High Dynamic Range Lying

It’s difficult to suggest and substantiate that single player RPGs are not fun. It’s near impossible to prove that single player action games like Devil may Cry or God of War are not fun. That would be a downright lie. Single player games have been a staple of my gaming diet for close to 20 years. Why then, am I starting to question their validity, after they’ve treated me so well for so long?

Gears of War, Epic Games’ magnum opus, which was under development for years on the PC platform under the moniker Unreal Warfare, has a prominent feature that isn’t that common in games these days: co-operative play. It’s a mystery as to why co-op has been missing from action games for so long, after a surge of co-operative heavy titles on the Super Nintendo in the early 90’s. When first person shooters became popular in the mid 90’s, the multiplayer zeitgeist turned to competition. Deathmatch was favored over co-operative team work. The only semblance of team work reared its head in capture the flag games, where competition still existed within the team, to get more captures or kills than fellow teammates.

Games that supported co-op were in the minority, and when it was supported, it was usually lacking the same feature set as competitive matches. When Halo 2 launched for the Xbox, fans were hoping that along with a full online competitive arena, the game would offer co-operative play over Xbox Live. It was not to be, and co-op remained in split screen hell.

Recently, co-op has gained popularity in the eyes of action gamers again, and the feature set for Gears of War (as well as other titles) reflects that. Midway’s 2006 release, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, a two player action game that capitalized on team attacks and combos, showed players that co-operative play was far from dead. Action sequences in the game required that players work together, and even rewarded players for coordinating attacks properly.

What makes co-operative gaming so entertaining, though? What is it about enjoying a game with a group of friends that makes the game that much more fun? The answer may lie in the concept of a pack animal.

Studies show that humans, like wolves, dogs, rats, and other animals, are indeed pack animals. Everything2.com explains the phenomenon as such:

People are designed to live in packs. There is speculation that our brains are the size that they are just so we can cope with our social position to each individual in a group — the brain size of animals scales linearly with the size of the packs that they roam in. From this scale, humans are ideally suited to live in groups of one hundred and fifty people.

Funnily enough, this is the basic size of a platoon in the Army. It’s the point at which a small company becomes a large company with hierarchy. It’s the point where people stop being your neighbours and become strangers. Basically, it’s the point you stop knowing everyone.

The old adage “no man is an island,” comes to mind. Every human needs others to truly be happy. After relating my excellent co-op experience playing Gears of War with my neighbor, a good friend uttered simple but sound advice: “Co-op makes every game better.” Who am I to argue in that regard?

I derive my enjoyment with others from sharing ideas, jokes, thoughts, beliefs and even hobbies. I love playing card games, board games, and even pen and paper games, when my nerd streak shines through. What really makes co-operative such a great experience, is the way I interact with that friend in the situation.

Many gamers living in college dorms have probably experienced the phenomenon of communal gaming. When playing games like Devil May Cry or even Biohazard (known as Resident Evil in the US), that are entirely single player, sometimes friends that aren’t necessarily gamers sit down to watch the game in action. Soon, they become entranced in the action, invested in the character, and physically connected to the world; all without ever touching the controller. They begin to bark orders to the player, offer advice on how to solve a puzzle, and even alert the player to dangers they may not have noticed otherwise.

Communal gaming, especially in an environment of like minded individuals, is proof that co-operative gameplay really makes every game better. Each person engaged in the process has their own advantages and disadvantages, their own neuroses and fears, preferences and pet peeves. Successful console games recently seem to hit upon a variety of different sub genres, including puzzle, RPG, and sometimes even sports. In a communal gaming setting, you might find a person with the ability to surmount a particularly difficult obstacle for the player, purely because of a differing perspective, or strength.

In that sense, proper co-operative gameplay adds a layer of strategy and communication to a game that might otherwise not exist. In the case of AI partners, programmers often don’t bestow said partners with one of two things: 1) preset AI paths, which means that partners follow a “train track” one Point A to Point B. Each time the player goes through the game, their partners do the same thing over and over again. The other option is 2) Actual AI that thinks and reacts to the environment and dangers accordingly. In the case of actual AI, the developer has to be sure not to bestow too much intelligence upon the player’s teammates, lest they do the job for the player before he has a chance to get a handle of the current situation at hand. The resulting AI is nothing short of blithering idiocy, or downright uselessness.

Artificial Intelligence partners that actually play a part in the gameplay, usually rely on an objective based routine, where they automatically attempt to accomplish level objectives, regardless of the prudency of attempting such a task at the given point and time. The only way to wrestle control out of the hands of incompetent AI, is the ability to issue orders. The problem is that, with the ability to issue orders, you are no longer cooperating with your teammates. Instead, you are now controlling each of them, injecting your thoughts and ideas into them. That’s a rather lonely proposition.

In the same case, given a co-operative setting with three other players, players may suggest ideas as to how to overcome a situation, or even run off to do something apart from the other players, hoping that their actions will turn the tide in the favor of the group. In these cases, communication does not just become favorable; it becomes absolutely required. Through communication, we can offer ideas and suggestions to other players, and vice versa. It is this that makes co-operative gaming so much fun: it is the chance for all of us to use our unique skill sets for a common goal, each offering our two cents in an effort to overcome something we may never have had the ability to do on our own.

Co-operative was one of the best parts of arcade beat-em-up games when I was growing up, and it was sad to see the feature fade away in the mid 1990’s. The trend that Halo began, and Gears of War legitimized is a good start on the road to revitalizing one of the most important aspects of gaming. Hopefully this time, it won’t fade away.