Why are FPS's so popular?

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
41

I think Master Chibi pretty much nailed it as far as the main main reasons go. Overall though, I would add that:
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1st: There are too many fighting games. It’s too spread out.

SNK: at least 10 different KoF’s, the newest never unanimously considered better than the last
Capcom: Eight billion iterations of Street Fighter, VS series, Darkstalkers series, etc.
Sammy: just Guilty Gear & Rumble Fish so far, though with GGXX#RS, it seems ASW may be going the way of Capcom; as for Rumble Fish, see my 2nd point

And that’s not even counting 3D, which is a whole other realm, though certainly less guilty of over-saturating the market.

It’s too much. How do people as a whole know where to focus their attention? Play what you like, sure, but that doesn’t help the situation. Granted, this point argues more why fighting games aren’t very popular than why FPS’s are, but it’s certainly true I think & contributes nonetheless.
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2nd: The most popular FPS’s (to my knowledge) are generally US made, or at least distributed in the US & European countries first, or simultaneously with other countries, & thus are easily available to anyone in the US & Europe (I assume we’re primarily looking at why FPS’s are so popular in these countries). Not so with fighters wherein Asian countries almost always get them first, if not exclusively, which if nothing else gives them a huge competitive edge on a worldwide scale.
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While these aren’t the biggest reasons by any means, they sure as hell don’t help one bit.

42

It’s been said before, but yeah, it comes down to the natural impression of the game. When someone sees a fighting game (who knows nothing about fighting games), all they see is two guys hitting each other. If you asked them “what do you think the strategy in this game is”, they would probably say something like “well you hit the other guy until he dies”. They would have no concept of spacing/rushing/mixups/anything just by watching, all the see is you attack a lot and either lose or win.

On the other hand, show an FPS to someone who knows nothing about FPSs, and right away they can begin to see the strategy, because it’s right in front of their face. Anyone who’s played laser tag or paintball, or knows anything about anything is going to see logical strategy right away, because it’s all 2nd nature in an FPS.

Also fighting games lack the spacial movement of FPSs. What’s the most popular game nowadays? GTA series (well, GTA3 and up). It’s popular partially because you can “go anywhere, do anything”. People are still obsessed with freedom in games, and fighting games (especially on the suface) allow no freedom whatsoever. You are confined to a small area. That’s just not going to appeal to today’s gamers.

The new Senko no Ronde shows some hope for fighting games, even though it’s not exactly a fighting game. The advantage a game like that has over normal fighting games in terms of appeal is the fact that you can see the strategy right away, just like an FPS. It’s obvious to the onlooker that you have to dodge the other player’s bullets and try to shoot them.

Fighting games (2D fighters in particular), are going to have to transform into something completely different if they’re going to become more popular.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV One resembles a strategy that will be helpful to learning the game, one doesn’t. “Shoot the other guy and try not to get shot” is on the same level as “shoot fireballs and when they jump do a dragon punch” to me. Both of those are extremely basic strategies in their respective games, but the former can be understood immediately by someone clueless while the latter can’t.

And don’t try and tell me that they can, because I’ve talked to people who know nothing about fighting games. They’ll tell you that you can mash the buttons and win and how awesome jump kicks are. If you turn around and ask them about an FPS they’ll tell you “shoot the guys and not get shot”.

43

“dodge other player’s bullets and try to shoot them” is no better than “hit the other guy until he dies”. It’s hard to understand the intricacies of any game right away. To say FPS’s are more popular because they are easier to learn is a cop out, in my opinion.

Edit: I disagree. “shoot fireballs and when they jump do a dragon punch” requires at least a little learning, while you don’t have to figure out that in a First Person Shooter, the objective is to shoot others and not get shot.

