"Magic" in Gaming

[Professor S]

Arthur C. Clarke told us, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Head back to the 1800s with a Taser or a Prius or an iPad and the townsfolk will no doubt either burn you at the stake or worship you.

So many doors have been opened by technology in the last twenty years that the word “sufficiently” is being stretched. If it happens on a screen (Google automatically guessing what I want next, a social network knowing who my friends are before I tell them) we just assume it’s technology at work. Hard to even imagine magic here.

I remember eagerly opening my copy of Wired every month (fifteen years ago). On every page there was something new and sparkly and yes, magical.

No doubt that there will be magic again one day... magic of biotech, say, or quantum string theory, whatever that is. But one reason for our ennui as technology hounds is that we’re missing the feeling that was delivered to us daily for a decade or more. It’s not that there’s no new technology to come (there is, certainly). It’s that many of us can already imagine it.

SOURCE (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/05/an-end-of-magic.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Fsethsmainblog+%28Seth%27s+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher)


I thought this commentary was in line with my feelings about gaming of late. When the Xbox and PS2 first came out, I had the feeling that something experientially rich and otherworldly was at my fingertips. Every press of a button and move using an analogue stick But now it seems like all the current paradigm has lost its magical luster, and while motion controls are a great step forward, their clunky execution constantly remind you that you are using a imperfectly human product.

My Question: What would have to happen in gaming to bring back the "magic"?

[Vampyr]

I think just more intelligent software at this point. I get this feeling sometimes when a game picks up on something I did that I really didn't expect it to, like a character choice. Other times there are just tiny little nuances in games that surprise me with the level of detail that developers put into it.

Pokemon is a good example of this. Those games are filled to the brim with little goodies that makes you wonder how they had time to program them all.

Another example is Portal 2. Such an insane commitment to detail. There's one scene with a turret assembly line that is just so well thought out. Another is the turret singing group.

For me that's what makes games still feel magical - when someone pulls off something really impressive from the software end.

[Angrist]

I'm always amazed by a huge, living world. Where the world changes even without you. Believable characters that you care about. And a place where you have endless things to do.

Oh and another very important thing for me is atmosphere. Some games have it, most don't. Some that do: Metroid Prime, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Warcraft III, Donkey Kong Country.
Now I realize that all these games have very nice weather effects, mostly rain. And nature. Lush nature is very important for me.

[Typhoid]

My Question: What would have to happen in gaming to bring back the "magic"?

The thing is, that would be 100% unfathomable to us. Maybe not 100%, but you get what I mean.

If you go back 400 years and ask someone to define magic, they won't describe a Prius, or a cellphone.


Me and Dylan often ponder about technology. Every generation has a technological gap somewhere between them and the previous one. And while technological advances are coming quicker and quicker all the time, this is still going to happen - just at a faster rate.

But I think the technology that will make us say "Wait, what?" will be so over our heads at this point, that we can't even think of it yet. Maybe it won't be ridiculously advanced, rather exceptionally convenient.

Maybe when everyone has a car that drives itself, that uses no fuel, and is voice-activated. I'd consider that pretty magical.

Or maybe the items in your house turning themselves on when they sense you're near. Like you sit on your couch, and your TV turns on, walk into a room, lights go on. Obviously things like this exist, but for everyone to have it in daily life, and not second-thinking about "Wow, all of my devices are turning themselves on when I want them to", would be pretty magical.

[Combine 017]

We're talking about gaming here, not daily household items. :p

Maybe if all the big companies made a universal console?
I think that would be pretty cool. No more console flamewars or fanboys, just everyone playing with each other.

[BreakABone]

I think it kind of speaks to the type of gamer one is.

Oddly, I've never felt that sensation that you mention. To me, and this is odd, the controller and its direct input is only one part of the equation for me. To me, the magic has always come from exploration and discovery. What lies around the next corner.

I guess that explains my love of platformers (even if they stick with the same thematic elements they tend to offer up unique challenges) and the Uncharted series. You always get a sense of something special when you discover the next new location.

I mean one of my fondest memories from last gen was the first time I entered Phendrona (Spelling?) Drifts in the original Metroid Prime. And part of the reason I loved Kirby's Epic Yarn was just seeing how the world unfolded (pun intended) in your face.

[Typhoid]

We're talking about gaming here, not daily household items. :p.

I was addressing the quote, more or less.



Anyways, to directly address the gaming aspect:


For me, the first time (I remember) being wowed by a game was FFVII, using the analog stick to rotate the 3D world as I ran around. That blew me away, at the time. I remember it so vividly, because it was so different than the previous games I'd played of that type, being static-camera. Graphics have always been one of the main selling points in a game for me. I find it hard to really immerse myself into games that aren't visually appealing, unless it's an old 8/16/32-bit game that I've played before and have a soft spot for.

In that sense, what I'm really looking forward to is slowly meshing real life into video games. Visually, I mean. Most video games still look pretty cartoon-y in comparison to real life for obvious reasons, but the little things that they're slowly doing are going to compile eventually into a final product that will make everyone's mind shit itself.

Things like the facial motion-capture in LA Noire/ the way they motion capture the voice actors in the Uncharted series, and the way that they're animating little things like sunlight and dust in Battlefield 3. All of these things will eventually become standard in games, and with the push in how powerful systems will become, that gets me pretty excited. I can't wait until video games get realistic to the point of blurring real people with CGI.

I just like thinking that in roughly 20-ish years, we've gone from:

http://dorando.emuverse.com/images/super-mario-bros-2.e_02.png

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/26/9956-sod_rodney_large.jpg

http://www.videogamecritic.net/images/gen/road_rash_2.gif

To

http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/03/Battlefield-3-screenshots-School-590x331.jpg

http://www.techshout.com/images/uncharted-2-among-thieves.jpg

http://media.gameplaybook.com/editorial/2010/06/Gran%20624.jpg