Definition: A gameplay moment which just shouldn’t be considered gameplay – it’s boring, it’s pointless and these things could have either just been a cutscene or the game would have benefitted without them.
Here’s a list of ten common “gameplay” moments where it feels pointless to give the player control at all or are just downright not fun.
1. Press ‘X’ to…
We are comfortably watching a cutscene, enthralled as the story unravels before us and eagerly waiting for the next reveal. Suddenly, everyone freezes and the characters look at us in anticipation. They want us to press ‘X’ to open a door, press a button, accept an item, or any other pointless action that could have continued without our input. It’s frustrating, the equivalent of a film continuously pausing and having to keep pressing play to continue. Maybe the developers are checking that we’re still paying attention?
2. Walking around an abyss or down a long corridor during a monologue, for effect
This usually occurs towards the end of the game, or we’ve hit a pivotal moment in our character’s story. What follows is a lengthy, voiced over monologue which, for some reason, couldn’t have just been a cutscene.
We are left either aimlessly wandering around an abyss, confused as to whether we’re supposed to be walking in a specific direction or just waiting out the speech. Alternatively, we’re traveling down a neverending corridor which only ceases once the character is done blathering in our ear. It’s unclear why so many developers opt to put the player into a box rather than just playing out a cutscene or have the monologue play over regular gameplay.
3. Only being able to control the camera during dialogue
This one speaks for itself. Sometimes, allowing the player to control the camera during dialogue lets them take in the scenery or maybe switch views between who we’re talking to and the street outside if we’re in a building or a car. But, most of the time, the camera movement we’re allowed is very minimal, so this may as well have just been a regular cut scene.
4. Only being able to walk slower or faster than the person you’re talking to
Similar to the one above, this one speaks for itself. Only this time, we’re generously provided with the ability to lug behind whoever we’re speaking to. Bonus points if the character prompts us to get a move on if we refuse to cooperate and stop walking or fall too far behind.
And carrying on with the annoying dialogue tropes saga, we have the opposite scenario to walking slowly. This time, we have full control but may as well not because the person we’re talking to is trailing behind at a snail’s pace, forcing us to either stop and wait or practice walking at an equally slow pace.
5. Menial tasks
Games are supposed to be a form of escapism, transporting us into a much more breathtaking world where we can play out and immerse ourselves into exciting stories and characters. So, unless we’ve actually signed up to Potwashing Simulator, it’s safe to say that the player isn’t going to enjoy carrying out their chores in the virtual world too.
This entry is for sections where you’re forced to do chores in what’s otherwise a very action-focused game. This doesn’t include optional minigames, it instead refers to segments in the main story where we’re either just starting out or our character takes a breather to carry out some menial tasks. Well done hero, the action is over and now you can press ‘X’ to chop wood.
6. Berry picking
“Hero! I urgently need you to put aside your quest to save the world from ending to help me! My goat is sick and I need five herbs to cure him!”
Of course we drop everything to help those in need, I’m sure anyone could save the world but we specifically are the only one who could possibly put aside some time to pick some herbs. Where shall I find these? Mark them on my map and I’ll take the dangerous trek through the wilderness to save this life. Oh, they’re three feet away from your hut.
This of course can apply to any gathering quest that sends you on the dangerous journey to find some of the most common items in the game, most of which would have taken five minutes if this person had actually bothered to leave their hut and look themselves.
7. Walking around the hub area at snail’s pace
As Professor Oak would say, in many games, the hub area is not the time or place for walking faster than a snail’s pace. Why is this? Has someone mopped the floor recently? We’ve been able to galavant around the town at any speed we want until the moment we step into the hub area and suddenly it takes five working days to travel to an NPC we wish to talk to.
8. Awful minigames
These are awful minigames that are completely irrelevant to the game and often consist of very little actual gameplay. These are not only unfun, sometimes even just consisting of pressing a single button at the right time, but they’re also irrelevant to the usual questline or story. Someone has approached us out of the blue to introduce this activity and, for some reason, our character puts down the world-saving questline to give it a whirl. Bonus points if some mainline quests enforce this upon you without the option to skip.
9. Enter the machine
You’ve got to do some serious hacking or computer-focused stuff but there’s one problem: that’s super uncool and boring, not to mention the game has not yet introduced an actual mechanic that could work with this and it would be awkward to start now.
So instead, the game visualizes what you’re doing in the form of gameplay tasks to allow the player to comprehend the machine’s mind… the only problem is this is usually very drawn out and boring too, maybe just add a hacking cutscene to get the point across?
10. Repair the generator or another machine but all the required parts are three feet away
To set the scene, we have somewhere to be. But oh no! The power has gone out. As we are all electricians in the world of video games, let’s head to the basement and repair the generator before we can progress. This will surely take some time and a few training courses and qualifications to get the hang of. Of course not, in fact, it’s barely an inconvenience because look! Someone has left all the parts approximately three feet away. They’re a bit scattered of course, a singular screw on one side of the room and a fuse on the other, but how lucky that we had them at hand!
Can you think of any “gaming” moments that weren’t worth even including in a game? Let us know in the comments!
