The one that sticks out in my mind is the original BioShock. Spoilers if you haven’t played it.
BioshockThe first thing that happens is a voice over the intercom asks, “Would you kindly pick up that weapon.” And of course you do it, or the game does not progress. The voice is very polite and resonable, helping you navigate this dank maze of horrors. “Would you kindly open that door?” “Would you kindly kill that monster?” The calm manners contrast starkly against the modern horrors you’re experiencing in the game. Of course every request seems like a great idea at the time, and of course the game ends if you fail.
Then halfway into the game, you finally meet the man behind the voice and he explains that you are a mind-controlled slave, conditions to obey any command that begins with “would you kindly…” He’s trying to destroy the tyranny of the system and commands you to kill him, sacrificing himself to free you from the control phrase. The “tutorial” seemed like it was just helpful instructions, but you didn’t really have a choice, did you? The majority of players just followed those instructions without question, never considering whether they were good choices or moral actions. And could you say no? Without the wrench, you can’t survive the first attack. Without opening the door, you remain in the first room forever. Your world is pre-ordained and tightly controlled. How much free will do you have in the game and outside of it? At what point do you stop making decisions and start following orders? And when can you stop again?
Can confirm, I remember when Madden introduced online multiplayer, and there was a small kerfuffle because there was no way to bypass their servers. I remember having the conversation with my buddies that it didn’t matter, because we would all prefer to play together on the couch in the same room, and playing strangers on the internet didn’t sound appealing.
You see this a lot in project management. People go to school to learn to manage projects, and they think that all projects are pretty much the same. You define the deliverables, set the schedule, track the progress, and everything should work out fine. When the project is a success, they pat themselves on the back for getting everyone to the finish line, and when the project fails they examine where in the process unexpected things happened.
Video games are an art form. Creativity can’t be iterated into existence, and the spark of fun is more than the component parts of a good time. Capitalists believe that they can invest in the creative process and buy the value of the talent of extraordinary people. They have commoditized creation, dissecting each step and then squeezing it into a format that fits into a procedure.
Here’s a Kanban board of game features, pick one and move it to the next phase. Develop, test, evaluate, repeat. What are your blockers? Is this in scope? Do we need to push the deadline?
That can help you make something, but it won’t be art.
I’m a completionist, so I always do everything possible in game. Strictly speaking, you only must get the sail, and you can head straight to Ganon if you’re feeling mighty.
C’est ça qui est drôle! And the one on the right is Link wearing women’s clothing from Breath of the Wild. He has to pretend to be a woman to sneak into a desert town where men are prohibited. Cross-dressing is a critical part of the story, and you keep the outfit to wear in battle if you like. You can also flirt with a guy and he’ll give you his boots.
This just reminds me that, in any hobby, there are nuanced turf wars and internal politics that superfans are invested in following. This is the sort of thing that I might have really cared about in my days as a gamer, and hearing about it now makes me realize how out of touch I am with the community.
I do miss it sometimes. Makes me nostaligic for riding the bus with friends and arguing about Sega vs Nintendo or what’s going on at Activision.