Videogames are a huge industry these days, and as is usually the case, there are a lot of things that most games do. Sometimes those are great things, like extra free content for game owners, packed in classic games, or similar bonuses. Sometimes, these trends are not so good, and that the subject of today’s gallery. These eight trends won’t be missed once they’re gone.
Think we missed one? Tell us what it is in the comments!
Stupid mini-games
While there are some games where mini-games thrive (Mario Party, anyone?), in many cases they only serve to break you out of the game experience. For an illustration of this, consider the Bioshock hacking mini-game, which tasked you with connecting up some pipes that would somehow unlock a door. Or if you’re looking for a tedious example, how about Mass Effect 2’s planet mining? Mini-games themselves are fine, but shoehorning them into completely disparate experiences is not.
Escort missions
Is there anything more annoying than an escort mission? You have to make sure that one NPC get from point A to point B, and you have to make sure they get there alive. Almost invariably, the NPC gets himself into trouble. Maybe he walks too slow and you’re constantly waiting on him, or he walks too fast, plunging into danger before you clear the way. Sometimes they take a path all their own, and it’s never the shortest one to your destination. In a similar vein, let’s do away with Assassin’s Creed’s eavesdropping missions as well, since they’re just escort missions wearing a Halloween disguise.
Multiplayer in everything
It wasn’t that long ago that multiplayer in games was a rarity. Sure, there were games like Battlefield that embraced it, but most games focused on singleplayer experiences. That not the case anymore. Almost every game has multiplayer strapped onto it, whether it fits the game or not. Despite what some industry execs might think, not every game needs a multiplayer component. The indie scene is actually doing a great job of demonstrating this.
Poorly handled Kickstarter campaigns
It seems like every couple of weeks we hear about another Kickstarter campaign that’s either way behind schedule, struggling financially, or shutting down without delivering. Sure, there are risks involved with crowdfunding, but the completion rate of funded Kickstarter projects is not good. Crowdfunding has the potential to fundamentally alter the way games get made, but only if the backers who make it work maintain faith in the platform. These continued failures, especially those due to unrealistic promises or bad practices, do nothing but erode that faith.
Microtransactions in non-free games
The rise of microtransactions over the past few years has paralleled the emergence of the free-to-play genre. While these microtransactions are largely accepted by free-to-play gamers, they’ve started to pop up in full-priced games as well. This is problematic, especially if there are no in-game ways to unlock the same rewards. There’s nothing wrong with DLC that adds substantially to a game (we used to have these things called “expansions” for that), but trying to pull an extra $4 out of me after I just gave you $60 is just a bit much.
Pre-ordering
I end up giving this speech about once every three months or so. Pre-ordering was a necessary evil a few years ago. It guaranteed that when you go to to a store, they’d have a copy of the game for you. That really hasn’t been an issue of late, but people continue to pre-order, and they continue to be disappointed by bad or broken games. By continuing to pre-order games, we’re reinforcing the bad behavior of the developers. We’re in essence telling them that we don’t care what the game is like, as long as we get it on time and on day one. Pre-order bonuses are one way companies keep you tossing money in, and those need to go too.
Day 1 Patches
For years, game developers had to make sure that all their games worked right out of the box. After all, consoles couldn’t go online, and the slow internet connections most PCs had made downloading large patches annoying. As the percentage of connected gamers has grown, so has the prevalence of the day one patch. In an effort to hit release dates (which are often mandated by publisher commitments), companies will decide a game has “gone gold,” and send it to printing. While the discs are being printed, the patches are worked on, and then required to be downloaded once the game in installed. If the day one patch doesn’t fix everything, you’re…
Releasing games that are broken
Having games hit the market in a broken state has happened throughout the history of gaming, but only in recent years has it been so prevalent. It seems as though every month there’s another game to add to the list that’s suffering server issues, littered with game-breaking bugs, or won’t run at all. You’ll remember games like Diablo 3 and its “Error 37” woes, just as an example. While there will always be unforeseen issues in the world of video games, they shouldn’t be this prevalent.
