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阐述当代在线游戏发展趋势及其优劣

发布时间:2012-07-06 15:11:56 Tags:,,,

作者:Corey Moore

早前,如果你想要与好友一起玩游戏你便只需要一台电视,一台游戏主机以及一个额外的控制器。任何在童年时期玩过多人游戏的人都曾与一群好友在《黄金眼》,《马里奥派对》或《Hello Kitty冒险岛》等游戏中经历过一段欢快的时光。但是通常当我们想要玩游戏时却很难找到真正合适的玩伴——可能那时你的兄弟姐妹并不想靠近控制器或者你的朋友们都没有玩游戏的心情,而你也不敢要求父母带你去游乐场(游戏邦注:内设有投角子电子游戏机等)。

halo(from picgifs.com)

halo(from picgifs.com)

而现在,在线游戏便是标准的多人游戏。当你在任何时候(不管是凌晨4点还是上班时间)需要对手一起游戏时你便能够在此找到合适的对手。这时你便无需与同伴共享一个屏幕,无需为了玩《光晕》而召集3个好友一起游戏且纠结到底该玩哪款游戏了。你甚至还可以同时与32个,64个甚至是1千个玩家一起玩游戏。如此看来在线游戏实在是好得多了!

在当今时代中这也不是什么新鲜事物了。多年前当我第一次玩在线游戏时真的是既激动又兴奋。但是当我接触到越多在线游戏时,这种新鲜感也随之淡却下去了。不过可以肯定的是我仍然很喜欢玩这类型游戏,但是我也从中发现了一些问题所在。

实际上在游戏中任何人都不需要为自己的行为负责。在现实生活中如果你刺伤了别人,你不仅会遭到痛打,还会受到社会的谴责并且没有人愿意再与你玩游戏。除此之外,即使你弥补了自己的行为你的名声也会受到重创而难以修复。

而在在线游戏中却并非如此。我们每一天都能够听到一些来自在线游戏的可怕故事:几个10岁大的孩童在高声谈论种族歧视,沉迷于竞争中的人士会在每次杀死对手后幸灾乐祸地大叫,并因你使用某个特定的武器而鄙视你,对手会为了找到你而使用各种骗局,并最终用枪支射爆你的头。

你应该看过无数次类似的场景了吧,但是再次听来还是觉得很真实。

而在此这些行为便不具有任何真实的风险。即使你遭到某个游戏服务器的封杀,你也能够很快找到一个新的服务器并继续你的“古怪行为”;即使你的名字遭到整个网络的排斥,你也可以使用一个新网名而重新开始。除了偶尔出现一个精神病患者找到你并杀死你外,你在这类游戏中当坏蛋并不会产生什么严重后果。只有在某些情况下你的行为有可能会对别人造成不利的影响或引出一连串的愤怒。在其它时候你的行为只会导致其他玩家离开在线世界。

不管是对于你还是敌人来说,在线世界都存在一个非人性元素。在玩家看来所有对手角色背后的玩家并不是活生生的人类,而更像是同一条马路上的其它汽车这类障碍物。虽然游戏中也有语音聊天,好友列表以及视频聊天等功能,但是这却不足以增添游戏中的人性元素。比起在离线游戏中,玩家在网络游戏中更容易朝他人发火,因为他们会觉得自己大声嘶吼的对象并不像是一个有灵魂的真人。不仅如此,玩家还可以在此说出各种恶俗的话——这是我们不可能在现实生活中对别人说的话。

online gaming(from hostiletacticsgaming.com)

online gaming(from hostiletacticsgaming.com)

在线游戏被媒体吹捧为是能够推动社交互动的游戏。但是在我看来却根本不是这样的。就像当我在一个容纳了64名玩家的游戏中四处走动时我仍会觉得莫名的孤独,这种互动远不如与好友一起闲逛。因为在这些游戏中我甚至不会与任何一名玩家交谈,或者在游戏后将与一半的玩家变成陌生人,甚至只能与其中一两名玩家成为朋友。

尽管这种友谊通常都是暂时的,但是老实说你能够做的也只是与这种“朋友”一起玩在线游戏而已。你不可能邀请游戏中的“战友”或Xbox Live中的“队友”一起到酒吧喝酒,吃东西或做其它你常与现实中的好友一起做的事。尽管你的游戏群组中包含了你在现实生活中所认识的人,你们在之前已经以不同的方式认识了彼此并且只是碰巧在此分享共同兴趣罢了。但是如果玩家住在一个人口密集区域并发现彼此住在同一个城镇中那便是例外。也就是比起农村,玩家更容易在纽约找到与自己相近的同伴玩家。

