Learning Nerdspeak: "Mechanics"

In "Fallout 4", the player can stop time and choose specific body parts of enemies to attempt to shoot. This is a mechanic called the "VATS Aiming System". VATS also breaks down the statistical probability that the player will successfully make the shot.

The world of video gaming can be a confusing place, just as confusing perhaps as the Internet and the culture that has grown on its underbelly since the early 2000’s. If you’re reading this, it’s highly probable that you are among a minority of gamers who have a unique love for the medium.

Just as when you read a novel or magazine article, or the nutritional facts label on a bag of processed pig snacks, sometimes you will encounter words you’re not familiar with. Sometimes they may not only be unfamiliar, but don’t seem to make the slightest bit of sense.

I know there’re a lot of people reading this who aren’t up on their gaming vocabulary, so I’ve decided to start posting little blurbs every so often in which I highlight one or two words that absolutely every hardcore gamer should know.

Here’s a very, very frequently-used word among video game reviewers and developers:



Mechanic (n)


Example:
“’Superman 64’ had such shit mechanics I’d rather eat a bucket of Legos than play one millisecond more of it.”



Outside of the context of a discussion about video games, this word describes those people who fix your car while unplugging things in or around the engine to ensure that you’ll need another $600 trip to the auto shop within the week. If we are discussing video games, “mechanics” refers to the most basic elements of the game. Jumping on enemies to kill them as in the “Mario” games is a classic example of a mechanic, as is “Z-Targeting” in “Ocarina of Time” and “Majora’s Mask.” A more recent example would perhaps be reloading your weapon in “Modern Warfare 3” (or, let’s be honest, any first-person shooter ever).

“Mechanics” should not, however, be confused with…



Gameplay (n)



Example:

“The story isn’t something I usually care about when I play video games. I’m mostly in it for the gameplay.”



While “mechanics” refer to individual, technical elements of a game, “gameplay” refers to how a player uses those elements to actually play the game. To recycle my earlier analogy, the mechanics of a game are like the engine, the transmission, battery and all other under-the-hood dealies that that make a car run. Gameplay is the physical capability of a person to drive that car off a ramp, sending it flying over a pool filled with hungry tiger sharks and through a burning steel hoop. Gameplay doesn’t necessarily need to be limited to allowing a player to complete the game in a straightforward manner—what matters is that the player can have fun with it.

A game with gameplay that does its job right should offer the player entertainment through the intuitive use of a game’s mechanics. Games with addictive gameplay are things like Pop Cap’s “Zuma”; this is a game you never, ever want to stop playing simply because it is good at delivering instant gratification, yet stimulates the player at a controlled pace so as not to overstimulate.

A game with deep gameplay is one whose mechanics allow the player to play the game in several different ways—an infinite number of ways, in some cases. Such games often encourage players to explore what they can do. “Fallout 3” is a great example of this. Not only does it have a ton of content, but the player is able to choose how they want to play the game without the gameplay inhibiting them. You can play as a benevolent cannibal specializing in explosive weaponry. You can play as a mercenary whose only goal is to wipe out the entire population of every major city in the game world. You can play as a big game hunter who roams the wasteland, tracking down giant scorpions and other mutated beasts to kill. You can play the game almost any way you want—perhaps in ways that would never have occurred to Bethesda mid-development.

As effective as those types of games are, by no means should every single game follow this model. Games that have what’s called linear gameplay tend to narrow the capabilities of the player in order to deliberately steer them in a fixed direction. While this doesn’t always work, it can be a useful strategy for controlling the pace of a game, as in most story-driven titles. “Silent Hill 2”, for instance, is not a game where you can choose how James Sunderland (the player-character) interacts with other characters, nor does it allow you to modify James’ demeanor or reasons for being in the town at all. However, because the player can only take him through a set path, we are able to learn about who James is through the decisions he makes. Once more, because the gameplay was linear by design, the developers knew exactly what the player could be expected to do and when they were going to do it. Developers can use that knowledge to strategically place encounters and other in-game events that the player may not expect, which is a useful thing if you intend to develop a game with a narrative that players will still remember vividly ten years after the last time they play it.