Introduction
In this assignment I will explain the social and technological trends of computer games and explain how current and emerging technologies impact computer games’ design and development. I will also discuss how current and emerging technologies impact on how games are designed and developed to meet the requirements of the users and the larger computer games industry, as well as evaluate the impact of current and emerging technologies on the design and development of computer games to meet the requirements of the users and the computer games industry.
Social Trends of Computer Games
Player Types
According to the Bartle Test of Psychology there are four categories of player: The Achiever, The Explorer, The Socializer, and The Killer. These categories break up the way of which people play games.
The Achiever
This type of player enjoys collecting points, levels, equipment and other variables of succeeding in a game. These types of players are more likely to grind to get items that are merely cosmetic just for the sense of achievement of having them. When playing single player games and Achiever will often be attracted to the game which offers a 100% completion and can be “beaten”. However, when playing multi-player games an Achiever will often see value in points, levels and equipment and will try to show of their skill to other players, seeking praise from the Socialisers.
The Socialiser
This type of player gets maximum enjoyment from playing a game that allows the player to interact with other players or NPCs with an engaging character. Socialisers use games as a mere tool in order to meet other players in or out of the game. Because the main objective of a socialiser is to interact with other players, they are more inclined to pick a game that has a large following or some multi-player features. So, when playing a single player game, a Socialiser is more likely to pick a game where they can have engaging interactions with the NPCs in the game or they will pick a game based on the type and scale of the community behind it. However, Socialiser prefer to play multi-player games due to the appeal of interacting with other players and potentially creating new relationships. A Socialiser is more likely to get involved with guilds and multi-player missions.
The Explorer
This type of player prefers to explore the games environment and enjoy finding new areas, Easter eggs, and glitches. These players are the most likely to spend countless hours in game just walking around the terrain and becoming immersed into the game’s world. When playing single player games an Explorer will often immerse themselves into the lore of the people and factions that exist within the game world. They are more likely to ignore combat and levels, treating them as secondary objectives, but rather pay close attention to the details of a games story and environment. However, when playing multiplayer games, they will quickly become bored once they have experienced what the game has to offer and will quickly find playing the game being like a chore.
The Killer
This type of player enjoys the competition between players and feels joy in pitting their skills against another player. A Killer will quickly become bored with single player games due to the lack pride when defeating an enemy as they are scripted opponent that do not have the intelligence to be an interesting opponent. On the other hand, Killers enjoy multi-player games due to the ability to engage in fair non-biased combat with another player. The challenge that comes from competing with another player is what draws Killers to a game.
Summary
There are many different players all with a unique play style that caters to different types of games. Multi-player seems to be a dominant factor into a player’s choice in games due to its friendly competition and social features. However, single-player games still hold up today due to the community of players that enjoy exploring and experiencing a games story and environment.
Popular Game Genres
Video games an ever-evolving industry that has been rapidly changing during recent decades. To keep the audience satisfied the game industry needs to keep making more and more new and exciting games. Today the top trending game genre is Battle Royale Games with Fortnite and PUBG having the largest player-base of the genre.
Technological Trends
Consoles
Consoles are devices that are designed for one main purpose… Playing video games. Video game consoles have been around for almost as long as gaming itself with the first console being the Magnavox Odyssey of which could only play 2D 8-bit games due to its low spec. However, nowadays consoles are at the forefront of gaming technology due to its affordable price tag and high specs. The main competitors in this area are XBOX and PlayStation.
- PlayStation – The PlayStation 4 was and is a massive success due to the advanced hardware and lower cost than its rival, XBOX. Sony released other versions like the PS4 Slim and the PS4 Pro to cater to many different types of gamers. PlayStation also implemented VR capability which allowed more games to be exclusive for PlayStation, giving players another reason to choose PlayStation over Xbox.
- XBOX – The Xbox One was not as popular as the PlayStation 4 due to its high price at launch and its slightly lower spec. The Xbox One mainly failed due to the secondary purpose of a media device. Because the main focus was divided into games and media the consoled underperformed when playing games. However, Microsoft acknowledged these issues and made two more variants of which mainly focused on gaming.
