3 questions for a paper

[Lieutenant Jaku]

I am not sure this thread is in the right place, but someone else had a thread like this in here so I figured it would work.
I am writing a paper on halo and it's effect on the videogame industry as well as people. so I am looking for a few people to answer some questions. I will probably only need 5 to 7 responses depending on the length, so here are my questions.

What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?

If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?

What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?

 

[TurboCharizard]

What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?

Halo CE on the original Xbox when I was 12(?) at a friends birthday party. We all stayed up stupid late setting up vehicle jumps in Sidewinder and trolling the hell out of each other TL-34 with teleports.

If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?

Positives
- Was an extremely social part of my university life that made me many friends. We used to bring in our 360s to the engineering building, two per room and one per projector and have 8 person teams, room vs. room. LAN parties are a dying thing and I miss those days for sure but there's still a crew from back then that I play with on Steam fairly regularly.
- Has been an inspiration and driving force behind me getting into cosplay and learning a bunch of new skills in digital design and now I'm doing more regular work with Arduino/Pi which is more in line with my engineering degree than what my actual job allows.
- Networking through the 405th and various Facebook costuming groups. I had someone contact me about a commissioned suit and they live in South Korea, I have no idea how that even happens.
Negatives
- So much lost sleep.
- Probably procrastination on one or two projects/studying during university.
- Addiction to caffeine, see first negative point.

Overall I'd say it's positive. Sleepy-me says more coffee please.

What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?

It gets a resounding "meh" from me. It could be part growing out of the targeted demographic of the games, it could be me missing the old days of couch co-op and LANs or it could be a legitimate downturn in the series but Halo 4 just didn't do it for me and I straight up haven't played Halo 5. I've probably logged 200+ hours in each of the other titles up to Reach and read most of the novels, something is just different about the new stuff. Maybe I just didn't drink enough Mountain Dew or eat enough Doritos to get codes to make Halo 4 fun enough online as it was with 31 other guys and girls in the same room yelling at Valhalla. Where it's going, as long as they don't go full EA and turn it into a Battlefront 2 loot box fest of pride and accomplishment I don't see my future opinion of the series being negative but to be perfectly honest I'm not super interested in the main story anymore. Give me some ODST butt-kicking action in New Mombasa though and I'll go buy a XBone.

 

[PerniciousDuke]

What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?
I begged my parents for the original Xbox when it first came out Christmas/Birthday of 2001. It came with Halo CE and I loved it. Plugged it into our big family TV with surround sound and still remember that first Elite that popped out of a pressure door as you made your way through the Pillar of Autumn.

If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?
Back in 2001 it was the first video game that had gross creatures and killing that didn't give me nightmares. I still won't replay the flood levels, but they didn't give me nightmares! Fast forward to 2011 and we get to the worse. I largely failed out of college due to playing Halo Reach too much. There were other narcotic reasons I'm not of proud of that were a big contribution. But, apart from that I just couldn't put it down. I would play from dusk till dawn often skipping classes to catch up on sleep or just play more.

What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?
I was not a fan of Halo 4. The campaign was decent, but over-all I felt there were heading in a different direction away from the military aspect and more towards the alien/AI aspects. Not as interesting to me and it seemed like a play to get a younger audience. With Halo 5 and the more recent updates it seems like they are trying to tie back into the older armor sets from Reach and that makes me happy. Hopefully they will also steer away from the popular trend of micro-transactions and keep putting out free map updates like they use to. I also think that they is a big market for movies that they are not tapping into. They wouldn't even need to make costumes if they just flew us around!

 

[Dirtdives2424]

What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?
About 2-2 1/2 years ago my son came home from a friends house and told me about playing HALO and that started a whole new chapter of my costuming and family gaming. I'm not sure which one he played but I went out that weekend and got 1-4 and Reach and we started playing them all. I still have to get 5 and since I upgraded to Xbox 1 I want to get the MC complete set for the 1 so I can go back an play again.


If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?
Well, I wouldn't exactly call it "Life Changing" but it definitely opened a door that me and my kids (well, 3 out of 4 really) enjoy together. We've gone to several Cons together both in and out of costumes and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It brought us closer as a family unit and creates a memory that the kids will hold on to and pass on to their kids. It brought out their creativity and enjoyment of expression.



