Realism in Video Games

June 14, 2007 · Filed Under General, Musings, Gaming

I just came across an interesting article in gamewad which tackles the extent of realism in the realm of pixels and imagination.

In the past few years, technology (both hardware and software) have made huge leaps. This allowed game designers and developers to improve the level of graphics and details. Surely you’ve seen major improvements in movement, anatomy and even skin tone details. The testament to this are the 2 consoles, PS3 and Xbox 360 which compete toe-to-toe to exploit every single pixel and bring it to life.

But how many of you have wondered the true extent of realism in video games? How real is “real” and how do we sometimes get annoyed by ironies…

An obvious example is a console game like Resident Evil 4. Sure, you tote a ultra-powerful bazooka and unlimited ammo. You kill zombies by the dozens.

But wait…

It’s a door… and you simply CANNOT blast it or get past it WITHOUT a key. Where’s the realism there? Some might argue that most games are based on linear paths requiring the player to “connect the dots” and finish A before doing B.

To quote gamewad.com

“The inability to cross a boundary that is illogically impassable, just because someone couldn’t come up with a good reason to disallow such a negotiation is frustrating. It is that simple. Gamers don’t play because they long to feel the angst of frustration. Games are meant to flow seamlessly, without distraction or reason to be questioned”

And then there are racing games and other shooters. Before Burnout, dents and scratches were unheard of. Try crashing a Lamborghini Diablo at 200MPH in the real world, bub!

So where’s this all getting to?

“Humans, as observers of the world around us, have these ingrained rules that we have cultivated with life experience. If these rules are broken by a game, thus altering our natural behaviors within that game world, then the focus of attention has been drawn away from what was originally intended, and redirected on the aberration from what we already know to be true.”

Do you condemn a game because of the ironies of realism? Or is it something that most may not care about?

Sound off…

GM T

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Comments

6 Responses to “Realism in Video Games”

aLex on June 14th, 2007 11:56 pm

GM T

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fatman on June 15th, 2007 12:55 am

In many ways, games are like books and movies, there are stories to be told. What if someone slipped out the spoiler of a mystery book or even the latest and last installment of the Harry Potter series, what would you feel?

The door in the game is locked and should stay locked until the precondition of the story is fulfilled otherwise the point of the game falls apart and Half-Life becomes Counter-Strike. One is a movie starring the player, the other is a tournament, akin to basketball, where the player is a team member with specific victory conditions. Either games are great, they just have different points.

All stories and games require a suspension of disbelief in one way or another, so the level of realism is determined by the author of the game or story with the goal of advancing the game or story. A good author weaves the realistic and plausible well enough that suspension of disbelief become easy.
levin3d on June 15th, 2007 9:15 am

i have always had a wary eye on realism in games. surely the technology awes us, and makes us want to see the fad that it brings. but more often than not pushing the technology has taken off the focus on style and immersive, storytelling quality. people now have the mentality that more realism = better game.i for one prefer stylized game art.for mmorpg’s like WoW has left me in awe, but Guildwars have left a bland afterimage in my eyes. GW looked more realistic but WoW looked more alive.

why anyway would one want realism? you see it every waking day of your life, aren’t you tired of reality already? the computer is a versatile medium for exploring things beyond reality, why settle for the mundane?
GM T on June 15th, 2007 12:53 pm

nice points of view. True, suspension of disbelief is required to make fiction come “alive”…

Thanks
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