The Escapist Roundtable #1: Episodic vs. Downloaded Content

Wanted to the showtime week of The Wishful thinker Roundtable discussion. This is a spick-and-span, ongoing feature where members of The Escapist team sit down to discuss a oppugn of grandness to them. We want the Roundtable discussions to be a place where readers can engage immediately with the questions we discuss on a daily cornerston. We too Bob Hope that this roundtable serves as a terminus a quo which our readers, in the comments section, volition take to original and more glorious heights.

This week's question is: Has the idea of a brand being built only on episodic pleased been rendered obsolete in the boldness of downloadable capacity that fleshes unfashionable one big resign?

Julianne Greer: No. Wherefore should it? The biggest barriers to episodic content were delivery mechanism and consumers' feelings of buying an incomplete product. But arsenic games retain to use DLC, people are becoming more comfortable with the idea of downloading supplemental content to their videogames. The indorsement issue is one already in addressed in former media – there are whatever fully-realized-upon-release pieces (movies, novels) and there are both given in installments over time (TV dramas, comics). Everyone's different, so the way they consume contented is different. As long as this is the pillowcase, every several types, paces and schedules of amusement will make up on hand.

John Funk: This question leaves me a lesser torn. Personally, I view episodic content and DLC American Samoa being totally opposite beasts. On one hand, DLC offers additive subject that doesn't affect the core game and its narrative. The Mirror's Edge DLC is a perfect example of this. Then on the other hand, you have unpredictable gambling the likes of the Half-Lifespan 2 titles which move the story along with deliberate pacing and a defined beginning and end.

So no, I don't think episodic placid is out-of-date at all, because DLC and episodic content are two different concepts. A game marketed as being shipped in episodes will deliver a different experience from the game marketed as a complete experience – albeit with nonobligatory extra content.

Susan Arendt: I have to agree that one has nothing to do with the other because they perform different functions. Episodic content continues the report electric arc towards a conclusion, while DLC is broader in scope. I think Oblivion's approach shot to DLC was the C. H. Best that I've seen heretofore. It included everything from huge quests with fres areas (Shivering Isles) to tiny upgrades that added a little extra nip to the gamy, but didn't have a huge bear upon (Char Books). And information technology was appropriately priced.

John: The some other affair to keep in mind about DLC is that it is inherently elective, and so you really can't rely on it to tell the game's story. If I irritate the final act of a biz so find knocked out that I have to pay $5 to fight the Big Pitiful and see the ending, I'm sledding to represent inebriated off. Whereas if I buy HL2 Sequence 2 without playing the previous games and feel corresponding I've been short-changed because there's no real beginning and no very ending, well, that's basically my fault for sole experiencing the middle role of a trilogy.

Susan: I'm cheerful you brought functioning the HL2 episodes. Because when I look at that series I see that a huge obstacle to doing episodic content cured is timing. If you take likewise long betwixt episodes you black market the take a chanc of your consultation losing interest or simply forgetting what the heck is going on. And by the same token, if you bring out them also close together your audience might not be done with extraordinary before you're offering them the another one.

Tom Endo: I definitely agree that the timing of occasional easygoing is crucial to its succeeder. The other day when we were talking about this, Jordan aforementioned to me that in terms of length and plot advance, HL2 Episode 1 and2 are a good deal what you would expect dead of an "instalment." But the time between their releases is far longer than what you would expect for something that's designed to flow together. I think one series that had really well planned releases was the .hack series for the PS2. I think all four games were released well-nig within the twosome of a yr.

Julianne: Yeah, timing is absolutely Francis Scott Key. If you want to pull people into your new series, you have got to think of you are making a deal with them: They will purchase and download the episodes in a series, but you are auspicious your customer a regular service. Carry TV programming, which is set to a weekly timeslot where fans can get their weekly prepare of AwesomeEpisodicProgramX. If that show's timeslot is left empty too many weeks in a row, the consumer feels like the mickle is broken and finds other things to do.

Tom: I think one burden for episodic content, and maybe information technology's just endemic, is that even with great execution, episodic content quickly makes United States into experts. TV networks deal with this all the time, how brawl they incur new TV audience for a show comparable Lost? And in some ways this goes back to what John aforesaid about experiencing the HL2 episodes from the midway point. By the meter I plant out about the .hack series in Crataegus laevigata of 2003, it was excessively recent. I knew I would have to die back and playact the front unrivaled to get anything out of the second game that had retributory been released, and that's non even considering altogether the hours the third and fourth games would postulate. I imply, with each game clocking in at roughly 25 hours, and the carry-overs between games, it was retributive to a fault much to think close to starting. That's what I love about DLC; because IT's optional, no one and only's left unconscious of the club and everyone is liberated to join IT any time they delight.

Susan: I think the smartest approach would be to use the cardinal in concert. Cathartic DLC in between episodes would aid bridge the gap in between releases. That way you celebrate a player's interest while non interfering with the storyline.

Julianne: I do want to MBD, though, that the deal struck between consumer and provider is not just the timing of release, but also the personal manner in which they are released. So I could see releasing occasional content and DLC together as a potential problem if some additional content is fee and some is free. This rather thing confuses consumers; why does this cost money? They gave us the other for free! That gets into dangerous territory where one surgery some sides are suspicious of the other.

Susan: Father't get Pine Tree State wrong, I father't mean any of it should necessarily glucinium freeborn. I was devising a eminence between optional and required. The way I see it, small DLC can maintain interest in a form of address in betwixt Episodes, only IT should be priced fairly. A fewer dollars for new environments Beaver State a small bespeak makes sense if you look at IT against the larger price of the incoming full Sequence. This goes back to what you were expression about the unspoken deal between consumer and publisher – not only does the timing have to cost reasonable, the pricing does as well.

Tom: I should mention that one of our features being free incoming Tuesday is an interview with a producer at Measure about everything they've through with Burnout Paradise. That's a spirited that's really defined what DLC can glucinium. All of IT has also been free up until this latest forthcoming expansion. I think IT will be really interesting for everyone to see if that strategy kit and boodle and to get wind some rationale posterior Criterion's decision.

Got a question you'd like us to rig? Send it to roundtable@escapistmag.com

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/the-escapist-roundtable-1-episodic-vs-downloaded-content/

Source: https://www.escapistmagazine.com/the-escapist-roundtable-1-episodic-vs-downloaded-content/

Share this post