, the last thing we should want to see is creativity being prevented because of a single incident that didn’t even seem to be justified. If the violence in those games were simply added for shock value then I do agree with it’s removal as the use of shock value isn’t generally well received.

The airport scene on Call of Duty: MW2 is a good example of using shock value poorly, this scene involved pretending to be part of a terrorist team inside an airport whilst shooting innocent civilians. This provoked a huge amount of criticism, though in this case it was justified as there wasn’t anything in the scene that was productive towards the overall story. It was there to grab the headlines and cause controversy which it certainly managed to do. Though the level of backlash resulted in the developers having to provide a warning for the scene and allow for it to be skipped.

This is radically different to the Tomb Raider controversy as the ‘rape’ scene serves as a pivotal point in Lara Croft deciding to fight back for herself and in the process she ends up killing someone for the first time.

Contradictions in Entertainment

In other entertainment mediums such as films or books, there have been many instances over the years of rape being used to further the story or even as the focal point of the story such as The Lovely Bones film (based on the book of the same name). The film even received several nominations for best supporting actor and best actress (the rapist and the victim respectively). In The Lovely Bones the victim is only fourteen years old but this did not create the same level of backlash as the Lara rape incident.

More recently there has been an ongoing discussion of a potential movie based on the novel Fifty Shades of Grey and it’s followup books. This trilogy has been a huge success and has even managed to spark it’s own controversy recently when a Hotel (obviously as a publicity stunt) decided to replace the Gideon Bible with a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey. The majority of the discussion about this potential movie has been about who should play the main characters and not whether the content would be suitable for a film.

If there were discussions about turning The Lovely Bones or Fifty of Shades of Grey (not sure how either of these would work) into video games then that would spark huge controversy. Yet I would have to assume that the game/s would be rated appropriately just as the film have/would be but unfairly we hold video games under a different light than the film and book mediums. Games in recent years have proven that they are capable of being a true story telling medium such as Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain or the fantastic BioShock. However we consider that games are for children and obviously we believe that this sort of content (rape, extreme violence etc) is unsuitable for children.

The ratings board/s would agree with that viewpoint and if they consider a game to be unsuitable for children (due to violence, or sexual content) then they will apply a suitable age rating to the game. These age ratings though are often ignored by parents buying their children the latest call of duty or battlefield, yet these same parents will likely be a large proportion of those making a noise about the tomb raider ‘rape’ scene.

Violence against Women

We hear about violence against women whilst watching the news or reading newspapers on a weekly basis. Books and films continually portray this behaviour as part of their plots, yet when this happens we barely bat an eyelid.

According to a news report on BBC One (from November 2007), there were 85,000 women raped in the UK in the previous year, equating to around 230 cases every day. In that same period the British Crime Survey reported that 1 in 200 women suffered from rape. Interestingly the BBC did an article in the lead-up to England’s Euro 2012 campaign exploring the impact that international football tournaments have on domestic abuse.

The majority of FPS games that we play today – such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Operation Flashpoint amongst many others – all involve battles between two opposing sides in a war. The mass majority of the characters taking part in these battles will be male. Where is the equality in that? I want to be able to shoot men and women equally.

There is a distinct lack of originality in these types of games and personally I would like to see much more variety, more BioShocks, Portals and Red Dead Redemptions. Using women in games shouldn’t be a taboo subject, violence against men and women should be equally accepted, as should treating them both as sexual objects. It goes without saying that Tomb Raider over the years has used it’s sexy female lead to attract male gamers. Likewise though I wouldn’t be surprised if a large number of female gamers picked up games such as Uncharted and the recent Prince of Persia’s because of the handsome male leads.

Likewise whilst speaking to a fellow gamer about equality to women in games he told me about his experiences on Skyrim where his wife must stay home and provides him money/food when he visits her:

Now the bitch sits at home and cooks for me

Obviously the quote that I provided is sexist in itself , but the more worrying trend for me is that this blatant use of stereotypical sexism in the game as far as I know hasn’t itself caused any controversy. If they had taken this further and had your character beat your wife if she did not provide enough money then this would have sparked a huge backlash.

Based on this and many other similar situations it appears that we will overlook sexism in video games as long as it doesn’t involve violence against women. This could be seen as a rather big contradiction.

