Chapter 1
A. Background of the Study
According to Campbell.C 's
article entitled "Well Borrowed Gameplay Elements pushes 'Shadow of
Morder' to the Top", some games that has been publicized successfully
borrowed gameplay elements from other games or different genres of games. Not
only specifically for this game, but a large quantity of developers has been
doing this since the past. This is of
course not to blatantly copy them but to build upon the mechanic and evolve it
further to fit their very own style.
I quote from Campbell "If imitation is the most
sincere form of flattery, then Monolith Entertainment has just written one heck
of a love letter to Rocksteady in the form of 'Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor'
“. (http://www.stripes.com/military-life/games/well-borrowed-gameplay-pushes-shadow-of-mordor-to-the-top-1.307609)
Various gaming genres borrowed gameplay elements from Fighting games. The Fighting game genre is one of the pioneering genres which started videogames. Since games in this style has been developed since the dawn of video game creation, many games has largely used gaming ideas from this genre and integrated them into their games or even used it as a basis for making gaming titles. As the genre itself kept on evolving throughout the videogame history, the gaming industry prospered with it creating more ideas and giving birth to newer types of games that takes this genre as basis for their new gaming mechanics.
"Every once in a while comes a video game that claims - or is claimed - to 'revolutionize' its genre, to bring it beyond what it used to be, or to 'evolve' it, defining a new step along the generic road it is treading".Taken from Arsenault.D's article that goes with the title of "Video Game Genre, Evolution and Innovation“. (http://www.eludamos.org/index.php/eludamos/article/viewArticle/65/125)
The Fighting game genre is a
largely evolved genre filled with
educational materials for the c reation of newer and more complex gaming
elements. Fighting games has been around since the very early stages of the
video-gaming world’s rise to the industry. Numerous trial and errors,
breakthroughs, and discoveries of never before used gaming mechanics has all
been seen by this particular type of videogame making it not only the one of
the eldest but also one of the most successful types of game that ever graced
the industry.
Fighting games gave birth to competition amongst different communities.
Dargenio.A has stated in his article
titled " History of Fighting Games" about the birth of competitive
gaming with the introduction of this genre.
"But, the huge popularity spike that the fighting game genre and fighting game community has seen in the past couple years has set some pretty phenomenal changes in motion. " (http://arcadesushi.com/the-history-of-fighting-games-part-1/)
The genre in its early stages,
despite its nature of pitting more than one player to another, didn’t started
as a competitive game. It only did when it has evolved enough to incorporate
strategy and technique into its gameplay in games like Street Fighter II where
the real competition began. The games by then has been largely designed to
favor the player who have honed their skill better than their opposition. The
said genre is also one of the biggest reason the arcade community has risen to
its peak. But nowadays, due to the
advancement in technology, consoles are able to connect players from all over
the globe to compete with each other. But it is largely agreed upon by many
players that the offline scene the arcade community gives still gives the best
experience in terms comfortability and stableness of framerate which online
matches fail to deliver.
Despite the dwindling interest on the genre, because of newer genres
being born, Fighting games continues to bring people from over the world
together. In a recent article by Lambert.K of Powerleveled, moves done by
developers could definitely kill the community by choosing exclusivity in their
games.
"If I could give one word to describe the state of the current console war, it would be exclusivity. To me, that is a dirty word which only serves to hurt the gaming ecosystem."
"Street Fighter IV is one of the best fighting games ever made and
completely revitalized the dying genre. It was released in 2009 on Xbox 360,
PS3, and in arcades (2008) and enabled more people then ever to fight
each other thanks to Xbox Live and PSN. Not only that, but since this was the
first major fighting game to be released on the current gen consoles of the
time in an era of amazing communication, the fighting game community was able
to grow and share information exponentially."
(http://powerleveled.com/capcom-exclusively-killing-fighting-games-with-street-fighter-v/)
(http://powerleveled.com/capcom-exclusively-killing-fighting-games-with-street-fighter-v/)
This only proves that Fighting games connect people over the world even
with the recent difficulties the genre has been experiencing. Although these
difficulties exists, fighting games is still one of the pillars to video gaming
and a main attraction in world of the rising entertainment industry known as
E-Sports(Electronic Sports).It is not a genre to be ignored. As the one who
introduced competitive gaming to the masses, fighting games is one of the
largest featured games in this rising entertainment industry. The sheer number
of players still supporting the Fighting game community in prestigious international
events like EVO proves that fighting games still garners interest even with the
booming success of MOBA’s(Multiplayer Online Battle Arena).
