Moving towards realistic and real-life games
 

I was just wondering if anyone else wouldn't really like to see games become "too realistic" such that you confuse them with real life things.

For me, i mainly plain games as a form of escapism and fantasy so it'd seem awkward/weird to play a game that is too real, because it'd defeat the purpose of myself playing it and i could just walk to the outside world anyway. I know games could have fantastical themes (like sci-fi games and so on) which may seperate them from what we'd conceive as realistic, but i am still a little skeptical about games becoming too real.

I am not anti-games or anything, on the contrary i would like to end up developing games in the future, but i still think it defeats the purpose of games if we make them too real. I know this wont happen to soon but it'd definatly on the horizon and approaching fast. Maybe my view will change with time, but for now, this is how i feel. There is also a question on what is too real? but i guess thats quite subjective so it's hard to discuss.

Discuss :)

As long as it's just on your monitor I can't realy see how it could get TOO realistic.

My main gripe was politicians and other bureaucrats who claim games are too realstic and they might start banning them. Altohugh my main point is if they're too real then why don't you just go outside. Although this wont happen for a while i guess...

I understand where you're coming from, but games are never just going to be a recreation of everyday life. No matter how realistic games get, they will always put the main character in extraordinary circumstances. Circumstances that in real life you'd never have the opportunity to participate in, or wouldn't want to take part in because of the dangers associated with it. I think as long as you know you're loading up a game, it will never be realistic, not to the degree you're suggesting.

My question would be, once games get photorealistic, where it looks completely real (on a monitor of some sort), would you still be able to kill an AI player? I think it would freak me out a bit if the player I was pumping full of lead looked as real as you or me. But then again, as long as I know I'm playing a game it may not make a difference.

Reading your post SleepyJack I was thinking of in the not too distant future games being released with titles like "Going to the shops" or Quake Eleven, Eating A Ham Sandwich!"
Reviewers would say things like "OOh my god, It was like eating a real sandwich!"

Being realistic in and of itself is not a bad thing. Movies have games beat on realism, though not on the same level of interaction. 50 years ago to have special effects portray someone getting shot in the head (common now, and with full gore) was probably unthinkable just in terms of the shock value. But now in society we don't even think twice.

If games ever get to that point, chances are that the slow gradual approach will have innocculated you to the effects..

Wow, thats an intresting concept, yeah i would like that.

It'll be neat to see 20 years from now people jacking into a Virtual Environment that is an evolution of the Internet where you can walk into a cafe and sip coffee with a Counterstrike buddy from Brazil while your friends from the last virtual MMPORG in Spain come along and join you.

As games become more and more realistic its possible for them to become too realistic, just imagine a game that could be mistaken for reality and in this game you go aroung shooting people, people that actually can be mistaken for real people. To me that can have a real negitive effect on alot of gamers. Thats why i hope that if they ever could make a game that can looks as good as reality they dont.

I'd love to see technology get that good. Along the lines of Lawnmower Man or Strange Days. Just as long as the AI in the games doesnt become "conscious" the nthings would get a little spooky. With the talk of future chips being created in a model after DNA for limitless processing speed; it may happen someday.

Until VR technology becomes more advanced and affordable...one day...

I think that if a game becomes too realistic, it will no longer be any fun. Fictional setttings and effects are most enjoyable because we are required to use our imaginations. If it is exactly like real life, I cant see anyone wanting to play it other than to see what all the fuss is about.