GamerNode: Columns - Childish Behaviour

Childish Behaviour

A long time ago, I read an article on The Escapist that spoke of a three year old playing the ever-entertaining Star Wars Battlefront games. Finishing the first level with more than a little assistance, he then started the second level. Within minutes, he turned to his guardian (the article's author) and stated "this isn't fun anymore."

"Why?"

"Because it's exactly the same as the last level. All the levels are the same."

At first I thought to myself that the child was simply young and couldn't tell the difference between the Moon and the Death Star. But as I read on, I began to wonder if he was actually more perceptive than I was. The game's levels were repetitive, said the boy, and from anyone else this would have been an acceptable criticism of an FPS title, as, let's be honest, there's only so many environments FPS games can entertain you in before it all starts to look a little samey.

Playing through Banjo Kazooie again this week, I began to wonder further: is it the fact I'm older that's stopping me from enjoying certain games, and enhancing the way I enjoy others? Ten years ago I'd have looked at everything from The Sims to Counter-Strike: Source and scoffed, choosing Mario and Zelda over terrorists and decorating living rooms ten times out of ten. So it leads me to ask if any of you now play wildly different games than when you were kids. Alternatively, have your tastes simply expanded to encompass new titles, whilst still holding on to Crash, Link and Donkey Kong?

Some people say a child's logic is infallible, that their simplistic approach to life sometimes makes them wiser than the most learned of elder human beings. It makes me wonder whether or not we'd be better off buying games from developers who have kids sitting with them as they program, design and dictate the electronically-based escapism we're parting with our Recession Dollars to experience.

So when you're playing through Ninja Gaiden, try seeing it through a child's eyes. Why is this so hard? Why is none of the plot being explained? Why is everyone so naked? All viable questions, but questions we're not asking because we're blinded by graphics, achievements and gameplay. A child would see serious flaws in some of NGII's boss encounters, asking questions related to enemies that can seemingly hit you from three feet away without physical contact.

Grinding in games would also probably take a serious tumble, when you think about it. Everyone loves a good old grind up a few levels, and it's often a great reward when you floor the next few bosses due to your efforts in the more boring aspects of the game. But with children, grinding is essentially a game's way of making them do chores. Levelling skills in World of Warcraft is no longer a way of becoming more essential to a raid guild - it's mowing the lawn, or making your bed. Seeing things from the eyes of a child really is a guide to the "here and now" approach to games design - taking a title and asking it, simply, to give up the good bits from the start, right up until the end.

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