The violent acts that I described earlier (rape, domestic violence, etc) all happen in real life (towards females and males alike) and are represented time and again in films and books, so why not represent them in games as well? If a video game can handle this content responsibly and maturely then I see no reason why this content shouldn’t be allowed in video games.

Summary

Having rape in video games isn’t going to train the next generation of rapists. If this recent Aurora shooting (at a Dark Knight Rises premiere) has proven anything it’s that people with violent dispositions will perform violent acts regardless of the films that they have watched or the games that they have played.

Ultimately we need to accept that video games are now in a position where they can provide a compelling story and that they should be allowed the freedom to express their story in any way they choose as long as they handle it responsibly and maturely.

Otherwise it means that we are allowing public pressure to drive the design of video games which will result in a compromised level of creativity. Instead of jumping to conclusions based on the words of a single interview we should have given the developers the chance to prove that they handled the subject matter appropriately (on reflection they did).

Would you like to disagree with something I’ve said in my article? Do you have any additional viewpoints? Then please post a comment below!

Just a quick note first about my gaming post over the weekend: That post went down very well so I’ll be looking to do more similar articles over the next few weeks.

In the meantime I’ll be doing short mid-week PHP tutorials rather than more complicated tutorials like the CodeIgniter tutorial I did on Database Migrations.

Traditional If Statement

A normal if else statement checking whether a value exists (good practice to avoid notices) might look something like this:

if (isset($_POST['data']))
{
$data = $_POST['data'];
}
else
{
$data = 'empty';
}


This is a basic assignment example where $data is being set to the post variable or if it’s not set then it’ll set $data to the word ‘empty’.

Shorthand If..Else using Ternary Operators (?:)

That will work fine but it also takes up quite a few lines (especially if you need to do it multiple times) when you can do the exact same thing with much less code.

The format to use when using Ternary Operators is (condition ? true result : false result) – For example:

$data = (isset($_POST['data']) ? $_POST['data'] : 'empty');


This will produce the exact same outcome as the previous code example. If the condition is met then in this case $data will be set to $_POST['data'] otherwise it will be set to the word ‘empty’.

This can also be used in the same way when echoing data:

echo ($foobar == true ? "foo" : "bar");


Or in the middle of an assignment / echo:

echo "Hello ".($username == "Robert" ? "Super " : "Loser ").$username;


Nested Shorthand If

If need-be you can also nest these shorthand statements as well:

$data = (isset($_POST['data']) ? $_POST['data'] : (isset($_GET['data']) ? $_GET['data'] : 'empty') );

Alternative Syntax

There is a slightly different way of doing shorthand if statements which I have included below:

$data = (isset($_POST['data'])) ? $_POST['data'] : ‘empty’;

The difference as you can see is that the if bracket is closed straight after the condition. Both methods will work with nesting so it’s simply down to developer preference. I prefer the first method I provided as I think it would be easier to debug the nestings (as many IDE’s will highlight the bracket pairings).

Summary

So there you have it, there are plenty of ways of using shorthand if else statements to your advantage. It helps reduce the amount of code that you need to write without losing any readability. This only works with singular commands though, so if you need to do more than one command in an if statement then you’re best off sticking to the traditional way of doing it.

Got any other tips you’d like to see me share? Get in Touch and let me know!

I spent the first few weeks of this blog introducing myself and what I’ve been doing since I entered the web industry. And then last week I did my first PHP Tutorial on how to use CodeIgniter’s Database Migrations.

Achievements

Most people who know me online know that I often term myself as a completionist (yes I do have the authority to make words up). This is more commonly known as being an achievement/trophy whore. To boil it down what this means is that I like completing games. I’ll always try to get all the achievements in a game (unless the game is as boring as Fallout 3), I’ll always try and find every last pigeon in GTA and I even went finding all the damn flags in the first Assassins Creed (that was a real pain).

I’m certainly not alone in this way of playing games though, there are sites that are specifically for gamers like me such as Xbox360Achievements. Like minded gamers post up achievement guides, youtube videos, location maps and sometimes organize in-game meet-ups so we can help one another get the more awkward (usually multi-player) achievements.

Why?

But why do some of us put so much effort into collecting what is effectively a meaningless award? Well we can spend up-to £45 buying a brand new game so it’s natural to want a sense of satisfaction from playing that game. It also sometimes helps people explore parts of a game that they might otherwise not have found. Gamers who usually frequent the single player might be tempted into a co-op mode or possibly even the full blown competitive mode.

