Do Video Games Have to be Fun? - "We don't use the word 'fun'"

[Alcatraz]

If you don't think games should be fun, you fundamentally misunderstand the concept of video games in the first place. They are a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool.
For fucks sake, the literal definition of game is "a form of play or sport, especially a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength, or luck."


If the purpose of your game is to make you miserable, than it isn't a game anymore, it's just one of those interactive featurettes you used to see all the time on movie DVD's with the bonus content.

 

[Screw Danlon]

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

No but they need to be engaging, or at least have the not fun bits used carefully to convey a point. Going too far just leaves you apathetic to the product. The last part of RDR1 where you realize you’re walking into a firing squad is a good example.

 

[Sir Wesley Tailpipe]

No but they need to be engaging, or at least have the not fun bits used carefully to convey a point. Going too far just leaves you apathetic to the product. The last part of RDR1 where you realize you’re walking into a firing squad is a good example.

Another good example is the end of Final Fantasy: Crisis Core. Death is inevitable, it’s just a question of how many you take with you before they finish you off.

 

[AMHOLIO]

Games don't have to be fun but the developers shouldn't bitch at me if I don't want to buy it because of it.

"Nonfun" games are a niche market. I'm a fan of certain walking sims myself. Just getting pissy at people who don't fucking want them or don't want to pay 20$+ for a nonfun experience is the greatest problem imo. Gamers can be entitled but at least they're not badgering you for your money.

 

[Secret Asshole]

Ok, so with TLOU 2, this is a big thing. But everyone is looking at the wrong word.

'Fun' isn't the word we should be looking at. 'Engaging' is the word you're thinking of. Something can be fun and engaging, and something can be unfun but engaging. Whatever you are making, you should be absolutely fucking sure your audience can ENGAGE with it. Engage meaning I can lose myself in it, I don't care if it has good mechanics or not.

Spec Ops: The Line is the example of a game that isn't particularly fun, but its engaging. Meaning you're losing one thing, but lost in another.

Every piece of fiction, no matter what it is, what its message, should ALWAYS ALWAYS be engaging. It should strive to keep its audience in that experience. You should be hooked into it. Its a lot easier to engage with something if you're enjoying it, which is why depressing works and tragedies are very difficult to do correctly.

Entertainment, like games, don't always need to be fun. But they ALWAYS need to be engaging. TLOU 2 is neither fun nor engaging. Which is why it fails massively.

 

[The Husbando Collector]

I wouldn't necessarily say fun, but I would say they need to keep me interested and invested into what is going on. For example, Silent Hill 2 isn't a fun game in the sense of what many would consider a "fun game", but it is an interesting game that keeps you hooked and want to continue seeing it to the end.

Ultimately, I would say it depends on what kind of genre/story the game is and more importantly, if it can keep me wanting to continue playing it.

 

[Xerxes IX]

Ok, so with TLOU 2, this is a big thing. But everyone is looking at the wrong word.

'Fun' isn't the word we should be looking at. 'Engaging' is the word you're thinking of. Something can be fun and engaging, and something can be unfun but engaging. Whatever you are making, you should be absolutely fucking sure your audience can ENGAGE with it. Engage meaning I can lose myself in it, I don't care if it has good mechanics or not.

Spec Ops: The Line is the example of a game that isn't particularly fun, but its engaging. Meaning you're losing one thing, but lost in another.

Every piece of fiction, no matter what it is, what its message, should ALWAYS ALWAYS be engaging. It should strive to keep its audience in that experience. You should be hooked into it. Its a lot easier to engage with something if you're enjoying it, which is why depressing works and tragedies are very difficult to do correctly.

Entertainment, like games, don't always need to be fun. But they ALWAYS need to be engaging. TLOU 2 is neither fun nor engaging. Which is why it fails massively.

One could say TLOU 2 actively becomes unengaging. A lot of people like the beginning segment of the game well enough, but then get put off by having to play as Abby. The infamous "Abby beats Ellie and Dina to near-death" scene is from a fight where you play as the aggressor in that cutscene, brutally attacking characters that the game was previously following/developing. Sure, not everyone will be invested in Ellie and Dina's high school-tier romance, but the game clearly intends you to be. Then you play as Abby and nearly kill them, and the game really ramps up with the protagonist centered morality when it comes to Abby's actions.

I know Joel's death was basically one huge FUCK YOU to the people who liked him in the first game, but this fucking game gives you the finger for being engaged in the first few hours of it.

Spoiler: In conclusion.

BRAVO DRUCKMANN