Social Platypus

Opinion Why we play games part 2; The ideal self By Josiah Sapp Everyone has something about themselves they would want to change. Whether it be physical, emotional or psychological there are pieces of ourselves that we wish could be different. On the flipside, we all have strengths that we can confidently claim as familiar territory. In the world of entertainment, pieces of content (movies, shows, games, books) are designed from the ground up to grab the attention of the widest group possible. Every show you watch or game you play, has a roster of characters that you may or may not identify with. The ones you don’t identify with tend to be the characters you care less about and aren’t worried if they’ll make it to another season or sequel. However, the characters we do identify with are the ones that we root for and are moved to tears when they make a heroic sacrifice. Why do we care so much about fictional characters? We know they’re not real and that we’re never going

Opinion Why we play games; Experiencing the impossible. By Josiah Sapp     I find it interesting to step back and to not only observe the world around me but to also ask why the world is the way it is. What compels people to do what they do? What are all the ways we communicate with each other? Why are cultural norms different across countries? It’s fun and enlightening to ask big questions but the answers aren’t always what they first appear to be. This post starts a three week journey into one of those big questions. Why do we play games? The answer to that question is varied and broad. It depends on all manner of factors including age, race, culture, lifestyle, and gender to name a few. In recent years, researchers have found that there’s a lot that goes on in our brains when we play video games.     In a brief description, gaming is a form of entertainment. A type of media that people pay for and consume much like movies, music, tv shows, books and comi

Opinion Mods not microtransactions: How to keep players engaged. By Josiah Sapp     Players invest a lot of their time and money in games that they believe in. We want the best experience for the investment. Developers and publishers make a living because we spend money on their product and spend time in their creation. It’s a highly competitive market and the tactics are cut throat. If a studio isn’t on top of the gaming trends, they get shut down or reallocated elsewhere. That’s why we get stories like Visceral studios being disbanded and their projects getting canceled. What they were working on, in theory, wasn’t being developed in line with future trends of the marketplace. Studios want their customers to return to their game while spending money on extra content. The avenue in which developers have achieved this retention and spending is through paid DLC and microtransactions to varying degrees of success. It seems, however, that all games are doomed to be in thi

 Opinion Difficult video games: The resurgence of punishing gameplay  By Josiah Sapp     Games are fun right? They’re made to be enjoyed by an individual, a collective group or an entire community. People play games for all kinds of reasons. High score chase, a means to relax, or even to escape into a whole other world. Recently, however, a specific style of gaming has emerged over the past few years and it’s not the kind that first catch your attention. Difficult games have been on the rise and there are no signs of slowing down this community. These aren’t just difficult titles. They’re punishing. Brutal. So frustratingly hard that it will have you question why you’re playing it even after you’ve tried the same task for hours. Why do gamers put themselves through this torture? The history of challenging games is in our DNA and in the genealogy of game design.  Dragon's Lair Death Screen     Pick out any arcade title from the 1

Opinion Video games have stronger nostalgic driven experiences By Josiah Sapp     Nostalgia is a tricky thing to pin down. You don’t really know what it is about a specific memory that brings about a fond feeling. It could be a certain smell of perfume that brings you back to your grandma’s house or how a song has more weight depending on who you were with the first time you listened to it. Nostalgia is incredibly powerful and highly marketable. Just the other day, I was watching a football game with my family and a life insurance commercial came on playing some old school rock & roll. Once the commercial ended, my dad says that the product was directed straight at him because it was a song and style of music he used to listen to growing up. The commercial succeeded in grabbing his attention by playing nostalgic music. In video games, the main demographic are just now getting old enough to experience nostalgia . Game developers are exploiting that and they’ve got us hook,

Opinion The climate of the gaming marketplace: What EA closing Visceral studios means for games. By Josiah Sapp      The gaming industry is still very young and has plenty of growing pains to endure. It’s already been saved once from an absolute crash back in 1983 and has seen it’s fair shares of innovative brilliance and outlandish flops. But where is the industry today? More importantly, where is it heading? In the past several years we’ve seen trends take root in the industry like the MOBA or hero shooter. We’ve also seen new tech that was supposed to “revolutionize gaming” but fell apart due to lack of imagination and support. Something that I didn’t see coming, however, is the dismantling of a founding pillar of the gaming world. The single player experience.     Some of the best and most groundbreaking video games were designed to be played by a single player. A straightforward linear progression with a beginning and end where the adven

Review Destiny 2: Looks great from a distance but gets messy the closer you get. By Josiah Sapp     Destiny has prided itself on being a jack of all trades. So naturally there is a lot to do and lot to cover when you think about reviewing it. I’ve given this game a solid month of time to stew and settle into my brain as to what it’s trying to accomplish. Giving Destiny a final score only a week out from release seems too quick especially since Bungie released a road map showing a month’s worth of content. The raid, faction rally event, trials of the nine and iron banner were all released within a month. So here’s how my review of Destiny 2 is going to work; I’ve comprised three lists. What I enjoyed, tolerated and what frustrated me about the game. D2 gets a lot right upon entry into the world but once you get into the nitty gritty of the mechanics, it get’s messy really quick. Enjoyed     Let’s start off with some positivity! Destiny 2 is absolutely gorgeous

Opinion Microtransactions: An old concept that needs clarification By Josiah Sapp     In today’s world, we’re constantly being sold something. Insurance, clothes, jewelry, new tech. It’s impossible to browse the internet without someone trying to grab your attention and give you a sales pitch. We’ve come to accept this type of advertising as normal in our society. It’s something we just deal with and if something catches our fancy, then we’ll buy it but if it doesn’t pertain to us then we don’t give it a second thought. Microtransactions in video games are no different than normal ads but they get under our skin somehow. The idea that a game (either free or paid for) has smaller transactions built within the game has somehow crossed the line. Why is that different than any other advertisement we encounter in the world? For most people, it feels forced.     Microtransactions have proven to be a very lucrative business strategy whether it’s done well or not