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为什么人们如此讨厌《暗黑破坏神3》

发布时间:2015-03-24 09:32:33 Tags:,,,,

作者:Cynthia Zhang

在过去20年时间里因为发行了《魔兽争霸》,《暗黑破坏神》以及《星际争霸》等一些非常成功的游戏,暴雪成为了世界上最有名的游戏公司之一。不幸的是,他们在2012年发行的一款游戏遭到了大量的指责,并因此破坏了该公司的名誉,这款游戏便是《暗黑破坏神3》。在很长一段时间里,该公司官网任何新发表的内容下的大多数评论都是对于这款游戏的谴责。因为玩家对《暗黑破坏神3》实在太失望了,所以他们的评论几乎不包含任何称赞内容;甚至是一些较中立的评论也显现出了某种不满的元素。那么问题是:为什么《暗黑破坏神3》会成为如此让人讨厌的游戏呢?当然了,这款游戏本身就具有许多问题:战利品太随机化,不同类别太混乱,到处存在各种漏洞。然而,大多数这些问题也出现在了其它受欢迎的游戏中。如Neople的《地下城与勇士》,即每次当出现一个新类别时,它便会变得最强大且最有效能,但在之后会逐渐削弱。在Bethesda的《上古卷轴:天际》中,比起可能修复的内容存在着更多小故障,但即使如此人们还是很喜欢这款游戏。因此我不相信人们讨厌《暗黑破坏神3》只是因为一些不重要的问题,因为这些都是很好修改的。《暗黑破坏神3》的潜在问题应该是其MDA设计:暴雪未能明确其目标用户从而未能有效地设计出适合这些玩家的游戏。换句话说,暴雪为目标玩家创造了不适合的美学体验,从而导致《暗黑破坏神3》的机制和动态设计出现问题。

diablo3(from gamecareerguide)

diablo3(from gamecareerguide)

法国社会学家Roger Caillois将游戏分成4种类型:Agon(竞争),Alea(机会),Mimicry(假装),Ilinx(眩晕)。与任何角色扮演游戏一样,《暗黑破坏神3》非常符合Mimicry类别,即创造了一个想象世界让人们能够在这里“变成一个虚假角色”。不幸的是在其最初发行时却漏掉了Agon元素。通常情况下在线游戏都比单人游戏包含更多竞争元素,因为它能够将更多玩家聚集在一个世界中并让玩家相互交流,从而推动玩家投入更多时间去打败别人并对游戏感兴趣。然而在2012年,游戏的唯一竞争元素只有成就系统,它对技能的需求并不大,并且只要玩家愿意投入时间便有可能赢得竞争。就像英国游戏研究者Richard Bartle在其论文(将玩家分为成就者,探索者,社交者和杀手)中解释的那样,成就者以其在游戏等级中的地位以及自己花费较短时间便到达这一地位为傲。”换句话说,如果每个人都能够获得成就,成就者便会因为不能感受到自己的优越性而失去对游戏的兴趣—-这便是《暗黑破坏神3》中所具有的问题。

《暗黑破坏神3》在发行后便遭到了许多批评。有一个评论引起了我的特别关注,它也解释了为什么社交者和杀手会讨厌这款游戏。评论说道:

暴雪并不是一家优秀的MMORPG游戏公司。他们的大多数游戏都属于策略游戏或离线有戏。该公司唯一创造出的一款MMORPG便是《魔兽世界》,除此之外他们再无其它设计或开发在线游戏的经验。甚至在《魔兽世界》中,他们的成功只是因为这是在玩家对这类型游戏需求还不如现在强烈的情况下。所以他们是侥幸获得成功的。我并不能理解为何暴雪不只是复制他们在《魔兽世界》中使用过的模式。这将使这款游戏变得更像一款MMORPG。

尽管我并不同意这一评论中的大多数要点,例如一款优秀游戏并不是因为侥幸或复制,但是它也指出了一个重要内容:《暗黑破坏神3》是一款糟糕的MMORPG游戏,甚至是在今天的市场上。实际上,我非常怀疑该开发商到底是不是真的想要创造一款MMORPG。《暗黑破坏神3》中缺少太多杀手或社交者喜欢这类型游戏的功能。他们习惯于不在游戏中设置PVP系统,所以玩家不能在游戏中杀死其他玩家。尽管Brawling系统让玩家能够以群组的方式挑战其他玩家,但这对于杀手型玩家来说一点意义都没有。如果我是杀手型玩家,我是不会在杀死想要杀死的人之前帮助他们的。尽管Brawling系统允许玩家在游戏中进行PVP,但它同时也限制了杀手型玩家去创造各种危难,而这正是这类型玩家的乐趣来源。关于社交者,唯一的两种社交方法便是加入聊天渠道或在游戏中加入一个群组游戏。但是这两种方法都不能让他们与陌生人在线建立持久的友谊,所以这款游戏也难以吸引社交者的注意。