44

To Learn the basics of a Fighter you need to learn:

The layout of the Control Pad/Arcade Stick
Learn what normal moves come out when you press each button(for that character)
Learn what joystick movements result in which special moves(for that character)
Learn what buttons/motions result in overheads/throws/special features
Learn how the super bar/stun/guard break systems work

Those are just the full basics for a fighter, thats probably too much for a beginner, and they have no idea about other things that are considered required knowledge characters abilities, spacing/zoning, anti-air, meaties, mindgame, combos, links, etc etc

FPS basics are:

Learn what keys control N, S, E, W movement and jump
Learn that left click mouse is fire, right click mouse is special weapon
Learn that mouse roller changes weapon(usually)
Learn what keys are for Buy, and Drop

So as you can see, the basics of a Shooter can be taught in 15 minutes. Most anyone whos used a computer before can pick up these simple things.

Also, would you say that FPS skills transfer more easily between games of the genre than fighting games? Since I’m not a big shooter player, I have no experience with that.

45

Co-sign with Master Chibi.
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Speaking from personal experiance,

With FPS games you have easy access to lots and lots of different levels of skill at pretty much all hours of the day. Your involvement level with the game can range anywhere from casual to tournament level and you’re still almost guaranteed to find comp suitable to your level and have fun playing. You can easily pick/choose who you want to play with on a regular basis and you can choose to advance to higher levels of play or stay at your current level. If you don’t like some one, it’s as easy as avoiding/ignoring them. Because there’s such a large community, you’re likely to run into a very wide variety of play styles and skill levels.

This is an extremely important feature because finding a player on your exact same skill level is quite an experiance in on itself. The intensity of competitive play is rather wild and exciting. Personally I’ve never experianced anything quite like it outside of FPS games, even though I know it’s possible. I’ve certainly been challenged in other genre’s, but it’s just not quite the same as maxing out your ability to play, then finding some one right there with you to “butt heads” with on a regular basis. With the sheer number of players, and easy access to all of them, you’re more likely to find some one who’s “on your level” than you would in a smaller group. You’re also able to find players much better than you in which to learn from very easily, which is also important.

On a tournament level, FPS games are extremely addictive. They’re high adrenaline, fast paced, and very exciting. They’re also very entertaining to watch/spectate and not very repetitive or predictable, which is unlike a lot of other competetive games. It’s also very very easy to spectate in most FPS games as most of them allow you to spectate live games via online, without interfering on the game, or review old games in the form of input recordings (demos/replays) that both players or spectators can record, which is a lot more convenient than downloading very large video files recorded from shaky cam’s at an arcade.

From my experiance, there’s also a lot of status and monetary gain involved from winning tournaments. Players tend to pride themselves on achiving popularity and higher skill levels. It’s also fairly rewarding to win tournaments in the FPS world.

On a casual level, the community is very close and often players form or join clans in order to play together frequently or against other cleans in team battle. On an even more casual level, anonymous free-for-all and random sparring happens frequently, and anonymity is easy to maintain while enjoying the benefits of frequent play.

I know people who can’t stand losing in both types of games. Personally I have fun win or lose in either, but I think losing in FPS games is less stressful because the over-all outcome of the match is dependant on multiple kills. So even if you lose you can at least feel like you were doing well if you got a lot of kills. Where as in Fighters it’s usually based on just 2-3 rounds.

There isn’t much stress involved to learn or memorize anything as it’s sort of like riding a bike – once learned, always learned. There’s also less stress towards winning as it can be extremely enjoyable to play regardless of outcome. The importance of execution is variable depending on the game, but over-all I’d say the importance of execution is about the same in both Fighters and FPS games, since execution is directly related to damage potential in both types of games, though in FPS games execution is certainly less complex as it’s more visual than technical – if you catch my meaning.

One major difference that sticks out in my mind is the ammount of strategy involved. While strategy certainly exists in both games, I believe FPS games hold a higher level of strategy depth than Fighters do. This is of course debatable, but it’s my opinion and I’ve learned it through a large ammount of personal experiance, so I don’t expect anyone to be able to change my mind with words.

The other major difference that comes to mind is that in Fighters you have to deal with tiers. While variety in characters helps Fighters a lot, in a way it also handicaps players who habitually play low-tier. Where as in most FPS games there’s an even playing field for everyone.

And again, all this is just an opinion of mine based on personal experiance.

