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Author: Lord_VoxBlackRiver
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Guildwars.gameamp.com
This week’s editorial.
This is some experimental content that I will provide every week to stimulate opinions on the "general gaming aspect" a little bit out of Guild Wars context. I hope to see you interact on these thoughts. Except for this one, each following Editorial of the Week will be posted on saturday evenings, each week. Please use to forum topic to give your opinion by following the link at the bottom ofthe page, not the comments.
Is there a time when what you have is more than what you can do?
As I was perusing through all kind of articles about MMORPGs and after I have seen the graphical achievement implied in Guild Wars I couldn’t help but ask myself: “where is all this going?” We have reached a point in time when we can navigate through immense and gorgeous landscapes with a very minimal amount of latency. Some games recently released even let you establish yourself in a town and start working your in-game character as a shop keeper! I feel I just traveled in time to see the man walking on the Moon in 1969 while wondering what the next leap will be. For space traveling we haven’t done much since; are we slowly walking to a plateau? Are we going to hit a technical wall in the near future?
I sure hope the industry will be able to refine our online experience and I wouldn’t mind seeing, let say, holographic action in which I can interact, right in front of my very eyes. But is it possible or wanted? Does pushing the boundaries that separates the online game from the reality thin out our awareness of being part of the big thing called life? In an era that as seen the emergence of real game-related professions when real people earn real money by playing online games, do we begin to merge reality into fantasy? As gamers, we want more of everything and with reasons. But what is more?
There are no known limits to the human’s creativity and we have seen that with Guild Wars. Does the technology is ready to follow? What lies beyond our crystal clear LCD screen? Do we need more realism? Through interactive mediums such as video games, violence is depicted more accurately than ever. Some games will provide a virtual ocean of blood and guts spilling everywhere and sometimes, gratuitous violence all for the greatest joy of the fans. However, violence and gore are not the point of this article. It is realism that makes all of this possible, enthralling, immersive and our first impulse is always to ask for more.
Realism also brings into light an increasingly present phenomenon: the creation of an online social life. Not anymore do we feel lonely in our gaming worlds. Details like emotes, stunningly well drawn characters along with rich and various game settings drags more players to the parallel world of gaming. We all get closer and show less inhibitions which often lead to abuses. There are no doubts about it, our games are getting us involved in something real while keeping the curtain of anonymity strongly hung between each and every one of us. Is there a way to bring peace to such a world?
Does realism and the technology making it possible will decrease to a crawl? If not, do we need to push it further? What should come first? The means to regulate our behaviors while playing? Or the complete freedom of speech and action which prevails right now? In all aspect we could say that Guild Wars and many other online RPGs managed to reach a very good balance between violence, interaction and fun while creating worlds so gorgeous that we would sometimes wish to live there. Can the industry make our games more real and is it even something that we need to have right now? Or did we just reach the slowdown point? As Aragorn would ask: What say you?
Share your thoughts on the subject using this special Editorial of the Week thread.
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