Costikyan and " Don't be a Vidiot"

Greg Costikyan published a transcript of a speech he gave at the Games Developers Conference in 1998. This may seem a long time ago for some people but things can still be relative to today’s world of games.  He shows his own opinion about 2D games and how they are the same according to playability and enjoyment to the modern day 3D games, 2D games solely rely on gameplay and usually for 2 or more players which makes the players more involved and sociable too. Whereas most 3D games are focused on people playing on their own and they are also becoming more and more reliant on graphics, for example I was reading a review IGN did about Call of Duty: Black Ops and many people were slating the game because the graphics were “terrible and worse than mw2” these type of comments show that games are becoming less about gaming and more about graphics in some cases.

Costikyan also states that the imaginations of the last 5 years of video games have been constrained as nothing has exploded and opened up a whole new genre or style of gaming. I feel this is the same now as it was back in 1998 when he made the speech as there are multiple brands and series in gaming which release a new game every year with near enough the same content and graphics. Take FIFA series for example every year a new version comes out with the graphics only changing once the console has been upgraded (ps2 to ps3, xbox to xbox 360 etc..) the game play has the same principles too you pass a ball around until you are near the goal and then shoot. Even though there may be some small features each year such as the “Be a goalkeeper” in FIFA 11 nothing majorly different to the game which should warrant a whole new game. Other games are just copies of ones that have been successful in the past, how many first person shooters just like Call of Duty and Battlefield have we seen.

He also says that software is “plastic” and easily moulded to the crafters imagination, which these days seem to be lacking. As well as saying software is “plastic” he goes on to say all genres of gaming have been found and anything released will slot into those “pigeon holes”. Even though the ever advancing software and technical world have made games easier to make the imagination stays the same with no really brand new outstanding games which have defined a whole new genre or reinvented one. Developers and publishers are so keen on sticking with what is seemed to be popular and will sell rather than taking a chance and making something which has never been done before. In my eyes this is a financial reason as the publishers won’t be willing to invest loads of money into a project which may or may not succeed whereas a good looking first person shooter will be guaranteed to sell well.

Costikyan praises 2D games because of the multiple ways in which they are played and with people all gathered around a table all at the same time. The many different types of 2D games include, board games, Card Games (both collectable and normal), Live action roleplay and tabletop games among others. These games have been played by millions of people over and over again, which shows how lasting they can be, just like Warhammer or Pokeomon or Monopoly for example, all totally different types of games but all still popular and exciting for the audience as they can be played on a table in the living room with a few mates physically rather than everyone sitting around a TV screen button bashing.  

He goes on to explain about RuneQuest, Dungeons and Dragons and Magic all very popular games which have been adapted over time. Magic has been adapted into every language basically which shows that a simple card game can be hugely successful and it is even an official sport in China. However never playing Dugeons and Dragons myself I can seem why it has lasted so long and been popular by what Costikyan has said about the 2D games as he goes on to say “the nature of role playing lent itself to more sophisticated gaming styles with real stories in which the character interaction became important” and “this was an appealing gaming style, because by playing a role in a fantasy world, you could experiment with all sorts of personalities and action you’d be hesitant or unwillingly to explore in real life” For me I am not too keen on RPG style games both 2D and 3D but they are very popular as costikyan said they are a good way to make a new personality and get lost away in the game. It can been seen a bit like the internet and online gaming now where people act differently online to what they do in the real world.

Overall I enjoyed reading the article and agreed with the opinions that gaining your whole understanding of games from 3D video games is stupid and as he puts it you will be a “Vidiot” if you do.