Gamer vs. Audience
by Parveen Kaler
I don’t like the term gamer. It is a limited viewpoint of how a game is actually experienced.
When I was young, the game console was usually connected to the second TV in the basement. I played Doom or Warcraft on the PC in the bedroom. Games were played between 10pm and 2am. It was either a solitary experience or the kids got together in the basement so that they would not disturb the more mature adults.
Somewhere along the way, people started playing games in the den and in the living room.
I don’t like the term gamer because it discounts the passive members of the audience.
Games that I’ve worked on in the past have had Observer Modes. This is important for real-time strategy games and for shooters. It is a required feature for competitive gaming leagues.
Half the experience of Guitar Hero or Rock Band is sitting by yourself and trying to improve your skill. It is about trying to hit each and every note in a song.
The other half of the experience is getting together with a large group of friends, drinking your face off, jumping around, and belting out notes at the top of your lungs. The people in the room that don’t actually have their hands on the controllers are a legitimate part of the experience too.
Design games with both the active and passive members of the audience in mind. Drop the gamer term and adopt the term of audience.
Comments
I have always preferred games that enabled you to work in a team with your friends. It used to be this was accomplished using split screen and having your buddies over to your place to play. Now that consoles are all on this "Internet" thing, I find games are tossing split screen aside and using online play instead. I find that kind of sad. I can’t get into online play the same way I can get with split screen. I can’t reach over and slap my buddy in the back of the head or hi-five somebody for saving my ass. Being in the same room builds more of a bond with the other gamers.
I recently overheard that the last version of a popular car racing game had a very small percentage of users who used split screen mode. They will probably remove split screen play entirely in the next version. Am I the only one who likes to actually be in the same room as my friends when I play games?
Specific case: Burnout Paradise. Man, if you could have 4 friends over to race around and smash the sh!t out of each other, that’d make the game so much better!
Word. Bubble bobble was sweet too… you’d help each other kill bad guys but fight over foodness.