What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?
As far as where the franchise is heading....I have to agree w/ TurboCharizard and PerniciousDuke. There are certain aspects of the game that left me a bit put out, but if you go in w/o any expectations, it's a decent enough gaming experience. I also doubly agree w/ PerniciousDuke in regards to an untapped aspect in the big screen market. I know they came out w/ 2 films.....but lets be honest.....the suck factor was pretty high on both of them. There were a lot of things about both movies that only if you were familiar w/ the HALO genre, would they make any scene.

 

[mblackwell1002]

Hrm...wall of text incoming...

What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?
Like a lot of people here, my first Halo was Halo CE. My dad and I would play the campaign pretty regularly, and it almost immediately became my favorite game. I was awful at the time, but it was still a lot of fun. We owned Halo 2 as well, and played that game into oblivion. My love for Halo only grew, and I find more and more ways to bring my favorite franchise to life.

If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?
Oh boy, Halo has certainly changed my life. I might even say drastically. First, there's this awesome Halo cosplay community that I ran into. That got me started. After I made my first suit, I was completely addicted and wanted to do more, even though my first cosplay was awful. As time went on, my props and cosplays looked better as I gained more skill in prop making. Fast forward to now, and i'm dipping my toes into professional prop and costume production in the film industry. Not only that, but I am getting more involved with the Halo community and also considering a career in game development. Would any of this happen without Halo? Nope.

Halo also provides a lot of fun and a sense of community, where I can talk with friends and meet more awesome people.

What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?
Halo is an older franchise, and age always comes with change. I think, for the most part, that Halo is heading in a good direction. I don't think the art style change was necessary, but I do like the new game assets, and how everything is cluttered with detail everywhere you look. I love the new gameplay style, it raises the skill gap significantly, giving the game more replay value. Ground pound and Spartan charge are unbalanced in the game, it makes the game feel too generic and not much like Halo. I'm glad Halo 5 is nothing like Halo 4 in terms of gameplay, 343i made a bit of a mess with H4 as it was their first Halo game. I think they are doing well now; 3rd time's the charm, right?

I don't think Halo should move into the film industry quite yet. I think Microsoft needs to hire the right people for the job before they move to film; we've already seen many other franchises flop when they make the transition to film.

There ya go. That's my two cents.

 

[BlazedStarbon]

If it's not too late, hope this helps:
What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?
My first game was Halo 3. I came across it while my brother was looking into getting an Xbox 360 and we were both blown away by the trailers on TV. It was one of those moments where we thought it was for a movie, rather than a video game. Shortly after, we were able to play Halo 2, and move backwards towards CE to get the full story.
If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?
For myself, Halo became a hobby each night to meet new friends, where I also ended up joining Bungie's (at the time), largest online community. I lived for game nights with friends in the social playlist and custom games. My Grifball team was like a second family and it turned my play-style into a slight addiction where we became 15th world-wide during the second championships. (I was unstoppable and did receive hate messages from others during the weekend playlists for being too good...for the record, I never spawn camped and played legitimately.)

For better or worse? Being part of a large community and getting to play and know so many people were both a blessing and a downfall. I've made lasting friendships, helped expand a community as a forum moderator, and watched it all come crashing down as a hierarchy lost interest in the simplest of things to have fun while playing the games.
What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?
Halo's storyline was my favourite aspect of the franchise. I was never one to do mlg. The story of Master Chief and Cortana, as well as the surrounding characters always held my interest. Which brings us to the newer age of the series: I have mixed opinions on it. 343i did a fair job with Halo 4, as I kept an open mind to the story they were trying to tell. No game can be perfect, although I remain hopeful that after the events of Halo 5, we'll see a promising lead in Halo 6.

I stopped playing Halo 5 multiplayer because of micro-transactions and not having a decent reward-based system similar to Halo 3 or Reach. I miss knowing what you will unlock when reaching a certain tier. This mainly stems from making machinima, to which 343i nearly destroyed by way of stricter content rights that gamers would upload to sites like YouTube. Had it not been for the community backlash, Microsoft might have pulled all Halo Machinima as copyright infringement. It was a bad move, which slowly reduced the amount of content created over the years. Now, big name creations are non-existent due to the random armor drops one might receive from REQ packs in Halo 5. (Forge was quite promising too.)
On a positive note, acknowledging community members and groups like the 405th, and interacting with fans this way is always reassuring to me. It shows that Microsoft hasn't forgotten about the gamers who made the Halo franchise so successful over the years, and the impact it has on the community as a whole.

At the end of the day, I will always remain hopeful for a franchise that paved the way for fps.

