5 Things That Don’t Really Make Sense In Gaming
Games are not supposed to be realistic as we all know. Sure, some games strive to have a more “realistic” setting and mechanics, but in the end it always comes down to stuff that won’t ever truly happen in real life. Realism isn’t something that’s needed in gaming because real life is, well, boring and we play games to escape the soul crushing monotony that is our daily existence. You won’t ever see something like a “university simulator” that has you sit through hours of lectures and write tests about things you often don’t care about because that’s not what we want. We want to experience different universes and settings where things are fantastical and out of the ordinary.
With all that said, there are still things that don’t quite make a lot sense in games that will never happen in real life. Things that are so extreme and implausible that you can’t help but see some comedic value behind them. So without further ado, here are some things in gaming that just don’t make a lot of sense.
This one might seem obvious, but it’s something we experience in almost 90% of all games. We have become almost used to those red barrels that litter the battlefield in every shooter ever made that it has become almost traditional to have them in our games. But have you ever stopped to wonder how it’s even possible to have a barrel explode in a spectacular fashion by just shooting a few bullets into it? I still remember an episode of Mythbusters where they put the myth to the test and found that it’s nearly impossible to explode a barrel with just normal gunfire. It can only truly happen when specific conditions are met such as having a barrel under extreme pressure be shot or using special incendiary ammo.
Even if we know that it’s impossible, you can still shoot a red shaded barrel with your little pistol and have a massive explosion with a wide kill radius. Also, how stupid are enemies to just place volatile barrels filled with explosive material all around them for no solid reason?
In old school games we still had medkits that had to be picked up in order to survive. That formula worked for the longest time until regenerative health got introduced. It always baffled me how the main character can take metal bullets to the body and still somehow survive. In real life situations, if you get shot once then you are out for the count. But games believe that this is stupid and turn you into a walking bullet sponge that can take many death inducing bullets to the face with the only consequence being a little red jam in your eyes. Some games make this even stranger when there are cutscenes where a character fires one bullet and all of a sudden it’s a big deal. You survived about 15 clips of sniper bullets to the face, but one shot from a 9mm suddenly has the stopping power of a goddamn tank. Consistency would be nice.
Seemingly Bottomless Ammo Piles
We have all experienced the obligatory minigun sections in shooters and even in sci-fi shooters, but I’ve always wondered how the hell that gun can have so much ammo. It has to run out at some point right? Supposedly not because you can fire potentially hundreds of thousands of bullets and never run dry. Some games give you a set number of ammo for turrets and such, but more often than not they just give you a massive turret and an ammo pile that leads to a wormhole that has a massive stockpile of ammo just lying around. For that matter how is it even possible to have unlimited missiles? Missiles aren’t small things and you can only fit so much into a jet or a tank before overcrowding becomes an issue. But videogames don’t care.
One Man Armies
Ever just looked at the carnage you have caused after a massive firefight? Just a pile of dead soldiers lying on the floor and pure destruction everywhere. And you’re only one person. It always struck me as odd how one guy can take out hundreds of people without even batting an eyelash. You would think the enemy would just get sick of you and order an airstrike on your ass and call it day, but that never happens. They would rather send in guys from their Downy squad that can’t shoot worth a damn and just stand there in the open like a bunch of idiots. Speaking of idiots that can’t shoot worth a damn, AI squadmates. I think I’ve said enough.
No, not the British band with some cool songs. Stealth games can be a lot of fun if you connect with the mechanics and find yourself traversing entire battlefields without anyone seeing you at all. What strikes me as odd, though, is how plain obvious you actually are even if you’re in a bunch of shadows. You can’t tell me that it’s impossible to see a big hulking man crouching on the floor in some corner. Some games go even more extreme and can have you absolutely invisible if you’re only in a tiny bit of shadow. You can stand directly in front of an enemy and they will not see you at all. You also get those sections where you walk on platforms or crawl in vents and the only way you can be spotted is if a guy decides to look up even a little bit, but no they would rather have an enemy staring blankly into space than have some actual brains.
Games don’t make a whole lot of sense if you really think about it. Everything is over the top, fast forwarded and just downright impossible. But that’s the way we like it. Who needs shit like “physics” and “common sense” when you can fly around in a jetpack shooting thousands of dudes in the balls and never dying even if you’re hit in the face with a missile. Now go out there and live those power fantasies because it sure won’t happen in real life any time soon.