I'm sorry but i disagree with Duke's theory of depth. I always understood depth in games to be the depth of thought expected to play the game at an intermediate level. The important word is INTERMEDIATE. Let me defend my position:
Firstly, to be GOOD ant ANY game requires the player to exploit all possible advantages simultaneously. This always results in deep, complex, decision making. So being good at any competitive game requires depth.
Good Nexuiz, Xonotic, Hopscotch players are all deep. I agree on that point. Where i disagree is in the depth of the game itself. Different games reward different skills. To use the example above the average runner is not EXPECTED to be strategic and the average chess player is not EXPECTED to be athletic. (By the way clanclanclan, playing chess on a clock isn't playing real chess.) The reason chess is considered a "deeper" game than running is simply because the AVERAGE chess player makes very complex decisions in every match while the AVERAGE runner doesn't.
With first person shooters specifically the player makes decisions about weapon selection, which powerups to go for and has to practice movement and aiming. I am a below average Nexuiz player (always 3/4 way down the rankings) because my simple pattern of going for nex+machinegun isn't deep at all but I really don't think the AVERAGE nexuiz player is doing anything much deeper.
Firstly, to be GOOD ant ANY game requires the player to exploit all possible advantages simultaneously. This always results in deep, complex, decision making. So being good at any competitive game requires depth.
Good Nexuiz, Xonotic, Hopscotch players are all deep. I agree on that point. Where i disagree is in the depth of the game itself. Different games reward different skills. To use the example above the average runner is not EXPECTED to be strategic and the average chess player is not EXPECTED to be athletic. (By the way clanclanclan, playing chess on a clock isn't playing real chess.) The reason chess is considered a "deeper" game than running is simply because the AVERAGE chess player makes very complex decisions in every match while the AVERAGE runner doesn't.
With first person shooters specifically the player makes decisions about weapon selection, which powerups to go for and has to practice movement and aiming. I am a below average Nexuiz player (always 3/4 way down the rankings) because my simple pattern of going for nex+machinegun isn't deep at all but I really don't think the AVERAGE nexuiz player is doing anything much deeper.
