bgp 宣告_电子游戏宣告悲伤的五个阶段

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Avengers characters looking sad.
Square Enix
Square Enix公司

Remember when video game announcements were fun? I’ve found myself watching new game announcements closely, looking for signs that this game uses a “freemium” or pay to win model that has a ton of microtransactions added on (sometimes in addition to a purchase price), or a live service grind-a-thon designed to regurgitate content for years and sucker players into buying loot boxes or battle passes.

还记得视频游戏公告很有趣的时候吗? 我发现自己密切注视着新游戏的发布,寻找迹象表明该游戏使用“免费增值”或付费来赢得模型,该模型上添加了大量微交易(有时除了购买价格外),或者有实时服务 -a-thon旨在反省内容多年,吸引玩家购买战利品盒或战斗通行证。

It’s exhausting. following the news for PC gaming and playing on the Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch is now a minefield of monetization. There are still a few high-profile titles that want to stick to the classic formula, pay once and get the whole experience. The Last of Us 2  on PlayStation 4,  is a good example. But they’re becoming the exception.

好累 关注PC游戏以及在Xbox,PlayStation和Switch上玩游戏的新闻,如今已成为获利的雷区。 仍然有一些高知名度的游戏想要坚持经典的惯例,一次支付并获得全部体验。 PlayStation 4上的Last of Us 2是一个很好的例子。 但是它们正在成为例外。

More often I see something that looks initially promising, like Marvel’s Avengers, only to realize over the months between announcement and release that this is another live service. A game that publishers want to build once, then update with tiny revisions, trying to get you to pay a little extra for it each time. They’re coming in different flavors now, but all with the same goal: minimize the ratio of development cost to long-tail revenue earned. An infinite L-curve is the desired result.

我经常看到Marvel的《复仇者联盟》等最初看起来很有前途的东西,但直到发布和发布之间的几个月间,我才意识到这是另一项实时服务 。 发行商想要制作一次的游戏,然后进行细微的修订,以使您每次为此付出一点额外的钱。 它们现在具有不同的口味,但是所有目标都是相同的:将开发成本与获得的长尾收入的比率最小化。 无限的L曲线是理想的结果。

So to categorize these feelings, I’ve developed what I call the Five Stages of Video Game Announcement Grief. No, it’s not original. I’m not even claiming that it’s helpful. But on the principle that a burden shared is a burden halved, I’ve decided to share it with you.

因此,为了对这些感受进行分类,我开发了所谓的视频游戏宣告悲伤的五个阶段。 不, 这不是原始的 。 我什至不声称它会有所帮助。 但是,按照负担分担减半的原则,我决定与您分担。

No need to thank me.

不用谢我。

第一阶段:兴奋 (Stage One: Excitement)

What’s that? A new game in your favorite series? Maybe a new intellectual property from a developer that you’ve loved for years? Or just a new something that looks cool and interesting, a game that’s different and captivating in an exciting way?

那是什么? 您喜欢的系列中的新游戏? 也许是您多年来喜爱的开发人员提供的新知识产权? 还是只是一个看起来很酷又有趣的新事物,一个与众不同且令人兴奋的游戏?

Still from a Fallout 76 commercial
Bethesda
贝塞斯达

It might be a new Fallout game! Or a revitalized classic, like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare or Crash Team Racing! It might be something from a legendary developer, introduced in a breathless reveal as an undeniable milestone of a generation, like Bioware’s Destiny Anthem.

可能是新的《辐射》游戏! 或重新焕发活力的经典作品,例如《 使命召唤:现代战争》《速成赛车队》! 这可能是来自**开发人员的东西,它像生物制品公司(Bioware) 命运 国歌。

Wonderful! The video game industry needs innovation, as both PC and console gamers crave novelty (or at least claim that they do). Surely this exciting new announcement—maybe at E3, or GDC, or a smaller event like a Nintendo Direct—means you have something nice to look forward to while you play your favorite games for the third or fourth time through.