46

Actually, I’d say it’s almost exactly like Fighters.

For the most part, only the very basic stuff transfers through games for both genre’s. Even through sequels of the same game.

In Fighters you have to relearn normal moves, special moves, combos, mix-ups, timing, spacing, etc.

A lot of stuff must be relearned when changing FPS games as well. Most important being maps (which involves hot spots and movement patterns), weapon properties, aiming, dodging, timing, powerups, etc.

A lot of the prediction and execution, which is a large part of FPS games, goes out the window when the game is changed and thus must be re-learned. Pretty much the same as Fighters, IMO.

IMO, the basic stuff is kept since it’s universal.

I’m sorry, I must disagree.

The basics of an FPS game :

  • Learning the movement controlls
  • Learning the weapon properties and controlls
  • Learning powerup properties
  • Learning how to aim the weapons properly
  • Learning how to avoid enemy fire

Similar to what you listed, but there are significant differences. Some of these things things can be taught in 15 minutes, sure. Others can take a lot longer than 15 minutes for some people, like proper movement/evading and proper aiming.

That’s long before they get into deeper stuff like learning maps (EG. what areas are safe, what areas are unsafe), learning to controll space, learning to hide/camp, learning not to camp, learning to take advantage of special weapon properties, learning to predict your opponents movements and movement patterns, learning to aim on prediction or intuition rather than visual, learning to mask your movements and patterns, learning when to use the appropriate weapon, learning defensive play vs offensive play, etc etc etc.

47

That’s exactly what I’m trying to say dude.

48

this should be in GD…

49

I’m trying to figure the point of this topic out… From what it sounds like, someone is pissed that FPSs right now are “hot shit” and fighting games are not. And comparisons are being made too… I say it’s nearly impossible to make clear cut comparisons between the genres.

I will say this though: There hasn’t been a ‘Killer App’ fighting game for a long time that will make the masses play fighting games. The closest thing that probably qualifies as a “Fighting Game Killer App” is Super Smash Bros Melee (and theres a lot of mixed opinions whether or not this is realy a “fighting game”). If not SSBM, I’d say maybe Tekken was the last Killer App (because it was the first “Popular” 3D fighter.

On the other hand, look at all the killer apps FPS games have had (starting around the time SF2 was released):
Wolfenstein 3D
Doom (One of the milestone Killer Apps)
Goldeneye
Quake
Half-Life
Quake 3 Arena
Unreal Tournament (which along with Q3A, is IMHO the “Marvel vs Capcom” of FPSs with its speed)
CounterStrike
Halo (Another Milestone, made the genre easy and accessable)
Half-Life 2 & Doom 3 (Graphics, but not as much impact as Halo)

Now, this is my opinion. My point is that there has always been some kind of Killer Application that made the FPS genre appealing. Wolfenstein had its gore. Doom had hell monsters + Online Play. Goldeneye had simplicity+ funfactor (replicated by Halo years later). The latest have incredibly good graphics, weapons and interesting gameplay.

What qualities do the latest fighting games have that have made the mainstream gaming public drop what they’re doing and play fighters? Sure there’s RumbleFish and sure Tekken 5 with nice graphics is out… but it’s just not enough to grab the mainstream’s attention.

I love FPSs and Fighters… but really, Fighting is a Niche market compared to FPSs.

50

aimbot~

51

I agree that direct comparisons aren’t really fair to make between genre’s. But on a superficial level, I don’t really think it’s impossible.

Both types of games can be fun and exciting on a competitive level. That isn’t really an unfair comparison.

Both types require practice and the ability to learn/adapt in order to achive higher skill levels. That’s not an unfair comparison either.

Comparing tiers in Fighters to weapons in FPS games is probably going too far though. But, if you’re talking about superficial stuff, like how the different communities react to new or veteran players, I don’t really see the problem.

52

um its not just fps games that are more popular than fighting games buddy. its all types of games. ALL are VASTLY more popular than fighting games (TWO DIMENSIONAL FIGHTING GAMES - i’m not talking about 3d btw - cuz its clear that tekken, smash brothers, soul calibur all make MILLIONS more than all the 2d fighters combined).

