作者：Trevor Hinkle , Bitmob

行业中的现代军事射击游戏在过去的十年里已经过度饱和。这是开发商尝试制作玩家熟悉的内容的结果。虽然这个策略值得称道，但这实际上并不总是那么有效。

《使命召唤4：现代战争》、《战地3》以及《荣誉勋章》这类游戏通常采用了写实且血腥的场景，但是这种相关性及共鸣感常常被非真实性、过多的枪击场面和故事情节所覆盖。大多数这类游戏玩起来更像动作大片一样，而不是在认真模仿真人所看到的现实悲惨战斗场面。

电子游戏缺乏真实感是情有可原的（游戏邦注：游戏有趣之处就在这里）。大多数的玩家不想玩写真的现代战争游戏，因为在这种游戏中，他们就不能通过掩体恢复命值，射杀上百个恐怖分子，或者把自己想象成一个坏蛋。

Real-Life-Video-Game(from venturebeat)

虽然从玩法角度来看，游戏的这种不真实本质可以理解，但这却可能破坏它的故事情节。典型的游戏机制，比如恢复命值的能力，同时携带多项不同武器就明显不符合严肃的故事情节。如果交战太“不正经”了，玩家就不会把情节当回事。

上述射击类游戏都在尝试平衡相对不真实但却有趣的玩法，以及严肃故事情节之间的关系，有些游戏则更侧重玩法或是故事情节中的一者。我的看法是，如果开发商并不打算让玩家采用严肃的方式玩游戏，那为什么要让故事严肃化，或者使其与玩家密切相关？

太多游戏在尝试采用关联性，可惜都失败了，因为它们的玩法与其叙事口吻并不一致。除非开发商能够确保游戏所有内容都具有真实感和沉浸性，否则就不应该试图让游戏与玩家具有高度关联性。《瑞奇与叮当》系列，《杰克与达斯特》系列以及《传送门》等游戏则属于那种不会过于严肃而仍能获得成功的典型。

portal-2-robots(from venturebeat)

所有的电子游戏开发商都要敢于冒险！他们应该尝试一些有点风险的挑战，这可能不会迅速带来效益，但却可以打造出基调与主题元素更为一致的产品。虽然此方法可能不会产生许多富有“关联性”的游戏（即引进现代人物、地点和事件等内容的游戏），但却有助于催生出更完整的产品，更重要的是它们很有趣。（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）

Developers undercut historical relevance with unrealistic gameplay

By Trevor Hinkle , Bitmob

The gaming industry has seen a glut of modern military shooters over the past decade. This is because developers have started to try and make games that are relevant to audiences and hopefully hit closer to home. While this strategy is an admirable one, these games aren’t always as effective as they could be.

Games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Battlefield 3, and Medal of Honor often depict realistic and poignant situations, but they suppress their relevance and resonance with unrealistic, over-the-top gunplay and narratives. Most of these games play more like a blockbuster action movie than a serious simulation of the harrowing combat situations that real people face all over the world.

In the context of video games, this lack of realism can easily be justified: The game is more fun that way. Most people don’t want to play a game that accurately depicts modern warfare, because if they do, they cannot regain health by hiding behind cover, mow down hundreds of terrorists, or generally feel like a badass.

But, while the inherently unrealistic nature of these games can be justified from a gameplay standpoint, the narrative will suffer as a result of it. Classic game mechanics such as the ability to regain health and to hold many different weapons inhibits a serious narrative. If an encounter is too “gamey,” a player will not take it as seriously.

All of the aforementioned military shooters make attempts to balance the relatively unrealistic but fun gameplay with serious stories, some with more care than others. In my opinion, if one’s game is not going to be played in a serious way, why make the story serious or relevant to the player?

Too many games are trying to be relevant and failing, because their gameplay does not match the tone of their narrative. Developers should stop trying to make their games relevant unless they can fully commit to making the experience realistic and immersive in all aspects of the game. There is plenty of room in the market for games that don’t take themselves too seriously, like the Ratchet & Clank series, the Jak & Daxter series, and the Portal games, among many others.

To all video game developers: Take a leap of faith! Try something a little risky that may not be an immediate cash-in but will be a unified product in terms of tone and thematic elements. This approach may not lead to many “relevant” games (in the sense that they incorporate modern people, places, or events), but  it will produce games that feel like complete products, and most importantly, are just plain fun.（source:venturebeat）