Games

Many games use various moral choice mechanics to allow players to role play and influence the story and outcomes of a game. Unfortunately in most games this usually boils down to the story having a "good" or "bad" ending as the player makes various red or blue choices (Mass Effect, Infamous, etc) and there is rarely any point in trying to do a mix of each as these games don't have option for playing the middle. (in some cases gameplay abilities and content will be behind 'you must be this good/evil to ride this ride' sorts of walls.)

My thoughts for an article would be in exploring ways that moral choice has been used effectively and innovatively as an aid to storytelling and not become secondary to gameplay mechanics. Games like Iji and Undertale (non obvious moral choice and consequences), Bioshock 2(which has a great example of a developed middlepath), Telltales Walking Dead (no right answer choices).

If you have any other ideas for games you think handle choice well leave them in the notes.

A classic mechanic in many games, namely shooters, is the weapon mechanic of a simple two-weapon slot system where the player has a primary and a secondary weapon. There is, however, a considerable amount of games that allow you to use a variety of weapons that are selected commonly using a weapons wheel or something of the sort. These guns, swords, wrenches and otherwise are found, bought, or looted (depending on the game) within the world, and more are found as the player progresses through the story.

Now, imagine that you are playing through a game such as DOOM or Fallout, and you gather weapon after weapon from story, enemies, and the occasional chest/treasure trove. You gather more and more to your arsenal, and you subconsciously feel yourself getting heavier (is it lag or…?). Eventually, a small but irritatingly itchy question comes up: How could having all of these weapons on me be physically possible?!

Of course, some games balance the system out and even add logic to this philosophical dilemma, such as Borderlands's backpack storage and Fallout's weight system, and because we are talking about the dimension of videogame physics, reasoning can be thrown out the window. This does not, however, mean that there is anything wrong with the system. Gamers everywhere can tell you that they enjoy walking around looking innocent while having a rocket launcher in their pocket (along with an assault rifle, carbine, grappling hook, sniper rifle, smg, samurai blade, mini-gun, baseball bat, bloodscythe, broken whiskey bottle, and a small tactical warhead slingshot). This is just how gamers work.

What do you think about having an infinite (or finite) number of weapons at your disposal? How does this affect the way a game plays and how you play it?

There you are in the front row at a concert for your favorite band. The guitars pierce the air. The drums pound through your chest. You can almost touch the lead singers guitar. And then your door bell rings, shaking you out of the intimate show. Virtual Reality is quite possibly on the verge of becoming the new video game phenomenon. The possibilities with VR are endless. One of the topics being discussed are concert experiences held in VR. There is sure to be many who watch a concert on their VR in the comfort of their own house. But to many, that isn't a concert experience. Will this trend take off with music fans? Will artists agree to stream live shows on a VR?

From legendary classics like Final Fantasy and DragonQuest, to fresh new experiences like Undertale and Indivisible, these worlds are all unique in their own ways, but are all bound by a common trait in their blood; they are all RPG's. This style of gameplay has been around for a long time and is still going on and seeing numerous titles with this kind of gameplay in mind. But what makes these types of games so fascinating an immensely popular? What do you find so intriguing about RPG's and do you have a favorite and if so, why? But to go even beyond, why do RPG's seem to have the most diverse and complex stories, and what about them draws you in?

Discuss the friction between players of Pokemon Go and organizations that ostensibly work to preserve public spaces within cities. How did the two groups mitigate these frictions?

Consider video games, such as the Sly Cooper series, that require a single player to take on the role of multiple characters. What implications do games that force players to utilize different gaming styles and strategies have for encouraging teamwork and collaboration, especially in young players? How do in-game biases towards particular characters, such as Sly, who can do far more than Bentley or Murray, affect the way players think about leaders, followers, and capabilities? It might also be interesting to consider the benefits and detriments to having single players learn this alone, rather than in a multiplayer game that requires more than one real people to collaborate for success.

With the recent release of the acclaimed Civilization VI it would be interesting to look back at long lasting grand strategy series and the value it holds. Each iteration of the series has players building an empire starting at the beginning of human civilization and developing over thousands of years into the Space Age. This allows players to experience concepts such as culture building, technology development, military growth, and handling diplomacy as your empire changes over time. With this article I'd like to explore how the various games handles these concepts and how the choices in game allow the player to learn first hand about history and how our world developed and changed over time. It also would allow insight on how Civ VI handles these themes in particular.

The character creation and storytelling features of video games are often interesting and compelling, but each game — by the very nature of its design and coding — doesn't allow a player always to do exactly what she wants in the game. What is a player to do?