#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto
There’s something about the phrase “Character creation” in a game’s description that makes our eyes go wild with joy and possibility. I mean, who doesn’t love putting a virtual version of themselves into a game and slaying a dragon or buying a huge house and throwing crazy parties in it?
The evolution of character creation was slow. Of course it started out in those pen and paper games we all love, and when PC gaming and console gaming came around, well there was just nothing stopping us. And it’s not just games where you fight hordes of monsters or save princesses.
I bought Fight Night Champions the other day. Why? Cause I like boxing and I like beating people up, that’s why. Don’t judge me. But I bought it and I was looking through the game modes and found out that you could create a little boxer dude and have him go through a career in boxing, fighting made up boxers and real ones. How could I resist?
So I made digital John Sollitto, seen here:
And off I went. Really the big thing about making a character for me is that level of immersion. It’s letting you do all those things you’ve always wanted to do but never could, to fully escape reality. It’s why people read books, or watch movies, except you’re inside of it and your decisions influence the outcome. It’s your tale.
Sports games do this all the time now and thankfully so because I am crap at some of the games in real life but by god can I catch ANYTHING in Madden or score six hat-tricks in a string of hockey games.
Of course you get people who are like, “Why don’t you go out and ACTUALLY play soccer?” Why don’t I do that? Because I’m terrible at it and I want to play in the FIFA World Cup one day and if I spend $60 I can go there in a second and be amazing and win, as opposed to training my whole life and maybe getting there.
Is it so wrong to live out a dream in digital form? Can’t we just escape reality and turn our volume up on max and watch ourselves score goal after goal in glorious succession to the roar of the crowd? Or what about seeing ourselves climb to the top of a mountain and defeat a dragon?
I literally jumped up and down in my house when I defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Fight Night. The dude is a MONSTER. He had like 7 inches and 20 pounds on me and I KO’d him with a straight crack to the face! IT WAS AWESOME. I mean look at him! He’s crazy looking! He’s like the non-blonde Ivan Drago.
What I’m trying to say is that video games offer us just as much of an escape as other forms of art and literature. Games are glorious and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without the little digital Johns running around in the video game universe saving worlds and winning title matches. They’re fun, what else is there to say?
I think the industry has finally realized that immersing the player in the game creates a level of investment that you honestly can’t replicate. It’s ingenious, it’s incredible, and I applaud game devs.
However, the more this happens the better the immersion has to be because if people feel cheated with a character they’ve created and feel that their level of freedom is cut off, then creating a character can backfire. We’re seeing that now with the Mass Effect debacle.
My favorite is when they tell you that the player has “INFINITE LEVELS OF CUSTOMIZATION” and what they really mean is “You can change the character’s clothes and weapons! And choose their skills! But you have to be the same character because that’s our story.” There’s nothing wrong with this, but there is misleading market speech when you say “character customization.” That phrase comes with so much expectation now that there should be more specificity to diffuse potentially disgruntled customers.
I’m so excited to see what the future of the industry brings, especially with so many cameras and facial technology coming to the front. We’re about to see a lot of our own faces in games, and not just the best recreations we can do. THE FUTURE IS NOW!
#nerdsunite
Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!