Taken from an article by a player in the guise of AFliXTioN
entitled "Fighting Games- A Dying Breed". He speaks of the current situation the genre is facing.
" I think the main problem with fighting games is staying relevant, Publishers won’t take the risk on producing a new fighting game as no one might play it no matter how good it is and it’s hard to make a fighting game with unique game mechanics. This is why fighting game series such as Street Fighter and Tekken have lasted so long they are tried and tested formulas and they already have a great fan base, so what is the point In making a new game where you need to gather a whole new community and to be honest the fighting game community isn’t that big." (http://www.6aming.com/fighting-games-a-dying-breed/)
With the current flow of events where players and viewers commonly follow the most popular games to date and
where the prevalent issues surrounding the genre continues to haunt it,
fighting games has been forced to play a submissive role and give way to more
popular kinds of gaming despite its contribution
to the industry and to the unique challenge and thrills it gives to players and
enthusiasts that venture in this type of game.To sum it all up, knowing what
unique challenges this genre bring to the table will encourage new people to
try it out .Therefore saving the genre and keeping it relevant to the current
times which will then greatly contribute
to the ever evolving industry that is video-gaming as it always does since the
beginning.
This paper shall pinpoint the factors as to why the Fighting Game genre
is considered to be dying so that it could be remedied before it is too late to
revive it.
B. Statement of the Problem
This research aims to answer the following questions:
1.What are the factors regarding the difficulties surrounding the Fighting Game genre?
C. Significance of the Study
Players- Gaming is of course primarily targets its audience. Saving this exceptionally competitive genre will keep diversity in the gaming libraries of each players. Learning the discipline needed in different genres will grant more skills to its players such as hand and eye coordination and reaction times.
Game Developers- Developers should be able to use the
information for the purpose of revolutionizing the genre so it would be more
appealing to the community and the industry.
E-Sports Organizations- The world of electronic gaming entertainment is
only starting to take off and will be a very prominent type of entertainment in
the future. Having more competitive types of game will attract new players and
viewers alike furthering the rising popularity that this industry is receiving
right now.
Future Researchers- This study will be a very informative piece of
research that will aid the future researchers in their quest for finding newer
and better solutions to whatever they may be after that will touch this grounds
of research. Their research can be built upon this data or be used as a basis
for future research purposes.
D. Scope and Delimitation
This research focuses in the
unique gaming elements present in only the most relevant game titles and game
mechanics in this specific genre of gaming
but will use older games as basis for some information gathering.
Although the topic will touch on competition elements that is universally
present in all competitive games, the study will only focus on the elements
that are largely involved with the Fighting game genre only. This is due to the
span of time allotted for this study.
In any case a topic which is not in the boundaries of the research is touched upon, they will only be used to support the study and will not be given any emphasis.
In any case a topic which is not in the boundaries of the research is touched upon, they will only be used to support the study and will not be given any emphasis.
E. Materials and Methods
The researcher will make use of the already available information
available on print and online credible articles. But the researcher will still
conduct live interview s amongst players in the community that is readily
available for data gathering in the immediate vicinity of the researchers study
location.
F. Definition of Terms
Video games - is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device,[1] but it now implies any type of display device that can produce two- or three-dimensional images. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld devices. Specialized video games such as arcade games, while previously common, have gradually declined in use. Video games have gone on to become an art form and industry.
Fighting games- is a video game genre in which the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as blocking, counter-attacking, and chaining together sequences of attacks known as "combos".
E-Sports(Electronic
SportsGaming Community- A term used to refer to the collective of
players who share a common video game interest and culture. They can be an
organized group that shares information between its members and hold official
events
Multiplayer
Online Battle Arena(MOBA). A rather new gaming genre that has taken the
gaming world by storm. Also known as action real-time strategy (ARTS),
originated as a subgenre of the real-time strategy (RTS) genre of video games,
in which a player controls a single character in one of two teams. The objective
is to destroy the opposing team's main structure with the assistance of
periodically spawned computer-controlled units that march forward along set
paths. Player characters typically have various abilities and advantages that
improve over the course of a game and that contribute to a team's overall
strategy. A fusion of action games and real-time strategy games, players
usually do not construct either buildings or units.
