Earlier today, Warren Spector hit the DICE stage to discuss how much gaming has changed over the years. As a point of reference, he referred to how his own tastes have evolved, as both a game maker and a game player, from his 20s to his 50s.
Along with tastes, expectations and standards have evolved as well as well. Which is why he noted that "some games that should just not be made." And did he cite an example? Yes he did: Grasshopper Manufacture's Lollipop Chainsaw.
One of his primary beefs with the game is its hyper-violence. Something Spector has touched upon in the past, as Kotaku notes, but never before has he named names.
Spector explains:
"I'll try not to be too obnoxious… When I was younger, that's all I needed. All I needed was to differentiate myself from other people. If it was going to convince my mother that I was a juvenile delinquent, I was there. I needed to be transgressive. Adrenaline rush and spectacle were all I needed. I don't think I was alone in that. Maybe I'm just shallow…. When you're this age, spectacle is plenty. And bloodsprays and all that stuff is really kind of what you're looking for because you really want to alienate people in a strange sort of way. You want to shock people and you want to be different.
Not so much, anymore.
I have no interest in guys who wear armor and swing big swords. I have been the last space marine between earth and an alien invasion. I really just don't need to go there anymore. I want content that is relevant to my life, that is relevant to me, that is set in the real world… If we're going to reach a broader audience, we have to stop thinking about that audience strictly in terms of teenage boys or even teenage girls. We need to think about things that are relevant to normal humans and not just the geeks we used to be."
Spector went on to cite Heavy Rain and Telltale's The Walking Dead as examples of games that he enjoyed, because they were about real emotions, and not spectacle for the sake of spectacle.
While Spector does make some valid points. And there are indeed more gamers than ever before, of different ages, backgrounds, tastes, etc. And everyone should have something that appeals to them, including someone who is at a time and place like a Warren Spector age 50. Yet there should still be games for someone who is at a time and place like a Warren Spector age 20 even still.