Why does everyone have to die? [SPOILERS]

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-10-27 06:33pm

Is it in the Game Developers Handbook:Player Psychology Appendix?

I am, of course, talking about how (primarily in FPSs, but also in crap adventure games) everyone but the player is DOOMED. Fucking DOOMED. They're going to die, and it's only a matter of time. You won't be able to save them, and they'll probably come back evil and you'll have to kill them.

Way back in the 90s I'm sure these engine-cutscenes were big and new, and watching Random Scientist get eaten by a monster was 'cool'. However, it's now a brainbug: looking at the two most recent FPSs, we have perfect examples.

In FEAR, your magic organisation is *4* people, *2* of which are combat section. The other guy - the only other front-line guy in the WHOLE UNIT - wanders off and disappears right at the start. All the SWATties that show up in the game are magically killed while you mysteriously survive. In cutscenes, damage is realistic (ie, a few shots to the chest and targets go down) whereas in the game this wouldn't even slow you down.

In Q4, at the start your squad is invincible. Try it: once I worked this out I didn't participate in firefights, because my guys would always win (except in melee, oddly). However, once the first section is complete, EVERYONE DIES. Except you, and you survive in a contrived and ridiculous manner. From this point on, everyone you ever meet will die once their 'role' in the story is over. Not in a gun battle, not fairly through being shot - off-camera, to simplify level design.

I have a suspicion this is due to either laziness (it's easy to design a level for one player) and a belief that players want to be the Lone Hero who saves the day.

Now, they're right. Everyone wants to save the day. But these days, other characters aren't killed or defeated: they're *written out*. Their sacrifice means nothing, because as soon as they started using the console, you KNEW they'd be dead before you got back, and you were always right. There is no tension, no teamwork, usually not even any surprise when it comes to NPC deaths. Does it have to be this way?

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2005-10-27 07:04pm

I have noticed this as well, and it does piss me off a bit.
I think it might be partly that some players find having NPCs tagging along because they either get in the way, or you have to bother protecting them. Other people simply kill the NPCs for fun (I can't play Halo on Co-Op with my friends anymore because they always kill the marines that aid you right off for some reason, which really pisses me off.)

In story terms, it may be the lone-wolf phenomena, maybe laziness, maybe a mixture of both. I guess some designers think like Trek producers, ie; if a Red shirt is killed by a baddie, people can more easily realize that it is a baddie.

Halo 2 actually features a few NPCs that don't die (as does Republic Commando), and Marines that can on occasion survive firefights, but now that I think about it, that's fairly rare.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2005-10-27 07:38pm

It's a huge pet-peeve of mine, has been one for a long time. It's why I've been such a big fan of Call of Duty. In a related note, I also hate the "you are the only one who can accomplish anything," thing, I remember a lot of old arcade shooters (such as, say, Area 51) where friendlies were there to just look pretty. They might have animated attacks, but they never actually did anything.

I like to be immersed in brutal firefights, and this kind of crap just totally destroys it.

Post by **weemadando** » 2005-10-27 07:59pm

Again - that's why I love CoD. There's the feeling of being part of something larger.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2005-10-27 08:06pm

Or the Half-Life series. You are hardly the only one left. Which is another reason I like it.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2005-10-27 08:49pm

This is why Deus Ex was cool.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-10-27 09:38pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:This is why Deus Ex was cool.

People on the street... And they are not about to become Demon/Zillia/Ninja/Zombie food? Say it an't so!

Yes I loved Deus Ex for doing that. However CoD does it best. Esp the Russian Missions

Speaking of which CoD 2 is calling me, I must play!

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2005-10-27 10:32pm

Call of Duty really gave you a good sense of being only a small part in the war, especially the Russian missions. Too bad we can't have more games like that.

Anarchist Bunny · Post by **Anarchist Bunny** » 2005-10-27 11:20pm

Most of your squadmates survive Republic Commando, as well as some Clones on the Acclimator(course the bastards don't help you with the hangers) and a lot of the wookies(pussies won't follow you)

Silver Paladin · Post by **Silver Paladin** » 2005-10-27 11:28pm

Because you are the hero. People LIKE being the hero.

It's weird, how people playing MMORPGS complain that they aren't heroic enough because they're only "one of 40" or whatever when they kill a big bad monster, but people playing single player games want to be a "cog in the machine" rather than the solo-asskicker.

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2005-10-28 02:18am

MMORPG players have only recently realized that people don't often work that well together without prior organisation.

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2005-10-28 08:45am

Agreed on Republic Commando and Call of Duty; Both gave an excellent sense of accomplishment as a team. Although RC did a far better job, since you actually needed your teammates to do things for you while you covered them, whereas in CoD I got the feeling that I was the company bitch; every thankless task from planting a bomb to cleaning out a building to sniping targets was handed to me - I could sit still while dozens of my pals were mercilessly obliterated by some tank, and commanders and friends would yell at me to blow it up while sitting next to piles of rockets. I swear, I could have gone for tea and they would have kept throwing troops into the crossfire to die pointlessly, until I finally decided to go blow up the damn tank. I would have enjoyed more missions of filling in completely unimportant, non-essential role in the battles, like being pointless infantry.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2005-10-28 09:05am

Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:(such as, say, Area 51) where friendlies were there to just look pretty.

The female commando with the cleavage. Only one I never shot on a regular basis.

Maybe it's just harder for them to code a halfway decent AI for NPCs? Most of the time the NPCs seem to be fairly useless even if they do follow you around.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2005-10-28 12:32pm

RogueIce wrote:
Maybe it's just harder for them to code a halfway decent AI for NPCs? Most of the time the NPCs seem to be fairly useless even if they do follow you around.

FEAR showed what you can do with squad based AI. Not as well as Full Spectrum Warrior or Call of Duty 2(The AI is VERY helpful in letting you know where those pesky nazi's are)

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2005-10-28 05:04pm

My guess is that mmorpg people start as a mediocrity, a small cog in the machine and want to make names for themselves.

While in single player games people are tired of being the supreme world savers and want to immerse in the world as anonimous just-a-guys. This would mean that there is actually a deep world around them to explore. And the feeling of loneliness (which I hated in the first FPP's like Doom or DN3d) disappears that way if you know you have some company.