{"id":28400,"date":"2024-03-12T12:40:11","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T03:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=28400"},"modified":"2024-03-12T12:40:16","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T03:40:16","slug":"can-a-video-game-without-stress-be-entertaining-users-discuss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/can-a-video-game-without-stress-be-entertaining-users-discuss\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a video game without \u201cstress\u201d be entertaining? Users discuss tendency towards eliminating stress from games\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese game developer and critic Nikaido Renji\u2019s recent musings on the topic of what he calls \u201cstress\u201d in video games has triggered discourse in the gaming community. In a thread on X (formerly Twitter) posted March 10, Nikaido suggests that the recent tendency for game developers to try to \u201celiminate stress\u201d from their games is resulting in titles losing their entertainment value.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u3001\u300c\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30b9\u3092\u4e0e\u3048\u308b\u300d\u306f\u7d76\u5bfe\u5fc5\u8981\u306a\u3082\u306e\u3060\u3068\u601d\u3046\u3093\u3060\u3051\u3069\u3001\u306a\u305c\u3060\u304b\u300c\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30b9\u306f\u5fb9\u5e95\u7684\u306b\u6392\u9664\u3059\u308b\u300d\u307f\u305f\u3044\u306a\u98a8\u6f6e\u304c\u5f37\u304f\u3066\u3001\u305d\u308c\u306b\u3088\u3063\u3066\u9762\u767d\u307f\u3092\u5931\u3063\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u304c\u3082\u306e\u3059\u3054\u304f\u591a\u3044\u5370\u8c61\u3092\u53d7\u3051\u308b\u3002<br><br>\u306a\u3093\u3067\u3082\u304b\u3093\u3067\u3082\u30b9\u30c8\u30ec\u30b9\u3092\u6392\u9664\u3059\u308b\u306e\u3001\u3069\u3046\u306a\u3093\u3060\u308d\u3002\u30a2\u30ea\u306a\u5834\u5408\u3082\u3042\u308b\u306e\u304b\u306a\u3002<\/p>&mdash; \u30cb\u30ab\u30a4\u30c9\u30a6\u30ec\u30f3\u30b8 (@R_Nikaido) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/R_Nikaido\/status\/1766649254217699402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Post translation:<\/strong> <em>I think it\u2019s absolutely necessary for video games to \u201cinflict stress,\u201d but for some reason, there seems to be a strong tendency towards \u201ccompletely eliminating stress\u201d from games. I feel like this has caused many games to become less entertaining. I question whether eliminating stress from everything is the way to go. Are there any cases where it could work?<\/em>\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In a subsequent post, they explain what they mean by stress in simple terms: \u201cIf you have a story, you\u2019re going to have \u201cthe bad guys\u201d in most cases. The bad guys are there to inflict stress on you and make you feel good after you\u2019ve defeated them. If you were to remove Colonel Muska from Castle in the Sky, it would become quite a boring story, no?\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nikaido argues that even the most casual\/idle games such as farming sims benefit from players experiencing moderate stress, such as wanting a certain item but not having enough currency for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-001.jpg\" alt=\"Animal Crossing: New Horizons gameplay screenshot\" class=\"wp-image-28406\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-001.jpg 960w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-001-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-001-600x338.jpg 600w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many users shared this sentiment, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/noshimoda\/status\/1766653892694299066?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">commenting<\/a> on how developers may be going too far to respond to player\u2019s complaints of things being too stressful in games \u2013 for example, by making an item that was deemed \u201ctoo hard to find\u201d common, thus extinguishing the fun in searching for the item.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Others <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Mikimickey00\/status\/1766802495848997004?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pointed out<\/a> that there may be a problem of \u201ctwo different types of stress\u201d being confused. There can be stress that leads to excitement and catharsis (born from challenges in gameplay and narrative elements) and stress that leads to frustration and boredom (born from UI inconsistencies or flawed game design). While players want the latter eliminated from their experience, (for example, by having a signal that tells them which NPC has a side quest for them so that they don\u2019t have to talk to every NPC each time) there could be instances where the former source of stress is mistakenly removed instead, causing the game in question to simply become less fun.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This can be linked with another well discussed topic in the gaming community \u2013 the issue of <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20230929-21961\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">developers taking user complaints at face value<\/a>. Players without knowledge of game design can offer valid but incomplete feedback, often only describing the symptoms rather than the core issues behind the problem. Therefore, developers\u2019 earnest attempts to resolve reported problems can end up being detrimental to their projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-002.jpg\" alt=\"Monster Hunter World gameplay sceenshot\" class=\"wp-image-28407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-002.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-002-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-002-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240312-28400-002-600x338.jpg 600w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, Nikaido does not name any titles that they consider to have gone too far in eliminating stress factors, but users have raised mobile games as one example. With the gacha model of monetization becoming widespread, some mobile games eliminate stress factors that stem from gameplay and story, making the anxiety of spending real money and wondering, \u201cwhat am I going to pull?\u201d the only sources of stress.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, one counter argument raised in response to Nikaido\u2019s thread is that of the subjectivity of experiencing stress. As video games grow as a medium and become more widespread, target audiences are also expanding to include not only seasoned gamers but newcomers too. What may feel like a complete lack of stress\/thrilling factors to some players may be a moderate amount of challenge to others. Nikaido likewise acknowledges this point in their <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/R_Nikaido\/status\/1766652747577971149?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">last post<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Japanese developer&#8217;s musings on how &#8220;stress&#8221; (and a lack of it) affects games has caused discourse on the topic in the gaming community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":28405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-28400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Can a video game without \u201cstress\u201d be entertaining? 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