Research Project
For my research project I want to look into realism in games, why people like to have better graphics in games, and why games these days are trying to be more and more realistic.
Bibliography of sources
Richard Wages, Stefan M. Grunvogel and Benno Grutzmacher. "How Realistic is Realism? Considerations on the Aesthetics of Computer Games" http://nomadslab.org/wages/content/wages_icec2004_realism.pdf
Aaron Lee. "Starry Eyed: Where Game Graphics Go Next" September 26th, 2013,
https://www.develop-online.net/tools-and-tech/starry-eyed-where-game-graphics-go-next/0117740
Micheal Coley. "The Realism of Video Games" http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/103725/gaming/the_realism_of_video_games.html
Simon M. King. "Realism In Video Games - A Discussion" First Posted June 24th, 2013.
http://whatculture.com/gaming/realism-in-video-games-a-discussion.php
Brief Discussion of Each Source
The Article by Richard Wages talks about why games are concerned in creating higher levels of realism and photorealism in games and that many artists find that it makes games more believable and immersive to the user. Better graphics and realism creates higher levels of believability. This article argues against these points and things reproducing realism in games will fail.
The article by Aaron Lee talks about the graphics in games and how close we are to getting true photo realistic characters. I found this article extremely interesting to read as I love to play games that have amazing graphics in them. Some people think that it will be possible to get photo real graphics in the next 10 years or less.
Micheal Coley's article talks about how games used to be, "Where cute, Harmless and completely unbelievable and mythical characters would tackle zany adventure in make-believe worlds far away from out own" and that today this doesn't happen because a lot games use real world places and events. He mentions that today's games are extensions of out own reality whereas games used to be a place to escape are reality.
Simon M. King's article talks about how "reality in gaming does not necessarily have to mean obeying the laws of physics" and "A games age rating is not based solely on the amount of blood but rather some of the actions the player may be forced to take". Even if the graphics of the game are not amazing, its some of the things that maybe your character is forced to do.
Report
I wanted to research the topic of Realism in Games and why people like to see it in games, but I also wanted to research why some people (including myself) like to see good graphics in games, so I'm sort of researching 2 topics, but they kind of work with each other anyway.
A lot of people will argue that graphics don't make a game, which in the long run it doesn't, but to me if a game doesn't look visually good to me then I wont be drawn to play it as much. Take World of Warcraft for example, its probably the biggest and most popular MMO to date and millions of people play it. I gave it a try once because a friend begged me to play it, I got to level 50 and that was it for me, getting to that level had to of been one of the most boring experiences I have ever had playing a game. One of the big things that killed it for me was the terrible 10 year old graphics and dull animations. Even my dad looked over my shoulder at one point and mentioned how boring it looks, and he plays a few games here and there.
I think the main reason why I like a game to have good graphics is because for me, it makes the game more 'realistic' and maybe the fact that I'm a pc gamer...but I also think in this day and age where games can have awesome graphics there isn't too many reasons why most games shouldn't have reasonable visuals.
In terms of realism in games, there is many forms of this and is different for everyone, for me its graphics and immersion. Take the GTA V for example, I loved this game, it had awesome graphics but it was also a living city where people are down on the beach having camp fires, people where going for hikes in the country with there family, there was police, the game had basic laws, if you committed a crime next to a civilian they would take pictures of you or call the police. For me, this is realism in games. Also games like the assassins creed franchise do things similar to this, but in this game you are able to explore real places which existed in the past, and of course you cant do this in real life, so combine it with good graphics as well and this is amazing from my point of view.
Richard Wage's How Realistic is Realism defines realism as two different things in games. One being the graphics and the visual quality to make something look more realistic, and the other being that in the game world mythical creatures for example like trolls and goblins cant exist in the game because they don't exist, therefore its not 'realistic'. 'If the reference point is a fantasy world equipped with trolls, dragons and magic, the appearance of tax man from a fiscal authority like in our world would be regarded as extremely unlikely and unrealistic' (Wages, 2004, p2) I find this quite interesting and sort of against it it some ways. Sometimes people enjoy games because they are set in fantasy worlds that are different from our own, its one of the reasons we enjoy exploring games such as The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. If the physics and everything makes sense then why cant it be realistic? I think if a tax man of a fiscal authority approached me in Skyrim however, it would be a little immersion breaking, but I think from my point of view it wouldn't bother me too much, I would just move on, its a fantasy world where we have never been to or explored before so I guess anything can happen? Who's to say what other cultures look like on planets we haven't discovered yet?.
I think the point I'm trying to get at is, if the game has some basic laws of physics, and looks visually good, and is set in our world, or a fantasy world, then to me it is realistic. Obviously if set in our world, then it would have to resemble is very well else then, for sure it wouldn't be right.
I found Simon King's article quite interesting to read, he talks about how realism in games could be the visual quality, or even just the art style of the game could make it realistic. 'although sci-fi themed, the Metal Gear series has remained visually 'real' with dark landscape, cumbersome armour and overall tone' 'Whereas Assassins Creed uses the backdrop of actual REAL history to overlay it's physics' (Simon M King, 2013,p1) This is quite interesting because he is kind of implying that there are 2 forms of realism in games, one being the visual quality of the game, and the other where the game uses real or historical places from our world combined with the visual quality. From my point of view, I think I agree with what Simon is saying here.
After conducting this research into this topic I have found out that realism in games can mean a whole lot more than just the visual quality of the graphics and that there may not be one type of realism for games, but many forms of it. But for me, I still like to see good graphics in a game as it appeals a lot more to me. But old pixel games from the 90's can still be seen as realistic maybe by what you the character has to do in the game. Therefore I have changed the way I think of realism in games now and I shall end this with a quote from Simin Kings article which I find interesting to think about. 'Does realism add to the escapism that is intended by the medium or detract from it?'