除此之外还有一种新兴游戏类型,即“社交游戏”——包含《FarmVille》和《黑帮战争》等。就拿《黑帮战争》来看吧,这款游戏甚至比一般的在线游戏更加缺少社交互动。游戏理念是玩家尝试着邀请Facebook好友加入自己的帮派而壮大它,并增强自己的打斗实力。而玩家可以通过帮助好友打斗去补偿他们。而这也是游戏中唯一的互动方式。并且除了最初将好友加入帮派的行为外,玩家很难在游戏中感到任何社交互动。实际上游戏设计也鼓励玩家为了提高自己的战斗实力而添加好友。而我之后则需投入大量时间删除了当初只是为了建立黑帮而添加的Facebook好友。

电子游戏已经深入人心并将继续大放异彩。我敢肯定我的孩子,甚至是我的孙子也将享受到像《超级玛丽兄弟》这类游戏的乐趣。当我老后再次打开《塞尔达传说: 众神的三角力量》,我仍旧能够在此感受到初见时的惊艳。只要游戏玩法还存,我们的子孙定也能够感受到这些游戏的魅力。

为了玩在线游戏我们首先需要一台服务器(根据不同游戏而定,有时候需要若干台)。不管是主机游戏还是PC游戏,在线游戏总是难以维持长时间的运行。也就是在发行一段时间后开发者最终都会终止在线游戏业务,切断对在线游戏的支持。而现在随着越来越多游戏依赖于在线多人模式,游戏也不再能以早前的模式呈现出来了。而MMO或其它游戏连网趋势的发展,常让传统游戏玩法消失殆尽,使其沦为无用的磁盘或占用Steam的空间。即使是在基于第三方服务器的游戏中,玩家最终也会失去兴趣,而服务器浏览器则将显示“未找到服务器”这种空白信息。

当然,在线游戏也拥有其正面特性。一方面它让PC上的多人游戏能够以更多不同的类型呈现出来。尽管连线游戏一直都存在着且非常有趣,但是它的设置却是一大局限因素。你不仅需要拥有自己的电脑,同时还需要一些以太网电缆,并想办法连接所有电脑,找到足够放置电脑的空间等。这并不像打开主机,扔给同伴一个控制器,席坐开始玩游戏那样简单。

另一方面,你可以在此遇见各种类型的玩家并与之相对抗。在现实生活中,多人游戏总是局限于同个区域中的某些人中,也就是你所面对的敌人和盟友都是生活中所认识的人。而在在线游戏中我们便能够遇到各种具有不同策略的人,从而让整个游戏变得更加有趣。即使是离线游戏,互联网也使得玩家能够更好地了解自己所玩的游戏。

在线游戏已经扎根于此,并且它也具有无限巨大的潜力和开发空间。我认为开发者不应该完全无忽视地多人游戏的存在。虽然这两种游戏提供的是两种完全不同的积极体验,但是如果我旁边有好友在的话我便知道改选哪款游戏了。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Modern Gaming Trends: Online Gaming

by Corey Moore

Once upon a time, if you wanted to play a game with a friend, all you needed was a TV, a game console and an extra controller. Anyone who has played multiplayer games frequently in their youth can remember some fond memories of getting together with a group of friends for a rousing round of Goldeneye, Mario Party, or Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Though in some cases, finding someone to play with when you were in the mood wasn’t as easy. Perhaps your siblings are averse to going near anything resembling a controller, or all your friends just aren’t in the mood.  Either that, or you couldn’t talk your parents into taking you to the arcade.

Fast forward to now, online gaming is the standard for multiplayer games. If you want an opponent at anytime of the day, you can get one, whether it’s at 4:00 in the morning or during standard work hours. No more having to share the screen with your screen-looking buddies, no more having to call up your friends for a 4 player game of Halo and no more arguing over which game to play. Heck, you can even player with 32, 64 or even 1000 other people. Yeah, online gaming is so awesome.

It’s certainly not a new thing in this day and age. Many years ago, I was excited to play a game online for the first time, which was Counter-Strike- for me. However, the more I played it and the more other games I’ve played online, the more the magic wore off for me. I still enjoy it, to be sure, but I still see several problems with it.

One is the fact that there is no responsibility for anyone to control his or her behavior. In real life, if you acted like a gigantic prick, consequences would include getting beaten up, being socially ostracized and suddenly finding yourself without anyone to game with. Plus, the reputation follows you around and can be hard to shake off even if you clean up your act.

Not so online. Everyday, I hear the horror stories of online gaming: some 10 year old spouting off racial slurs in a high pitched voice, the over-competitive jerk who yells after every death, gloats after every kill and calls you cheap for using certain weapons, and of course, the guy who uses cheats in order to track you down across and spins around shooting a pistol, getting headshots with each gunshot.

