Pain For Fun: Using games to explore the thrill of suffering

“I'm going to try and convince you to put more suffering in your games," Bennett Foddy told an audience of independent developers at this year's IndieCade festival.

Andrew Yoon

January 25, 2013 3:00 PM

“I'm going to try and convince you to put more suffering in your games," Bennett Foddy told an audience of independent developers at this year's IndieCade festival. "It's not that modern games are easier--although they are. Games these days are far more comfortable. My worry is that games are getting too comfortable." Foddy's claim to fame is QWOP, a game where you control an Olympic sprinter by trying to coordinate the independent movement of his thighs and calves. The awkward controls are infuriating, making a seemingly easy task nearly impossible... and people loved it. QWOP proved to Foddy that pain isn't something that game designers should avoid in games; in fact, it's something that they can wholly embrace. "The core mechanic doesn’t have to be pleasurable," he argued, pointing to “the cinnamon challenge" on YouTube. Hundreds of people voluntarily record videos of themselves stuffing a large spoonful of cinnamon in their mouths--to disastrous (and hilarious) effect. And why do people continue to participate in such a masochistic activity? "Because we enjoy the suffering itself."

Want to read more? The complete feature, also including Dear Esther's Dan Pinchbeck, can be found in issue 3 of GameQ Magazine - now available for free on iPad, Android tablets, and the GameFly digital client.

See the complete feature in GameQ magazine

Andrew Yoon

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

Filed Under

From The Chatty

Refresh Go To Thread

Shacknews

 reply
January 25, 2013 3:00 PM

Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Pain For Fun: Using games to explore the thrill of suffering.

“I'm going to try and convince you to put more suffering in your games," Bennett Foddy told an audience of independent developers at this year's IndieCade festival.
- crummynz
  
   reply
  January 25, 2013 3:20 PM
  
  Dark Souls is probably an example of this.
  - vai90
    
     reply
    January 26, 2013 8:33 PM
    
    Hence I'm not playing that game. Dying several times infuriates me enough in regular games sometimes, I don't need to play a game where it's basically the core mechanic. Also it looks like shit, so I guess I'm not missing out on anything of value.
    - Dr_Tran
      
       reply
      January 27, 2013 6:50 AM
      
      Actually I'd say you're missing out on a lot. Dark Souls punishes mistakes, usually by the high amount of damage that enemies deal to you. It forces you to be consistently good at combat to win. I don't think the difficulty is ever "cheap" or "unfair" though.
      
      It's not the pain of dying that makes the game enjoyable, it's the sense of accomplishment when you win - you MUST get better at the game to beat the bosses consistently as your timing on attacks and dodges improves, etc. I think that's more than most games with heavily scripted events and gimmick bosses can ever say.
      
      Also the lore is good.
  - deceiver
    
     reply
    January 27, 2013 9:27 AM
    
    Also Trials HD/Evolution is great fun that punishes you 90% of the time.. one thing that saves it is the very quick reloading, to the point of pulling off a couple hundred attempts at certain tasks in as little as 10 minutes.
    - TheEmissary
      
       reply
      January 27, 2013 2:00 PM
      
      Normal tracks I would agree with you but the gigatracks definitely not. The Gigatracks are just painful to try to complete because the checkpoints are few and far between.