This is something I've been thinking about for a while now, then absolutely forgot about, and just remembered.
Kids these days (stick with me) get to play in sprawling 3D worlds, where there are more options for them to entertain themselves than just moving their little moustachioed man to the right side of the screen. I've seen a lot of gamer parents write about how they would play co-op with their kids, but they'd never get somewhere because the kids were too busy just mucking about within the level and all the interactions it allowed. I've seen cousins of mine, 8 to 10 years old, who would just muck around in god mode in Minecraft for hours, without really doing anything. Well, they do stuff, but nothing that adds to reaching a specific goal set by the game.
We didn't have those options back in our day, when gaming first got our attention. We had the little moustachioed man, who had a clear goal and little else to distract him from reaching it. Same goes for all the people developing our games today. They, we, have grown up with games that set clear goals and challenges, because that was all that games could technically hope to offer.
So, in 10 to 20 years, what types of games will we see? I'm expecting a lot of sandboxes with realistic physics, some thin veil of gameplay draped over it. Because that's what the developers of tomorrow grew up doing: playing in a digital space, just like we played outside (people did that, right?) when we were kids. I'm not saying we won't be seeing the kinds of games we play today, big budgetted interactive novels with the focus on interactivity. There will just be a lot of user created crap made in games that are superbly fit to accomodate them. And of course some quality, professionally created crap.
Robio rule of parenting #463: Its ok and perfectly natural to want to scream profanity at your kids. It is wrong to actually do it though.... at least doing it loudly is.
When he plays LBP he never plays the main game. He just builds levels, assuming he's not too busy just socializing with the other kids he plays with.
So yeah more games will have much less direction i think. I also think you'll see fewer game characters and more character creation. A bigger focus on avatars that you can take to any game.
I think a real test to see what direction gaming will go will be based on the success of EverQuest Next. They're combining Minecraft with an MMO. Could be dangerous.
But as they get older I am sure they would want a more focused experience.
Hopefully. Any change will be welcome with the recycled dross that is on the horizon.
I dunno AC.
I mean, if you look at a game like Bastion, it really is the synthesis of the gaming experience of a 35 year old. Minecraft, the synthesis of the experience fo a 25 year old.
I do think age and experience is relfected in the types of games you create, and I think it is more of a case where depending on how much someone wants to reach back to see the full range of experiences that all generations of gaming has to offer. A 20 year old, right now, has the ability to play every great game, and could use that experience in his own creation.
Robio I agree my nephew he is 8 know but he started out gaming when he was 2 or 3 but his favorite game is Minecraft. He also really liked Little Big Planet and LBP2 for a while. He doesn't do anything that requires completing certain goals he just creates worlds in Minecraft and the only thing he builds is multiple houses. In Little Big Planet he would just make levels all the time but the levels had no goal because he would never place an ending.
He has gotten better he played GTAV and he actually plays the missions. He also likes Disney Infinity and Skylanders series. He spends a lot of time in Disney Infinity playing in the Toy Box mode. Though he does complete the goals as well. I think the first game he ever beat was Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.