The Realism of a Fake World

by Gabriel Putnam

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of combat. A titanic struggle of wills and skill between two foes, their every movement used for advantage or gain in the conflict at hand. And then, the culmination of that fight, as one ultimate victor finally gains the upper hand. Swinging his sword like wrath given form, he cleaves down on his foe and…sees three little white numbers pop up…462. Hmph. His opponent backs up for a sec, checks himself, nope no damage, and then lashes back into the fray for another attempt at momentary glory.

Sure, it's an exaggeration. The numbers within a game are supposed to represent that very fight which I just described, and over time, you will eventually wear your opponent down through the repeated application of 432, 469, and 451 damage indicators. Yet, how necessary really are these traditions in this day and age? Is it any wonder that nobody spares a thought for those countless soldiers and monsters that are constantly cut down. (Well, a serious one at least, there are tons of comics on the subject.) If my enemies’ lives were represented by numbers, they died in a simple flash of color, and respawned every few moments, I’d probably be pretty cavalier too about cutting them down. Hell, in fact they are. Its not like I regularly engage in combat outside of my living room. The only exposure to violence many folks have these days is in the form of a little glowing box that hovers before their eyes and displays the wondrous deaths of thousands.

Of course, this probably shouldn’t be taken as a chastisement against violence in general either. Quite frankly, human existence is built around a core of conflict and many times that conflict requires the extinguishment of one or more lives to achieve its ends. The problem is that within the settings of games, this conflict is given nothing even approaching a real or down to Earth treatment. Since their earliest days, games have portrayed broad epics as a series of clashes between numbers of varying strengths. Among many of the titles, this was a simple choice for ease of design. However, the inherent problem with this is that there’s little drama or human emotion to the subject, besides that which is artificially inserted, and because of it, there is also a definite lack of consequence to actions. In essence, the heroes of the story are transformed into shredding machines and their feed is the constant stream of paper marionettes who dance aimlessly through the game with little purpose, beginning, or end.

My proposition is a simple one then. Give the actions of the heroes some weight, some consequence, and a meaning beyond the grand scope of the kingdom or world. By this, I don’t mean trying to make their quest for world peace, or the slaying of the evil mastermind matter more than it already does. Really, how often does this actually result in strong emotion from the players anyhow? Aeris dying, Kain betraying Cecil, a crucified ChuChu(j/k)? Rather, focus on those aspects of the game world which are far more personal and which strike the players in a familiar way rather than in the abstract realm of world politics. For example, say a brave band is working their way through the silent halls of their antagonist’s lair, when suddenly, they are set upon by the loyal town guard who have come to defend him as he is a respected member of the city council. Now, normally, this conflict would resolve itself by the heroes whipping out their swords/guns/ect… and transforming the city guard into so many motes of swirling dust. Of course, this is probably what they’ll do anyhow, however, the change I propose would then come after this conflict. Once the battle is over, the castle liberated, and the world saved, have them come back to the town (whether of their own volition or not) and show them the devastation their rampaging slaughter induces. Make the guardsmen paper cutouts no more. Instead, give them vibrant family lives, a network of friends and acquaintances, all who are less than pleased, to say the least, that the heroes came in and beat down a bunch of folks who were simply doing their jobs.

Now, obviously, this concept needs to be used with a little of what we would call restraint. If every little girl comes running up to you on the street, screaming that you slew her father, after a while, it will loose any impact it might have had. Just like the whole scenario was before you even made any changes. Soon, players will treat them with much the same respect they give Nigerian Gold scams; “I killed your folks and viciously killed your Grams? Yeah, whatever beggar, back off or taste steel.” However, with the right mix of loss and replacement, such additions can do a lot to provide boundaries for a player and make them aware that their heroic quest really does have ramifications for the world around them. In many cases, these touches wouldn’t even have to be particularly obvious. They could simply be a shifting of the guardsmen you see on the walls of the castle and a cold shoulder from them the next time you arrive. Possibly even just a “For Sale” sign where a nice middle class family used to live.

The other addition which could do wonders to bring the impact of struggle home to players, is a modification of RPG combat which would make the consequences in game far more severe. Quite simply, make the sword’s slashing and pike’s piercing more real to the gamer. By this, I’m not advocating blood. Blood is the Activision response to violence, where it is taken even more out of context by the addition of prodigious levels of gore. I’m not looking for pressurized bags that explode on the slightest touch of an edge. Rather, a simple consequence to all those slices and jabs in an “in game” context. The technology of gaming has I think improved to the point where numbers should really not suffice for a realistic depiction of battle. Instead, if someone is simply being worn down rather than hurt, they should be shown as such and have a slowly decreasing chance of blocking attacks or a stamina that is worked away. In addition, hits that truly strike home should be represented as such. If you land a hammer blow to a fighter’s arm, they sure aren’t going to be using it any time soon to cause you suffering. Similarly, if they clip one of your mage’s in the head, that person is most likely going to go down or at least be severely stunned for some length of time until they can regain their wits.

I’ll freely admit, these ideas probably aren’t applicable to every game, or even every other game, on the market. Some designs simply aren’t meant to emphasize the grittiness and danger of waging war and would rather focus on the beautiful, theoretical aspects of their story. That’s understandable. Its much like the difference between being a General, sitting in your home, planning the movements of thousands of troops with little concern for their individual lives, but seeing the eventual good that will come because of them; and being one of those thousands, who suddenly realize that the world isn’t a very friendly place and that every time you charge that tank or burn that trench you’re cutting someone else’s stake short of the full life they could have had.