Rantings: Video Games and Community Contributions

The Internet! It's changed the world in countless ways. Business is redefined, communities are created, and globalism now is the standard. But enough about that. This blog is about video games after all, so lets focus on that element. But on the subject of video games, the concept started well before the Internet. Just like Dungeons and Dragons and other sub-cultures largely consisting of, let's face it, geeks, video games have formed a community regardless of the difficulty.

In ye olde early days, it was done via correspondents by mail and through the games themselves. Console games had few options on the latter, but arcades were defined by their community access. That was fundamentally the point of high scores, for example. Yes, there was the sense of accomplishment, but it wasn't just that sense that made it appealing. It was the ability to prove oneself to one's peers. Besides, it provides a much more dynamic challenge. Winning against a computer, however, briefly, was limited to the AI and the rules of the game. But the arcade system made both the game itself and the other players your challengers, and the latter only got better with time. There's a reason that this struggle is being made into movies even today.

But I have to admit, the arcade era of the video game community game was lost to me by and large. By the time I got into video games, I was seven or eight at the youngest, and that makes the date 1986-7. By then, arcades were already starting to fade, and those that remained had moved onto the Double Dragon style games, where the game play was longer and had a clear goal. The industry had reached the Nintendo Age, and linear, narrative storytelling was king. My first involvement of the community at large was in magazines like Nintendo Power. Here, community involvement was limited to letters at first, but at least this gave gamers a voice that transcended location and cultural boundaries. The magazine also had a "high score" section, where people could provide evidence of their successes with Nintendo's games. It effectively created a modern version of the arcade high score table. But even by then, the actual numerical high scores were disappearing. Many issues featured high score lists that were nothing but "game completed" messages.

Enough of the past, though! The Internet made the community an actual community in countless ways. For once, instead of competing for who did best against the computer, they could compete against each other in a greater way. But it was here where communities surpassed that limit. Instead of simply responding through playing the game, they also can actually alter and contribute the game through modding. Wolfenstein 3D, doom, and other games of this era let people create maps and missions for the game themselves, often letting them surpass what even the game creators made!

Let us look into the future, though. Now, we have seen the level of contribution increase since this point, from entire campaigns in RPGs like Neverwinter Nights, to full games through programs like the RPG Maker series, to parts of an entire virtual planet like Second Life. But what if they could affect the actual game itself? Imagine a conservative version of this theory where prototypes, betas, and demos for a game are released well before a game comes out, and the testers not only evaluate the game, but actually create new creatures and elements of the game? Or what if the game's engine is released well before the game itself comes out, letting its fans create new content using it?

Another option is through the use of sequels. Many games, especially RPGs, are known for their branching paths and multiple endings. We already know we have ways to submit game play information online directly to the game's creators; see achievements for example. Imagine if the game automatically uploads the first ending achieved to company automatically, and these affect the sequels' plots.

Or let's look at the really crazy possibilities. What if the sequential, narrative game came out at the same time as the game's editors? Thus, when the game comes out, there is a complete story, but as time passes, the creators release constant updates with new enemies, new quests, or even new endings, characters, or levels based entirely on the contributions of other players? Or it could be used in an episodic game, much like the modern Sam and Max series. Imagine that levels 1-5 are released immediately and for, say, half a normal priced game. Levels 6-10, though, are either cheaper and released later or are free, but the modified levels 6-10, with new enemies and other contributions by the players who altered levels 1-5 already, cost extra.

One last idea uses the Intromo concept I used back in the first few weeks. Let's say the first game is a single or limited player narrative game, but a sequel is a MMORPG or similar community based game. In this case, the community not only affects their own experience with the decisions they make and content they create, but that stuff will become the basis for the MMO. Your monsters become the spawn everyone hunts, your hero is the poor immobile dope that assigns quests, and the giant city the players all start in was completely or partially made by your own adventures!

These are just hypotheticals, of course, but they combine two aspects of video gaming today without compromising either. The network age is here, and this fact can't be ignored. But I refuse to believe that all the best games of the last two generations, from Metal Gear Solid to Silent Hill to Resident Evil to Shadow of the Colossus and even Katamari Damacy, were mistakes with nothing to contribute to the future of gaming either. By marrying the two, not only will video game costs potentially decrease, but the interested user base will increase at the same time, and it will be a great way for the industry to recruit new employees without much of the confusion that exists today. This may be only one potential view of the industry's future, but I'm optimistic it could be a successful one. If so, I'll let you know which of my creations is currently busy killing you!