You shouldn't really do that- Games Putting Pressure on the Players

Note: Sorry about the lack of links and images from last week's post! I incorporated some links into this post in the same fashion as before (underlined and bolded like this (April fools!))
One of my favorite things about games is getting teased. Not that I like being bullied by video games, but I like having motivation from video games. Not as an easter egg, but as a way of teasing players who aren't playing games the right way. If you want even more information before jumping in, look at one of my earlier blog posts about antipiracy measures (It won't kill you. Besides, it feels nice getting extra post views.). Please be smart and play legitimately.


1. Don't choose easy difficulty-

-In Wolfenstein games, players are pressured into choosing a higher difficulty by retitling the difficulty names. For instance, the easiest difficulty "Can I play, Daddy?"  with the highest difficulty being "I am death incarnate!"

From "Rise of the Triad"

Don't let me see this highlighted on your screen or I will tease you about it for life.

-In keeping with the difficulty of Halo games, Halo Reach will only allow players to earn achievements for difficulties beyond normal.

-In Twisted Metal, players who choose to play on the easiest difficulty level will only be allowed to play the first level before a stop sign appears in front of them, reading "No losers allowed beyond this point". Other 1990s games were similar in ending the game early, but would only let players play about halfway through the game before being halted.

I will humiliate you for life if I see this on your tv screen.

2. Don't quit-

In computer games in the 1990s, players had to exit the game from the main menu by using a "Press Y/N to quit" screen prompt. This is just some context for what follows

-Wolfenstein 3d would humiliate players with messages such as "Press N for Guts and Glory or Y for Work and Worry"

-Doom would put more humorous messages in the game to discourage quitting such as "Get outta here and go back to your programs" when the prompt of asking to leave is shown.

-Rise of the Triad made this concept harsher. The quit screen would say "Press Y to" and then list some action that would either be a type of suicide or execution. If you chose to exit, the screen would go to black and you would hear the respective sound effect (Click here for a sample quit message of driving a car off a cliff) and then you would go back to your desktop, This is also useful for freaking your younger brother out and keeping him away from your games (also will frighten them to the point where they won't dare step foot in your room until the game is closed).

3. Don't Anger the Game Characters-

The You Don't Know Jack series is probably the best example of this (for the sake of simplicity, I only chose to upload clips from Volume 4)

-The host would just choose a random category if players chose to idle on the topic screen

-In open ended questions, entering "f*** you" would anger the host, plunge you straight into debt, and make the host change the player's name. If a second player pushes the limits, the host will just call them out on being immature. If a third person joins in the fun, the game will automatically close after another rant from the host. (All of the videos for this little point contain profanity, as you actually have to type a profanity to trigger the easter egg.)

-Player Names containing profanity result in the host scolding the player and changing their names

-In Volume 4 "The ride" typing in a profane name would result in the elevator (/pre-game) hostess scolding you right with the screen turning to black. She then tells you to come back when you are mature and will promptly quit to desktop (luckily you can just relaunch the game).

-Also in Volume 4, before the elevator sequence starts, you will be asked a 2 answer personality question. If you fail to answer the question a demonic voice will just simply say that he is not wasting any more of his time with you and yet again the game will close.
-In Grand Theft Auto V, while milling about Los Santos off mission, you might be lucky enough to find one of the game's playable characters walking around through the city. If you come across one of them, they'll invite you to hang out. If you decline, they will walk away. If you follow them, they'll eventually get annoyed and get your character sent to the hospital.

4. Don't Abuse saving

-In Animal Crossing, players might end up making the mistake of accidentally hitting the reset button. Other gamers might have made serious blunders and "accidentally" hit the reset button. Upon the game being restarted, "Mr. Resetti" would pop up and scold players for their cheap tactics. Of course, the first times the player resets the game, the incident is assumed to be an honest mistake. Later offenses result in lengthier and more stern lectures.

We need THIS in Call of Duty and Battlefield for early leavers!

-In Metal Gear Solid 3 (Spoiler alert in effect here) players face off with a legendary sniper known as The End (whom is 100 years old, I promise this is relevant). There are 2 ways around the confrontation. Early in the game, players have a small window to shoot The End with a sniper rifle and detonate a bomb. In the middle of the battle, players can pause and save the game, and leave it alone for seven days (or change the time on their systems clocks). Both workarounds will result in Solid Snake feeling disappointed, since it was The End's dying wish to fight Solid Snake. Also worth noting is fast forwarding (or displaying the now rare virtue of patience) one year will end out in Solid Snake getting caught falling asleep and being kidnapped by The End (luckily, you can just sneak your way out of the prison very easily). 

5. Don't Cheat

-In Pinball machines (yes, the type of physical pinball machines you find in your local arcade) tilting the machine to try and rescue the ball would result in the whole board shutting down until the ball went out of play.

Another penalty is an embarrassing lecture from arcade staff

-In games developed by Rockstar games, online players who used cheats would be penalized by only being allowed to play online with other cheaters.

-In Battlefield 1942 players who entered cheat codes into the console would instantly bring their team down to 5 tickets (considered to be completely hopeless).

-In Earthworm Jim, the sound to acknowledge a cheat has been correctly activated was a sound clip of the character yelling "Cheater!".

-In Titanfall, players could regenerate themselves as a new generation fighter, but in order to regenerate, certain certifications had to be completed, which could be bypassed with in game currency. One of the rarest achievements in the game is to reach the tenth generation fighter without purchasing a forged certification. Purchase a forged certification and you just locked yourself out of  an achievement for good.

-On game systems from Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 onwards, using cheats would disable achievements/trophies for the current play session.

-In Sega's Vectorman, beating the game with a cheat code would alter the ending:

-In Perfect Dark, using a cheat during a mission will result in an agent status of dishonored
-In a Torture Resistance sequence (requires button mashing) in Metal Gear Solid, players who use a controller with rapid fire are warned to disable the feature. Should a player ignore their fair warning, they will be instantly killed. To make matters worse, failure in this sequence (even without cheats) means that players are automatically pushed back to their last save state.



Luckily, games are more lenient now in terms of pressure. Sometimes cheating can still be helpful for progression, and lower difficulties are useful tools for ensuring that everyone can play the game and have fun. (Abusing) Save states can still come into good use for helping players undo bad decisions just as easily as preventing bad events with early quitting. This paragraph does not mean that I condone cheat codes. I do not abuse save states. I don't (always) play on easy mode. I don't abuse the power button. But I still enjoy cursing at the You Don't Know Jack hosts (but I only do it for the easter eggs). I don't really care about how I get the job done in video games. I just care that I finish it the intended way.

-Game on 

Jacob Bacci