还有其它关于游戏模式的问题影响着这款游戏去吸引其目标群体。游戏学家和叙述学家之间关于游戏是该作为互动娱乐媒体还是叙述媒体这一文章体展开了许多争论。但在这里没有一种争论是我所关心的;相反的,我认为《暗黑破坏神3》在这两方面的表现都很糟糕。对那些喜欢将游戏当成互动娱乐的玩家来说(游戏邦注:他们喜欢与游戏世界展开互动),他们当然会因为游戏中呈现出较少的选择而失望。贯穿游戏,玩家并不能获得自己想要的足够选择,不管他们是否相信谁或是否需要杀死谁。他们所拥有的唯一选择便是如何杀死怪物以及何时退出游戏。此外,游戏的线性故事(玩家必须无任何变化地经历四次游戏)很容易让玩家疲惫并受挫。例如在Act3中,Leat因为母亲Adria背叛了玩家和Tyrael而变成了暗黑破坏神。这是玩家第一次经历这个故事,他们会为这个陪伴着他们很长时间的女孩感到难过或对Adria的叛变感到生气。然而,当他们经历同样的事件第二次,第三次或第四次时,他们便会对这个世界感到无语,因为他们的所有努力都不可能改变结果。不管玩家多迅速地清除了地牢或重新获得黑色灵魂之石,Leat都会死掉。因为自己的努力不能对游戏世界产生任何影响从而让很多玩家感到抓狂,特别是对于那些喜欢与游戏世界互动的玩家来说。

经过证明,多次经历同样的故事线模式是一种有问题的叙述媒体。其影响就像连续四次阅读一本糟糕的书籍一样。然而,《暗黑破坏神3》是因为多种原因才未能得到叙述家的认可。电影艺术专家Henry Jenkins曾经将游戏内部叙述描述成4种类型:能够唤醒回忆的空间,发生的故事,嵌入式叙述以及意外出现的叙述。在《暗黑破坏神3》中,其能够唤醒回忆的空间指的是整个环境设计,即提供给玩家一种黑暗和绝望感。然而也有人说《暗黑破坏神3》中的环境太过鲜艳,这与其主题自相矛盾。发生的故事是以《暗黑破坏神3》的整体任务系统呈现出来。玩家将接到一个任务(冲突),在朝着成功前行的路上杀死怪物,遭遇一些厉害的怪物,并与最后boss相见(高潮),然后可能遭遇死亡(悲剧)或成功(结局)。在这里,问题再一次源于玩家对于故事的影响不足,因为即使玩家成功杀死了boss,故事也会因为Leah的思维被归为悲剧,如此玩家的存在也就失去了意义。嵌入式叙述是指主要的故事线(过场动画)和随机出现的事件。再一次的,游戏设计本身并不存在本质问题,但多次经历这些故事会让玩家感到受挫与无聊。《暗黑破坏神3》的最大失败在于叙述媒体缺少了意外出现的叙述内容。因为所有的一切都是既定的,因为缺少玩家互动,所以游戏中肯定不会出现意外的叙述内容。因此《暗黑破坏神3》是不可能得到叙述家们的认可或吸引那些喜欢游戏叙述功能的玩家的注意。

《暗黑破坏神3》的最后一个败笔在于其复杂的设计,即未能让玩家处于一种流状态中。当处于流区域时,玩家本应“完全专注于一个活动中,并拥有高度乐趣和成就感,”但为了确保玩家处于该区域,“该活动就必须平衡活动的内部挑战以及玩家处理并克服挑战的能力。”而《暗黑破坏神3》的复杂设计便未能有效做到这点。游戏的难度级别就像一个指数函数,即Normal和Nightmare处于y轴最左边,而Hell是关于-1和+1之间的数值,Inferno则非常难。结果便是,在前两个关卡中,玩家便很容易感到无聊且对游戏失去兴趣。如果他们成功留在游戏中,他们便会发现Hell只适合他们进入流区域中。最终当他们进入Inferno时,他们会发现游戏太难而不能前进,从而最终放弃游戏。