The current versions of the XBOX and the PlayStation perform pretty much on par with each other with slight variations in performance in its respective areas. It is due to the healthy competition between the two companies that the console technology has been improving as each side try to release the best product. However, the competition does not end here as the next generation of consoles are soon to be released.
The Xbox Series X boasts to be four times as powerful than the Xbox One X and will support Raytracing, a graphical rendering technique used to simulate the behaviour of light in a 3D environment. Previous Xbox consoles have used a HDD to store games and apps, but the future Xbox Series X will feature a SSD in combination with 16GBs of GDDR6 RAM, this will improve loaded times in games tremendously and will allow for more detail to be rendered quickly in a open world environment. Unfortunately, PlayStation has not revealed their consoles specs at the time of me typing this, but a similar spec is to be expected.
Handhelds
Handheld consoles are not a new development. PlayStation has tried to explore this area of technology with the PSP and the PSVITA. Unfortunately, this didn’t go so well for PlayStation with both handhelds being largely unpopular at the time. This was most likely due to the lower spec of technology at the time. However, since the PlayStations failure in the handheld market technology has advanced and Nintendo has decided to be involved with this area of technology. The Nintendo first developed the Wii U in 2012, which implemented a kind of handheld console. The Wii U had a large tablet like controller with a screen that allowed the player to be anywhere in the building and still be able to access and play their games. The problem with the Wii U was that it relied on a connection to the console which meant you couldn’t play your games anywhere but rather within a certain radius around the main console, this was a huge issue amongst the community and resulted in the handheld being a failure. But technology has improved since then and Nintendo developed another handheld console… the Nintendo Switch.
The Switch, released in 2017, was a massive success with the player being able to play games anywhere they wanted. Unlike the WII U the Switch wasn’t connected to a console, it was the console. The Switch also include Joy Cons, which are two controllers which can be used like a normal controller when attached to the console or used as motion controllers when separated from the console. The used of motion controllers are nothing new as we have seen them before with the Nintendo Wii, but these controllers contained some new technology such as the “HD rumble” of which can simulate more realistic feedback when holding things in games, for example when rolling marble in a tube the user will be able to feel the marbles as if they were actually there in the users hand.
Streaming
Game Streaming services are a recent development. Streaming games in the past just wouldn’t have been possible due to the scale of infrastructure at the time, even today the streaming services struggle in more rural areas. Game streaming allows a player to play their games on almost any device. This could be your smart phone, tablet, laptop, PC, and even the Google Chromecast. Game streaming also put the player at an advantage game streaming eliminates the need to download games as they are automatically updated at the service providers servers. This allows the player to get straight into a game the second it is purchased rather than wait for a long download time before hand. However, game streaming does have some downsides, such as gaming in more rural areas. Rural areas don’t receive the same internet speeds as cities or large towns with most areas in the countryside still using a copper connection. This would be a problem for the player as the internet may not be able to keep up with the game causing some annoying latency which may turn the player away from streaming services.
There are two main streaming services as of recent, which are Xcloud and Stadia. Stadia is a streaming service run by Google that allows users to use the service for free with the only cost being for the games. This would appeal to a poorer player who doesn’t have the money to buy high end PCs or consoles but still want to play games. Although, Google does offer a Premium subscription to Stadia which will allow the player to experience their games in 4k and surround sound, also the player gets one game per month for £9.99. The upside to using Google Stadia over Microsoft Xcloud is the large infrastructure that google has gained over the years which allows players using Stadia to have a better connection when playing their games.
Xcloud is a streaming service run by Microsoft which allows players to access every game available on the Xbox to their mobile device. The benefits of Xcloud is the large library of games at launch with over 1000+ games ready for the player to start. Another benefit is that if a player has already bought a game on the Xbox, they can play it on the Xcloud for no additional cost, whereas with Stadia you would have to gradually rebuild your library. Also, with the new Xbox Series X the player can stream the games directly from the console, this allows a stronger connection in places that may not have a good enough internet connection. However, when using this method, the player would have to download the game to the console and then play it on their device.
Overall game streaming, although it is a great idea, is not ready as of present. The reason for this is the fact that not all players would be able to get a good enough internet connection to play the games seamlessly. The infrastructure just is not ready to handle game streaming services.
2020-2-6-1580997041