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PS5 Activities sound terrible to me

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Mukrab

Mukrab

Member
Apr 19, 2020
7,505
Let me start by saying I haven't actually used them myself and i understand that ERA will mostly not agree with me based on how much i see people here saying that they don't have time to play videogames. And I understand that it might be awesome for some people, i can't feel concerned and how it will affect me and others like me. And let's face it, the argument of you don't have to use it if you don't want to is not a good argument. The world has never worked that way, choosing the path of least resistance is what most people will do in any game regardless of fun, every time there is a bug that lets players do stuff faster, they'll do it, because it would be stupid not too. Destiny loot cave etc. And this is not just me saying it, even devs recognize this problem

This phenomenon is a really interesting one, and is summed up in a pair of quotes by Civilization IV designers Soren Johnson and Sid Meier, who said, respectively: " given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game," and that, therefore, "one of the responsibilities of designers is to protect the player from themselves."
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Activites are the complete opposite of this and i fear that i will just be more efficient to be constantly in menus than actually playing the game to do stuff.

And again, i understand some people may like this, and im not saying you're wrong. Just trying to get some insight of people who this may affect.
 
Mechaplum

Mechaplum

Enlightened
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Oct 26, 2017
18,816
JP
I have absolutely no idea what sort of conversation are you going for.

Edit: Your quote doesn't feel relevant at all.
 
Wil348

Wil348

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,213
I didn't see that much appeal in it when it was revealed.....and then I tried it. It's a great feature.
 
killer_clank

killer_clank

Member
Oct 25, 2017
836
You can totally ignore them, having Activities doesn't negate the ability to swing there in Spider-Man, for example. Sometimes I want to swing there and sometimes I pop the activity! Both are valid and choice is good!
 
Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny

Banned
Apr 25, 2020
25,953
Yeah, you should maybe actually try the thing you're criticizing before criticizing it I think. Also, this sentence:

Activites are the complete opposite of this and i fear that i will just be more efficient to be constantly in menus than actually playing the game to do stuff.
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What?
 
Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,411
New York City
It's very easy to ignore. Also, it's fantastic for quickly loading into a save without seeing the menu or splash screens. Or jumping into a quick time trial or whatever.

I had similar concerns pre-launch, but they all vanished once I actually tried the thing.
 
Izanagi89

Izanagi89

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,592
If the optimization of fun allows players to have more fun then there's no problem. Also, Activities function as a way to get you quicker into the game and the tasks at hand, not to DO the task for you.
 

Deleted member 10795

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,302
Mukrab said:
If the title itself didnt tell you that i didnt use them myself you gotta work on your english skills.
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You're on shaky ground taking this approach.

Your OP reads like a shower thought that you've not bothered to add any context or really any questioning to. It's not clear who exactly you think is effected by this or whose insight you are trying to get.
 

Deleted member 16876

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
"Let me start by saying I haven't actually used them myself"

tenor.gif
 
Dynedom

Dynedom

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,698
I agree that you don't need to have tried Activities to have a terrible opinion of them.
 
MegaSackman

MegaSackman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
17,732
Argentina
You could explain why you don't like them, op.

I don't have a PS5 yet but it seems something that can be easily ignored if you don't want to engage with it.
 
tiebreaker

tiebreaker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,148
Sounds like the same argument used for not including easy mode.

I think devs can use activities how they see fit, so it's really up to them.
 
Bright-Light

Bright-Light

Member
Oct 29, 2017
291
"And let's face it, the argument of you don't have to use it if you don't want to is not a good argument. The world has never worked that way, choosing the path of least resistance is what most people will do in any game regardless of fun"

Not sure I agree with you here. For example, the Demon Souls luck glitch allowed you to become so op that you would one shot bosses. I didn't use it, because it wouldn't be fun, I bet most people who knew about the glitch didn't use it. Some would have but I doubt most.
 

Deleted member 57361

User requested account closure
Banned
Jun 2, 2019
1,360
Activities are just a QoL feature to make players more engaged with the game. If some developer wants it to be part of their game design, it's their choice, but that's not the objective of the feature. Using Astro's as example, there are trophies that don't have activities tied to it. Basically, activities just put you faster where you need to be to start X content in the game.
 
Stowaway Silfer

Stowaway Silfer

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
32,819
Mukrab said:
The world has never worked that way, choosing the path of least resistance is what most people will do in any game regardless of fun, every time there is a bug that lets players do stuff faster, they'll do it, because it would be stupid not too.
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Blame developers for stuff like fast travel then. Cause that's basically what it is for open-world games like Spider-Man. Or it's a level select from the OS instead of a level select in-game. I have not seen them being used for anything other than hastening something the game itself already does. But if a developer didn't want you teleporting around their map from anywhere, they just wouldn't offer that in their game and wouldn't offer a corresponding Activity Card.
 