精彩! 视频游戏行业需要创新,因为PC和主机游戏玩家都渴望获得新颖性(或至少声称他们确实如此)。 当然,这个激动人心的新公告-可能是在E3或GDC上,或者是在Nintendo Direct之类的较小规模的活动上-意味着您在第三次或第四次玩自己喜欢的游戏时会期待着一些美好的事情。

第二阶段:怀疑 (Stage Two: Suspicion)

But wait. There’s something sinister in the air. Why is the developer claiming that they’re going to support this game for 10 years or more? Even most of the best multiplayer games don’t last that long in terms of active development. Why would a game company even want to make the same game for a decade anyway?

可是等等。 空气中有些险恶的东西。 为什么开发者声称他们将支持此游戏10年或更长时间 ? 就积极开发而言,即使是大多数最佳的多人游戏也不能持续这么长时间。 为什么一家游戏公司甚至想制作相同的游戏十年?

Then you see it. A focus on multiplayer or co-op in a game that doesn’t really need it. A new format—say, a persistent online world like Fallout 76 or a shooter-looter where you’re expected to grind with a party. A system of online competition injected into a game that’s all about story—capturing and fighting Tolkien’s orcs as if they were Pokemon, for example. What’s that doing there, and why is it so prominently featured in this gameplay announcement?

然后您看到它。 专注于真正不需要的多人游戏或合作游戏。 一种新的格式,例如,持续不断的在线世界,例如Fallout 76,或者是一个射击抢劫者,希望您可以与某个派对打成一片。 一种在线竞争系统注入了一个全都是故事的游戏中,例如像托克恩的宠物小精灵那样捕获并与托尔金的兽人作战。 那是怎么回事,为什么它在本玩法公告中如此突出?

Avengers cosmetic upgrades
Square Enix
Square Enix公司

Why is everything quantified, with RPG-style progression in a game series that used to rely on more pure action? What’s with the tons and tons of cosmetics, broken up into a dozen different subcategories, including things like interface tweaks and hats that only other players ever see? Why has this sports franchise that’s been running for decades suddenly turned into a management simulator, where you have to buy your players with fake money using in-game currency (bought with real money) that feels suspiciously like gambling?

为什么在过去依靠更加纯粹的动作的游戏系列中, 一切都是以RPG风格进行量化的一堆又一堆的化妆品又分成了十几个不同的子类别,包括界面调整和帽子这样的东西,只有其他玩家才能看到? 为什么已经经营了数十年的这项运动特许经营突然变成了管理模拟器,您必须在其中使用感觉像是赌博的可游戏货币(用真钱购买)用假钱购买球员?

Why does this game suddenly seem less like the game it’s supposed to be, and more like … well, more like every other game tentpole game coming out of the AAA industry?

为什么这款游戏突然看起来不像它应该的那样,而更像是……嗯,更像是所有其他来自AAA行业的游戏性触手游戏?

第三阶段:愤怒 (Stage Three: Anger)

Money. The answer is, almost exclusively, money.

钱。 答案几乎是金钱。

Assassin’s Creed turned from an action game with instant assassinations to an action-RPG with upgradable gear and bullet sponge enemies. Fallout 76 tried to turn a series famously dedicated to single player—where loneliness was part of the game’s very setting—into an empty map for online multiplayer and a recurring charge. Bioware shifted from making engaging single-player RPGs to building an obvious and unappealing clone of Destiny. All in the service of chasing a “live” model that needs players to pay again and again to get the latest piecemeal content. After all, a similar structure has worked in mobile games for years.

刺客信条从具有即时暗杀的动作游戏变为具有可升级装备和子弹海绵敌人的动作角色扮演游戏。 尘余生76》试图将一系列专门针对单人游戏的游戏(寂寞是游戏设定的一部分)变成在线多人游戏的空白地图,收取经常性费用。 Bioware已从制作引人入胜的单人RPG转变为构建明显且无吸引力的Destiny克隆 所有这些都是在追求“实时”模式的服务,该模式需要玩家一次又一次付费才能获得最新的零碎内容。 毕竟,类似的结构已经在手机游戏中使用了多年。

Rocket League cosmetic purchases.

