Comments on: Playing it Safe http://grandtextauto.org/2007/11/06/playing-it-safe/ A group blog about computer narrative, games, poetry, and art. Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:43:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Mike Rozak http://grandtextauto.org/2007/11/06/playing-it-safe/comment-page-1/#comment-135535 Mike Rozak Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:20:04 +0000 http://grandtextauto.org/?p=1643#comment-135535 IMHO, Mark Yolahem sees "game" design too simplistically. For example: Procedrual content vs. hand-created content are not mutually exclusive. More thoughts located at http://www.mxac.com.au/drt/OblivionProcedural.htm For example: He assumes that an interactive entertainment experience on a computer must be a "game". While a game is one possibility, other interactive experiences on computers exist. To date, games have been the most succesful, but that won't always be the case. (Just as no-one in 1979 could conceive of a computer game that was not Space Invaders or Pac Man.) The non-game experiences must be engaging enough that people want to experience them, though. For example: As nice as Myst is, it's actually a very poor example of using story in an interactive experience. When the experience is boiled down, the (incredibly simple) story in Myst is merely metered out based on semi-arbitrary puzzle solving. There is no interactione except for some token branching at the very end. For example: Stories are not entirely about characters (nor are stories about conflict). More often, stories are about circumstances and ideas. Likable/interesting characters (and conflict) are devices used to hold the reader's interest. Simplistically: A typical story trys to make the protagonist so likeable that the reader cares about the protagonist. Then, when something happens to the protagonist (such as a conflict), the reader cares about what happens by association, just as you care about what happens to your real friends/relatives. Even more simplistically, a story/novel is a long meme whose purpose is to get the reader to recommend the story/novel to two or more other readers. The meme does whatever it takes to create a signficant mental impression (moral, theme, exciting events, etc.) so that several months later, the reader will still remember the story and get theirs friends to experience it. Usually, the foundation needed to create the memorable moment(s) takes hundreds of pages of setup. I suppose I would say that he's right about his implicit assumption that "games" are not stories, and that they shouldn't try to be stories. However, I'd say that "games" should use story-like techniques (character, conflict, plot, mystery, emotion, etc.) to keep a player's interest. IMHO, Mark Yolahem sees “game” design too simplistically.

For example: Procedrual content vs. hand-created content are not mutually exclusive. More thoughts located at http://www.mxac.com.au/drt/OblivionProcedural.htm

For example: He assumes that an interactive entertainment experience on a computer must be a “game”. While a game is one possibility, other interactive experiences on computers exist. To date, games have been the most succesful, but that won’t always be the case. (Just as no-one in 1979 could conceive of a computer game that was not Space Invaders or Pac Man.) The non-game experiences must be engaging enough that people want to experience them, though.

For example: As nice as Myst is, it’s actually a very poor example of using story in an interactive experience. When the experience is boiled down, the (incredibly simple) story in Myst is merely metered out based on semi-arbitrary puzzle solving. There is no interactione except for some token branching at the very end.

For example: Stories are not entirely about characters (nor are stories about conflict). More often, stories are about circumstances and ideas. Likable/interesting characters (and conflict) are devices used to hold the reader’s interest. Simplistically: A typical story trys to make the protagonist so likeable that the reader cares about the protagonist. Then, when something happens to the protagonist (such as a conflict), the reader cares about what happens by association, just as you care about what happens to your real friends/relatives.

Even more simplistically, a story/novel is a long meme whose purpose is to get the reader to recommend the story/novel to two or more other readers. The meme does whatever it takes to create a signficant mental impression (moral, theme, exciting events, etc.) so that several months later, the reader will still remember the story and get theirs friends to experience it. Usually, the foundation needed to create the memorable moment(s) takes hundreds of pages of setup.

I suppose I would say that he’s right about his implicit assumption that “games” are not stories, and that they shouldn’t try to be stories. However, I’d say that “games” should use story-like techniques (character, conflict, plot, mystery, emotion, etc.) to keep a player’s interest.

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