Game Over!

I can’t even give you an estimate on how often I’ve seen these two words on a screen. But, the funny thing is that I can’t really remember the last time I was confronted with them. And this kind of got me thinking why? To my opinion, this is probably because the “time” and style of games have changed. In the good old days of Pacman, Space Invaders or (later) high-tech(!) games like Boulderdash, we were confronted and irritated by “Game over!” on way too many occasions.

Boulderdash

The gaming concept was simple:
Challenge the player with a Task which seems “easy” and do-able. But limit them in the amount of attempts and/or time. When the player has managed the task, award the player with a “well done” and tell the player next stage (or lvl) has been reached. Then: Slightly increase the difficulty of the task. And offer this task to the player.
All games were “designed” to be manageable by the smallest child, but over time offered a real challenge to any skill of player. Way too often I was annoyed, irritated and angry that once again I failed lvl 32 because I ran out of time. The annoyance, anger and irritation would all be converted into motivation on my next try to “crack” the lvl. And: at a certain moment, I would actually crack the lvl and “finish” the game. Straight after that, started looking for the next game to prove to that I was “invincible”. (muhaha)

Nowadays, the words “Game over” will only be found when playing “Classic game collection XVI”. And to be honest, it seems the words have actually been banned by each and every marketing department in the gaming industry. Cause “Game-over” will result in annoyance to the player, and might lead to the player turning of the game: To spend time in a “more” useful way. Or it causes the player to switch to a game of a competing gaming company. Ever since the industry discovered that the total playtime increases when the game actually never ends, “the words” started to get rarer. It’s like the experiment with a rat in the labyrinth. Instead of punishing it with electro-shocks when it makes a wrong turn, rewarding it with cheese when it makes a right turn will cause the rat to get through the labyrinth much faster. And will cause the rat to enjoy it in a way, waiting for the next trip through the labyrinth. To be honest, I think the rat was quite pissed when the experiment was over and it was time for him to grow an ear on his back.
It’s a matter of fact that no matter how much you suck at a game, Mr.Gamecreater will make sure you still get “rewarded” to give you a “you’re an ace”-feeling. As long as you don’t push the “off” button on the system, Mr.Gamecreater will be there to hold your hand and be proud of you. Shortly after the never-ending games were introduced by Mr.Gamecreater, he came to the idea to charge 20% less for his games in the shop. And actually charge the player for the time he spends “on”. After all, when Mr.Gamecreater has to hold the players hand and tell him his god, he should get paid for it, shouldn’t he?

So what’s this way too long article all about Steph? Why the hell are you writing all of this?Ok, here it is Mr.Gamecreater:
For all of those times you took my childhood happiness, hopes and dreams. For the times I woke up in the middle of the night, soaked in sweat, having nightmare of stones falling on my head resulting in those evil words in front of my vulnerable child eyes, my revenge to you:

 

Account canceled: Game Over, No more Euros for you!

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