幸运的是,并非《暗黑破坏神3》的所有最初问题都是无益的;开发者和设计师似乎从自己的错误中吸取了教训并在之后的发行中做出了修改。根据我的理解,设计师将成就者和探索者选为游戏的目标用户,并将游戏变得更像一款主机游戏去呈现多人游戏模式而不是MMO。Paragon 2.0创造了无穷的机遇能够完善角色,而最新的阶梯模式也让成就者能够更好地与其他玩家比较谁的角色能够更快到达最高级别以及他们拥有多出色的技能。该团队同时还将Act V和奖金模式带进游戏中,从而创造出更多关于新地图的探索以及重玩价值。暴雪并未真正忽视社交者们。其Clan系统便提供给玩家与带有相同兴趣的人创造长久友谊的机会。此外,像Loot 2.0以及全新的难度设计等完善也让玩家能够因为自己的努力得到奖励并留在流区域中。也就是在最初发行以后《暗黑破坏神3》得到了很大的改进,而这主要是因为其团队最终意识到了目标玩家是谁并且能够为这些玩家创造特定的美学体验。不管之后《暗黑破坏神3》是否会成为一款广受欢迎的游戏,现在的它的确比过去拥有更多待发展的潜能。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Diablo III: Why So Many People Hated It

Cynthia Zhang

Having published some of its most successful franchises including Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft in the last two decades, Blizzard has become one of the most famous game companies in the world. Unfortunately, a game published in 2012, widely criticized shortly after its release, has damaged its reputation: Diablo III. For a long period of time, most comments under new posts on the official sites were criticism towards the game. Players appeared so disappointed by Diablo III that their comments contained absolutely no compliment; even the moderate ones showed some degree of dissatisfaction. Then, the question is: what makes Diablo III such a hated game? Certainly, there were many problems with the game itself: the loots were too randomized, different classes were unbalanced, and there were numerous bugs here and there. Nonetheless, most of these problems exist in many other popular games. In Dungeon and Fighter by Neople, for instance, whenever a new class was introduced, it became the strongest and the most efficient, and would be significantly weakened in later patches. In Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, more glitches existed than possible fixes, but people still loved Skyrim. Therefore, I cannot convince myself that people hated Diablo III just because of the non-essential problems with it, which could be easily fixed. The underlying problem with Diablo III should lie in its problematic MDA design (Hunicke, LeBlanc, & Zubek): Blizzard failed to identify its target consumers and thus could not design the game accordingly to suit these players. In another word, Blizzard assumed a wrong aesthetic experience that they should create for their target players, which lead to a problematic design of Diablo III’s mechanic and dynamic.

French sociologist Roger Caillois, divided games into four non-exclusive types: Agon, or competition; Alea, or chance; Mimicry, or make-believe; and Ilinx, or vertigo (Caillois, 2006, pp. 131-140). Just like any role-playing game, Diablo III very well satisfied the Mimicry category, creating an imaginary world in which one could “[become] an illusory character” (Caillois, 2006, p. 135). Unfortunately, the Agon factor was mostly missing in the initial release. Online games, in general, contain a lot more competition among players than do single-player games, due to its ability to bring so many players together in one world and to allow the players interact (compete) with each other, which can provoke players to devote more time to beat others and to stay interested in the game. However, back in 2012, the only competitive element of the game was the achievement system, which required not much skills and could more or less be done with devotion of time. As British game researcher Richard Bartle explained in his paper which categorized players into achiever, explorer, socializer, and killer, “achievers are proud of their formal status in the game’s built-in level hierarchy, and how short a time they took to reach it” (Bartle, 2006, p. 762). In another word, if everyone can get the achievements, achievers naturally lose their interest in the game because they cannot feel their superiority over other players – exactly what happened in Diablo III.

I mentioned before that there were a lot of criticism towards Diablo III after its release. There was one comment that especially caught my attention and it somewhat explains why socializers and killers might hate the game. It said:

Blizzard really isn’t a good MMORPG game company. Most of its games are strategy games or offline games. The only MMORPG the company has ever made is World of Warcraft, and it had no other experience in designing or developing online games. Even in the case of WOW, it’s successful probably just because it was released many years ago when players weren’t as demanding on this type of games as now. It was just lucky to make it successful. I don’t really understand why Blizzard didn’t just copy the model they used for WOW. That would make the game much more like an MMORPG game. [1]

While I do not agree with most of the points in this comment, for example a good game doesn’t result from luck or copycat, it has pointed out a very truthful point: Diablo III is a terrible MMORPG game, even today. In fact, I actually doubted whether the developers intended for it to be an MMORPG at all. There were just too many features lacking in Diablo III for killers or socializers to enjoy the game. There used to have no PVP system, so in general players couldn’t kill other players. Although a Brawling system that allowed players to challenge other players in the group was introduced shortly, it made no sense for a killer player. If I were a killer type player (which I’m not), I wouldn’t bother befriending the people I wanted to upset or kill before I kill them. While the Brawling system enabled PVP in Diablo III, it also greatly limited killers to produce massive amount of distress, which is the true enjoyment of killer players (Bartle, 2006, p. 759). As for socializers, the only two socializing methods were to join the chat channels and to play through the game as a group. Neither one was a good way to establish lasting friendship with strangers online, and thus failed to attract socializers.

