Now probably no one denies that we are in an era of fast food.
What is the faster the better, the more convenient the better, the process is less and less important, the local tycoons said that we only need the result, I charged so much money, why do you have to spend time to collect materials for at least three weeks to become crazy cool and handsome, what do you think?
Veteran players who have experienced the era of playing games and need to take paper and pencil to record the main points at any time are naturally bitter about this degenerate game mode, but the truth is very cruel, the 21st century has begun for more than twenty years, and it is necessary to face reality.
Game manufacturers are the most realistic group - because those who refuse to face reality are almost dead. The reality is that they will please the players in every place where the game is designed (especially the player who is willing to pay for it), as long as ten thousand yuan, he can kneel for you, you spend a hundred thousand yuan, you are his father, if you are willing to pay three million, he will open a separate server for you.
Among the various settings that please players, "automation" can be said to be the most standard setting, such as the "automatic wayfinding" that we are now commonplace. We may already be used to it, after opening the game, we follow the cursor arrow to click the corresponding button, in the case of nothing is clearly understood, the pawn upgrade, the character does not need to control to start running on their own, run to the place where the mission requires monsters to collect dialogue... The whole process, you simply don't know what use you have except clicking the left mouse button.
Occasionally, players will complain: "What does it mean to play like this?" ”
I know a lot of game planners, and most people think this kind of silly setup is boring, but no one dares to cancel this setting: "What if the players are upset?" ”
So things are very strangely caught in the paradox: players think it is not interesting to play this way, and the production staff also think that this way of playing is not interesting, but "playing like this" is still popular, and in the end we still have to fully automate.
To discuss the question of "why is there automation?", a more scratching question comes to mind: "What do players really want to play?" ”
Even the producers of the cattle can not make a game that satisfies everyone, but at least the taste of the public should not be too much offset, otherwise this thing can not be called "volkswagen", the reason why players choose to stay up late and sit in front of the screen and click the mouse is because this thing can bring them some satisfaction, but not to be a fool.
Let's first imagine what would happen if we canceled all kinds of "automation" - that is, back to the game mode of twenty years ago or even earlier, when the novice guide was extremely simple, come up and introduce you to the blabla, immediately send you to the outside of the novice village to level up, you have to press the key yourself to run outside the village, sometimes you have to call up the big map to see where you are, where the mission target is, the monsters in the wild are not vegetarian, you dare to provoke a few more to directly make you back to the city to resurrect, not to mention the hang-up - at that time" Hang up" and "cheat" are synonymous, you have to point out the monsters one by one to cut, the things that burst out have to be picked up in the backpack one by one, and the medicine must honestly press the shortcut key or call up the backpack...
This is not "inconsiderate", in fact, at that time the player felt that this is quite normal, to the destination is to run by themselves, I may be able to buy a bottle of medicine and chat with the little girl on the way for a few days, fighting monsters is to cut ah, I have skills I can also range the attack it! And if it's called "impersonal", the earlier games weren't anti-human?
Players have recalled the tragic experiences of that year on the Internet, such as making a legendary weapon in "Endless Quest", requiring a specific prop, you have to use a month in real time to travel a long distance to another map, and then use at least 20 days to brush it out, and then this thing is not a mission item, you can use it directly if you owe it; for example, in "Ghost City Magic Sword", the key point of hiding the ending is hidden in an insignificant side quest (of course, and its super anti-human labyrinth); for example, "Ghost City Magic Sword" hides the point of hiding the ending in an insignificant side quest (of course, and its super anti-human labyrinth); for example, "Ghost City Magic Sword" hides the point of hiding the ending in an insignificant side quest (of course, and its super anti-human labyrinth); for example, "Ghost City Magic Sword" hides the point of hiding the ending in an insignificant side quest (of course, and its super anti-human labyrinth); for example, "Ghost City Magic Sword" hides the point of hiding the ending in an insignificant side quest (of course, its super anti-human maze); for example, "Ghost City Magic Sword" hides the point of hiding the ending in an insignificant side quest (of course, its super anti-human labyrinth); for example, "Ghost City Magic Sword" Stone Age players traded so that both sides threw things directly to the ground... As for the absolutely impossible story BOSS that jumps out without saying hello, it is simply a standard setting, which game does not engage in such a shot is embarrassed to say that the game has a plot.
In that era when the network is not very developed, and game manufacturers rarely even engage in activities, there are so many players who persist in inhuman games, and it is simply inconceivable to change to this day - how come such a game toss players is not dead?!
Yes, there are countless people who have been stuck, countless people have complained, but for most players of that era, it is a headache to encounter ridiculous cards, but everyone has a strong heart, one day can not get I a week, a week can not get I a month ... ...
