Or, and maybe I’m the weird one here, we shouldn’t include romance in games. We absolutely shouldn’t have the players’ avatars involved in those romances. Games are escapist fantasy, and I don’t believe it’s helpful to allow anyone to experience romantic things in an escapist context - that should be constrained to the real world.
Then again, I think the only game I’ve played with a narrative that I really appreciate anymore is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. So maybe I’m just old and jaded.
God I hate this type of argument about arts and entertainment. The logical conclusion of “this can be unhealthy for some people so nobody should make it” is “dumb everything down for the lowest common denominator.”
I don’t believe it’s just unhealthy for “some people”. I think it’s unhealthy for everyone, and for our society as a whole. Simulating romantic relationships with fictional characters is a bad idea, because it dulls our sense of the real thing, and removes the need to intact with real people. It removes the ability to fail. A video game can’t be true enough to life that one mistake can ruin a relationship, because even if that’s the case, the player can reload his save. It becomes too comfortable and too safe.
As far as dumbing things down… is Civilization (as a series, let’s not split every hair here) dumbed-down? How about Doom? Beyond All Reason? Factorio and Mindustry?
I’m not saying that games shouldn’t make us feel. I don’t even hate the idea of a romantic story involving characters who are not the PCs (or linear “romances” like Final Fantasy 8). I’m talking about the “Romance Options” that became prevalent in games because of Mass Effect. The player’s avatar should not be involved in player-driven romantic relationships.
Love in the Ultima IV sense? sure. Love in the Mass Effect/Dragon Age sense? No.
I think this essentially gets at the same point of criticism: Do it properly or don’t do it at all. If you want romance, then write a romantic story with real love and loss that allows players to experience these feelings through their characters, but not shallow “romance options” like the ones that are included in so many games nowadays and that feel like the equivalent of reading two pages of a character’s diary.
I am ok with having transactional vg relationships. I mean, if I could marry in factorio I would probably automate it and have an exponentially increasing number of partners.
Or, and maybe I’m the weird one here, we shouldn’t include romance in games. We absolutely shouldn’t have the players’ avatars involved in those romances. Games are escapist fantasy, and I don’t believe it’s helpful to allow anyone to experience romantic things in an escapist context - that should be constrained to the real world.
Then again, I think the only game I’ve played with a narrative that I really appreciate anymore is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. So maybe I’m just old and jaded.
God I hate this type of argument about arts and entertainment. The logical conclusion of “this can be unhealthy for some people so nobody should make it” is “dumb everything down for the lowest common denominator.”
I don’t believe it’s just unhealthy for “some people”. I think it’s unhealthy for everyone, and for our society as a whole. Simulating romantic relationships with fictional characters is a bad idea, because it dulls our sense of the real thing, and removes the need to intact with real people. It removes the ability to fail. A video game can’t be true enough to life that one mistake can ruin a relationship, because even if that’s the case, the player can reload his save. It becomes too comfortable and too safe.
As far as dumbing things down… is Civilization (as a series, let’s not split every hair here) dumbed-down? How about Doom? Beyond All Reason? Factorio and Mindustry?
I’m not saying that games shouldn’t make us feel. I don’t even hate the idea of a romantic story involving characters who are not the PCs (or linear “romances” like Final Fantasy 8). I’m talking about the “Romance Options” that became prevalent in games because of Mass Effect. The player’s avatar should not be involved in player-driven romantic relationships.
Love in the Ultima IV sense? sure. Love in the Mass Effect/Dragon Age sense? No.
I think this essentially gets at the same point of criticism: Do it properly or don’t do it at all. If you want romance, then write a romantic story with real love and loss that allows players to experience these feelings through their characters, but not shallow “romance options” like the ones that are included in so many games nowadays and that feel like the equivalent of reading two pages of a character’s diary.
I am ok with having transactional vg relationships. I mean, if I could marry in factorio I would probably automate it and have an exponentially increasing number of partners.
not what’s meant when they say “the factory must grow”, but let them cook