Gaming Balance is an interesting topic that Neilen brings up in chapter 5 and i feel its important because it applies to gamers of all ages and styles. Gamers tend to purchase games that not only appeal to them visually but challenge them as well (or at least have the option to change the difficulty). I havent played a video game with really bad balance, but i feel that game enhancers/codes/cheats are ways to manipulate and change the the gameplay into your favor. For example, when i was younger i used to play Pokemon Red/Blue version on my gameboy color and disliked battling anyone who had a gameshark because you already knew that all of their pokemon were supercharged. Do you think game cheats and codes disrupt the gaming balance?
A game that I feel has excellent game balance is Skate for the Xbox 360. This game has great use of geography and represents the idea of freestyle skating very well. The rules in the game consist of slightly complex controls, but the game has lots of virtual space to skate in plus missions throughout the game to complete.
Pokemon is a great example of gaming balance! I think the game is very fair because once your pokemon is disadvantaged, you can always change it to a different one. It is also the reason why people keep all kinds of pokemon in terms of attribution.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think game cheats/codes should be considered as player's personal preference as long as it is a single play game. Of course, in MMO games, cheats shouldn't be allowed since it breaks the balance between players. Cheats/codes do disrupt the gaming balance from the perspective of the designer of the game, but if cheats/codes can boost gaming experience of the player, balance apsect doesn't really matter after all.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with the fact that Pokemon has an excellent game balance. When I was little, me and my friends used to play Pokemon Yellow Version on Gameboy Advance Console. By the way, Pokemon yellow is an original pokemon game where Pikachu is a main character along with Ash Ketchum. One time my friend challenged me for a pokemon battle. He had pokemons that are all level 99 whereas mine are not even close to that level. At first I actually believed he played a lot to reach that level, but, later, when I realized he used the Cheat/codes I quit playing Pokemon game. The reason was that it is no longer a fair game because it has the cheat/code feature. I personally think that any games with cheat/codes are unbalanced and unfair. Therefore, I think most of the MMO games are good examples of successful gaming balance.
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