We had an interesting lecture/discussion on wargames yesterday. A few of us (though admittedly, probably me more than anyone else) have been having some bad cases writer’s block on our blogs. Leaving learning processes and starting into wargames seems to have been enough to get discussion going again!
Attraction to Wargames
In class we were discussing wargames and what the attraction to this genre is. These games are generally more attractive to males than they are to females. I believe this is simply because they appeal to human traits which are stronger in men than women: those being the desire for power, and voyeurism.
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h3>Power
The desire for power is satisfied by conquering, through military or political means, human or AI enemies. There is a lot of satisfaction to be had when you’ve suffered great losses but manage to rally an offensive, perhaps with the assistance of an ally, to get revenge on and defeat the enemy responsible.
Guys love to feel power and I’m sure it’s the cause of many atrocities in human history including murder, rape, and war. By defeating enemies we can feel this sense of power. However the point I believe to be more attractive is voyeurism.
Voyeurism
Yesterday I was watching some gameplay videos of the unreleased Xbox 360 game “Gears of War 2″. It’s well-known as a seminal “dude’s game”, in which you play a beefy space marine and use projectile weapons (the designers say projectile weapons feel much meatier than lasers) to blast alien enemies into bloody chunks. We guys eat up this genre and the Gears of War designers are the experts of this genre. The feeling of power is also definitely there, but if you compare it to a game like Age of Empires, which doesn’t appeal much to the voyeur, it’s clear that there is an attraction to the gore and visual manifestations of pure testosterone.
In the video I watched, I noticed that I shouted “YEAH!!” out loud when Marcus (the player’s space marine character) blasted an alien’s face off with a weapon new to Gears of War 2. It’s the same feeling I got when I first watched Neo shoot the security guard in “The Lobby” scene of the Matrix. Or when watching Christian Bale’s “Gun-Kata” in “Equilibrium”. Or watching Jet Lee fight a literal mountain of bad guys at the end of “The One”. Or the car chase in Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof”. As a 20-year-old male, I really love watching this sort of thing.
And the Gears of War 2 developers know we love this. The love it too! A new feature in GoW2 allows you to hit a button when over an enemy on the ground to perform an execution. This doesn’t add any new functionality beyond allowing you see a badass animation (and humiliating your enemy through that animation if you’re in multiplayer).
The point I’m getting to is that this is a major element in games and explains why they’re so popular with teenage males. The Wii presents a library of games without these elements which appeal to people outside of this typical “gamer” or “hardcore gamer” demographic. However, I believe that this demographic (myself included as a member), have come to expect this sort of exhibitionism from games and our inner voyeur isn’t satisfied by watching Miis play with hula-hoops and would rather see a nano-suit enhanced soldier blow up an alien spaceship with a portable tactical nuclear device or something. (That was a Crysis reference, by the way.)
Types of Voyeurism
Though it’s easy to dismiss this voyeurism as just a taste for blood, I would argue that it goes deeper than that. To begin with (and admittedly, not going any deeper than the blood), there is the female figure. Puzzle-solving isn’t the only reason that Tomb Raider is popular with guys and if you walk down a street in Akihabara, Tokyo, the obsession with female characters among gamers becomes immediately apparent. Sure, it’s obvious that guys like “hot girls”, but it’s worth remembering that it’s a major attraction to many games. (Who’s played Half Life 2 and not fallen in love with tomboyish Alyx?)
Now, the deeper level: the graphics. One of the biggest complaints about the Wii from the “hardcore gamers” is the graphics. Games such as Crysis which use cutting-edge graphics technologies when released definitely have an appeal that’s not there with games, which may have similar gameplay but not as shiny a presentation. Crysis certainly wouldn’t have been as immersive without the graphics behind it. There is a great appreciation for this technology from the audience and a YouTube search will present you with buckets of videos demonstrating Crysis’s graphics. At one point in the game I was being chased but had to stop to look in awe at the moonbeams shining down through the jungle canopy overhead.
Other Appealing Characteristics of Wargames
Wargames do much more than satiate the sadist inside every male youth, but provide intellectual stimulation. If it’s a real-time strategy game, there is satisfaction to be had in problem-solving such as over-coming economic difficulties in your nation/base, or such as planning strategies of attack and defense. Or perhaps it’s the strong storyline in games like the Command and Conquer series that’s attractive. Or maybe the co-operative gameplay in games such as Halo. However attractive those aspects are though, I don’t believe that they’re as important to your average Xbox-playing, Family Guy-watching, 4chan-lurking, teenage male as the “coolness” of seeing your enemies die.
The success of the Wii demonstrates that games don’t have to fit the characteristics I’ve described to be successful, but I believe that to be successful to the demographic I’ve been talking about, it’s absolutely crucial to have the “voyeuristic thrill”. And wargames are the perfect platform to deliver that experience.