Or you might pick up a new strategy in a game because of a particular achievement e.g.  Demo 2.0 (bringing a house down with someone in it) in Battlefield Bad Company 2 definitely led to a change in the way I approached Rush games. Plus I loved bringing the house down on players stupidly camping upstairs next to the bomb.

There are also some achievements which have such a sense of accomplishment that you’ll continue to remember them many years later. The standout one that comes to mind for me is the Mile High Club. This was an achievement on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the goal of the achievement was to complete the final mission (Mile High Club) on Veteran difficulty within a minute. This had you fighting your way through several waves of enemies on a plane with no checkpoints.

This for me was probably one of the most frustrating achievements I have ever attempted. It required some skill, a lot of luck and a heck of a lot of patience. But in the end I managed to complete it and it was all the more satisfying because of the effort (during my numerous attempts) that it took.

Achievements are also often designed to keep you playing your games for longer than you originally intend as you might need to do multiple play-throughs to get all of the achievements (multiple endings for example or unlockable difficulty levels). In-fact I normally do at least two play-throughs and sometimes even three as I like to enjoy playing the game as it was designed to be played before concentrating on cleaning up the rest of the achievements.

Ultimately though the developers and also Microsoft, Sony and to a degree Nintendo all want to make their games sticky (keeping your attention) as the more you play a game, the more likely you are to recommend it to someone else. If you enjoy the game enough you might even be convinced to purchase DLC for the game which provides the developer (Sony/Microsoft take a share too) a continual revenue stream.

Strategy

Different developers/publishers employ different strategies with their games. Sometimes achievements aren’t given any real thought at all and are just shoved into the game last minute to make it compliant to Microsoft’s or Sony’s requirements. Other games though can be pretty imaginative with their achievements, such as Henry VIII in Fable 3 awarded for marrying six times and killing two of your spouses or Red Dead Redemption’s Dastardly achievement which involved hogtying a woman to a railway track and watching her die.

I know this might be controversial highlighting two achievements that are both about violence to women (especially considering the recent controversy over the rape in the new Tomb Raider). However these achievements offer us something unique that we don’t get in the games which simply reward you for completing a mission. It can remind us of historical events, or bring back nostalgic memories of films and games from our childhood. And whilst the rape in the new Tomb Raider game will be hard for some to stomach, it is real-life. It’s acceptable in movies so why not games as well? It’s not like raping is part of the game mechanics (only a matter of time until someone decides to do this).

Some developers instead ramp up the difficulty in the games and simply make the achievements incredibly difficult to attain. A great example of this is Namco Bandai’s Dark Souls which I’m sure has left the majority of it’s players pulling their hair out (in a good way of course). And that’s only on the easiest difficulty level! Yet this game received universal critical acclaim with it’s MetaCritic score being a very high 89/100. This just shows that there is a hunger for games that challenge us, games that push us to our limits. The harder something is, the bigger the accomplishment usually feels when we finally manage to do it.

Ultimately though these ‘pointless’ rewards gives us something to aim towards. A goal. The PlayStation 3 game Journey from Thatgamecompany took this idea to the most simplistic level I’ve seen in a game thus far. You start in the middle of a desert with just a mountain in the horizon to guide you. There was no 10 minute introduction video and there were only a couple of on screen prompts right at the start.

You’re just naturally inclined to head towards this ominous mountain. If you don’t then the game gently pushes you back towards the right path. Journey did also include Trophies (Sony’s equivalent of achievements), but for me at least these took a backseat to the actual game. I’ll no doubt go back and try to collect the trophies I didn’t get first time around (majority of them) but the game itself provided the sense of accomplishment that I usually receive by 1k’n a game on the 360.

Summary

Achievements should never drive the design of a game, that would be far too restrictive on the narratives, but I would like to see more developers taking achievements into account from the very start and including more imaginative ones such as the Red Dead Redemption achievement I highlighted above. From a personal viewpoint I’d also like to see less of the standard multiplayer ones. By all means include multiplayer achievements but please don’t make them feel like a chore (2 million kills, 500 wins etc).

PS: For those who are interested, I said the word achievement 28 times (including this instance) in this article.