That’s why so many games now have a Fortnite-style battle pass, where an infinity of quantified loot can be more efficiently obtained with ten bucks every other month? These systems even being injected into older (but still popular) games, like Rocket League.

这就是为什么现在有如此多的游戏拥有Fortnite风格的战斗通行证,而每隔一个月可以花10美元更有效地获得无限数量的战利品的原因? 这些系统甚至被注入了诸如Rocket League之类的较早(但仍很流行)的游戏中

Game developers and publishers have seen a few examples of success in established mega-games—Fortnite, FIFA, Overwatch, DOTA, Destiny—and tried to apply the same patterns and formulas to more or less every game. Even games that have no real business accommodating them, like Grand Theft Auto or Ghost Recon.

游戏开发商和发行商已经看到了一些在大型大型游戏中取得成功的例子,例如《 堡垒之夜》,《 FIFA》,《守望先锋》,《 DOTA》,《命运》等 ,并试图将相同的模式和公式应用于或多或少的每款游戏。 即使是没有真正生意的游戏也可以容纳,例如侠盗猎车手幽灵行动。

If that doesn’t make you angry, either you’re too young to remember when this wasn’t the status quo, or you’re rich enough that buying your games in pieces for years at a time isn’t something that impacts your budget. In either case, publishers absolutely love you.

如果这没有使您生气,或者您还太年轻以至于无法记住当时的现状,或者您足够有钱,以至于连续数年购买零碎游戏都不会影响您预算。 无论哪种情况,出版商都绝对爱你。

第四阶段:失望 (Stage Four: Disappointment)

Ten years ago, a game like Marvel’s Avengers would come out and be more or less finished, possibly with a DLC package added on a month or two later. Once the game had been completed, perhaps ported to another game console or PC or repackaged in a Game of the Year Edition, the developers would move on. Maybe they’d make a sequel, or apply what they’d learned to something new.

十年前,像《 漫威复仇者联盟》这样的游戏问世,并且或多或少都完成了,可能在一两个月后添加DLC包。 一旦游戏完成,也许移植到另一个游戏机或PC上,或重新包装为年度游戏版,开发人员便会继续前进。 也许他们会制作续集,或者将他们学到的东西应用于新事物。

Screenshot from Anthem
EA
EA

It wouldn’t come out with years and years of character upgrades planned, each one attached to a $10 battle pass for unlocking all of the extra goodies. It wouldn’t be built as a conceptual frame onto which more content would later be nailed, like Anthem or Evolve. It wouldn’t be the barest hint of an interactive medium that asks you to buy the rest of it in pieces. It wouldn’t be designed as an interactive roadmap for profit instead of experience.

它不会随着计划的升级和升级而出现,每个升级都附带一张10美元的通行证,用于解锁所有额外的物品。 它不会作为一个概念框架构建,以后会AnthemEvolve那样钉上更多的内容 。 这并不是要求您分批购买其余部分的交互式媒介的最巧妙的暗示。 它不会被设计为互动的路线图,而不是经验来获取利润。

It would just be a game. A game that you paid for and then played and then were finished with—or not, if you really wanted to dig into it. But the choice was made by the player, not by an executive demanding that their company build the next multi-billion-dollar sensation by resurrecting the corpse of the last one.

这只是一个游戏。 您付费购买然后玩了,然后完成的游戏,如果您真的想深入研究,那就不可以。 但是选择是由玩家做出的,而不是由高管要求的,他们要求他们的公司通过复活最后一个人的尸体来创造下一个数十亿美元的轰动。

第五阶段:辞职 (Stage Five: Resignation)

We’re in the era of the live service game, friends. There are exceptions to this, of course, mostly coming from smaller developers and indies (with a few happy exceptions like Ghost of Tsushima). But for any game big enough to be advertised during an NFL broadcast, you can expect to pay sixty (or seventy) dollars for a fairly spare experience, chopped up so that you can pay for the rest of the pieces one at a time.

