Gaming clichés?

[wildweasel]

Nobody really seems to do the research on what kinds of guns would legitimately be available in a given region or time period. Black Ops keeps giving you stuff like SPAS-12s and H&K G11s and prototype MP5Ks, an M16 with an ACOG and grenade launcher, and the China Lake grenade launcher - in what is supposed to be 1968-1969, where half of them are prototypes that never got more than a very small handful produced, and even then, not until the late 1970s or early 1980s.

[Naniyue]

That's a shame, as I think more realism in these areas would be a good thing.

[leileilol]

, for some reason, female armors always expose the tits. The reasoning behind this...well...BOOBZ!!! Bloodymouth feminists, like Anita Sarkeesian love to exploit such occurrences.

eh

I find it rather empowering and feminist to create characters of the sort. Why should men only be allowed to do this?

(I use flesh as a breakup of monotonous color where applicable. Excess flesh ruins the character unless it's a well-defined muscled character or overly tattooed/painted/strategicallyfurred character who has agency and isn't relegated to "damsel". that said, borderline nude/superimpractical/boobplate clothing designs are dumb)

Anita has a point and it went over your head.....

[Reactor]

She would be right, however, she seems to be forgetting about franchises involving a female protagonists, which also became hugely popular. Tomb Raider, Resident Evil and such. Besides, you actually have talents of game creating, whilst she has none, and doesn't even try to show off her great skills, and create a successful line of games on her own. Carol Shaw could do it back then, so I see no reason why she couldn't. Of course, it's easier to rant.

[Gez]

Another cliché with power plants is having to restart them so that you can restore power. Usually done by activating switches in several different locations.

This game also had Russian soldiers extensively use non-Russian guns like AUG or FAMAS.

Maskirovka, comrade! Let enemies believe they are attacked by the decadent west!

(In the real world this kinda happened on the other side, with the USA helping old soviet weapons from Eastern Europe fall into the hands of militias such as the Kurds in Syria so that it wouldn't look too much like they were supplied by the west.)

Nobody really seems to do the research on what kinds of guns would legitimately be available

But then you couldn't get Pancor Jackhammers in every shooting game ever.

[Reactor]

You're right Not enough power - must restore! This is pretty much an aversion of a "blow up the nuclear plant" cliché. And of course, all the power plant/generator switches are at the most faraway, obscure location, with only one entrance, and it is filled with enemies.

As for soldiers using other countries' guns...well...they probably ordered them from catalogs

[wildweasel]

You're right Not enough power - must restore!

"Oh, great! Who didn't pay electric bill?"

[leileilol]

Besides, you actually have talents of game creating, whilst she has none, and doesn't even try to show off her great skills, and create a successful line of games on her own

Bullshit. You don't have to create videogames to point out the problems with them. And as for your discrediting "no talent" logic, this thread wouldn't have been allowed to exist...

[Gez]

Of course, it's easier to rant.

That's what this thread is about, isn't it?

[Reactor]

Bullshit. You don't have to create videogames to point out the problems with them. And as for your discrediting "no talent" logic, this thread wouldn't have been allowed to exist...

The problem is, Anita is not a professed feminist. She proved this during the Gamergate uproar. And this very thread has nothing to do with any talents or such. Having clichés in games does not automatically mean the creator is talentless.

Some clichés, however, do mean. Did I mention the unbreakable windows as a widely utilized and hated FPS cliché? Even Doom and Half-life was guilty of this. Having reinforced glass here and there is fine, but when every single window is made out of unbreakable glass, that's just doo-doo. Hate it.

[Ravick]

Well, most clichés that annoys me have been listed - just like the illogical progression system (why IN HELL would you send a single man to face an army with a simple pistol?! - except if you are 007, of course), and time challenges.

I guess zombies are ok. There are a moral gap that allows you to hurt them. It would be harder to make it with living people. And, well, everybody loves zombies.

