Let me cut to the chase – I am so damn sick of the rampant clichés in gaming! This dull “sameness”, always sticking to those familiar settings, formulas and ideas. So seldom does one see something refreshing – it is almost sickening. I say enough!
I ask then, who is to blame for this situation we find ourselves in? Perhaps it is lazy developers with sub-par think tanks that could not work their way past the first stage of Super Mario Bros? Possibly it is the greedy publishers and shareholders forcing convention for the sake of an easy buck? Or even worse! Is it us, the gamers, constantly acting as if we crave something new and fresh, when the reality is the majority of us are more than content with the same dull settings, characters and story lines seen over and over. So, who is really to blame?
I ask you longtime gamers – are you not sick to death of all the clichés in gaming? The typical settings, characters, stories and characters? It is no secret that I am a HUGE RPG fan, and it seems to be a great centre for clichés. I cringe each and every time I see another high fantasy Tolkien-esque setting. I am certain that many of you feel the same with your respective preferred genres which also suffer from their own clichés.
Imposing dragon – check.
As an RPG lover, this is the setting I see over and over and over, with little variation or innovation. First, start with pompous Elves, prancing around in a forest, bows at the ready. Add some stein guzzling Dwarves with Scottish accents for flavour. Then top that all off with a drizzling of graying old wizard(s) and you are good to go. Come on, how many times are we going to see this kind of setting? How hard could it be to mix it up some?
However, there are some games, such as Arcanum and Bioshock, which took a chance in creating interesting and different worlds. In Arcanum, technology mingles with magic. All the while, it messes around with the usual high fantasy conventions, having aristocratic Orcs and mechanic Elves. In Bioshock you are taken to the dystopian underwater city of Rapture where gene splicing is the norm. Both games felt unique and interesting. So then – why are we not seeing more variety? Can’t the majority of other developers create something different?
Manly marine – check.
I now return to the original question – who is to blame? Like most things in life, it is seldom black and white. Usually things are interconnected and dependant on each other.
Let us start by looking at the people who actually fashion and control the games – the developers, publishers and such. I honestly think their main reason for staying in the proverbial box is because it is safe. Safe because they are giving people what they want and safe because they do not have to take any chances. This then brings me to us gamers.
Thinking about it, gamers have the greater stake in this situation. For anyone who spends a lot of time reading forums, you might notice how gamers endlessly complain. Funny thing is, often they will complain about endless iterations and recycled ideas, but when it comes down to the crunch, instead of boycotting a title, they burst into action with excitement and pre-orders, impatiently waiting for its release. Ironic!
End of the world – check.
When finally a game is released that goes outside the bounds of what gamers typically expect, it often gets ignored. We gamers are then feeding the system preventing them from breaking out of the endless clichés. When we rush out to purchase yet another game with a slightly different skin, and MAYBE a new name, that just empowers the developers / publishers to keep up the status-quo. To be frank, I am also guilty, but as I said in another article – we gamers are akin to addicts, ever pining for our next fix. So, what are we really supposed to do? Stop playing games? Preposterous! A vicious cycle if I ever saw one.
Hot female character – check.
So, what now? Well, I figure all we really can do is try our best to support the underdogs, specifically when they try something new. Also try to keep an open mind when it comes to game ideas outside your gaming comfort zone and embrace new ideas. Maybe, just maybe then, the developers, publisher and shareholders will see a future in trying something different. Then us longtime gamers will have a refreshing reprieve from the “sameness” of most of the games released today.
Scottish dwarf – check.
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