WHY? its pretty simple

  1. capcom is a crappy company that pisses on its fans repeatedly
  2. snk releases crap like svc chaos - do i even need to elaborate here?
  3. arcades are dead
  4. computers and consoles aren’t
  5. kaliera is gay
  6. multiplayer support in every other genre EXCEPT 2d fighters is done exceptionally well so there is always competition

so what we have basically is that the two major 2d fighting game comapnies, snk and capcom, both suck horribly. capcom has pretty much said no more 2d fighters, and with its last one being that capcom fighting jam or whatever its called, its pretty much clear that was the final nail in the coffin. Not only do you not have any new games, you also have a stagnant shrinking community with no newcomers due to no new arcades, and the fact that multiplayer support sucks, and you have… the end of 2d fighters.

me since i havent really taken fighting games seriously im not gonna be particularly devastated. i’ll miss playing mvc2 but i never made it like my life devotion. i feel sorry for ppl trying to master 2d fighters and make it their goal to be the best - you’re on a sinking ship. who cares if you’re the best because pretty soon you’ll be the only one playing.

OWNED

53

On a side note, any of you guys play UT (the first UT, not UT2K*)? I play a mean game of it myself, and you can find me on the cincinnati server as LHO.

As far as FPS & fighters go, I love 'em both. I love T5 & MvC2, but to get competition, I must invite friends over or venture to a good arcade (35 mins away). To get comp in UT, I need only log in, and there is almost always someone decent on every day, from 5pm to midnight.

As far as FPS skill is concerned…I suggest one ‘spectate’ one of the top players on a FPS. You’ll see the finess required to excel as it does at MvC2, T5, or even Tony Hawk.

Anyhoo, hope to see you guys in any of the battlegrounds…

-V

54

Here are my two cents :open_mouth:

I feel fps games are easier than fighting games, however, the newer fps games can’t compare to the older fps games. the newer games have become too newbiefied, it’s a shame. perhaps the old fps games could give fighting games a run for their money in skill factor.

http://www.progamers.cz/files/fde/fde2-hq.zip
^^ video came out in like 1999 or 2000, people are so much better in qw now :slight_smile:

http://www.esreality.com/?a=post&id=794299

sincerely,

damn good q3 player.

55

smash isn’t a fighting game.

56

dont be jealous that more ppl play smash than the combined totals of everyone who plays capcom and snk 2d fighters

57

FPSs are easy to get into and enjoy, because you can usually find a server full of noobs, plus once you get good at aim, proper weapon use, tactics, etc, you can start finding the real competition in it. They are very similar in this way to the Soul series since those games were all very easy to get into and be proficient at at a casual level.

And, FPSs are fun for those that play them. If you don’t like them, that’s your thing. If you go to a FPS forum, they’d probably talk about fighting games the way so many people here are talking about FPSs.

58

Ummmm i actually don’t care who, or how many people play ANY game at all. In fact, this has nothing to do with capcom or snk. It’s just that no one will ever convince me that smash is a fighting game. Becuase it isn’t.

59

You’re entitled to your opinion, but I fail to see how logically, that Smash is not a fighter, if Smash is not a fighter, what is it?

Wikipedia vs fighter definition: “In this type of fighter two players (sometimes more, but quite infrequently) each choose a character, then fight against each other over several rounds, usually three. The winner of a round either knocks out his opponent, comes closest to knocking him out, or (in 3D fighters) sends him out of the ring.”

Basically if you tell me that you don’t think Smash is a fighter, logically then you wouldn’t consider Power Stone a fighter either.

Another Wikipedia entry: “Super Smash Bros. Melee (???DX Dairantou Smash Brothers Deluxe in Japan) is a colorful fighting game for the Nintendo GameCube…”

but what were we talking about? Oh yes FPS games

60

i don’t consider power stone a fighting game either. powerstone and smash is just like playing fusion frenzy. And i highly doubt you’d consider that a fighting game.