Seen it a million times, but it still rings true.

There’s no real risk to this kind of behavior either. Even if you are kicked or banned from the server, you can always find another one and continue your antics there. Even if your name is ostracized from every corner of the Internet, you can just get a new screename and start over. Aside from the occasional psycho who actually does find out where you live and kills you, there is no significant consequence to being a jerk online. In some cases, it can also bring out the worst in other people as well and start a chain reaction of flames and anger.  In others, it can turn people off from playing online altogether.

Online gaming also has a dehumanizing factor to it, both for you and your opponents. Rather than a living, breathing person behind the avatars of other players, it merely feels like they are obstacles, much like other cars on the road. Sure, there is voice chat, friend lists and sometimes even video chat, but none of those things really add any human element to the game. It makes it that much easier to get angry at someone in an online game than in an offline game, since the person you’re yelling at feels like less of a person. Not only that, but you can even end up saying horrible things that, chances are, you wouldn’t ever say to someone in real life.

Online games are often touted outlets that encourage and create social interactions. However, in my opinion, they are anything but that. I could be playing in a 64 player game with many avatars walking around, yet still feel more alone than when I’m hanging out with a friend. Chances are, among those players, I won’t even talk to or see half of them ever again and maybe only one or two players I might actually become friends with.

Even those friendships are mostly temporary, since, in all honesty, all you can really do with them is play online games.  You can’t invite your clanmates or Xbox Live party out to a bar for a round of drinks or grab a bite to eat with them, or anything else you would normally do with a group of friends. Even if your gaming group consists of people you know from real life, you’ve already met the person through another way and just happened to share a common interest. The exception to this would be if the gamers lived in a more heavily populated area and discovered that they live in the same town. You’d be much more likely to find a fellow gamer nearby if you lived in New York than if you lived in an extremely rural part of the country.

There is also an emerging category of games known as “social games”, including Farmville and Mafia Wars. In the case of Mafia Wars, it does even less than normal online games to encourage social interaction. The idea of the game is that you try to recruit your Facebook friends into your Mafia in order to make it stronger and give you a better chance in fights. You can also return the favor by helping out your friends as well. However, this is about the only way you interact with other players. There is no real sense of social interaction between players, other than initially adding them to your Mafia, so you could just friend a bunch of random people who play Mafia Wars in order to build up your Mafia. In fact, the game’s design encourages it if you want any chance at all in a fight. I spent a good solid hour removing all the friends from my Facebook friend list whom I only accepted to build my Mafia.

Video games have been around long enough to have a good amount of history. I’m willing to bet that my children, and quite possibly my grandchildren will still be able to play and enjoy Super Mario Bros. Heck, I’ll probably end up booting up Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past as an old man and it will be as awesome then as it was when I first got it. As long as a method of playing it exists, these games can be enjoyed by future generations to come.

Nothing’s worse than a game you can’t play anymore.

In order to play online games, one needs a server (or several, depending upon the title). On many console titles, and some PC titles, support for online games doesn’t last forever. After a period of time, the developer will eventually pull the plug, effectively ending any online support. With more and more games relying on online multiplayer these days, this will mean that games will become smaller fractions of their former selves, unable to be enjoyed the way it was meant to. With MMOs or any other game where all of the gameplay is online-based, this usually makes the game lost forever, and instead provides either an unusable disc or takes up space on Steam. Even on games with third party servers, players in most cases will eventually lose interest and the server browser will show a barren “no servers found” message.

Of course, online gaming does have its positive qualities as well. For one, it makes multiplayer on the PC much more viable for multiple genres. Although LAN gaming does exist and is a lot of fun, the setup for one makes it impractical for a regular basis. You not only have to provide your own computer, but also several Ethernet cables, a method to link the computers all together, a place for the computers to sit and plenty of room. Not quite as easy as turning on the console, throwing a controller to your pal and sitting down.

Another is the number of types of people you can meet and play against. In real life, your multiplayer gaming was generally limited to the people in your area that are into the same games you are. The range of opponents and allies you had depended upon the amount of people that lived near you. With online gaming, you would be able to meet different kinds of players with different strategies, allowing you to become even better.  Even with offline games, the Internet has allowed players to learn more about the games they play.

Online gaming is here to stay. There is plenty of room for it to evolve and much more potential for it in the future. That said, I believe that developers shouldn’t completely ignore local multiplayer. Both kinds of games provide different experiences which are both positive. However, when I have friends over, I know what kind of games I’d rather have.(source:GAMASUTRA)


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