“Unfortunately,
it’s this brutal difficulty that drives so many people away from a beautiful,
strategic, and amazingly fun genre.” As Stevenson.S stated in the article “Mastering Fighting Games: Turning a Dan into a Ryu” (http://geekti.me/wp/2012/02/mastering-fighting-games-turning-a-dan-into-a-ryu/)
Some games like Street Fighter V has chosen to be exclusive to a few console unlike games which had success that went multiplatform. This will further dwindle down the already low number of players the community have and is a bad move for the community although it’s a good one business wise.
Chapter 2
Discussions
I.
The
Current State of Fighting games
The
Fighting games genre has been one of the pillars of gaming early on in its
rising process.
The Fighting game genre has arguably started what we know
today as competitive gaming. It is where players go against another in a
competition level where their skills are tested and only the best would rise to
the top of the competitive rankings. These phenomenon would start gathering
more interest in gaming all together where communities are born. Players from
the same genre share valuable informations and discoveries everyday and they
are tested if it has any value in the current state of competition level or
what we call the Meta game.
But due
to the rise of other genres rising to competition levels, the Fighting game
genre has been more and more neglected in favor of trying out newer forms of
competitive gaming. For the past few years, the genre has been active in
international level events like EVO. But the problems is that the arcade scene
of fighting games are considered to be less and less active and local sessions
can be scarcely found in most places. Affecting the gaming community all
together. Meaning there are less players active in the community.
“If I could give one word to
describe the state of the current console war, it would be exclusivity. To me,
that is a dirty word which only serves to hurt the gaming ecosystem.” (http://powerleveled.com/capcom-exclusively-killing-fighting-games-with-street-fighter-v/)
A statement made by Lambert.K regarding the current decisions that will largely affect the current state of Fighting games in his article called “Capcom Exclusively Killing Fighting Games with Street Fighter V”. CAPCOM, one of the biggest developer and publisher of Fighting games struck a deal to keep Street Fighter V, one of the most well known Fighting game, to be an exclusive title. Effectively cutting the community into half.
A statement made by Lambert.K regarding the current decisions that will largely affect the current state of Fighting games in his article called “Capcom Exclusively Killing Fighting Games with Street Fighter V”. CAPCOM, one of the biggest developer and publisher of Fighting games struck a deal to keep Street Fighter V, one of the most well known Fighting game, to be an exclusive title. Effectively cutting the community into half.
“ Obviously this
moment is greatly enhanced by the fact it’s in a tournament situation, but you
can still get that buzz when you are playing in an online environment. As
demonstrated here by one of my favorite youtubers Maximillian”
A statement by Sean 8-bit, which
testifies to the fact that online gaming is now favored by a number of
players.This again, lowers the numbers of participants in the offline arcade
scene where the genre is made of and started from.
But nowadays, franchises like Street Fighter , Tekken and
Mortal Kombat are gaining more and more popularity. Newer titles like Persona 4
Arena, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Blazblue are trying to revive the genre. They
are trying to reactivate the hype and return the genre into it’s former glory
giving a chance for success after the genre’s dark days of the past a couple of
years ago.
II.
The
Unique Challenge Fighting Games Possess
We can say that Fighting games is
a forefather of competitive gaming with a sole reason that it is build to be
competitive that has a mechanic unique to itself. Most of the Fighting games
revolve around fundamental mechanics that rarely or cannot be seen elsewhere.
This makes the competition in fighting games very unique and losing the genre
entirely will be a blow to the industry and the whole community of players and
enthusiasts that follow this genre.
First of all, fighting games
requires skills that can be acquired through training and hardwork. A good
player should also possess knowledge of the game’s mechanics that are unique to
a very diverse game library. This has been largely believed by the players who
have reached the top of the competitive scene currently.
“Unfortunately,
it’s this brutal difficulty that drives so many people away from a beautiful,
strategic, and amazingly fun genre.”I (http://geekti.me/wp/2012/02/mastering-fighting-games-turning-a-dan-into-a-ryu/)
Stevenson.S’
opinion over the state of matters regarding Fighting games in his article
entitled “Mastering Fighting Games: Turning a Dan into a Ryu”. To be able to
enjoy fighting games, it is imperative that you are ready to train and study to
be able to have atleast a fighting chance. Mastering and understanding
mechanics in this genre is key to taking it to an enjoyable and competitive
level.
