MOBILE GAMING - IS THIS REALLY GAMING'S FUTURE?

author=Liberty
Does anyone really legitimately think gaming is immature or childish anymore?

No, that attitude doesn't exist anymore, really. You're right, it's definitely not the majority. A lot of people at this point have a console to mess around with, even if they only play the occasional Madden, Need for Speed, Mario, or Call of Duty. What you're seeing when you hear someone deride 'gaming', is less of 'playing video games' as a verb, and more of a derision of the trope of a person who plays video games all day (in addition to being a sedentary activity) at the exclusion of almost everything else in their life, which well, unfortunately still exists.

author=Ratty524
What Sooz is making fun of your post for is the fact that not only are microtransactions not unique to mobile gaming, but aren't inherently bad when you look at the examples where it has been used correctly.

First bit is correct, second bit not so much. My position is "Microtransactions are kind of suck, but are neither linked to mobile gaming inherently, nor a defining aspect of the medium." They are super prevalent right now, but I think that's more a facet of who's making and distributing the games than of the platform itself.

author=Liberty
Does anyone really legitimately think gaming is immature or childish anymore? I mean, people make money off it nowdays with Let's Plays on youtube and it's a lot more open to all ages - from children to adults. I very much doubt people still hold that attitude and if they do they're not the majority.

Um, yes, a LOT of people do, primarily because of what people think of as "gaming." There is still very much an attitude among the mainstream that the vidya are a sign of someone clinging to childhood comforts. Granted, a lot of that is coming from people who didn't really grow up with video games as a thing, but increasing popularity among the youth does not reflect an overall change among the mainstream. At least, not yet.

(See also: Every few years we get an article titled some variation of "Biff! Pow! Comics aren't just for kids anymore!")

Frankly, I see mobile gaming as a side-step thing - like arcade games and those poker sites. It's gimmicky, it's cheap and it's nasty but it won't replace console and PC gaming because there's a lot that can't be done on a mobile. . . .
So, yeah, I see them as more of a side-step instead of the next big thing... which is obviously VR.

I'm dubious of this statement, although I think it comes mostly from different perspectives on what "the next big thing" means.

VR is a big step in terms of the technology available, however it's a step that can only be embraced by the kind of person who has 1) the money to afford an expensive standalone toy and b) the time to make use of it. Increasingly, that is not the majority of people, at least in the US.

The same goes for the consoles: they're increasingly created and priced as luxury goods, designed primarily to vacuum money out of affluent players. With advances in computers, there isn't a whole lot that a console on its own can do that a decent desktop can't, and we're seeing that reflected in the current gen stuff trying to add extra components, making them closer to a computer in the first place.

Meanwhile, with mobiles, pretty much everyone has one- they're portable, super-useful, tiny computers. They offer things outside of just gaming, so they're a sound investment. But they also offer a stunning variety of game possibilities: all sorts of genres, all sorts of challenge levels, with a fairly low bar of entry, so creators who would have a lot of trouble making something for the console market can put out something for mobile easily. Additionally, most of the games themselves have a super-low (or even free!) price point, which makes it easier to amass a big collection.

There are technical limitations, of course, but I've always felt that the technology is much less important than the gameplay itself, and I think the boom in mobile gaming backs me up.

tl;dr: in terms of "cutting edge technology," consoles and VR are obviously ahead, but in terms of numbers, I think mobile's accessibility and price point make it far and away the winner in the race. I genuinely feel that consoles are probably on their way out for a variety of reasons, mostly just because they're not as practical, thus not a good choice for a growing majority of people who need to manage their budgets.

i think sooz means more the race of "people in general" and not "people who want to play a AAA game"... meaning afaik you two are in agreement. feel free to correct me =P

edit: another great commentary on sidestep gaming on mobile and such, and how useful it could be when combined with core gaming:


edit2: DESPITE THE NAME AND AMBIGUOUS TITLE FRAME, THIS IS NOT ABOUT GAMES WITH/ABOUT/BY TRANS* PERSONS, let's not do cheekbones again here

author=Sooz
How do you mean "like"?

Those particular games I've listed have huge, sometimes celebrity production value and massive, sweeping visuals and technical features that are synonymous with many people enjoying them at home in an entertainment center, in their room or in a living room. I'm not doubting mobile's ability to replicate that on a technical scale, but a lot of people just aren't going to be interested in trading in playing Fallout 4 or Halo 5 from their big ass TVs or monitors to a tiny mobile screen on a subway.

As increasingly broke as people are getting, a lot of people still have big TVs and an internet connection at home to enjoy those things, and for me and a lot of people, that is one of the biggest limitations to mobile gaming. Even if my cell phone were a supercomputer that could run ten instances of The Witcher at a time, I will literally never be interested in playing it peering into a tiny screen in a subway vice a larger TV/monitor and sound system from the comfort of my own home.

author=Sooz
I do think that it's more likely that mobile is where the popular, mainstream gaming world is headed- what's sneeringly called "casual gaming" in many circles- and that the AAA releases are more likely to end up a niche.

I don't think that's a silly observation by itself, but with the Scrooge McDuck vaults of cash that companies like Bioware and Rockstar are making from their AAA titles, I think that's a long way from now, if ever.

author=Sooz
I'm not arguing that AAA games are going away any time soon, just that it's not going to continue owning everything like it has for the past few decades.

We'll see! I'm open to that possibility, but I'd bet against it if it came down to a binary choice.

author=Sooz
Also "luxury items are making shitloads of money right now" is not really a great forecaster of future performance- see every single economic bubble ever. Shit, see Atari!

It's not a solid predictor, but rising trends are. A stockbroker is definitely going to advise someone to invest in the companies I mentioned above, of course alongside mobile gaming.

I'm not saying it's fullproof, but I see no evidence of that bubble bursting anything like the great video game crash that you mentioned before.

My opinion is, like PC and consoles, you have to know where to look to find the good ones. Also, since the hardware is limited, it makes sense that you can do less technical wonders with it. But as hardware for phones has improved, so has quality of games. It's no longer just Snake anymore, and it's only gonna get better as tech improves.

author=Ratty524

author=Kindredz
The feature that concerns me, yes...because that could end up being the future of all gaming. We're pretty much there, already...the most popular, successful games today(mobile or not) tend to include microtransactions.

If you know of any *popular* games that don't include them, then great.

What Sooz is making fun of your post for is the fact that not only are microtransactions not unique to mobile gaming, but aren't inherently bad when you look at the examples where it has been used correctly.

For the most part, I agree with Craze's post in that the mobile platform isn't really at a point where most game genres can be viably recreated for it.

A good point brought up is how difficult it is to even find games on the platform. I don't even know anyone who does LPs of mobile games.

He was making fun? Oh...didn't realize that was a child that responded to me. My apologies.

Microtransactions not being unique to mobile gaming...I actually brought that point up. I do see that I wasn't very clear in explaining the problem. You can come home and turn on your computer/console and play whatever game you want...your cell/tablet, however, is usually with you all of the time. If you haven't played it in a while, it will remind you. It'll interrupt your phone calls, your work, your day...everything. It's invasive.

Again, I'm a bit older now than I was when I first got into rpg making(even older than I was when I first started posting here years ago) so maybe my perspective is different. In my away time, I got married, became a father, and was able to live a good life that I'm not seeing other so-called "gamers" doing. Late twenties, early 30s with the maturity, lifestyle, and mindset of a teenager...that is not a good thing. Who am I to judge, though? It's not like many gamers would actually accomplish something meaningful if they *didn't* give all of their waking moments to a game that someone else created...or maybe they would...? You'll never know until you get sense enough to control your own life.