Gimmicks in Gaming

[BidetoftheDead]

Gimmicks are all over the industry, ranging from good to bad, becoming a defining mechanic in a game ranging from useful to useless, bad and good. The purpose of this thread is to talk about your favorite and least favorite gimmicks in a game.

 

One of my favorites is customization of weapons and armor in a game, like Fallout New Vegas has weapon mods which I absolutely loved. Made me feel like I was building up my own gun.

[rliant1864]

In my opinion

 

Bad Gimmicks: Palette swap customization (double if it's DLC), companion apps that do the same things as the game menu, Galaxy at War type companion games that are abandoned six months after release leaving useless menus in games, anything that automatically records clips on One, motion controlled anything.

 

Good Gimmicks: Companion apps that provide uses, like maps for glancing at or totally independent side task. Any sort of customization that has an effect beyond color, gaming tie in short movies with at least decent production values.

[Alyxx Thorne]

Favourite gimmicks: Akimbo weapons and character customization

 

Gimmicks I hate: Nothing that comes to mind yet.

[Binky The Rabbit]

Problematic Gimmick: Anything that requires you to spend money on the game, after buying the actual game.

 

Expansion packs are fine. In-game stores are not fine.

[Jeb_CC]

My favourite gimmick, customization. It's why I love The Sims 3 so much. I spend over an hour customizing every piece of clothing, all the tiny little details and everything! >W

[BidetoftheDead]

Customization is probably the only gimmick that will never be complained about or done to death. Especially when you get games like Saint's Row and Elder Scrolls.

[Jeb_CC]

Customization is probably the only gimmick that will never be complained about or done to death. Especially when you get games like Saint's Row and Elder Scrolls.

 

People can complain though if there are no presets for customization. In The Sims 3, there's a random Sim generator which is great. In Skyrim, there are a small but handy set of presets which are nice too. As long as there's this list of templates for the player, customization should be a thing in every game IMO. (Except story games like Half Life and Portal, obviously)

[BidetoftheDead]

Oh definitely, presets are very useful. Especially when you have modding communities making new ones though a mod for Skyrim introduced something that should definitely be done. A mod called RaceMenu let's you save the character you made and export it to an external file that can be uploaded on a service like dropbox and the Nexus. I think that should become a common thing in video games that allow customization as it could build an entire sub-community based around sharing characters and customization tips.

 

As for story based games, well, customization is pretty useless for first person games

[AP_Pastor]

Good Gimmick:

1. Mods - It adds to the replay value to a lot of games, especially on games like Skyrim, GTA etc.

2. Unlockables - The feeling of unlocking some unique goodies or game-changing items is like receiving a really good birthday gift

3. Achievements - I like to think of them as a "bucket list". Small challenges that are optional to accomplish, but makes gameplay a little more interesting.

 

Bad Gimmick

1. DLCs - Like Binky, I don't mind expansion packs as well, but the idea of paying for additional contents or goodies really puts me off, especially when i can't afford them.

2. Unnecessary gameplay elements - I guess a good example of this would be Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. The minigames you have to play when interacting with some of the characters (mostly girls) annoyed me to death. Long story short, it's tedious, and it's a waste of time.

3. Repetitive dialogue - They're funny or interesting at first, but they get old and annoying real quick.

 

Neutral Gimmick

1. Sandbox-type games - While I like how I can do almost anything under the (in-game) sun, sometimes it gets boring. For games like GTA or Fallout, the storyline missions, the side missions (in the case of Fallout) and mods are the only thing that keeps me interested with sandbox games.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Guest (see edit history)

[Blightmare]

My issues with gimmicks are when they're done essentially "because we could." I mean they can still be fun at that point but at the same time most gimmicks done that way really don't need to be there and often add unnecessary time to the learning curve, especially when they aren't very well done. I do like the idea of mods and customization though. Not sure I would ALWAYS call customization a gimmick because in games like RPG's it's pretty much expected to be allowed to have a unique character.

 

I guess if there's one gimmick in general I have a lot of issues with it's crafting systems. So many games do it wrong and it becomes intrusive on the gameplay and fills your inventory with garbage you think you might need later. Dying Light managed to pull off the crafting system better IMO because all materials had their own separate inventory and they were more about helpful aids to the game than they were a requirement.

[BTGBullseye]

Gimmicks I like:

1. Free DLC. (essentially a dev-originated mod for the game, completely free)

2. On MMO games designed for multiple characters per account, having account-wide unlocks for special items. (so you can have the same item on all characters, or share it between characters)

3. Anything free. (it could be a free costume, or maybe some special weapon, but free is always good)

 

Gimmicks I dislike:

1. Clothing items/recolors that cost real life money, or are extremely difficult to get.

2. Facebook integration. (or any other social media integration for that matter)

3. Profanity filters that can't be disabled.

4. In-game bonuses for using a specific launcher for the game, or for liking them on Facebook, or anything like that.

5. In MMOs designed for multiple characters per account, making a special or paid-for item a character-specific unlock. (e.g. in Star Trek Online, the Lobi Store)

 

Gimmicks I loathe:

1. P2W. (short for "Pay to Win") This happens a LOT in free to play games. If you can't get the best items (or sometimes even just less crappy items) in the game in a reasonable time without paying a cent, the game falls into this category.

