Tuesday 13 October 2015

Computer Games Design - Suggestions to Reduce Disruption to Family Life

Suggestion 1 - MUST BE ABLE TO EXIT AT ANY POINT

Need each game to be possible to leave at any point - especially those that are not online.
As how often do you hear "But I'll lose all my progress ! I've been on this mission for an hour" ... well you are not always feeling a heartless enough parent to pull the plug at that point ...but you can see the kids point ...but also the dinner is ready or you need them to set the table ... so WHY cant the programme just save their progress ? I mean at any one point the game is just a variety of variables which presumably have numbers attached - all those could be saved - EASY !
the question is - why hasnt this been integrated into games ?  Are they trying to fuel realism (and Addiction) by creating hour long or longer scenarios/missions in games ?

Suggestion 2 - Clear Age Rating Display
An age rating could be displayed in a small box at top of screen at all times.
You could have a 18+ logo or under 18 content in eg GTA.
Could be clearly displayed the logo at all times.
Again - Simple
For example in GTA if there are areas of the programme you dont want under 18s to visit then why not just close those off for the under 18 game. Simple. Again each section is just a load of variables and functions. It does mean that age ratings have to be integral to the programming, but I suggest they should be.  And then if scenarios or missions are displayed the programme just has to check what the age rating is set to.

So I hope Computer Game Developers are listening - as well as government etc who could insist the developers do these things - although better still, the industry could take a responsible adult approach to this !  Before family life is ruined !  And really overall it would be better for the gaming industry overall too as they might even generate more sales if they got the adults on board !

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