This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Seven Seals: "While games have steadily become more and more realistic with time, in graphics and sound particularly but also in enemy AI and story (no longer do you see such plots as "you're a gluttonous yellow circle getting chased around a maze by ghosts") [...]"
This is an interesting point because it illustrates such a common misconception. A game and a story are diametrically opposed art forms; what modern games do is to combine those diametrically opposed art forms into something interesting. The plot of Pac-Man is not "you're a gluttonous yellow circle getting chased around a maze by ghosts" because Pac-Man quite simply has no story, and therefore no plot. Calling this "unrealistic" is correct in one sense, because the game world doesn't resemble reality, but it's quite misleading on the other hand because realism is not a factor in the game. It'd be better to call it "a-realistic". Games are not better when they have stories, because the point of a game is to entertain the player, and Tetris and Space Invaders can do that just as well (or better) than A Mind Forever Voyaging or Planescape: Torment.
Games that do incorporate stories are steadily incorporating better ones, that much is true, and those games can justifiably be called "unrealistic" when their attempts to mimic reality fail. Also, I do like the idea of describing the "plot" of Pac-Man as it's done here and don't advocate removing it, but it's important to realize that a game and a story are different worlds.
Pointless interjection over; that is all. :-P
Morgan Wick: I put "plots" in quotes to serve the same purpose as in the last full paragraph above.
Trigger Loaded: What in the blazes is Minecart Madness doing on this page? That's a Setting, plain and simple. I still argue that Super Drowning Skills isn't an 'acceptable' break from reality, just an annoying one. Any objection to moving them?
Red Shoe: I think maybe that's missing the point of what "acceptable" is all about. It's not a subjective "Unrealistic but it doesn't bother you personally"; this is not really a matter of opinion. It's "Whether or not it bothers you, we have to live with it because it is neither technically feasable nor beneficial to the play experience to replace it with something more realistic.
Trigger Loaded: Now that's an explanation I can live with, though the entry should make it a touch clearer. Then again, it does mention how advancing technology can make some 'acceptable' tropes 'unacceptbale.' Still, I am probably just being nitpicky. Though this still doesn't explain why Minecart Madness is here.
Sci Vo: It's not. I moved it to Video Game Settings yesterday after you pointed that out. ;) That was a good catch.
Bron Raven: Moved the opening quote to Critical Existence Failure because I thought it would fit better there.