2. Paid DLC to get a single weapon or item, the only difference is the skin.

3. "Internet connection required" for single player games. (or even MP games that have ANY SP only content)

4. Massively overpriced game store items. ($5 is WAY too much for a barely decent gun, especially when it only lasts for a week)

5. Limited duration items. (only if they are that way just to get you to spend to get one that lasts longer)

6. "Game of the Year" or "Gold Edition" type games that include expansions that have a completely invalid code/code type for unlocking them, and the company refuses to give a valid copy. (I am glaring at my Medal of Honor anthology right now, because I STILL can't install a non-pirated copy of Allied Assault: Spearhead, Allied Assault: Breakthrough, or Pacific Assault)

[Blightmare]

6. "Game of the Year" or "Gold Edition" type games that include expansions that have a completely invalid code/code type for unlocking them, and the company refuses to give a valid copy. (I am glaring at my Medal of Honor anthology right now, because I STILL can't install a non-pirated copy of Allied Assault: Spearhead, Allied Assault: Breakthrough, or Pacific Assault)

That's not really a gimmick, that's just flat out incompetence and scummy business practice.

[Reverend_UshankaCat_]

Bad Gimmicks:

-Making you sign up to stuff before you are allowed to even play the game (as seen in: GTA IV, Battlefield 2142, Driver: San Francisco,...)

-Teasing you with DLC ("Oh this cool gun right in front of you? Yeah, you can't pick it up. Its 11.99€.")

-Thinking that you are really competitive ("Click here to view the leaderboards!" After every mission)

-Social media\YouTube integration (Dirt 3 keeps asking you to spam your replays all over YouTube)

-Censorship (This hits us pretty hard here in Germany, we have to play non-violent versions of shooters and we're not even allowed to kill Nazis here!)

 

Cool Gimmicks:

-As mentioned before, customization and modding support!

-Free stuff, like the game's Soundtrack or a few Wallpapers

-Funny easter eggs

There is probably more stuff I can't think of right now...

[BidetoftheDead]

6. "Game of the Year" or "Gold Edition" type games that include expansions that have a completely invalid code/code type for unlocking them, and the company refuses to give a valid copy. (I am glaring at my Medal of Honor anthology right now, because I STILL can't install a non-pirated copy of Allied Assault: Spearhead, Allied Assault: Breakthrough, or Pacific Assault)

That's not really a gimmick, that's just flat out incompetence and scummy business practice.

 

Really hope that it's a rarity in the industry instead of a common "mistake"

[Blightmare]

6. "Game of the Year" or "Gold Edition" type games that include expansions that have a completely invalid code/code type for unlocking them, and the company refuses to give a valid copy. (I am glaring at my Medal of Honor anthology right now, because I STILL can't install a non-pirated copy of Allied Assault: Spearhead, Allied Assault: Breakthrough, or Pacific Assault)

That's not really a gimmick, that's just flat out incompetence and scummy business practice.

 

Really hope that it's a rarity in the industry instead of a common "mistake"

 

 

 

More seriously I would say it's pretty rare. I haven't heard about that too much and when it does happen on a broad scale word gets out fast. Gamers can be pretty vengeful when it comes to being cheated out of their money.

[BidetoftheDead]

Gamers can be pretty vengeful if you make fun of a feature in a game or a character xD but yea that's also true.

 

Now for another gimmick I'm hating

 

ZOMBIES, my god they're overdone. Why can't Mecha games be the trend instead of zombies?!

[Zaraki]

Mods add to the replay value of games.That's why I try to find as much as possible.

Character customization is a HUGE plus.

Secrets,unlockables and achievements make you want to feel complete.

Internet connection required for single-player games?That's pretty annoying.

DLCs.....if only I had more money.

[Taidef1972]

Customization is probably the only gimmick that will never be complained about or done to death. Especially when you get games like Saint's Row and Elder Scrolls.

 

Totally agree with you here. I also do have a same thoughts.

[Obsidian]

For some reason I'm drawing a blank on gimmicks I like to list. Sure, there's customization, mods, achievements and alternate endings, but I feel those to be more features than gimmicks.

 

One gimmick I dislike is motion control. Not because I have anything against getting up and moving during games, but because a lot of them are clunky and make the games difficult or boring because they're poorly implemented. Kinect games come to mind most frequently, though there are a lot of Wii and Playstation games that fit this category too. Does anyone else remember Heavy Rain? It got motion controls in favor of additional story-based DLC where you were supposed to play as the Origami Killer.

[AP_Pastor]

One gimmick I dislike is motion control. Not because I have anything against getting up and moving during games, but because a lot of them are clunky and make the games difficult or boring because they're poorly implemented.

 

Kinda reminds me of this game I tried for the Playstation Move, The Fight: Lights Out. That game has the clunkiest motion control I've ever seen. It was pure hassle just trying to make the character win a round, or an entire match for that matter.