Game developers do a lot of things right. We like epic fantasy narratives, we like beautifully realised 3D environments... and, oh yes, we like running around with unfeasibly large guns, blasting other people into next week. Those are all in the bag. They're fine. Keep doing all that stuff.
But even at this stage in the history of interactive entertainment, with something like forty years behind us, there are still a few things that aren't panning out how we'd hoped. Games do a lot right, but they're not doing everything.
So, today's Friday Question (and we've not had one for a while) - what do we need to see more of in games? What are games missing? What fundamental desires remain unsated by the world's development community? Essentially, how many more times can I ask this question?
Below, are three suggestions to get you going. Please just stop whatever else it is you're doing and add some more...
Multiple character perspectives
Movies like Crash, Redacted and Vantage Point have played with showing the same event through the eyes of different characters - you know, to show the subjectivity of truth and all that. But it could be an interesting game mechanic, especially in an RPG or survival horror adventure where you may have control over several protagonists; perhaps you'd need to piece together what everyone sees in order to solve a puzzle. The PS2 anti-terrorist shooter, Without Warning tried something like this but was a pretty dismal game.
Procedurally generated environments
With today's massively complex physics engines, capable of calculating the most detailed of in-game destruction, surely we should be seeing more landscapes generated on-the-fly and different every time we play? This sort of thing was much more common in the eighties when titles like Rescue on Fractalus, Elite and River Raid used varying techniques to create environments in real-time. These days, the argument is that game worlds are so intricately detailed, game artists are required to craft every element. But in this age of PSN, XBLA and iPhone titles, there's room for experimental titles with more stylised visuals in which unique cities or even worlds could be created for each player before every new game...
Romance
Mass Effect had a go. RPGs attempt the odd shy, stumbling chat-up line. But no-one has - excuse the phrase - nailed it. People are always asking, has gaming had its Citizen Kane moment? Well forget that; gaming hasn't even had its Gone With The Wind yet. And what about sex in games? I mean, now that we have vibrating joypads and motion-sensitive controls, this issue is the elephant in the drawing room, isn't it? Isn't it?
