I've been doing a lot of game testing recently, mostly with Epic Games studio, and they asked me to take a survey on my video game habits. Included in the survey were some questions about what I've come to expect from mainstream video games. I mean, when a company comes out with a new game, we compare them to mainstream game mechanics. It got me thinking; What have we, as a society, come to expect from video games?
First of all, we expect character customization. Whether it be weapon loadouts or actual character appearance, we expect at least a basic level of customization. Somewhere in there, there's a need to be different from at least a majority of players. There's a need to have a playstyle customized to you, instead of having the game tell you how to play.
An intricate storyline and many optional side quests are a nessicary part in any RPG or MMO that expects to be anywhere near mainstream. This brings me to the broader version of this. Gamers want limitless gameplay. With most games costing $60 retail value, limitless gameplay would cause the player to want to play that game more over others, bringing new customers via word-of mouth. This can be accomplished with randomly generated optional side quests, or through an open world build. A large scale, open world build would not limit players except for the mass confines of the game world. More focus would be on exploration, which can take a long, long time to complete. For instance, I've had Elder Scrolls 4 for about 7 years now, but I still find new locations and quests every day. The same goes for Fallout 4, aside from Preston's annoying Minutemen quests.
Regular updates and multiplayer technically fall under the limitless gameplay category, but I think these are two things that deserve their own spotlight. Regular updates to fix glitches and bugs may bring gamers back who were driven away by them. It also shows the developers care about their game enough to tweak it. Some companies take it way too far and fix things that don't need to be fixed just to push out updates. Companies need to remember, when it comes to updates, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Alongside this is DLCs and Expansions. Both of these are aimed at adding more content that wasn't in the main game, whether it was purposely cut or wasn't fathomed until after release. Either way, DLCs and Expansions add lifespan to a perhaps already dead game. However, developers are tied with deciding when to release them. You could release it early, but then there are those people who will blow through the game and DLC within a few days, but if you release it too late you will have already lost players due to content drought.
Another way developers accomplish limitless gameplay is through the use of Multplayer game modes (whether co-op or competitive). Multiplayer allows people to play with their friends and people always like a little competition. Co-Op Multiplayer seems to focus more on the arcade-style point system. People compete to get the most points (whether it be most kills, most points, most money earned, etc). In competitive modes, people go head to head to beat the other team in a deathmatch or objective-based game modes. The more game modes, the longer a player is willing to stay with a game.
Gamers like explosions. When have you ever played a game and just started blowing random things up (including, but not limited to, yourself) for fun? Games like Battlefield, and to an extent Rainbow Six Siege, pride themselves on destruction. Players like the rush of being able to destroy things, instead of just the repetitive shooting everyone in sight. In this case, the more destruction, the better.
These are the things that we, as gamers, expect from new game releases. What about you? What do you expect from new games in order for them to be a great buy? Do you agree with this list?
