Do video games have to be "fun?"

[Square Ninja]

Ragdoll Metaphysics: Game Research, Ghost Stories, Alan Moore, and Academia: The Far Reaches of Edutainment | Offworld

While spelunking Slashdot, I came across this very interesting article. It pretty much says exactly what I've been thinking about the medium for a long time: video games don't have to be "fun" to be good. I know this sounds like a wholly alien concept, but it is valid. Just as with any other media, the goal is not always to purely entertain. We seek more out of our art and literature than simple roller-coaster ride. Why can't people seriously give video games this kind of consideration, simply because the industry as it stands now comprises almost entirely of juvenile fantasies? Film was in the exact same position until decades after its creation, and now film is considered a legit artistic medium. Video games as a form of media deserve the benefit of the doubt.

[Tenyasyugan]

I like videogames that have a whole lot more to them then just to entertain. They're so hard to find though.

[493pokemon1]

Id rather their action and plot wastes weeks and weeks time in order to get another to waste weeks and weeks just to continue the cycle. Dr Wayton I dont find very 'fun" but it is very entertaining.

[Shadow Soldier]

I play video games for them to create a memory for me. Like, when I first got OoT and the 64, it's a memory I will never forget because I know what I did to get it and such...

[Square Ninja]

Originally Posted by 493pokemon1

Id rather their action and plot wastes weeks and weeks time in order to get another to waste weeks and weeks just to continue the cycle. Dr Wayton I dont find very 'fun" but it is very entertaining.

Again, you think far too conservatively. What we're talking about here is the very fundamental nature of game design, not how slow the pacing of its narrative is or how many cutscenes a game has. The gameplay itself (or perhaps a lack of "play") is in question.

Originally Posted by Shadow Soldier

I play video games for them to create a memory for me. Like, when I first got OoT and the 64, it's a memory I will never forget because I know what I did to get it and such...

You can create memories by jacking off, too. Elaborate.

[Shadow Soldier]

Originally Posted by Square Ninja

You can create memories by jacking off, too. Elaborate.

Requires a lot more work than playing games.

[Dogenzaka]

For example, sorry to say this but I didn't find Shadow of the Colossus that fun. In fact it was repetitive and extremely grinding, IMO.
However, the entire story and atmosphere was so rich that the memories of the game are simply positive because of just how magnificent the presentation was.

[Square Ninja]

Originally Posted by Shadow Soldier

Requires a lot more work than playing games.

...in the sense of physical exertion perhaps. By that logic a painting by one of the Masters is worth less a half-hour of porn surfing on the internet.

Originally Posted by Dogenzaka

For example, sorry to say this but I didn't find Shadow of the Colossus that fun. In fact it was repetitive and extremely grinding, IMO.
However, the entire story and atmosphere was so rich that the memories of the game are simply positive because of just how magnificent the presentation was.

I really don't see how it was repetitive or "grinding," but certainly it was not as "fun" as other games at the time. Like you said, however, the game experience offers more than simple entertainment. It strives to create an emotional attachment between the characters (for lack of a better word) and the player. It's not solely presentation, either. The gameplay itself served as a kind of vessel for this emotional attachment. That character growth wasn't limited to a cutscene between levels, but was experience through the actual gameplay as well.

[∞]

If something wants to bear the name 'game', it needs to be fun, or exciting, entertaining, or anything else that is in its own way a word branching off from fun. Otherwise I think they're just misusing the name 'game'.

[Zero]

Yeah games dont have to be fun, ill be alright with a $40 Sudoku or Cross Word Puzzle. Of course games need to be Fun, otherwise people would lose interest and there would be no point to games. This gets annoying how analysts or whatever those people are called go to deep into thinking about stuff. Next they are going to look into background items in games and see their significance.

[scubasteve]

video games don't have to be fun

but they have to be COMPETITIVE

PRO BRAORLRL

[Square Ninja]

Originally Posted by ∞

If something wants to bear the name 'game', it needs to be fun, or exciting, entertaining, or anything else that is in its own way a word branching off from fun. Otherwise I think they're just misusing the name 'game'.

Then "video games" is simply a misnomer.

Originally Posted by Zero

Yeah games dont have to be fun, ill be alright with a $40 Sudoku or Cross Word Puzzle. Of course games need to be Fun, otherwise people would lose interest and there would be no point to games. This gets annoying how analysts or whatever those people are called go to deep into thinking about stuff. Next they are going to look into background items in games and see their significance.

You misunderstand. "Fun" as its used in the article is pure entertainment factor, like how Planet Terror is a fun movie. Does that mean that Planet Terror should have won an Oscar? "Games," just as with film, do not need to be pure "fun" to be engaging. That's the point of the article.

[∞]

Originally Posted by Square Ninja

Then "video games" is simply a misnomer.

What, the majority of video games were not made to be fun or entertaining?

[Aegis]

I agree with the article, and I have to say, i personally see video games in a very artsy way. To me, video games are to movies what movies are to books.

It's a whole new dimension of immersion, and many recent video games have many literary devices in play. For exampke (i can only remember this one off the top of my head), Tidus in FFX, is a christ figure. He gives up his life to take away the sins of the people of the land. I think that's kind of obvious. Things of the sort can be used in games tremendously, as any narrative can easily tell a story, video games can too. They are beautiful pieces of art, but, like books and movies will never fully be about the art. It's also a business, and rightfully so. Who else loves to sit down and play Guitar Hero with friends all night? I certainly do.

[Shinra X-2]

well I'd say that games have their hooks and they can be fun... so I want to say that games don't have to be fun but they do have their hooks