Fans say graphics aren’t the sole focus of video games; their priorities lie elsewhere.
Reggie Fils-Aime said it best: if a game’s not enjoyable, why bother?” Gamers seem to agree; their focus has gradually shifted away from graphics in favor of gameplay.
Graphics in video games have long been an area of intense competition between game designers and console manufacturers, each looking to achieve as realistic looking an appearance as possible for their new releases.
Xbox and PlayStation have long battled each other to offer more powerful consoles to give Forza Motorsport players realistic-looking asphalt tracks to race across or Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 fans an opportunity to witness themselves reflect when swinging past windows.
Most players feel recent releases have put too much focus on how pretty environments appear, creating games with fantastic visuals but no meaningful gameplay experience.
Reddit user WhatAmIDOINg342 recently polled his fellow community members: “Do people actually care about graphics?”
“I introduced Diablo 3 to my friend as I thought he might enjoy trying it, and his response to me was that graphically, it looks terrible – although, yes, it has been out for ten years already and may look outdated; regardless, the game remains hugely entertaining despite this apparent drawback in graphics! Don’t get me wrong: good graphics can still add so much joy; refusing even to give this game a chance simply due to outdated visuals seems silly to me!”
Others found their thoughts similar, believing graphics should only serve to enhance gameplay rather than being the primary draw for new releases.
“Good art direction will always outshine good graphics.”
“Graphics are just decorative flourishes on top of something great.”
“It is perfectly acceptable to care about graphics when playing video games; after all, they are an audiovisual medium. Just don’t put too much focus on visuals at once.”
This year has given us many stunningly graphical displays, with more to be released next year, but even with these impressive visuals in place, if the game itself doesn’t make for an enjoyable gaming experience, it won’t matter!
