Week 11 Task

“Gameplay”. Not one of the default words in the Microsoft spelling checker and yet one of the most widely used terms in computer games. Gameplay is the term used to describe the way in which a person interacts with a game. Without gameplay computer games would just be set stories with no interactivity or would not be very much at all as the lack of gameplay would mean tat the game could not progress thereby causing the game to get stuck.

In my opinion gameplay is the single most important aspect of a game as without gameplay it isn’t a computer game. Admittedly almost any game that is purely gameplay will be simple or boring which is part of why storyline and graphics have become such a big part of modern computer games. However defining gameplay is somewhat difficult due to the shear amount of variety in how games can be played. The only definable rule for gameplay that I can think of is that it requires some kind of input from the player, aside from that the gameplay can be as varied as computer games and peripherals can.

These days it’s becoming harder and harder to think of original gameplay styles using the traditional input devices so new peripherals such as the Eye Toy and motion sensitive controllers are being developed. These enable the gameplay to be new and different in games that would otherwise have almost identical gameplay to most other games in their relevant genre.