III.
Factors
to why Fighting Games are said to be a dying genre
A. The Online and Casual Gaming Phenomenon
The Fight game genre has been born and made to be played in an
honest offline session. This is where the genre is most problematic even with
the implementations of better netcodes in many of the existing fighting games
that are currently released. Losing the arcade scene means losing the home
where the genre has prospered and skyrocketed to popularity in the past. A game made to be played with deadly
precision will be greatly affected by the current situation of online and its
issues.
“Casual gamers. That's the other big group that gets attention from game makers. Inside gaming culture, "hard core" and "casual" are tribal divisions.
“Casual gamers. That's the other big group that gets attention from game makers. Inside gaming culture, "hard core" and "casual" are tribal divisions.
"For the hard core, gaming is the passion. Casual players enjoy games,
yet they don't steep themselves in gamer culture rites like midnight openings.
Still, as the gaming population grows, and gets older, exactly where those two
tribes begin and end gets a little blurry.”A statement from Kelley.K regarding
the division of the community between hardcore and the casual players from the
article entitled “Hard-core and casual Gamers Play in Different Worlds”.
One of the biggest problem of the
biggest problems of developers of Triple A titles is the boom of casual gaming.
Hardcore gaming lost customers and potential customers to casual gaming. Of
course this took effect on Fighting games which is considered to be a niche
game in the past.
B. The Inert Difficulty The Genre is Built
Upon
The genre is built upon the usage
of simple but hard to master fundamentals to complex gaming mechanics.
“Unfortunately,
it’s this brutal difficulty that drives so many people away from a beautiful,
strategic, and amazingly fun genre.” As Stevenson.S stated in the article “Mastering Fighting Games: Turning a Dan into a Ryu” (http://geekti.me/wp/2012/02/mastering-fighting-games-turning-a-dan-into-a-ryu/)
Since the genre is made to be competitive, it
is only natural that the learning curve for it is very steep. Players are asked
to learn the fundamentals and mechanics and improvise from there so that they
may have a chance as the top ranks. This is the kind of game that players need
to invest a certain time to be able to be enjoyed in contrast to the very popular
casual games where it only takes minutes to learn and play.
C. The
Decisions made by the Developers and Publishers regarding their games
Many decisions made by these
companies had a huge impact to the strife the genre is in right now.The current
state of the console wars have had a hand in these matters as well.
“If I could give one word to describe the state of the
current console war, it would be exclusivity. To me, that is a dirty word which
only serves to hurt the gaming ecosystem” as Lambert.K has stated in the
article “Capcom Exclusively Killing Fighting Games with Street Fighter V”
(http://powerleveled.com/capcom-exclusively-killing-fighting-games-with-street-fighter-v/)
Some games like Street Fighter V has chosen to be exclusive to a few console unlike games which had success that went multiplatform. This will further dwindle down the already low number of players the community have and is a bad move for the community although it’s a good one business wise.
D.
Lack of
Advertisement
Most fighting games are
inadequately advertised leading to the fact that the masses barely know half of
the current games that are carrying the name of this genre. There are really
good games that are not advertised and only been known through the hardcore
community and sometimes the tournaments. But this requires you to be already an
enthusiasts. Making people who don’t have a clue about the community oblivious
about them. And in turn, lowers the people who want to try them out.
"I want
to play MVC 3 but it ain't Gaben approved.Am I missing out... this is
coming from a guy who couldn't get into Street Fighter but can enjoy fighting
games like Tekken and Super Smash because it's all about dat button mashing."
Stated by user aexyas from the IGN Boards
(http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/the-lack-of-3d-fighting-games-on-steam-is-ridiculous.454372675/)
(http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/the-lack-of-3d-fighting-games-on-steam-is-ridiculous.454372675/)
Large
re-publishers have largely neglected this genre and only put on very few in their
library. This is mostly true to even the most popular re-publishers like Steam.
E. Profanity , Gore, Sexual themes and more inappropriate
content
Although some of these are used to
actually attract customers. These also lowers the age range in which players
are allowed to put their hands on these games. A very large quantity of the
gaming population are very young in under 21 years of age.
