For this week's reading response, we were assigned to read Chapter 6 of Artful Design, titled "Game Design." For my reading response, I want to focus on my own experience playing games and the designs that I have encountered. Growing up, I always had access to games, whether it be on my mom's laptop, the Wii, my Nintendo DS, or my dad's Playstation and Xbox. I played games like Call of Duty: Ghosts, Lego Star Wars, Club Penguin, Wizard 101, etc... These games now bring a sense of nostalgia, and I remember meeting and playing with online friends for hours. More recently, though, I haven't found joy in playing games anymore. Now, I end up feeling frustrated and lonely whenever I hop into an online game. I'd much rather hang out with my friends in real life than play a game that I don't find fun.
I think that I feel this way now because I don't have friends who play games, and how games are designed nowadays for profit. Most mobile games that I try seem to follow the same formula designed for profit, and they make no attempts to hide it. And as a free-to-play player, I end up frustrated because of the lack of progress. It also seems harder to play with and make friends in online games than it did when I was a kid. Games used to be more primitive but felt more authentic and fun. Now, I feel that there is more competitiveness in games that promotes cheating and smurfing.
However, there are a few exceptions. There are some modern games that I love that are mostly single-player that feel authentic, have a well-constructed story, and are not pay-to-win. These games include Journey, Stray, Cyberpunk 2077, and World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft may be an outlier but I put so many hours into the game during the pandemic, but I just don't have friends to play with anymore. I love how simple yet challenging the gameplay is compared to the newer cash-grab MMORPGs. It takes actual skill and thought into building your character instead of just button mashing. For Journey and Stray, the world-building, story, graphics, and simple mechanics make me feel immersed into the game. Cyberpunk 2077 is special to me because of my emotional connection to the anime. It's also a graphically gorgeous game and I love watching video essays about it.