Other problems also existed with the play mode of the game that affected the game’s attraction to almost the entire player population. There has been a lot of debates between ludologists and narratologists over whether games serve as interactive entertainment or narrative media. None of those debates is my concern here; instead, my point is, Diablo III did a terrible job at both. For players who enjoy games as interactive entertainment, who love to interact with the world, they were surely disappointed by the few choices they were given in the game. Throughout the four acts of the game, players weren’t given much option as to which side they wanted to stand with, whether they trusted someone, or whether they needed to kill someone. The only choices they had were how to kill the monsters and when to quit the game. Moreover, the linear storyline, which players had to play through four times without variation, just made players tired and frustrated. For example, at the end of Act III, Leah turns into Diablo because her mother Adria betrayed the player and Tyrael. The first time players went through this story, they might feel sad for the girl who accompanied them for a long time or angry towards Adria’s treachery. However, when they went through the same thing second, third, or forth times, they just felt powerless in the world because none of their effort could change the outcome. No matter how fast the player cleared out a dungeon or retrieve the black soulstone, Leah would die no matter what. The lack of impact from players on the world would drive some players crazy, especially those who enjoy interacting with the world or acting on the world.

The play-through-identical-storyline-several-times mode also proved to be problematic as a narrative media. The effect was not so different from reading through a poorly written book four times in a row. However, Diablo III wouldn’t get narratologists’ approval for many other reasons. Henry Jenkins, Professor of Cinematic Arts, once described in-game narratives as four non-exhausting types: evocative spaces, enacting stories, embedded narratives, and emergent narratives (Jenkins, 2006, pp. 677-686). In Diablo III, its evocative spaces would refer to the entire environment design, which would give players a sense of gloom and desperation. However, it was also said that the environment in Diablo III was too colorful, contradicting to the overall theme. Enacting stories used with the overall quest system of Diablo III. Players got a quest (conflict), killed monsters on their way towards success, encountered some elite monsters (small climax), finally reached the final boss (climax), and either died (tragedy) or succeeded (denouement). The problem again lay in the lack of player impact on the story, because even if players succeeded in killing the boss, the story would nonetheless be considered a tragedy with the death of Leah, making the presence of players somewhat meaningless. Embedded narratives could refer to both the main storyline (the cut scenes) and randomly spawned incidents. Again, there was no essential problem with the design, bur playing through these stories numerous times could get extremely frustrating and boring. Diablo III’s biggest failure as narrative media would be its lack of emergent narratives. Because everything was actually programmed to be there, and because of the lack of player interaction, there were absolutely no emergent narratives. Thus, generally speaking, Diablo III wouldn’t be approved by narratologists or appeal to players who enjoyed narrative features in game.

The last failure of Diablo III lay in its difficulty design, which failed to keep players in the flow state. When in flow zone, players should feel “complete and energized focus in an activity, with a high level of enjoyment and fulfillment” (Chen, 2007, p. 31), and to keep a player in the zone, “the activity must balance the inherent challenge of the activity and the player’s ability to address and overcome it” (Chen, 2007, p. 33). Diablo III’s difficulty design failed at this task completely. The difficulty level of Diablo III almost represented an exponential function, with Normal and Nightmare at the far left of the y-axis, Hell about between -1 and +1, and Inferno getting extremely difficult. As a result, during the first two levels, players might get bored easily and lose their interest in the game. If they managed to stay, they might find Hell just about right for them to enter flow zone. Eventually when they got into Inferno, they would found the game too difficult to proceeds and finally give up. [2]

Luckily, not all of Diablo III’s initial mistakes was in vain; developers and designers seemed to have learned from their mistakes and made changes in the future releases. From my understanding, the designers have chosen achievers and explorers to be their target consumers, and made the game more like a console game that allows multi-player mode rather than an MMO. Paragon 2.0 opens endless opportunities to improve their characters, and the newest ladder mode allows achievers to better compare their characters with others’ for how soon they reach maximum level and how nice their gears or skills are. The team also introduced Act V and bounty modes into the game, which would allow more exploration of new maps and re-playability. Blizzard didn’t totally ignore socializers either. The Clan system gives players an opportunity to build long-time friendship with people with similar interests. In addition, other improvements such as Loot 2.0 and new difficulty design ensure that players get rewarded for their effort properly and stay in the flow zone. Thus, in general, Diablo III has greatly improved since its debut, mostly because the team has finally identified their target players and are now able to create the specific aesthetic experience for those players. Whether Diablo III will someday become a popular and widely acclaimed game is still of question, but now it certainly has a lot more potentials than ever before. (source:gamecareerguide)


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