War is Cute, Pink and Shiny
If I had to pick one annoying aspect of surfing on the web, it would be the prevalence of mobile game ads. Ad bloat is annoying in itself, of course, but when navigating most decent websites, the user can ignore them anyway (or, of course, use an ad blocker). Whenever I see mobile game ads, however, I cannot ignore them. For most of these ads, I either pity the game whose ad I am seeing for how pathetic and unoriginal it is, or I feel disgusted and I want to throw up. It feels like a breach into my space.
Having been looking at these ads, I have noticed a peculiar trend in games involving warfare. As an avid player of first-person shooters and real-time strategy games set in realistic environments, I would expect to see realistic visual effects for damage, coherent and rather monochromatic color schemes, and somber looks on soldiers' faces. That is not what I am seeing with an increasing number of mobile games, however. I see cute and silly-looking meeples running around with cartoony swords, and environments so colorful and bubbly that they look like a miniature digital copy of Disneyland.
Or perhaps this is simply my fragile masculinity speaking up.
But seriously, why though? Doesn't this kill the feel of a war game?
The actual question is whether people actually play these games to get a war-like feel, and the answer is mostly no.
Paralleling the usage trends of smartphones, most mobile games are meant to be played in short, emotionally less involved sessions compared to a captivating experience a good PC or console game might offer. Therefore, no matter how war-like the combat system or the art style is, the emotional impact will be very limited. People seem to be fine with that - they know they are not playing the game to get the same feeling as a war game on another platform. In fact, a great deal of the audience for mobile games involving warfare consists of people who would not otherwise be interested in war games. In light of this aspect, the colorful, cartoony art style can actually be seen as an opportunity to broaden the audience instead of a drawback. This art style helps reduce the perception of violence in the game, allowing the game to appeal to people who dislike violence in games. It also enhances the fiction aspect in the game, making players have a stronger connection with their in-game possessions and therefore improving player retention.
