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Consistency in Video Games

Call of Duty is a very well known franchise.  Call of Duty is well known because many many gamers go out and buy it every year and it's also well known for being the same game year after year, after year, after year.

Even though gamers consistently demand innovation and change from the series, we don't  get innovation or change from the series. Call of Duty Ghosts is the prime example of that demand going unanswered.

So why do we continue to play a game that is constantly the same  in it's formula year after year?

Because of it's Consistency.

Consistency is a big part of the video game experience. As gamers, we are divided in our feelings towards Consistency. We love it in certain ways and we hate it in other ways. We love certain types of consistency and hate certain types of consistency.

We do love a game that is constantly giving us something new to do or new enemies to face. New weapons or unlockables to discover and use in the game.

We do hate consistencies where there's nothing new to find or experience. When there's no longer anything new to do or new weapons to discover.

Think about games like Skyrim. A massively open world with many hidden caves and new creatures to face or a group of bandits protecting valuable loot. We would constantly find a new group of enemies to face, new locations to explore, new weapons to use and new armor to equip.

We consistently played Skyrim for finding new caves or new weapons. We did that for hours and we enjoyed every minute of it. We loved the consistency of Skyrim. We loved constantly traveling out into the unknown, heading into a cave not knowing what or who was going to be in it ready to take us down.

After a while, the consistency of finding something new was  gone. We wouldn't find new weapons and armor, we wouldn't find new caves to explore and we wouldn't find new enemies to face. The constant experience of finding something new was gone and we eventually put Skyrim back up on the shelf, searching for a new game.

Call of Duty, which lets be honest, is the elephant in the room here. It is obviously the most consistent game out there on the market.

The reason why many people enjoy Call of Duty is because of it's form of consistency.

The reason why many people dislike Call of Duty is because of it's form of consistency.

Call of Duty's form of consistency is the player being able to play the last game and being ready to play the new one with the same results.

Earning crazy amounts of experience points, constantly mowing down enemy after enemy with a gun you've grown accustomed to and unlocking new attachments, camos and other unlockables.

Some gamers do not like that form of consistency. They want to play something new, they grow tired of doing the same things they did in the last game and experiencing the 'new' game the same way they did in the previous game.

They don't like the formula being consistently simple, they want a different consistency. A new formula of consistency.

In Conclusion

As gamers we find comfort and enjoyment with certain forms of consistency. However, we also find discomfort and dissatisfaction with other forms of consistency.

We find comfort and enjoyment in Skyrim where we were constantly finding new areas to explore, new quests to experience and new items to discover.

We find comfort and enjoyment in Call of Duty by constantly earning tons of experience points, new camos and unlocks.

We found discomfort and dissatisfaction in Skyrim where we were constantly unable to find anywhere new to explore, no new armor or weapons to find in the series without there being any new quests to accomplish.

We find MAJOR discomfort in Call of Duty by it being constant in it's formula of earning tons of experience points, new camos and unlocks.

We will consistently enjoy a game with a consistency of being able to let us do something new.

We will consistently dislike a game with a consistency of not being able to let us do something new.




























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