Last November I attended the Montreal International Games Summit, essentially a smaller version of the GDC. Among the many interesting talks, there was one called “How to Help Your Players Stop Saving All the Time” by Randy Smith, a designer working for EA LA. It was quite informative, going into great depth into the psychological impulse that makes players save their games often and how to limit that impulse so players don’t break their immersion by saving all the time.
I think Randy Smith missed the obvious: players should never save.
At least not manually. The act of manually saving — even if it’s just pressing F5 for a quick-save — breaks the fourth wall. It forces the player out of the game at least long enough for him to think “this is just a game, I’d better save to avoid any problems” — long enough to break the pace and tension of the situation.
Anyway, the designer knows much better than the player what’s coming ahead. I hate it when I forget to save for a while, then die because of some unexpected rise in difficulty, only to have to lose 15 minutes getting back to where I was. Since the designer knows what’s coming up, it makes sense if he’s the one to decide when to save instead of me.
I think automatic saving should be standard by now. It certainly has become more common place, but even major games like Mass Effect put checkpoints so far from each other that prudent players are forced out of the game regularly to save manually. Checkpoints should be common enough players don’t have to ever think about saving — even if they close the console at some random time during the level, the action should restart close to his last location.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I keep reading posts in forums or blogs talking about so-called “immersion” and, though I’ve been a gamer since Pong, I don’t *ever* recall being so immersed in the game that I forget I’m playing a game. A novel, yes I can get immersed in the story, in the characters and time flies by without realizing it. The same with some very well-made movies that may stretch the 3+ hour mark but I’m so engaged that the movie is over before I know that much time has passed.
But at no point during my gaming history, both PC and console, have I ever been so engaged in the game that I forget I’m sitting at a computer desk in my office (or on my couch with a console controller). People complain “boo hoo, loading screens break my immersion,” or “boo hoo, instances break my immersion,” or now “boo hoo, manual game saving breaks my immersion,” when… be serious… are you *truly* that engaged or immersed in the game that you forget reality?
Ironically, those same people are the ones who will play Vanguard (no instances or loading screens) with modern rock/metal MP3’s playing as background music. Ok… high fantasy game with Metallica or Led Zeppelin… and that’s supposed to be immersion? /rolleyes
I’ve had plenty of fun, entertaining, and interesting game play that kept me going for hours on end, but interesting != immersion in my book, and I feel that is a not-so-fine line many people don’t separate between the two.
Simply from a convenience standpoint, I agree however with the basic gist of your article: keep track of our progress automatically so we can return to it at any point without having to be bothered with manually doing it. Totally in favor of that.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Well, I’d say that the fact some people, like you, have a harder becoming immersed in games is a case for working harder at it — and making saving automatic is a small step in that direction
January 25th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
Until we can ‘jack into the matrix’ or have a true virtual reality style gaming experience, I doubt there will ever be a true sense of immersion in gaming.
But I’m often accused of splitting hairs, so perhaps my definition of immersion is different than everyone else’s?
Right now, I’m just waiting for more *engaging* and *interesting* and *FUN* game play mechanics. I suspect those qualities are what people refer to when they say “immersion.”
January 25th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
While playing Thief, I once actually held my breath to not attract the attention of a nearby guard (and felt very silly about it afterward). So yes, some people do really get immersed in games!
January 28th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I’ve always been a fan of automated saving and was glad the last game I worked on included them.
However part of the PS3/X360 TRC requires text/icons to flash up when this happens. Even that is just enough to kill the immersion, unfortunately.