 

[mblackwell1002]

If it's not too late, hope this helps:
What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?
My first game was Halo 3. I came across it while my brother was looking into getting an Xbox 360 and we were both blown away by the trailers on TV. It was one of those moments where we thought it was for a movie, rather than a video game. Shortly after, we were able to play Halo 2, and move backwards towards CE to get the full story.
If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?
For myself, Halo became a hobby each night to meet new friends, where I also ended up joining Bungie's (at the time), largest online community. I lived for game nights with friends in the social playlist and custom games. My Grifball team was like a second family and it turned my play-style into a slight addiction where we became 15th world-wide during the second championships. (I was unstoppable and did receive hate messages from others during the weekend playlists for being too good...for the record, I never spawn camped and played legitimately.)

For better or worse? Being part of a large community and getting to play and know so many people were both a blessing and a downfall. I've made lasting friendships, helped expand a community as a forum moderator, and watched it all come crashing down as a hierarchy lost interest in the simplest of things to have fun while playing the games.
What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?
Halo's storyline was my favourite aspect of the franchise. I was never one to do mlg. The story of Master Chief and Cortana, as well as the surrounding characters always held my interest. Which brings us to the newer age of the series: I have mixed opinions on it. 343i did a fair job with Halo 4, as I kept an open mind to the story they were trying to tell. No game can be perfect, although I remain hopeful that after the events of Halo 5, we'll see a promising lead in Halo 6.

I stopped playing Halo 5 multiplayer because of micro-transactions and not having a decent reward-based system similar to Halo 3 or Reach. I miss knowing what you will unlock when reaching a certain tier. This mainly stems from making machinima, to which 343i nearly destroyed by way of stricter content rights that gamers would upload to sites like YouTube. Had it not been for the community backlash, Microsoft might have pulled all Halo Machinima as copyright infringement. It was a bad move, which slowly reduced the amount of content created over the years. Now, big name creations are non-existent due to the random armor drops one might receive from REQ packs in Halo 5. (Forge was quite promising too.)
On a positive note, acknowledging community members and groups like the 405th, and interacting with fans this way is always reassuring to me. It shows that Microsoft hasn't forgotten about the gamers who made the Halo franchise so successful over the years, and the impact it has on the community as a whole.

At the end of the day, I will always remain hopeful for a franchise that paved the way for fps.

Wait...So I sort of know a worldwide Grifball competitor? *mind blown*

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

If it's not too late, hope this helps:
What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?
My first game was Halo 3. I came across it while my brother was looking into getting an Xbox 360 and we were both blown away by the trailers on TV. It was one of those moments where we thought it was for a movie, rather than a video game. Shortly after, we were able to play Halo 2, and move backwards towards CE to get the full story.
If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?
For myself, Halo became a hobby each night to meet new friends, where I also ended up joining Bungie's (at the time), largest online community. I lived for game nights with friends in the social playlist and custom games. My Grifball team was like a second family and it turned my play-style into a slight addiction where we became 15th world-wide during the second championships. (I was unstoppable and did receive hate messages from others during the weekend playlists for being too good...for the record, I never spawn camped and played legitimately.)

For better or worse? Being part of a large community and getting to play and know so many people were both a blessing and a downfall. I've made lasting friendships, helped expand a community as a forum moderator, and watched it all come crashing down as a hierarchy lost interest in the simplest of things to have fun while playing the games.
What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?
Halo's storyline was my favourite aspect of the franchise. I was never one to do mlg. The story of Master Chief and Cortana, as well as the surrounding characters always held my interest. Which brings us to the newer age of the series: I have mixed opinions on it. 343i did a fair job with Halo 4, as I kept an open mind to the story they were trying to tell. No game can be perfect, although I remain hopeful that after the events of Halo 5, we'll see a promising lead in Halo 6.

I stopped playing Halo 5 multiplayer because of micro-transactions and not having a decent reward-based system similar to Halo 3 or Reach. I miss knowing what you will unlock when reaching a certain tier. This mainly stems from making machinima, to which 343i nearly destroyed by way of stricter content rights that gamers would upload to sites like YouTube. Had it not been for the community backlash, Microsoft might have pulled all Halo Machinima as copyright infringement. It was a bad move, which slowly reduced the amount of content created over the years. Now, big name creations are non-existent due to the random armor drops one might receive from REQ packs in Halo 5. (Forge was quite promising too.)
On a positive note, acknowledging community members and groups like the 405th, and interacting with fans this way is always reassuring to me. It shows that Microsoft hasn't forgotten about the gamers who made the Halo franchise so successful over the years, and the impact it has on the community as a whole.

