Post
by Armitace » 25 May 2011 14:26
I think that the problem that many people are pointing towards, is a part of the 'grass is greener' syndrome.
Having more stats and more titles was introduced for a reason - to solve a problem. That problem was that people were getting bored with the game, feeling that they had solved it and had nothing left to really go forward with. Leaving a game in frustration can often be temporary (although, its never good either) as they might one day decide to come back and master a challenge that had beaten them. Leaving a game because of boredom, is forever. People do not go back and spend time on games that have become boring to them.
The death penalty issue, I think this is a very relevant issue in todays game. When I first started playing Genesis in the early 90's, I was a kid just starting university, living in a town far away from my family, and as a result I had a ton of extra time on my hands. Some friends I had met, had just found this game and started playing it, so I had fun and joined the group. Now I am a husband, a father of three young children, and I have a responsibility to bring home a paycheque to support the wife and children in question. The recovery time of a death is not chronological, it is based upon how much playing time you can invest into it. Since my time for a game is considerably less, the impact of a death would be much greater on someone like myself overall - an obstacle that is unlikely to ever be overcome.
The problems are not intrinsic to the game, or the death penalty, or the stat and title levels, it is just that we see something we think we like about the things we don't have, or the things we used to have.
In the end however, the reality is that there are always problems to be solved, and unless the problem is 2 + 2, these problems do not have absolute solutions which do not create new problems. Overcoming these new problems with new solutions, which in turn create other new problems - is our evolution. And I believe it is a good thing, so long as we can keep finding those new solutions.