[headdie]

Just watched a Cynical Brit/Totalbiscuit YT about something interesting announced by Treyarch which TB then develops into some interesting points
The announcement is that from the outset all levels of the single player in CoD:BOIII will be selectable thus it is possible to jump to the end level from second 1

tl;cba
CoD:BOIII
Discussion about how this is pro consumer
Overview of the Bioware upraw over skipping combat as a related concept
Discussion about how some of TBs twitter feed reacted when he brought it up
Analysis of what TB thinks the feedback means
Confirmation of TB's belief that this is a good thing.

So I will reiterate below my views below which i posted on reddit, feel free to discuss
My question to those against is this.... who does skipping content harm? The publisher and developer still get the money for your purchase.
If I choose to skip something that is my experience.
If my friend skips something that is their experience.
If my completionist friend skips nothing that is their experience.
Will my skipping content affect my character's ability to do something later or mean some story point dosnt make sense? possibly, but that is on my head and dosnt affect anyone else.
We can already skip cutscenes, and in open world games avoid side content we dont want to do which often includes gameplay anyway so what is the harm which in most games we can already do thanks to cheats. idkfa iddqd

[AtomicClucker]

Well, I'll say this unless the game is built on painful grind like Disgaea, "X to skip combat" comes down to an issue of design.

If combat becomes boring, dull, or just painful, it's a symptom of mechanical confusion.

Here's how I boil down the takes of "skipping combat," by various critics:

Anita Sarkintosh Thompson - "X to skip combat because I want games to be movies so I can complain about it and how it turns you into killers, 'cause cultivation theory!"

Totalbiscuit - "x to skip combat, but what, how and why am I skipping narrative or mechanical content. Is it worth my time?"

ErrantSignal - "X to skip combat? Let's get philosophical and jump into spatial relations..."

Some reasons I think gamers have a valid reason to complain - from the Anita PoV, it's about reducing a game into a movie and pure narrative thought. These sort of critics not only fail Art Theory 101, they need to get out of the room and complain about movies. If you skip mechanical elements to get to pure narrative... you're watching a movie, not playing a game. TB takes a more rational approach and balances reasons why we choose to skip combat - is it onerous? does it take forever? done it for the Xth time? His discussion talks about mechanical and narrative cogs moving at different paces. ErrantSignal, my favorite sophist, digs deep into analyzing every bit of it and why narrative and mechanical elements play off each other.

I like to use examples like FTL that build systems that are not only heavily narrative, but the combat is integral to that narrative experience. Examples that it gets annoying is the infamous grind from JRPGs. Whereas, Disgaea makes it a core tenant that grind is part of the narrative and game structure as its zany story.

[headdie]

Certainly in games which offer a small or limited narrative framework the availability of a skip gameplay is of limited rational use.

[Lorric]

Really interesting video and topic.

I will be speaking mostly about how this effects / could effect me personally if this were to become a regular thing.

It's interesting how in the video he thinks being able to skip things will make developers want to make people not want to skip. I think it might have the opposite effect, they'll think we can put 10 hours of crap into this game to add 10 hours of gameplay to the total of hours on the back of the box.

The only real reservations I have are running into walls in a game makes me play better, makes me play at my very best. I rise to challenges and overcome them. I enjoy making progress and unlocking stuff and breaking the walls down and claiming my prize for doing so. Just give me all that stuff from the get-go and it might take away some of the enjoyment from games. And yet, if I do eventually find getting hold of something is beyond my ability, that doesn't mean I don't still want it. And will hunt for ways to get it through cheats. I still for instance want to play the level on Perfect Dark you unlock for beating every level on Perfect Agent even though that is beyond my ability. Same for some of the stuff you can get hold of that I'm unable to acquire. But would I be able to reach that highest level of play again if I had nothing to unlock? Would my level of play degrade due to being able to just skip my way past things instead of having to fight my way past? I always say take the right path not the path of least resistance, but I can't control feelings. The emotions that drive me on, the determination to open up new levels and unlock things in games and the feeling of accomplishment on success. Pride and not wanting to take the path of least resistance would play their part in preventing this, but eventually I would hit that point where I felt I couldn't get through and I would skip past. Not come back tomorrow, in a week, in a month, in a year, in ten years and get past, as I have done with numerous games. Break down that wall and become a better player. One day in the future I might just get the improved version of Perfect Dark, with it's smoother framerate and the years between last playing it to improve my chances, and beat every level on Perfect Agent and claim my prize.

I also wonder if it could effect the difficulty of games and the dumbing down of games. It could further encourage the dumbing down of games. I'd like to hope it could be a positive force though, to help stop games being too easy so that those who can't get through can still get through. Difficulty levels are the way this should be combated really, but some games do not have them, or are too easy even on the top difficulty.

I can't really say if I am for or against. I can also think of positive uses I would have for it. I would love to be able to blast through an RPG to get to certain points in the game, certain parts of the story, fight certain bosses, fight certain bosses under certain conditions, that would be so much easier to set up if I didn't have to grind my way through the entire game to get there. I greatly dislike games where you can't replay levels and such. There are several games where I have a ton of saves to get around this. Like said in the video, there will be times when a level is just dross and a literal chore to play through and that can be done away with.

If such a thing starts being adopted by others and spreading, I will find it very interesting seeing how it is used and what I make of it. It's quite the puzzle trying to weigh the potential benefits and the potential negatives and trying to decide which is best for me. I don't know the answer to that question. I feel real concern and real excitement at some of the possibilities.