Something that has confused me recently about the games industry is the open hostility towards many of the fairly new genre of auto-clickers or auto-battlers. The idea of the genre is essentially while the primary gameplay loop is played by the game’s systems rather than directly by the player the factors that go into each battle or big decision within the game is determined prematurely by actions that the player will make.
It’s an interesting system and most well demonstrated by the release of Loop Hero which has received critical acclaim and love by many people, so why do people not like the genre? Well many would say that the game itself isn’t really a game but more like a very complex simulation that is played out independently of what the player wishes like betting on AI Pokemon battles or the most famous example of the DOTA 2 Mod Auto Chess. While I can see why this wouldn’t be appealing I would instead rebute with the idea that gaming is not all about reflex challenges and moment to moment gameplay but instead can simply be the process of making decisions that set a character down a path. This can be seen in many narrative-based games or even something like turn-based strategy games that essentially set the gameplay as being move your characters to a target and see if their stats will allow them to beat the enemy. Many strategy and puzzle games rely upon this process and in Loop Hero’s case it’s not the actual combat which is the exciting part but the building and equipment management that helps you to define your character and their strategies before heading on their journey.
Some would say that this is lazy game design and just encourages others to let the game essentially play itself however I would say this is a rather narrow view upon an entire genre and that people can enjoy games however they wish. This is just another sector of gaming in a vast sea of choices.
What do you all think about this? Do you see Auto Games as pointless timewasters or do you enjoy playing them yourself? Let us know in the comments section! That’s all for now, and as always. It’s not just a game, It’s a Life.