Remember the Library in Halo? grrr
What would a “perfect” video game look like? No matter what genre and plot, it almost certainly does not include a plot point or level that makes you want to give up. Yet it seems that very frequently, even major developers release games that contain points that are so frustrating, it just plain makes us want to give up. From an incredibly difficult level to a monotonously boring stretch, even very popular games sometimes seem to take away our will to play.
When I was in high school, one of my favorite games to play was Ultima VIII. Usually thought of as the black sheep of the Ultima series, VIII was my favorite installment precisely because it broke away from the familiar Brittania setting. Yet I very nearly didn’t finish the game. On my first play-though attempt, I stopped about halfway through, defeated by the catacombs. The catacombs levels are an incredibly monotonous section of the game, taking up nearly half of my play time.
Ultima VIII’s frustration point was mental. I just didn’t have the will to play after spending a while in the catacombs section. Another type of frustration that often causes players to give up is physical: sometimes the game just gets too difficult.
My wife and I have been playing through Super Mario Galaxy together. Since we are both completionists, we didn’t simply stop at “saving the princess.” We decided to complete the entire game. This requires collecting 120 stars—that is, defeating 120 levels. We are four levels from completing the game, and we can’t get any further. “Luigi’s Purple Coins,” a level that requires the player to collect purple coins while the map vanishes under Mario’s feet, just seems to be an order of magnitude more difficult than the previous levels.
I’m willing to admit that you could chalk both instances up to the player’s fault. Perhaps I did get bored too quickly with Ultima VIII, and it’s just as likely that I’m just not skilled enough to beat the Luigi level in Super Mario Galaxy. Both cases, however, can be seen as examples of bigger problems in game design.
I believe Ultima VIII’s catacombs suffered from a lack of play-testing. Some extra feedback from players may have resulted in a little extra variety being added to the levels, breaking up a string of endless gray pixels. Mario Galaxy’s “Luigi’s Purple Coins” may not have been as much of an extra challenge if the levels prior scaled up in difficulty more evenly to lead into the incessant leaping required to capture the purple coins as the level vanishes beneath Mario’s feet.
Why do we see such examples of games that make the player want to stop? Is it a problem stemming from too little playtesting? Or just an unhappy accident? Ideally, such frustration points would never be written into games, but in reality all these examples are drawn from games that I have enjoyed very much. It’s an encouraging sign that despite these perceived flaws, our games continue to entertain so much. We may end up frustrated at times, but it doesn’t become a dealbreaker. What are some of your favorite frustration points?
Ed. note: Just to rub it in, Rob 😀
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