[Deepblue]

I recently have been looking at screenshots of upcoming games (more specifically, this one [4 MB 3d screenshot]) and have found myself wondering. Are games starting to look too real? The realer things get, some problems may arise in my opinion. For example, it may be harder for young children to distinguish a game from real life and therefore imitate the behavior they see in a game.

[Carl]

Originally posted by Deepblue
it may be harder for young children to distinguish a game from real life and therefore imitate the behavior they see in a game.

That's already a problem, and that's why you don't let younger children play games with bad stuff in them.

[BlackDove]

Also, you don't raise retarded children who can't distinguish real world from the game world.

Though I guess that would be the second option, since so many parents figure it's best to encase your offspring in a box and try to keep it safe that way.

Much easier than explaining things. That takes like... intelligence.

[IceFire]

Children apparently reach a development stage around Age 8 where they start to understand the concept of real and fictional worlds and why they are different.  Until that age, the brain is not sufficiently developed to determine that nuance.

Of course, some children are slower than others.  Even some adults may have trouble with this concept

[BlackDove]

Failiures.

Or well. Sick people.

Not counting those of course.

[Mongoose]

It's not the children that concerns me; I just think that way too much effort is going into how games look instead of how they play.  Even besides that, though, I wouldn't want to play a game that approached photorealism for photorealism's sake (unless it's something like the Myst series, where you're aiming to feel like you're in another world).  I like games to have some sort of atmosphere to them, something that sets them apart from a scene you could see by looking at the tree outside your window.

[Turnsky]

if you can't tell the difference between fantasy, and reality, you don't have a lot going on upstairs... the same goes for ALL game types, including PnP rpg's.

[CP5670]

Graphics, at least in FPS games, still have some way to go before they can be considered anything near realistic. And the goofy physics and AI always reminds you that it's still a game.

[achtung]

Bah, don't worry about photorealisticity (did I spell that right?) we'll all be able to get eyes that see different levels on the electromagnetic spectrum.  So they'll have catchin up to do still yet.

Read it in popular science.

[Ford Prefect]

Realism has clearly gone too far. I find that I can't tell the difference between a CG headcrab zombie and a real headcrab zombie.

[Ransom]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
Realism has clearly gone too far. I find that I can't tell the difference between a CG headcrab zombie and a real headcrab zombie.

Personally, I don't like the huge focus on realism recently. We're starting to see fewer and fewer games with distinctive graphic styles. They're all just starting to bleed together into one pseudo-realistic blob.

[CP5670]

The "realism" is hurting the gameplay more than anything else IMO. The weapons all have a similar look and feel, essentially direct-fire rifles of some sort, and both you and the enemies are slow and weak, as in real life. So a lot of combat comes down to luck; the enemy guy either misses you and you don't get hurt or he hits you and you die. The original Unreal got singleplayer FPS combat just about perfect from a gameplay balance perspective, but we still haven't seen anything else that good.

[Fineus]

Originally posted by Ransom Arceihn
Personally, I don't like the huge focus on realism recently. We're starting to see fewer and fewer games with distinctive graphic styles.

Hopefully though, once they've achieved a decent level of realism - they'll start to see what else they can do again. Look at Max Payne.. or that game that used stencil shading exclusively. They worked really quite nicely but also had their own unique styles.

And in some cases, a unique style could be a terrible idea. As an example I call up Freelancer which opted for the comic-book style of graphics over the "realism" of Independence War and such. It ended up looking terrible in my opinion.

[Mefustae]

Hmrph...Complaints that children are going to (or have) immitate Video Games - an annoying, baseless statement - are usually made by Parents (seems to be mostly visible in the US) who have unruly children and like to blame it on anything but themselves...Sorry to offend, but it's people who try to shift the blame that got 'Rockstar' in deep **** and subsequently GTA: San Andreas banned in Australia, ie. Hilary Clinton and Jack Thompson ...

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Mefustae
subsequently GTA: San Andreas banned in Australia
: ...

unless you were quick enough to grab a copy before the big stink rose up

[Mefustae]

Originally posted by Turnsky
unless you were quick enough to grab a copy before the big stink rose up

Oh, I was

[mikhael]

But it wasn't BANNED. It was unrated. That's different. Just ask the government. They'll tell you.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Deepblue
I recently have been looking at screenshots of upcoming games (more specifically, this one [4 MB 3d screenshot]) and have found myself wondering. Are games starting to look too real? The realer things get, some problems may arise in my opinion. For example, it may be harder for young children to distinguish a game from real life and therefore imitate the behavior they see in a game.

What, you mean like behaviour in a movie?

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by mikhael
But it wasn't BANNED. It was unrated. That's different. Just ask the government. They'll tell you.

banned in australia, it is, our censor peeps are notoriously strict.

[mikhael]

Tsk tsk. They revoked its rating. That just means it can't be sold. You can still import it. Banned items can't even be imported.

Don't ask me why I know this. Just take it from someone moving from a less (marginally) restrictive country to a more restrictive one.