Bushido

Bushido

Senior Game Designer
Verified
Feb 6, 2018
1,850
Maybe you should get an idea (meaning hands-on experience) what you're even talking about before dismissing it right away. Not every game needs to offer it, it's up to the devs what they put there and for example in Astro Bot it minimizes loading times from cold boot to an absolute minimum, saving you the trouble from booting the game, going through splash screens, entering the main menu, starting in the lobby, selecting the stage you wanna play, loading that stage...but instead spawns you there right away from the PS5's dashboard within 5 seconds.
 
wayward_

wayward_

Member
Oct 29, 2020
244
Unless your favourite part of the game is the main menu then it's not optimizing the fun out of them..
 
Uzupedro

Uzupedro

Banned
May 16, 2020
12,234
Rio de Janeiro
And let's face it, the argument of you don't have to use it if you don't want to is not a good argument
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Yes It is.

The world has never worked that way, choosing the path of least resistance is what most people will do in any game regardless of fun, every time there is a bug that lets players do stuff faster, they'll do it, because it would be stupid not too
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Activity cards are simply shortcuts, you aren't cheating or using an exploit to end a mission in a more easy way, this has nothing to do with what Sid Meier said.
 
reclaimerzzzzz

reclaimerzzzzz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,136
Maybe try it first, understand how it actually works, and then construct a better critique than just "it sounds terrible to me". The feature doesn't play the game for you, so I don't see how it would "optimize the fun out" of any game that utilizes it.
 
Syysch

Syysch

Member
Oct 30, 2017
422
Mukrab said:
i fear that i will just be more efficient to be constantly in menus than actually playing the game to do stuff.
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I'd rather this than waste hours of my time traversing an empty world from point A to point B a bajillion times. Games don't respect the player's time a lot of the time. 2 seconds in the menu to jump right into some gameplay is far better than 5 mins of holding up on the left stick to reach that same gameplay.
 
supercommodore

supercommodore

Prophet of Truth
Member
Apr 13, 2020
4,191
UK
Costy said:
And that's all I needed to read.
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It's a pretty basic concept, I don't think you have to have used it to understand what it does.

Not really thread worthy though, if the OP actually ends up buying a PS5 they can just ignore the feature. I don't think activities will become so central to games that they alter the nature of exploring in the game itself.
 
OP
OP
Mukrab

Mukrab

Member
Apr 19, 2020
7,505
Silfer said:
Blame developers for stuff like fast travel then. Cause that's basically what it is for open-world games like Spider-Man. Or it's a level select from the OS instead of a level select in-game. I have not seen them being used for anything other than hastening something the game itself already does. But if a developer didn't want you teleporting around their map from anywhere, they just wouldn't offer that in their game and wouldn't offer a corresponding Activity Card.
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Exactly. In many cases its just fast travel, why not offer the fast travel in game then? If you're offering fast travel but instad of ingame its through the OS then that sounds like terrible design to me.
 
LinkStrikesBack

LinkStrikesBack

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
16,364
aspiring said:
one and done . Like seriously if you have not used, there can be no opinion
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Of course you can have an opinion on things you've not yet directly taken part in, lol.

Imagine if you weren't allowed to say a game probably isn't for you based on trailers/other provided media, or criticise microtransactions until you've bought them.
 
Poldino

Poldino

Member
Oct 27, 2020
3,334
Eh?
The Activity system is great and it's not mandatory: if you want to use it, so be it; if you don't want to use it, you can still ignore it and boot your games as always.

I've only tried it with Sackboy, Astro, Miles Morales and COD Cold War and with each game was a real game changer for me. To be able to jump directly in-game in a bunch of seconds and continuing a level or mission exaclty where I left it is so good
This morning I had just half an hour to play before going to work, so I just booted the PS5, took a quick look at Sackboy's Activities cards and there it was: "X Level - 15 minutes left"; I launched it, 3 seconds and I was in gameplay and managed to finish it exactly in 15 minutes just as I needed before I had to go, it was perfect and sooo fast.
 
ngower

ngower

Member
Nov 20, 2017
4,016
I haven't used them once but I don't have any aversion to them. My point is that they are very easily avoidable if you don't want to use them.

This thread topic feels weirdly hostile...
 
Thorn

Thorn

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
24,446
Oh so that's what those things on my PS5 are, maybe I should actually explore it.
 

Deleted member 16876

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
Mukrab said:
Please enlighten me on how using it will change my mind. Do they work differently than how i think they work?
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Because you are basing this of something you haven't experienced.

Demon's Souls uses it and they added ingame design that makes it not ruin the game. If devs feel like they don't want the activities to mess with their game they can choose to implement stuff against it without getting rid of the QOL it adds.
 
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