Author Topic: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?  (Read 4998 times)

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Offline NWR_Lindy

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What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« on: October 21, 2008, 04:54:30 PM »
Branching this off from the Wii Sales Thread.

In that thread, we wandered off the path and started discussing the definition of a "party game".  My contention was that the Wii library leaned towards "party games", in that even the Wii (Nintendo) interpretation of traditional genres (fighters, racers, etc.) leaned towards the "party" side of things.  But what makes up a "party game", exactly?

I'd say that it's a combination of 1) accessible, easily-learned controls (that may or may not have considerable depth), 2) accessible aesthetics (i.e. no space marines or Herculean alien-killers here), 3) 4-player/local multiplayer are front-and-center in the game's main design.

Some have wondered what, in my mind, doesn't make something like "Halo 3" a party game, since it supports 4-player.  I thought about that, and I'd say it's the fact that the single-player game is also a large part of the game package in Halo 3.  In Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, the one-player game is a sort of afterthought.  Both games are clearly geared to get multiple people in a room, playing together.  The "solitary gamer" aspect isn't very prominent in their design.
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Offline Nick DiMola

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2008, 05:00:14 PM »
Halo only escapes the party game branding because the party is online rather than local. It does fit the rest of your guidelines though.

I think that the guidelines you've established are pretty accurate in describing what a party game is, and I would also agree that the Wii is more heavy in this type of game. Nintendo did that by design and created a whole series of "Wii" games to demonstrate that. Social gaming is dying due to the overemphasis of online gaming on the 360/PS3. Playing online with random people is just as antisocial as playing by yourself.
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2008, 05:05:18 PM »
Party Game is whatever term you give to games you look down on.
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Offline NWR_Lindy

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2008, 05:07:45 PM »
I think online gaming is big in America due to the geographical size of the country.  Gamers are often miles and miles away from people they know, unlike in, say, Japan.

That's why I tossed the "local" in there.  That's key.  I mean specifically that "party games" encourage in-person (i.e. not online) gameplay.  Wii Music is a more recent example.
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Offline Deguello

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2008, 05:11:22 PM »
Posting this here:

I still don't know if I'm satisfied. [with Silks' definition]

4-player games have actually been around for a long time, and like SixthAngel says, several... I suppose the term would be "non-party" games... like Halo and such have them.

A lack of realism also can't work because of games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero, 2 games almost always referred to as "party games" and they are all about realistically portraying rock 'n' roll.

I mean I agree, SSBB and Mario Kart are always busted out AT parties, but that doesn't necessarily make them "party games," particularly with their new online modes.

I dunno if aesthetics is a good reason because, like I said, Rock Band and such, nor accessibility because there are very simple single player games out there as well as complex multiplayer games (like, say, Starcraft.)  I'm just not understanding why Mario KArt and SSBB are labeled "party" games.
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2008, 05:11:50 PM »
LAN parties come to mind. So I guess party games include:

Battlefield series
Resistance
Halo 1-3 (BTW Halo 1 was not online)
CoD4
FPS shooter X
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Offline ShyGuy

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2008, 05:14:16 PM »
Well, what makes a social gathering a party? Attitude.

Offline King of Twitch

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2008, 05:20:08 PM »
dictionary.com:

par·ty [pahr-tee]
1.   a social gathering, as of invited guests at a private home, for conversation, refreshments, entertainment, etc.: a cocktail party.
2.   a group gathered for a special purpose or task: a fishing party; a search party.

game [geym]
1.   an amusement or pastime: children's games.
2.   the material or equipment used in playing certain games: a store selling toys and games.
3.   a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators.


Party game = a competitive child's activity that your friends specifically want to come over to amuse themselves with, for conversation, refreshments, entertainment, etc
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Offline NWR_Lindy

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2008, 05:27:59 PM »
I don't think LAN Parties are what Nintendo has in mind when they design Brawl, Mario Kart, or Wii Music.  Is a LAN Party a bunch of people in a room?  Yes.  Are they playing the same game? Yes.  But the level of interpersonal, person-to_person  interaction that happens while the game is being played is what makes games like Brawl different to me.  Playing a solitary game in a solitary manner in a group environment is different from playing a group game in a group environment.  Players in a LAN Party don't really need to talk to each other at all, depending on the game.  Even with a cooperative game like Counterstrike, it's still a bunch of dudes sitting by themselves in front of a computer screen talking into a headset.
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Offline Deguello

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2008, 05:40:00 PM »
Have you ever been to a LAN Party?  A big room filled with Computers and people zooming across and talking to each other and all that.  they yell stuff out at each other, and talk to the person next to them.  They eat chips... and have interpersonal relationships... Just like the "party" definition listed above.  And if a game is developed specifically for multiplayer, like, say Unreal Tournament 2007, how is playing it at all a "solitary experience?"

And since when did what Nintendo had in mind when developing anything have anything to do with what a "party game" is?  That's the conclusion, remember.  That's starting with Nintendo.
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #10 on: October 21, 2008, 05:41:19 PM »
I think saying Mario Kart Wii is a party game, even by your definition is stretching it, they obviously focused on the online aspects of the game and even gimped the local mode.
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Offline Morari

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #11 on: October 21, 2008, 05:56:16 PM »
Me thinks Silks has never been to a LAN party.

On the console side of things, I'd see just about any four player game as a so-called "party game". Some, like Halo, just suck more than others. :P
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Offline NWR_Lindy

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2008, 06:01:36 PM »
Nope, never been to a LAN party, likely never will.  Just not my thing.

I don't see how any LAN party could be the same as the experience with many Wii games, though.
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2008, 06:10:50 PM »
Nope, never been to a LAN party, likely never will.  Just not my thing.

