作者：Vizards 27

这是我在最近几个月真正涉入游戏设计领域之后的感受。

首先，我会表示，自己并不后悔学习了游戏及其相关理论。我一直喜爱游戏，这是无法改变的事实。然而，也有一些情况发生了变化。

the life of a game designer(from rocketowl.com)

以下是充分了解游戏机制、界面设计、故事编写与游戏设计的正面作用：

*我可以在具备简单模式的游戏中轻而易举地战胜他人，而且能够比一般玩家更加快速地了解这款游戏。

*我能够更加深入地探究游戏机制与设计理论。

*我能为游戏的负面评论进行有力辩解，这些评论通常来自那些不了解现状的玩家。

*我更擅长游戏分类，而且能够说服玩家去体验游戏（我已经说服我妈妈体验了一些游戏）。

接下来是令人烦恼的部分，即像游戏设计师那样思考问题所带来的负面作用。或者说这更像是具体化了我在过去几个月历经的变化。

*我不会再局限于单纯地玩游戏。我发现自己总会下意识地去分析游戏进程，思考自己碰到的机制与动态，被一些拖沓的故事情况而弄得昏昏欲睡，并对许多AAA游戏感到厌烦（尤其是射击类游戏）。

*我无法在许多游戏中获得沉浸感。可能是因为我长大了，但我觉得自己并不像一年前那样容易沉浸于游戏体验中。当然，有些游戏（游戏邦注：比如《Terraria》、《天际》以及今年的其它一些作品）仍旧深深地吸引着我，因为它们具备惊人的出色游戏机制。

*我发现，许多自己喜爱的游戏都存在一些瑕疵。甚至是我钟爱的游戏也难免如此。

*我常常发现，自己每天生活的并不快乐。事实确实这样。我常看到许多游戏存在单调的界面、粗糙的机制，以及老式的设计风格等问题。有时，我很想对这些游戏的设计师泄愤。

*我会以新方式接触用户。我会深入思考他们的感受，虽然常常是自我对话。有时，我不能只是讨论自己的感受，只是需要知道同伴的游戏体验和想法，因此我很困扰。

*我会在特定条件下预测用户的下个行动。

*我会以全新角度观察玩家。这听起来有点恐怖，但我确实会更加关注周边人群。通过观察，思考他们正在体验的游戏类型。

*我以游戏视角思考了大量问题。这有点难以解释，只是有时我会停下来思考：“我完全可以将目前的手头事项引入到游戏中！”或者是相反情况，但这比较罕见。

*我体验过太多游戏，以至于游戏变成了我的工作。

*由于我见识了大量游戏，因此我的品味也发生了改变。先前，我是一个硬核MMO玩家，FPS与RPG粉丝，现在，我再也没空体验MMO游戏，也完全失去对射击游戏的热情，甚至没有时间真正体验一个长时的RPG回合。目前，我体验的基本上是容易上手的独立游戏。

*没人理解我所从事的工作。这确实让人抓狂。我热爱游戏，我知道不少人也有相同爱好。但他们并没有看过我所涉略的书籍，便认为可以执行我所从事的事项。而告知实情则有一定困难。因为他们并不知道“制作那些有趣的游戏”背后应付出的艰辛。

除此以外，我认为游戏领域还存在低工资、频繁加班，以及最近烦扰我的人事变动这些弊端。

这是作为游戏设计师的两面性，但我只是列出自己对行业变化的感受。也许这只是一些偏执言语，但上述内容均来自我的切身体会。（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）

What happened to me while studying Game-Design

by Vaizard 27

Alright this is somewhat my personal experience from the last few months since I really got into the matter of game-design.

First I should probably say that I don’t regret learning about games and the theory behind them. I always loved games and nothing has changed about that. But there are a few things that have changed.

So here are the pros of knowing a lot about game-mechanics, interface-design, story-telling, and game-design in general.

I can easily beat people in simple games and understand them faster than the average player.

I can delve even deeper into mechanics and theory crafting (if you like that stuff, I do).

I can easily fend of any criticism towards gaming by people who do not actually know what they are talking about.

I can classify games much better than before and have it much easier to convince people to play (I even got my mother to play some games).

I guess that’s it for the pros.

Now for the… disturbing part. The cons of thinking like a game designer as I experience them. Or more like the more subtle changes I went through in the last months.

I can’t just play a game anymore. I always catch yourself analysing myrself, thinking about the mechanics and dynamics I encounter, yawning at a lame story twist I saw coming, and above all else being bored by many many triple A titles (for me especially shooters).

My level of immersion seems to be limited for many games. Maybe it’s just me growing up, but I feel that I don’t delve as deep into the experience as I did a year ago. Some games of course (for me it were Terraria, Skyrim, and a few others this year) seem to draw me in even deeper than they did before because they have amazingly well crafted mechanics.

I see many flaws in games I like. Even in my favourite ones.

I often find everyday live annoying. I really mean this one as it sounds. Everywhere I look I see stupid interfaces, unpolished mechanics, and old fashioned design. It sometimes makes me want to yell at the designers of those things.

I approach people in new ways. I think deeper about what they feel and think while talking to me. This sometimes is pretty annoying since I can’t just talk about something, but always try to figure out what kind of experience my partner has.

I try to predict what people will do next under given circumstances.

I look at people in a new way. It sounds somewhat creepy, but I actually observe the people around me much more than I did earlier. I observe everybody around me thinking about the experiences they have.

I think about many many things as games. This is somewhat tricky to explain, I just stop sometimes and think: “Hell, what I am doing right now would totally suck in a game!” Or the opposite, but that’s quite rare.

I play so many games that it really turns into work.

Since I see so many games my taste changed. For me, a former hardcore MMO player, a FPS, and a RPG-fan, that meant having no time for MMOs anymore, loosing interest in shooters completely, and having no time for a really long RPG-session. Now I play every indie game I can get my hands on.

Nobody understands what I’m doing. This is pretty annoying. Since I love games and know many people who love them, too. And they basically think they could do what I’m doing without reading the pile of books I read. And convincing them that they can’t is quite a torture. Since they don’t see all the work that is behind “I’d make it more fun!”.

Yeah well, that sums it up I guess. In addition to all this there are the low salaries payed in the industry, frequent crunchtimes, and job-changes that bug me a lot lately…

Take a look at this list if you really want to work in the industry:

Dorklyst: 7 reasons not to work in the video-game industry

Acutally this was supposed to be a pro and con list but I ended up just naming the changes I noticed in my behaviour and thinking. Maybe it’s just paranoia or me seeing ghosts, but I really feel all this is connected to my studies. For the interface part I know it is. As it is for the everyday design fails.

Well this was not really related to the design of games but rather to the changes I went through while doing and, hopefully, getting better at it.

I will try to post again before christmas that will cover some more mechanical stuff, I promise.(source:vizards-game-design-blog)