At the end of the day, I will always remain hopeful for a franchise that paved the way for fps.

I wish I had known pro griffball was a thing earlier...

no you are not too late, I have until Friday to gather all my sources, thanks for answering.

 

[PerniciousDuke]

I miss knowing what you will unlock when reaching a certain tier.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but this is exactly it! I feel like younger gamers and social media goers love these completely random prizes to get their periodic dopamine hits. But it doesn't do it for me. I want to see a goal/prize and I want to work to accomplish it. Thank you for pointing that out.

 

[mblackwell1002]

I couldn't put my finger on it, but this is exactly it! I feel like younger gamers and social media goers love these completely random prizes to get their periodic dopamine hits. But it doesn't do it for me. I want to see a goal/prize and I want to work to accomplish it. Thank you for pointing that out.

Yeah, I much prefer to unlock stuff by "Working" towards it rather than a random drop. Sure, companies like the system paired with the dreaded micro-transactions because it makes them money, but I like old school unlock systems, before micro-transactions were a thing. I hate reach's gameplay, but love the armor unlock system.

Titanfall 2's Multiplayer has a system similar to Reach's. It has skins and abilities that you have to work towards in order to get the desired skin/weapon. Plus, the multiplayer is one of the best things I've played since...Halo 3, probably. Very, VERY high skill ceiling, lots to work towards, beautiful graphics, well-designed maps and abilities, addicting movement style...there are certainly bad things about TF2, but I.

 

[Lieutenant Jaku]

Yeah, I much prefer to unlick stuff by "Working" towards it rather than a random drop. Sure, companies like the system paired with the dreaded micro-transactions because it makes them money, but I like old school unlock systems, before micro-transactions were a thing. I hate reach's gameplay, but love the armor unlock system.

Titanfall 2's Multiplayer has a system similar to Reach's. It has skins and abilities that you have to work towards in order to get the desired skin/weapon. Plus, the multiplayer is one of the best things I've played since...Halo 3, probably. Very, VERY high skill ceiling, lots to work towards, beautiful graphics, well-designed maps and abilities, addicting movement style...there are certainly bad things about TF2, but I enjoy it sooo much.

I couldn't put my finger on it, but this is exactly it! I feel like younger gamers and social media goers love these completely random prizes to get their periodic dopamine hits. But it doesn't do it for me. I want to see a goal/prize and I want to work to accomplish it. Thank you for pointing that out.

Although I may be in the younger gamers category PerniciousDuke talks about I agree with both of you. I just don't feel as motivated to work towards the next prize if I have a very slim chance of getting what I want

 

[TurboCharizard]

Yeah, I much prefer to unlock stuff by "Working" towards it rather than a random drop. Sure, companies like the system paired with the dreaded micro-transactions because it makes them money, but I like old school unlock systems, before micro-transactions were a thing. I hate reach's gameplay, but love the armor unlock system.

Titanfall 2's Multiplayer has a system similar to Reach's. It has skins and abilities that you have to work towards in order to get the desired skin/weapon. Plus, the multiplayer is one of the best things I've played since...Halo 3, probably. Very, VERY high skill ceiling, lots to work towards, beautiful graphics, well-designed maps and abilities, addicting movement style...there are certainly bad things about TF2, but I.

Nothing like that old Halo 3 unlock system. Play with a Bungie team member, get helmet.

 

[Reclaimara]

What was the first game in the Halo franchise that you played + how you came across it (if interesting)?

2002, Halo Combat Evolved just after it was released in Europe along with original Xbox. It was before the age of internet and I actually had no idea what Xbox or Halo was. But I got the console and my mom said I could choose one single game - I chose Halo. And well, that's pretty much it.

If and how did Halo change your life for the better or worse?

It definitely changed for the better. I was moving a lot through my whole life and there times where Halo and Xbox were pretty much my only friend and kinda an escape.
Got many amazing experiences.
And overall, got me into many things - like even cosplaying for example.

What are your opinions of the franchise and where it is heading?

Love it. And I'm one of those people who are rather happy with how Halo currently is and where it's heading.
I don't agree with everything, but overall I'm looking forward to the future.

I love a more emotional approach in Halo 4's campaign.
I love new characters.
I also enjoy the new improved gameplay, something I wanted from the very beginning.
Love that we're going way more into Forerunner stuff as it's always was very intriguing to me.
I don't really like the microtransactions and RNG based system and I'd rather want something like Halo 4 had.