And no one will complain about "why this game doesn't even have an automatic pathfinding", and even hang up will be despised and banned.
Compared with today's players, old players seem to be easier to satisfy, easier to explore and enjoy the fun of the game, I remember I have a friend, RO just opened when I caught a girl, the two do not go to fight monster level brush equipment, every day to run to the wild a forest edge to sit, the two Q version of the villain so with a greasy expression chat chat for more than three months.
This kind of thing seems unlikely to happen now.
So where is the gap?
The game's producers seemed to be full of grievances: "We don't like this, most of us also came from that era without automation, don't you know that this is so boring?" But the trend is great! Don't dare not do it! ”
The player is even more aggrieved: "Am I spending time to be a fool who only clicks the left mouse button?" 'Fun' is what we're after, right? ”
Oh, is it the world that is wrong?
Before the world roars, "Shut me up," let's go back and see what things are supposed to be.
In the era without automation, players are still obsessed with finding their own fun, teaming up to cut monsters, guild exchanges, raiding difficulties, exploring secrets... It can be said that the "process" of the game is where the fun lies.
But now, thanks to "automation," all of this has come to naught. When we cut monsters, we can hang up, the guild exchange uses YY, the key points of the difficult strategy can be solved with money, and the hidden elements are eager to shout to the world every time an official knows...
Also play a P ah, this is basically this year's Conan theater version just out of the people shouted "Kurada is the murderer" as bad ah (hey I said it), the original fun is deprived of the original fun is the pursuit of the current players?
Players are certainly not fools, but players are inert. Manufacturers also want to keep the exercise, but manufacturers want to make money. So maybe at the beginning, there was just a little gap.
This may just be a possibility —
There is a player who mutters "it is too inconvenient to find a way", and then is seen by a production staff, intending to solve it.
Then in the next game, the setting of "Auto Wayfinding" appears. Of course, it was not popular at this time, but players who played this game would feel fresh: "Yeah? This is very convenient! ”
Then the players who have suffered a lot of wayfinding gather, and then the manufacturers are happy that each game automatically finds the way, and then there are more players who want to automatically find the way, and then there are more manufacturers to join... Finally, a big snowball rolled out and an unspoken rule was laid out, and no one knew when the rule came about — any game had to automatically find its way.
Everyone automatically finds the way, the original because of the uniqueness of the automatic wayfinding brought by the popularity of nature is naturally gone, so the manufacturer began to do something else automatic, the player can not hold, it is accustomed to this "automation", and then with the automatic pathfinding brought by the same situation, everyone gathered again, consciously or unconsciously turned this matter into a default rule ...
Automatic monster fighting, automatic picking up props, automatically turning in missions... Until the end, the player finds that they have nothing to do but click the left mouse button.
At this time, it has become difficult for them to find other fun in the game, because game manufacturers, after realizing the benefits of "full automation", will naturally abandon what they think is "unimportant", especially what conflicts with automation.
"The plot is just written casually, anyway, they will not watch it seriously until the most level 20."
"Hide monsters don't make it too hard to find, they are all automatically hung up, they have to be placed in a conspicuous place."
"The way to obtain special props must be direct, they don't even bother to brush ordinary props... How about we make paid props? ”
Players give in to their own inertia, and manufacturers force themselves to make concessions.
There were no serious consequences in the early days, so everyone's concessions seemed more and more natural, more and more brisk, like boiling frogs in warm water (although experiments have proved that this matter is not reliable, let's use this example), and when we find that this kind of thing is a little bad, it is already too late.
Now we are used to complaining about boredom while hoping to speed up the meal. Before the implementation of post-brain intubation technology, the game is so much fun, how do we save our cool points?
The picture of the game can be more and more awesome, the music can be more and more beautiful, the operation can be more and more refreshing, but what do we really need, what do we want to get when we play the game?
I think maybe we need some sense of accomplishment and commitment, otherwise why don't we go to the movies? But if we're not willing to accept even the slightest challenge, where does the sense of accomplishment come from? If we didn't care what the game was trying to say, where did the sense of engagement come from?
In fact, this matter can not all blame the player, the same problem can also be thrown to the game manufacturer - but I do not expect the manufacturer to pick up their own exercises, they will use "this is the player needs" as a shield, so as their shield we, if not satisfied with the empty left button, we need to pick up the bricks from the ground and knock on their Celestial Cover very seriously.
With each smash, we have the courage to tell them (and to ourselves): "We want fair games, we want well-designed games, we want to have fun with our eyes and hands – for this we can do without that special automatic pathfinding, don't use this as an excuse!" ”