朋友们,我们处于实时服务游戏时代。 当然,也有例外,其中大多数来自较小的开发人员和独立开发者(有一些令人高兴的例外,例如Tsushima的Ghost )。 但是,对于任何足以在NFL广播期间进行广告宣传的游戏,您都可以期望支付六十( 或七十 )美元来获得相当闲暇的游戏体验,并且将其砍倒,以便一次可以支付其余的游戏。

Ghost Recon in-app purchases
Ubisoft
育碧

It wasn’t always like this, no, but there’s no indication that the trend will reverse anytime soon. A generation of mobile gamers is now old enough to afford and enjoy more rich games  (in both the literal and figurative sense) on the PC and consoles. The idea of paying small bits of money for the kind of rewards that used to be built into games has been cemented into the brains of a lot of players. Gamers who paid an extra dollar to unlock a few lives in Candy Crush last decade see no fundamental problem in paying an extra ten dollars to get a “battle pass” now.

并非总是这样,不是,但是没有迹象表明这种趋势很快就会逆转。 现在,一代的手机游戏玩家已经足够老了,他们可以在PC和游戏机上负担和享受更多丰富的游戏(无论是字面意义还是象征意义)。 为游戏内置的那种奖励支付少量金钱的想法已经扎根在许多玩家的脑海中。 过去十年中,为支付《 Candy Crush》中的几条生命而支付了额外费用的游戏玩家,现在根本不需支付额外的10美元即可获得“战斗通行证”。

It’s not everyone—if you clicked on this article, it’s probably not you. But it’s a large enough chunk of players that publishers are absolutely frothing to get those potential dollars, and building games with 100 million dollar budgets around them. After seeing what happened to Fallout 76, and even to Fallout 4 to some extent, I’m looking forward to hearing more about The Elder Scrolls VI with equal parts anticipation and dread.

不是所有人—如果您单击本文,可能不是您。 但这是一个足够大的玩家群体,发行商绝对会为获得这些潜在的收入而感到沮丧,并制作预算在1亿美元左右的游戏。 在看到Fallout 76甚至在Fallout 4发生了什么之后,我期待着听到有关Elder Scrolls VI的更多内容, 而他们的期望和恐惧程度都很高。

I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop on TESV6. 

我正在等待另一双鞋穿上TESV6。

There are still plenty of indie games that are a complete experience, right out of the box, and remain so. You can find dozens of them released every year. And they’re great, especially if you’re not the kind of gamer who craves that big shiny 3D action experience. But any game that gets big enough will be sought out by someone bigger—like Microsoft gobbled up Minecraft, like Epic gobbled up Rocket League.

仍然有很多独立游戏可以提供完整的体验,而且仍然保持原样。 您可以找到每年发行的数十个版本 。 而且它们很棒,特别是如果您不是那种渴望获得如此闪亮的3D动作体验的游戏玩家。 但是,任何游戏,获得足够大的将被人找到了更大的-像微软吞噬了我的世界 ,像史诗吞噬了火箭联赛

The usual refrain at this point is “vote with your wallet.” But to be honest, that isn’t really a solution. Enough people have been conditioned to keep paying for games that it simply won’t change any time soon. Not every live service game that swings for the fences of infinite profit will succeed. But enough of them will be successful, to a large enough degree, that this pattern will stay etched in the industry for years to come.

此时通常避免使用“用钱包投票”。 但老实说,这并不是真正的解决方案。 足够多的人已经习惯于继续为游戏付费,而这种游戏根本不会很快改变。 并非所有为无限利润而战的现场服务游戏都会成功。 但是,它们中的许多将在很大程度上获得成功,以至于这种模式将在未来的几年中在业界留下深刻的印象。

That’s the industry we live with. You can try to avoid it, and even succeed for a while. But eventually it’ll claim your favorite franchise or developer, and throw it onto the live service altar. Your choices are to pay the tithe (and keep paying and paying) or find something else to play. Again.

这就是我们赖以生存的行业。 您可以尝试避免这种情况,甚至可以成功一段时间。 但最终它将获得您最喜欢的专营权或开发人员,并将其扔到实时服务平台上。 您的选择是支付十分之一(并继续支付和支付)或找到其他玩法。 再次。

翻译自: https://www.reviewgeek.com/52928/the-five-stages-of-video-game-announcement-grief/

bgp 宣告