I wonder whether or not there might be a prime example of the game of general expertise par excellence out there, one that touches on many domains simultaneously...
Probably not. While in video game design there are general competencies you can rely on, there are both mutually exclusive challenges: fast paced FPS games like Quake 3 cannot be played like slower paced FPS games like Call of Duty, players who attempt to transfer their skills without understanding this don’t succeed; and balance problems, where the addition of game elements overshadow others like in Alien Swarm where there are five effective weapons even though there are fifteen other options and some of them are dismissed unfairly because they are introduced to players who haven’t seen a need for the skills they ask. Both of these factors, however, mean that challenges and tradeoffs go hand in hand in your game’s design.
That all said, people do try. Spore is the readiest example of this to me: the mishmash of different games doesn’t really work, the way they tried to address the challenge balancing issues means that four fifths of the game design is effectively useless, but it’s an instructive game nonetheless.
Excuse me for waxing over-philosophical in my last message, since I said “might be” rather than “currently is”. To be clear, I’m referring to the practical possibility (if not the straightforward logical possibility) of such a game existing.
I suppose, in any case, that one form such a game has the greatest chance of succeeding in meeting that (rather vague) designation would involve its exhibiting the most generality within its gameplay, such that the kinds of cognitive requirements put upon users would not necessarily involve specific skills or skill acquisition per se, but rather a kind of mystifying push-without-training-wheels that permits the mind to shape itself however it sees fit to accomplish the task—which then creates problems for users by forcing them to constantly modify their adopted strategy or preferred tactics.
One such game that comes to mind as a (tentative) example is Dual N-Back (or related variants) that does not directly demand any specific strategy or conceptual framework for it to be taken on by a user. One has no specific input on how to tackle it, but when the user gets the hang of it, the game naturally changes the rule(s) or framework, forcing the user to adapt once more. Such a game most certainly involves expertise (a lot of time spent playing it and getting better).
But, yeah, with most, if not all, generally recognized games, it is pretty clear that with the kinds of skills demanded of a user it may be quite difficult to maneuver certain other skills and make such a game feasible.
Probably not. While in video game design there are general competencies you can rely on, there are both mutually exclusive challenges: fast paced FPS games like Quake 3 cannot be played like slower paced FPS games like Call of Duty, players who attempt to transfer their skills without understanding this don’t succeed; and balance problems, where the addition of game elements overshadow others like in Alien Swarm where there are five effective weapons even though there are fifteen other options and some of them are dismissed unfairly because they are introduced to players who haven’t seen a need for the skills they ask. Both of these factors, however, mean that challenges and tradeoffs go hand in hand in your game’s design.
That all said, people do try. Spore is the readiest example of this to me: the mishmash of different games doesn’t really work, the way they tried to address the challenge balancing issues means that four fifths of the game design is effectively useless, but it’s an instructive game nonetheless.
Excuse me for waxing over-philosophical in my last message, since I said “might be” rather than “currently is”. To be clear, I’m referring to the practical possibility (if not the straightforward logical possibility) of such a game existing.
I suppose, in any case, that one form such a game has the greatest chance of succeeding in meeting that (rather vague) designation would involve its exhibiting the most generality within its gameplay, such that the kinds of cognitive requirements put upon users would not necessarily involve specific skills or skill acquisition per se, but rather a kind of mystifying push-without-training-wheels that permits the mind to shape itself however it sees fit to accomplish the task—which then creates problems for users by forcing them to constantly modify their adopted strategy or preferred tactics.
One such game that comes to mind as a (tentative) example is Dual N-Back (or related variants) that does not directly demand any specific strategy or conceptual framework for it to be taken on by a user. One has no specific input on how to tackle it, but when the user gets the hang of it, the game naturally changes the rule(s) or framework, forcing the user to adapt once more. Such a game most certainly involves expertise (a lot of time spent playing it and getting better).
But, yeah, with most, if not all, generally recognized games, it is pretty clear that with the kinds of skills demanded of a user it may be quite difficult to maneuver certain other skills and make such a game feasible.