Games

At first the games one could find on a smartphone were relatively small games to waste time like candy crush and angry birds. Then those games became extremely popular, one even getting a movie. Now you can find in depth rpgs, detailed world builders and tons of unique games as well as the smaller games. Having games on your phone has been possible and common since before the smart phone (snake anyone?) but now it's almost as if smartphones are attempting to be there own gaming console. Thoughts?

Using The Stanley Parable, look into the tropes used and satirized by the Narrator and game designers to give a unique user experience. How did breaking the fourth wall, the illusion of choice, and the use of comedy challenge the notion of traditional gaming narratives?

Pokemon Go! is a revolutionary gaming app that has taken the world by storm. Many say the app is a positive influence on our lazy society; the app gets people outside and active, as well as encourages conversation and interaction between strangers. However, some say the craze is having a negative effect on communities with obsessed Pokemon Goers trespassing on property, getting hit by cars and even causing accidents while playing behind the wheel. Is this app truly a benefit to the gaming world or is it too much of a hindrance on everyone else?

There's great concern about video games influencing today's youth in becoming worse people. My questions are, what are the good games, and how do they teach good behavior and compassion?

So many games lately have been focusing on releasing hoards of extra content after the base game's release. Sometimes, there is the season pass system, which doesn't even offer you access to all of the content that will be released (look at Borderlands and Fall Out for two quick examples), or sometimes, the content just really isn't that impressive and makes you wonder why it wasn't included in the base game (look at the new Lego Games and Batman).

But then there's games like the new The Witcher – where the add-on content adds almost a whole new game onto what has already been released.

Why is there such a huge range in terms of what game development companies are doing? Are some truly just attempts to get more cash out of consumers for their products? Is content like The Witcher's expansions a sign of more dedicated developers? Why are so many games seeming to cost more and more, with less value being added?

On a deeper level than selling an important item or getting the wrong upgrade, what about actions in gameplay that cause regret and or shame in the player? How can developers use this to further the emotional connection between the player and the game? When is it effective and when is it frustrating?

A good example of a game with this theme would be "Spec Ops:The Line", where the horror of the game comes from forcing the player to endure uncompromising and increasingly meaningless combat, difficult and no-win choice scenarios, and the violent shift in tone in the characters.

There has been some controversy about how video game companies will make the players pay extra for content in a game. DLCs (downloadable content) are good because the company can add more to a game after it comes out. Sometimes it is a fair amount of extra content and it's more reasonable to buy it, like in Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC where the player gets a huge bundle of extra features to interact with which results in a lot more game time. In other cases the companies take away parts of the game that were in previous versions and charges the player extra for it, like characters in Super Smash bros. 4. There is also less content to be earned or unlocked in some games because it is turned into DLC.
How is this making an impact on the way games are made?
How is the video game audience reacting?
What companies are using DLCs wrong/right?
What could these companies do to be more fair to the players?
How is the way DLCs are used evolving?

Analyze the diverse spectrum of female characters in video games. First, how exactly do we define femininity? What makes these female characters and their femininity unique? How is their femininity addressed or portrayed? How has femininity in video games evolved over time? Can certain characters fall into more than one "type" of femininity (for example, Lara Croft, who has been both sexualized and emasculated on different occasions and through different games in the series)? It might be helpful for the writer to condense his/her list into a "top five" of female characters that best represent this varying spectrum of femininity in gaming.