My major problem with a game cliché is the the character's involvement with the plot. I mean, I love FPSs, specially the horror scify ones, and, in lots of them, you can't be just someone caught in the events of the game, that is just trying to survive, or a soldier or so, trying to save something important. You'll end discovering that you are deeply involved with all the events since you were a kid, or you are somehow special and the only who can save the day. For example, in FEAR you discover that you and the main antagonist were lab-made kids, brothers, that were part of the problem all the time. The Doom series had avoided it until Doom3, then, in Doom4 you are a fucking demon-killing monster that even Hell fears. It kills the feeling of the game for me. Most Silent Hill games has this. You get to the city, and starts seeing bizarre things, just to discover that you father committed suicide there when you were a kid or something just like that. Well, things just like that. Maybe this is good to avoid having a too shallow plot, but they are quite hard to believe for me. Sometimes, a shallow omg-I-just-need-to-survive-D: plot would be more immersive.

Another cliché, that is more a plot problem, are fearless characters. The example that comes to me is Dead Effect. The game starts trying to makes me "feel fear". But, as soon as the caracter gets a weapon, he makes funny comments about it.

Well, another cliché would be explosive barrels. But, just like zombies, everybody love explosive barrels!

Oh, and somekind of kamikaze enemy.

[insightguy]

Bullshit. You don't have to create videogames to point out the problems with them. And as for your discrediting "no talent" logic, this thread wouldn't have been allowed to exist...

The problem is, Anita is not a professed feminist. She proved this during the Gamergate uproar. And this very thread has nothing to do with any talents or such. Having clichés in games does not automatically mean the creator is talentless.

As much as I agree with you reactor, I may want to shoot a warning flare here for you. Gamergate seems to be a volatile topic to some people here and I really hope this does not turn into a flame-war and get us sent to a very unplesant hall. (Weasel even mentions it in the rules)

Did I mention the unbreakable windows as a widely utilized and hated FPS cliché? Even Doom and Half-life was guilty of this. Having reinforced glass here and there is fine, but when every single window is made out of unbreakable glass, that's just doo-doo. Hate it.

That's because players love to do shit like break levels, it's like baby-proofing for game developers.

And didn't half-life have breakable windows?

Another cliché, that is more a plot problem, are fearless characters. The example that comes to me is Dead Effect. The game starts trying to makes me "feel fear". But, as soon as the character gets a weapon, he makes funny comments about it.

Because player characters automatically running away like a *cat* because they got scared is not a fun game mechanic

Well, another cliché would be explosive barrels. But, just like zombies, everybody love explosive barrels!

Not unless you're next to one. and pray to God that the AI does not know how to use them (in XCOM 2's expansion patch, if you have guys standing next to an explosive barrel, they will shoot at it.)

Oh, and somekind of kamikaze enemy.

and they almost always yell.

(if you listen closely, you can hear a kamikaze screaming from a distance)

[wildweasel]

Another cliché, that is more a plot problem, are fearless characters. The example that comes to me is Dead Effect. The game starts trying to makes me "feel fear". But, as soon as the character gets a weapon, he makes funny comments about it.

Because player characters automatically running away like a *cat* because they got scared is not a fun game mechanic

And if you don't believe him, please go (try to) play Lester the Unlikely.

[insightguy]

Because player characters automatically running away like a *cat* because they got scared is not a fun game mechanic

And if you don't believe him, please go (try to) play Lester the Unlikely.

...I was joking, I did not know that actually existed.

[Reactor]

Yes, of course I didn't want to go more in-depth about that Gamergate-brouhaha. IMHO it was something we Hungarians call "storm in a glass of water". Plus it'd derail the whole topic

Lester the Unlikely was an interesting concept, too bad the execution of the game was poor. It can be considered a cliché that all game protagonists - well, most of them - are intrepid fearless warriors, even if they're not (Gordon Freeman). Fear factor is something which is used within games very sparsely. Civilians always freak out when hearing explosions, gunshot, or seeing an enemy, but it is very uncommon for armed soldiers to do the same. X-com was on the right track, when adding a "morale" value to each and every character, therefore they can actually panic when morale drops, but this didn't seem to become popular. Maybe wildweasel could elaborate on this a little more?
On the other hand, fear factor in games is a good thing - it didn't become overused and stereotypical, so developers can freely utilize it in their projects.