10 Things You Never Realized About Video Games

In part one, we talked about how video games really just don't seem to grasp running, faces,
or even combat.
Those are all vital parts of a video game, but the things that make them fun don't translate
well into the real world.
Check out ten more things you never realized about video games, but before you do that,
click subscribe.
You'll join our notification squad and be the first to know of new content.
Food In the world of video games, food seems to
last forever.
Seriously, how can someone find a whole cooked turkey underneath a barrel and eat it without
a care in the world?
Looking at you, every-beat-em-up-ever.
And then you have games like Cooking Mama, where your goal is to make a delicious meal
out of random ingredients.
You'd probably poison your family rather than feed them.
Remember kids, don't try to cook using what you learned in video games.
Hunger Have you ever realized that hunger meters
in video games are just a countdown until you die?
Think about it: in the real world, once you have a meal, you don't get hungry again for
a while.
Well, usually.
And once you do begin to get hungry, it takes a while before you're at the point of physical
weakness.
If games would stop your hunger meter from decreasing for a set amount of time, it would
be a lot more realistic.
And less annoying.
Nothing is worse than running from a Creeper in Minecraft, only to tick below three hunger
points and lose the ability to sprint.
Hiss hiss bang bang.
Stealth If you were standing guard with your friend,
and suddenly an arrow slammed into his face, what would you do?
Chances are, you'd duck.
Scream.
Call for help.
Curl into a ball and cry, maybe.
You wouldn't go on high alert for a few seconds and then shrug it off unless you worked in
a really bad neighborhood.
But just take a moment to think about this: if video game guards were really as alert
as guards in real life, you would never complete a stealth mission.
Ever.
The first time you knocked over a can, they'd come investigate and shoot you on sight.
Sam Fisher would have a tough time of it.
Money Unless we're dealing with some really weird
currency exchange rates, video games have no idea how money actually works.
Let's assume that the Pokemon world uses Yen, so 200 Pokedollars would be around $2 American.
How in the world does technology that can shrink a living creature into a tiny ball
and keep it there comfortably only cost $2?
That should be worth billions.
Billions, I tell you.
Pokemon clearly doesn't know how the economy works.
Relationships Games that encourage relationship building
have been on the rise lately, and we're not talking about Katawa Shoujo.
Mass Effect, Harvest Moon, and countless other titles reward the player for following the
love story of a game.
The only problem is...that's not how relationships work.
At all.
Giving a girl gifts and doing things for her actually does work in the real world, but
not nearly as effectively as it does in games.
And despite what Harvest Moon 64 might have taught us, you can't just show a girl your
dog (not a euphemism) 100 times to make her fall in love with you.
Fido's cute, but he's not that cute.
Recoil In part one, we mentioned how video games
get guns wrong, but recoil is a very specific element that makes absolutely no sense.
Take a look at Halo.
The Master Chief can flip over a 66-ton tank without breaking a sweat, but he can't hold
his pistol steady when firing off a shot?
Then Call of Duty goes in the opposite direction, where the guns have almost no recoil despite
firing on full-auto.
Recoil is dampened for balance purposes, of course; most games wouldn't be much fun if
they were super realistic, but it's something to think about.
Sleep Okay, sleep is important.
The body needs it to recover.
But sleep does not magically restore all wounds, illness, injuries, and impending death.
Nor does it reset hunger.
If you go to sleep hungry, you're probably going to wake up hungry.
If you go to sleep with a bullet hole the size of a dinner plate in your chest, guess
what?
You're not going to wake up.
Another part of sleep in video games that doesn't make any sense is featured prominently
in the Elder Scrolls series: you can't sleep for a set number of hours on command.
How many of you have slept in place for 24 whole hours waiting for something to appear?
Strength Leveling up is one of the oldest mechanics
in video games.
Each time you level up, you become stronger, faster, smarter, etc.
In real life, that equates to studying, working out, and running.
The only problem is, it doesn't happen quickly.
While you might go grind out several levels in a few hours in a video game, working out
for three hours at once will just end with you getting hurt.
And let's take a moment to talk about the sort of items characters use; there is no
way Cloud Strife could wield the Buster Sword with both hands, much less one.
He would need to be level 99 just to pick up the sword.
The weight of it alone should be enough to cleave enemies in half.
What gives, Square?
Weight Not character weight, but car weight!
If you've ever driven a particularly light or heavy vehicle in real life, then you know
the difference those extra pounds make in handling, speed, and acceleration.
Most racing games seem to ignore this entirely and allow you to zip all over the track without
worry.
Sure, some vehicles have better torque or handling than others, but that's about the
extent of it.
Racing games need to feel fast to have fun, but in doing so they sacrifice an enormous
amount of realism.
Unless you're playing a simulator, in which case it can feel very similar to reality,
just minus the steering wheel.
Death Death in video games is almost never permanent.
There are some, like Fire Emblem or rogue-likes, where death is the end of that character,
but you usually have a bit of leeway.
In some cases, you start off with a third of a cat; in other words, three lives.
The 'true' death comes when you hit the game over screen.
Remember the first time you played Super Mario Bros and fought Bowser?
You probably burned through those lives quickly, only to be met with the ever-hated "Game Over"
screen.
Most game over screens force you back to the beginning of the game, or at the very least
the stage.
There you have it -- ten more things you never realized about video games.
Which entry was your favorite?
Like the video and let us know in the comments below, and if you want to see more content
like this, subscribe to CBR and become a part of our notification squad.
Be sure to check out the next video!

10 Things You Never Realized About Video Games - Part 2!

Latest Posts