While writing a recent article about my thoughts on GTA V, I found myself going on a bit of a tangent about where I think video games in general are going and why certain games are perceived the way that they currently are as compared to not so long ago.
My overall opinion of the latest Grand Theft Auto is that Rockstar have taken on a huge project which by and large they have carried out with a lot of success. It has all of the elements that make up a Grand Theft Auto game, even taking it up a notch in many areas, but I can't help but take from it a slight feeling of being underwhelmed.
I think it could be due to the fact that audiences are becoming more intelligent by the day and are generally starting to realise how plot points work. More and more I'm seeing people point out how certain tropes are frequently used and how stale they are in comparison to years gone by when they were being used in gaming for the first time. In a modern day world where attention spans are dwindling and information is always at hand, we thrive on being inspired through creativity as quickly as possible.
It's no surprise that cult hit games such as Halo, Minecraft and Trials all have one thing in common. Custom content creation. Once the planet has been saved, the dragon has been killed, and the quadruple backflip has been performed successfully, players can then move on to what has become arguably the larger portion of these games when looking at the big picture of a game's lifespan.
Making maps and the social interactivity that comes as a result feeds a player's need to stay in that universe while also adding their touch to the familiar surroundings. The feeling of accomplishment in completing one of these projects, from concept to creation, and the feedback from other gamers is what makes the experience so worthwhile.
It's for this reason that I believe creation-based games are going to become more and more common over the next decade. In fact you only have to look at Spark, a game that was revealed at this year's E3 event, to see that the lines are slowly blurring between video game and game engine. Where the entry point for using software such as UDK or Unity has seemed so daunting before, suddenly putting in place many of the same mechanics, making it more user friendly, and disguising it purely as a game, the premise becomes much more approachable to the general public. You thought it was surreal now that almost any kid of any age can pick up an iPad and navigate around it with ease? Just imagine when shortly we'll be seeing a 5 year old create a working and playable game level from scratch within a half hour or so.
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