Video games have a reintegration problem
But the question is: should you start over or continue where you left off? In my case, the problem is that I don't remember what exactly I was doing in the game when I left it pending. I don't know if I had mounted blade implants in my arms. I don't know what that shady samurai was doing among my contacts, nor what role Keanu had (but I know he's in Matrix 4). Put simply, I don't remember how to play Cyberpunk 2077. And do you know it's there? I don't think the game really matters.
He probably won't notice that I've been missing all this time. Simply, it will catapult me back to Night City in a screen full of indecipherable figures, et voila: here we are again. The mere thought of this situation makes me waver.
A fairly recent look at Cyberpunk 2077's performance on next generation consoles.
Watch on YouTube. I think games have a problem getting us re-entered. They spend a lot of time opening up slowly, like children do in a swimming pool. But once we're floating happy, they go away. They assume we're okay and perfectly able to float in the pool that figuratively represents their microcosm. But what happens if we then leave to go for a hike or a bike ride? What happens if you come back and don't remember how to swim? In this case there is no buoyancy aid: you will go to the bottom in the most muddy depths.
I am bringing this issue to light but this is not the first time that I have come across this problem, and I am sure it will have happened to you several times. We live in a world where games generally tend to get bigger and more time-consuming. If a company manages to dominate our time, it is thrilled. But who has all this time to dedicate to just one game, especially when so many others come out in a short amount of time? In practice, it is much more likely that we play a title for a while and then abandon it all of a sudden to play some successful new release. And then you will happen to find yourself in the same situation as me.
Here I would like to propose a truly radical solution to the problem! A time counter, or you can just call it a clock if you prefer. And what it does is simply count how long you have been away: if you have been gone beyond a certain time limit, then a reintegration process starts.
I know what V is thinking: she thinks' mmmh how these noodles are good! ' Take a deep breath now. I know it's a big thing but not that big if you think about it. It wouldn't be such a radical change. Think of the TV series and the summaries that are offered to us. They are part of the experience itself, designed to get us back on track every time a new episode arrives. So why can't we have something similar for video games? Very large RPGs would benefit enormously. How many times have you logged in simply to read the questlog and thought it was written in an incomprehensible language?
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Video games need to think more about this issue. It's not just about the story, which you can hardly remember when returning to play after a long hiatus, but rather about the game mechanics. There could be several issues that revolve around this factor. Take Cyberpunk 2077 as an example: what if V offers another virtual training module? It would make a lot of sense and could be passed off as a way for V to keep her abilities in mind.
It would not be difficult to hypothesize a similar scenario that fits every video game. With some effort, reintegration could also be a fun thing for players, offering a broader look at the game world. After all, shouldn't players be rewarded for returning to play instead of punishing them for being away for a long time?
There is a long way to go. I turn to Ubisoft, Bethesda and CD Projekt and all the big publishers. I know you believe the public plays your games by isolating themselves from everything else, but the reality is very different. Everyone has other things to do in their routine and other games to play as well. But you may want to go back to playing those games left unresolved, and we'd love to be helped with this reintegration process. So why not make it easier for us?