"Calvert and Tan compared the effects of playing versus observing violent video games on young adults' arousal levels, hostile feelings, and aggressive thoughts. Results indicated that college students who had played a violent virtual reality game had a higher heart rate, reported more dizziness and nausea, and exhibited more aggressive thoughts in a posttest than those who had played a nonviolent game do." An article study by Shin.G entitled "Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression" (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723)
Licensing groups rate some of these games so that these audiences should not be into it. This could be a huge problem in some countries where age restrictions are strictly implemented.
IV.
Conclusions
There are a lot of factors that
contribute to the coming downfall of this genre. But most of them are fixable
to a certain extent that could patch up the current problems the genre is
facing. One problem came with the advancement of technology and should easily
be remedied with the problem itself. The fighting game genre could ride the
online phenomenon back to its former glory if technology advances well enough
to eliminate connection issues that hinders the experience with the genre.
There are also creative directions that put up difficulties that can also be
removed by choosing a better direction with regard to these games. Although the
community can’t be changed in a snap of a finger. The genre could also use the
current situation as an advantage to present these games in a much larger scale
and approachable to a wider spectrum of audience but not losing the roots as to
why the genre is worthy of the attention of the gaming population.
Chapter 3
Summary
This research paper gathered information as to why the
Fighting Game genre came to the situation that it is today. A shell of its
former glory where it was once the best and one of the most well played games
across the globe in terms of arcade and offline community volume to prestigious
tournaments attended and watched all over the world.
The researcher gathered around rich information regarding
the subject matter by means of collecting articles from legitimate Gaming
journalism sites and classified and collected information by face-to-face and
online interviews
1. 1. According to the information gathered. There are
a lot of factors, direct and indirect factors that contribute to the situation
where the genre is in. Those includes the following :
*The Online Phenomenon
* The Difficulty of the Genre
*The Online Phenomenon
* The Difficulty of the Genre
*Business Decisions from Developers and Publishers
*Lack of Advertisements
*Creative Directions that Limits the Audience Range
*Creative Directions that Limits the Audience Range
2. The gameplay mechanics itself made it
very distant to casual players. The casual community nowadays is the largest
percentage of gamers in the world and this fact contributes to the very little
percentage of players into these games
3. The Arcade scene’s lack
of action greatly affected the genre cause the games are made to be played in
these environments.
Conclusions
Based from the findings and
information this research has gathered, the researcher has concluded the following :
1. The
Community and the companies that produces these games are holding the life of
the genre and must be attended to.
2. There
are problems that are from the game itself and can be fixed through a more
thorough study regarding the matter.
3. The
current trend greatly affects subject
and can be used to the advantage of envisioning a better future for the genre.
Recommendations
1. The
Game developers should conduct a more thorough study in keeping the genre relevant to our times and the current gaming
trend.
2. Gamers
who has the means can spread word about the uniqueness and competition the
genre offers.
3. E-Sports
organizations should use the advantage of this competitive genre in a give and
take relationship. This entertainment industry is just emerging and making use
of this genre as an attraction will be a very good move.
4. Researchers
interested in this subject should conduct a larger scale study to be used for
the purpose of integrating them into plans for the advantage of the industry
and the community.
References
AfLixTioN,2012, Fighting Games A Dying Breed,
Articles from 6aming.com Retrieved from http://www.6aming.com/fighting-games-a-dying-breed/)
Arsenault.D,2009,
Video Game genre, Evolution and Innovation, Articles from Eludamos.org
Retrieved from http://www.eludamos.org/index.php/eludamos/article/viewArticle/65/125
Campbell.C , 2014, Well Borrowed Gameplay
Elements pushes 'Shadow of Morder, Articles from Stripe.com Retrieved from http://www.stripes.com/military-life/games/well-borrowed-gameplay-pushes-shadow-of-mordor-to-the-top-1.307609
Dargenio.A,2014,
A History of Fighting Games, Articles from Arcade Sushi.com Retrieved from
(http://arcadesushi.com/the-history-of-fighting-games-part-1/)
(http://arcadesushi.com/the-history-of-fighting-games-part-1/)
Kelly.K.2013, Hard-core and casual Gamers Play
in Different Worlds, Blogs NPR.org Retrieved from
Lambert.K,2014, CAPCOM Exclusively Killing Fighting Games
with Street Fighter V Retrieved from (http://powerleveled.com/capcom-exclusively-killing-fighting-games-with-street-fighter-v/)
Shin.G.2008, Video Games : A Cause of Violence and
Agression,SerendipipUpdate Blog ,Retrieved from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723
