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Ask HN: Should we regulate the duration of loading screens in video games?

1 points by julienreszka 3y ago

mikece 3y ago
Why on earth should that be subject to government regulation? (And if you didn't mean regulation by government, who would be doing the regulating?)
LinuxBender 3y ago
Are you referring to artificial pauses and showing deceptive ads? Otherwise I don't know why governments might get involved.
- julienreszka 3y ago
  Because it’s getting ridiculous that you have to wait sometimes more than a minute between game launch and when you start playing
  - LinuxBender 3y ago
    I think there have been cases where people have released unofficial patches to games to shorten what you describe. I suspect if that became popular enough for a game the developers would probably be told to just remove the delay maybe.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    I think regulation should be reserved for mitigating actual harm. Waiting more than a minute to start playing a game is certainly annoying, but where's the harm? This seems like it's squarely the sort of thing that will sort itself out -- if the delay is too long, people will stop buying the games.
    - julienreszka 3y ago
      It has become a tendency across the video game industry I challenge you to find a recent AAA game that is optimized for performance
erik_seaberg 3y ago
If a game must be “playable” before it’s ready, they’ll implement a degraded mode that isn’t as immersive or fun. WoW did this but only because downloading updates takes so long.
PaulHoule 3y ago
I remember going to my cousin Tony’s and playing Mafia Taxi Driver on PS2 where it would take several minutes for the level to load and then I would go on a boring drive to the other end of tow on where I was supposed to shoot somebody up at an Italian restaurant but I would get shot up instead and then have to endure several minutes of waiting and driving to try again. Then there was that GTA game where my son was pumped to steal a low rider and make it to the low rider show but it seemed he could never make it to the show without totaling it.
proc0 3y ago
There are a million worse problems that could be regulated first. Why do so many things have sugar added in products at the supermarket, for example. Regulating sugar which lacks in nutrition would only be a net benefit for society, yet I think most people agree it would be bad to tell food companies how to make their products.

1 points by julienreszka 3y ago

Why on earth should that be subject to government regulation? (And if you didn't mean regulation by government, who would be doing the regulating?)

LinuxBender 3y ago

Are you referring to artificial pauses and showing deceptive ads? Otherwise I don't know why governments might get involved.

julienreszka 3y ago
Because it’s getting ridiculous that you have to wait sometimes more than a minute between game launch and when you start playing
- LinuxBender 3y ago
  I think there have been cases where people have released unofficial patches to games to shorten what you describe. I suspect if that became popular enough for a game the developers would probably be told to just remove the delay maybe.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  I think regulation should be reserved for mitigating actual harm. Waiting more than a minute to start playing a game is certainly annoying, but where's the harm? This seems like it's squarely the sort of thing that will sort itself out -- if the delay is too long, people will stop buying the games.
  - julienreszka 3y ago
    It has become a tendency across the video game industry I challenge you to find a recent AAA game that is optimized for performance

erik_seaberg 3y ago

If a game must be “playable” before it’s ready, they’ll implement a degraded mode that isn’t as immersive or fun. WoW did this but only because downloading updates takes so long.

PaulHoule 3y ago

I remember going to my cousin Tony’s and playing Mafia Taxi Driver on PS2 where it would take several minutes for the level to load and then I would go on a boring drive to the other end of tow on where I was supposed to shoot somebody up at an Italian restaurant but I would get shot up instead and then have to endure several minutes of waiting and driving to try again. Then there was that GTA game where my son was pumped to steal a low rider and make it to the low rider show but it seemed he could never make it to the show without totaling it.

proc0 3y ago

There are a million worse problems that could be regulated first. Why do so many things have sugar added in products at the supermarket, for example. Regulating sugar which lacks in nutrition would only be a net benefit for society, yet I think most people agree it would be bad to tell food companies how to make their products.