“It’s Not Tiny, It’s Special”

Recently I’ve heard a lot of people saying they won’t be picking up Wii Sports Resort because it’s “not substantial enough.” Personally, I find something terribly wrong with that way of thinking; mainly that I don’t know exactly what it means.

Games are still a fairly young medium, and in my opinion we haven’t really found a way to understand what makes them good or bad yet. Sure, we have reviews that judge their sound, gameplay, graphics, etc., but no matter how shiny a game is or how immersive the sound effects are, I wouldn’t call those games “more substantial” because of that.

I wouldn’t call a game that lasts 80+ hours “more substantial” either. Think about it: what are you spending most of your time doing when it comes to long games like that? Chances are it’s just a bunch of filler material as you go from point A to Point B, find power-up J to reach exit P, jumping across platforms G and V to get to dragon K and glorious reward Z.

In a way, every game is just a collection of tiny input moments between pretty cut-scenes in which we’re allowed to play a little part. Almost like countless mini-games — though we like to call them moments instead.

If you think about it, most games are just that: mini-games masquerading as moments, one leading to the next, to the next, to the next, and so on until the credits roll. Of course, unlike Wii Sports Resort, you’re only playing slightly different variations of the same mini-game over and over again (e.g. shoot the zombie, kill the nazi, eat the mushroom and jump on turtles) instead of a wider variety of “moments” (unless the game in question happens to be one of those fancy multi-genre titles, like Mirror’s Edge).

Continuing with the mini-game/moment way of thinking, you’ll eventually come across the problem of games not being very “substantial” at all, and why triple-A, multi-million dollar games aren’t all that more “substantial” than a game like Wii Sports Resort.

Example: In the latter, you play one mini-game, finish it, and then move onto another. In other games, you play a mini-game for a long, long time, then watch a cut-scene, then move onto another. Honestly, there’s not that much of a fundamental gameplay difference between what goes on in Wii Sports Resort and, say, going dungeon to dungeon in a Zelda game, or giant boss to giant boss in a God of War game, or football game to football game in the latest Madden.

Sure, those experiences may last longer, and might tell “stories” (that aren’t all that good compared to other mediums, really), but I don’t  think that qualifies as “substantial,” which I view more as something that’s taken away from the experience that is either A) fun and memorable, or B) life-changing and makes us ponder what it means to be human (games aren’t very good at that whole B thing though… yet).

So, what exactly makes Wii Sports Resort less “substantial” than those bigger games if game length isn’t what one would deem as “substantial”? If they’re all “fun and memorable” in their own ways? If you can keep playing Wii Sports Resort months after its release anyway? It’s got plenty of gameplay depth, so that can’t be it.

The game Portal lasted only a couple of hours. Without the use of a deep narrative, tons of characters, tons of pretty cut-scenes, or anything else normally bestowed upon “substantial” games, it truly said something, and I took more out of that experience than most games this generation combined.

The amount of time a game lasts isn’t truly “substantial,” and I think that’s where my problem with using it as a pejorative in describing Wii Sports Resort kind of irks me (even though that game should, in fact, last quite a while).

Most games, sadly, aren’t truly substantial anyway; they’re fun, and used for relaxation, not discussing the human condition (though let’s hope they get to that part soon). Basically what I’m trying to say here is that we put way too much emphasis on labels, and that includes listing certain experiences as “just a bunch of mini-games.” We’re limiting ourselves to only what we already play instead of reaching out and trying something new, and what fun is life if you just stick to the norm?

Give Wii Sports Resort — and other games like it —  a chance. It’s a video game (ooh, I feel dirty writing that in two words again) just like any other, and thus deserves your attention like any other. After all, just because its basic gaming mechanics are cut up into 12 different dragons doesn’t mean those dragons still aren’t fun to ride around and burn villagers with… right?

… or maybe I could have saved you some reading time and said “it’s all semantics.”