I don't see how any LAN party could be the same as the experience with many Wii games, though.

I've been to one LAN party. Can't say I enjoyed it but it is a VERY social event, but not my thing.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #14 on: October 21, 2008, 06:17:44 PM »
Years ago if someone said "party game" everyone would just assume it meant a game with a strong multiplayer mode.  When you have your buddies over, those are the games you play.  This really took off with the N64 and games like Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye, Super Smash Bros.  Or the definition would mean Mario Party style games which were a bit of a fad when the first Mario Party hit and copycat stuff like Crash Bash and Sonic Shuffle were released.

If "party game" is being thrown around to describe Wii Music or Wii Sports then it's just the bullsh!t term of the month.  Although it is likely being used as such it need not be specific to games lacking single player depth.  If that becomes the common use of the term I'm not going to use it to describe SSB, just to avoid confusing everyone.

But a multiplayer game that is going to be popular when you have people over doesn't have to have weak single player or be dumbed down or anything like that.  I'm sure some people are going to use "it doesn't have to be ____ because it's just a party game" to defend some shallow Nintendo non-game.  But the complexity or depth or, hell, QUALITY makes no difference in a "party game".  My friends are all around my age and are familiar enough with videogames to play something with "intimidating" controls.  So while Wii Sports got played when I first got a Wii it quickly got shelved once something better showed up.  I have a feeling that people are going to get the audience and the genre mixed up.  The audience of the "party" may vary and different titles might be more popular depending on that.

Though personally I think Nintendo's goal with the Wii _____ series could better be described as "family games".  They emphasize all the members of the family playing together.  When I think of a "party game" I would tend to think of Rock Band being played by a group of 20-somethings.

Offline NWR_Lindy

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #15 on: October 21, 2008, 06:18:03 PM »
Yes, the EVENT is social.  But I'm talking about the actual act of playing the game.  I just can't see a LAN party being as inclusionary acessible, etc. as a Wii game like Brawl or Wii Music.  I don't think it's appealing to "children of all ages", so to speak.
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Offline EasyCure

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #16 on: October 21, 2008, 06:19:47 PM »
Or (like i said before..)

 3. A game specifically made to be multiplayer oriented and/or leans more toward a social gameplay experience vs a single player experience.

A perfect example of this is Mario Party (has party in the freakin title), a game that is much better played with friends rather than you vs the CPU players.

Now it doesnt have to be a mini game compilation to be a party game, but those are usually what comes to mind. Yes, wii does have alot of these types of games (see: party games) BUT it still has plenty of different genres as to not overwhelm the platform one way or another.
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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #17 on: October 21, 2008, 06:28:50 PM »
To me the term "party game" simply means a game that has great local multiplayer, regardless of anything else it has.
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Offline UltimatePartyBear

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #18 on: October 21, 2008, 06:52:10 PM »
Yes, the EVENT is social.  But I'm talking about the actual act of playing the game.  I just can't see a LAN party being as inclusionary acessible, etc. as a Wii game like Brawl or Wii Music.  I don't think it's appealing to "children of all ages", so to speak.

So games played at LAN parties aren't party games because a LAN party isn't as accessible as a party game?  That seems to be conflating the game itself with the hardware setup and/or nature of the gathering.  It sounds like you're trying to define what makes a game a party game based on how it's played, but then making exceptions for any games you don't want to be called party games even if some people like to play them that way.

Regardless, I don't really see a use for the distinction even if everyone could agree on a definition.  It can't be used to convey useful information about a game since, at best, it can only describe a subset of features.

As an aside, I have to wonder how much the existence and worth of the Mario Party games impacts this discussion, or even the many minigame compilations of questionable quality.  I think this is similar to the "casual = retard" thing, only it's "party = lame" this time.  That would certainly cause some defensiveness if someone started calling good games "party" games.
« Last Edit: October 21, 2008, 06:54:56 PM by UltimatePartyBear »

Offline DAaaMan64

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #19 on: October 21, 2008, 06:53:41 PM »
To me the term "party game" simply means a game that has great local multiplayer, regardless of anything else it has.

But that's assuming that a sucky party game isn't a party game ;)
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Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #20 on: October 21, 2008, 07:00:33 PM »
I change my opinion back to

Party Game is defined as: Any game you look down upon.

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Offline NWR_insanolord

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2008, 07:16:35 PM »
To me the term "party game" simply means a game that has great local multiplayer, regardless of anything else it has.

But that's assuming that a sucky party game isn't a party game ;)

"Party game" isn't a genre, though, it's a label applied to games of all kinds of different genres, and is basically short for "good game to play at a party", so there's no such thing as a "sucky party game".
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Offline NWR_Lindy

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2008, 07:25:26 PM »
Do you really think I define Brawl or Mario Kart as sucky games?  Or that I look down upon them?  Really?

What initially intrigued me was the "party spin" that Nintendo puts on traditional game genres.  They always give it their "tweak", which is often taking a game that most other companies make the same way every time, and making it more inclusionary than exclusionary.  This is done using simpler controls (that often expand to more depth, should somebody want to go in that route), and characters that aren't initially off-putting to 18-34 year-old males.  They easily could have made the Super Smash Bros. series a one-on-one fighter, but they didn't.  They could have make a racing game simulation like Gran Turismo/Forza, but they didn't.  They could have made a Rock Band/Guitar Hero clone but they didn't.

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Offline Infernal Monkey

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #23 on: October 21, 2008, 07:35:22 PM »
What makes a party game?

Fun.

Offline GoldenPhoenix

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Re: What Makes a Game a "Party Game"?
« Reply #24 on: October 21, 2008, 07:38:06 PM »
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