Playability versus eye candy (i.e. budget minded game play)

[Billnes]

Hello all,

There are some threads that talk about play ability versus eye candy. However, I think these threads are buried a bit too deep and I wanted to shed a bit more light on the subject.

You don't have to have a PhD in Computer Science: It's obvious that the graphics and the engine that drives said graphics are old and out dated. IMHO, the simplicity of FFXI's visuals means that the game is playable across a wider spectrum of systems. You don't have to be an employee of SE to know that compatibility across a wide spectrum of systems is allways a good thing.

I consider myself extremely fortunate that I have one of the USA's top-tier Microsoft Registered Refreshers right in my community. I was able to purchase a very nice condition Dell Optiplex 760 SFF, for an extremely reasonable price. It works so well for both Final Fantasy XI and my day-to-day stuff that I don't plan on buying another machine for at least 2 & 1/2 years. The Dell is a Core2 Duo E7300 @ 2.66Ghz. It has Dell's standard-issue ATI Radeon HD3450 upgrade card and a 1/2 Tb (512 Gb) SATA HDD. The fact it's only Core2 Duo is irrelevant. For the price I paid for it and that it plays FFXI very well, I am not going to complain.

All boiled down: Not everybody on Earth has money to burn. Not everybody on Earth has $3200+ to spend on an Ailenwear that has two video cards with four outputs each. (Saw this system for sale at the MicroCenter in Brooklyn, NY) I see no sin in people thinking that such a system is overkill and unnecessary. Not everybody on Earth can afford to spend $ 349.00, plus shipping and tax on a video card. I see no sin in being "budget minded". I see no sin in being able to play an MMO of FFXI's quality on my fully-functional system that was so reasonably priced. The less money you spend on the system, the more money you have to spend on the monthly subscription that keeps the servers running? $13.95 a month or $1.00 more for a single mule?? Works for me... I like it. I can afford it.

I tried FFXIV on the my Optiplex. The game runs way too slow - only 13FPS. The movement is way too choppy at that speed. When I was standing still in the middle of the starting city the graphics were beautiful. However, I'm going to go out and buy a new system for FFXIV? I don't think so... I purchased the PC installation disc of FFXIV at closeout for only $13.88. For $13.88 I see no sin in waiting a while for my local MRR to get in fresh stock and for SE to get more bugs out of FFXIV...

Just my $0.02 worth. I thank you very much for your time, effort and consideration in this matter.

Best regards,
William N.
Long Island, New York

[Stompa]

The trends in gaming technology have changed out-of-pace with the changes in global economy. The idea of selling tech that has built-in obsolescence, ie. tech that will become outdated within a year, was founded on the economic boom years of the early 1990s. At that time there was generally a lot more credit available, a lot of new industry was training and hiring, and people had more spending power, which made the idea of buying endless new consoles, the latest PC, new games etc. feel like it was normal and natural.

In the very early 1980s, by contrast, the economy was generally sluggish, and people bought their BBC Microcomputers etc. and played it for many years without upgrading. ZX Spectrums and C64s were also played for years and years, until they basically caught fire and died, nobody really thought about constantly upgrading them with new higher-spec computers.

Now the global economy is tanking hard, and yet the computer industry is still operating on the mid-90s boom model, of selling built-in obsolescence and expecting gamers to constantly upgrade to the new shinyness. This model will either have to be scrapped, in favour of the early 1980s notion of "a computer you can use for many years" or the alternative is the industry can keep trying to push this boom model on consumers who are struggling in a economic ravine.

The idea of making games look so picture-perfect is actually tied to this same boom model of built-in obsolescence. "Don't play that game you bought 6 weeks ago, the graphics are hopelessly outdated" is part of the drive to make consumers throw money around like confetti on the new games, which are always slightly more realistic and shiny than the last batch of games.

It is a cruel trick. Because the new games are often not User-Friendly, they're just more shiny. It is the same boom model as the built-in obsolescence in hardware, we get these shiny new trinkets which sing and dance in our hands, but are basically not as User-Friendly as my original BBC Micro from 1982 running *BASIC. I still use my 33-year-old BBC microcomputer, and a few other brave survivors from that era too.

Those original computers were intended to be used for a very long time, and to allow users to learn *BASIC machine code, they were easy to get involved with for novices. There was never a suggestion that the company was only trying to sell you the latest model every few months, they wanted to sell you a single computer you could use for many years and they hoped that you would fall in love with Computing as a lifestyle, and not just become a helpless hamster running in the constant-upgrade wheel.

That was the dawn of home-computing, and the hardware people were more concerned with making the idea of home-computing acceptable and popular, in an age where nobody used any computers unless they were fringe extremist arcade-gamers. Today everyone uses computers, and so the hardware and software people have changed from selling the concept of "please experience and enjoy this home-computing" to the idea of "don't buy that stuff from last week, buy this new thing!" which is basically BANDITRY, it is a corrupt philosophy and a great insult to the dreams of the original Home Computing generation.

The same goes for software too, if you already have a game that is awesome fun to play, why should you upgrade to a less fun game, just because that new game has slightly shinier graphics. This is a boom-marketing sales model, and not connected to the "fun and exploration" model of early home-computing.

[Hoshi]

Somewhat OT but I adore Microcenter. I have been buying all my computers there since 2001!