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The Tedium of Gaming

My problem with most modern games is the extreme boredom that overcomes me when I watch someone playing. The age of increasingly realistic rendering has brought with it the real-life tedium of getting from place to place, combined with the chores that need to be performed (missions, etc)... Having made it my life's goal to _not_ have to do what some jackass tells me to do, why would I let a game boss me around?

Interactive fiction games, especially adventure-like games are not immune from that, but without photo-realism and bound by textual descriptions only, the tasks seem more interesting, anyway. And I can visualize them any way I feel like.

But it's often a slog, with a complicated sequence of actions to unlock puzzles, complete with restarting all the time and painstaking mapping, with the result of a complicated list of actions that must be followed, exactly, or spending another half-hour repeating the recipe.

I've been looking at the more loosey-goosey titles that are less puzzle-based. I mean I love puzzles, but there is something about the adventure puzzles that is just tedious - you better get a key here, a pipe there, a bottle of rum in the third place, or later you can't open the door or hit the troll on the head with a pipe, or whatnot.

So far I've been frotzing around 'Mercy' -- not long enough to say anything about it (just a quick ruxtn around the hospital). 50 Years of Text Games suggested 'The Space Under The Window' by Plotkin - I haven't tried it yet.

So I am excited about the idea, although in practice the games I've tried are frustrating. I am also looking forward to trying my hand at the craft, as all the tools and docs are out there.

Posted in: s/Interactive-Fiction

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2023-08-25 · 1 year ago · 👍 Ruby_Witch

3 Comments ↓

🍄 Ruby_Witch · 2023-08-26 at 16:36:

You know what's funny? I actually find modern/recent games to be a lot more simplified and streamlined than older games, with a lot less of the "slog" factor. For example, Everquest and Ultima Online really emphasized the whole "run across the whole world in real time to get where you're going" whereas more current offerings are a whole lot more likely to provide you with options for instanced/instant action.

As for text-based games that truly minimize the unnecessarily complex puzzle aspects, I would recommend trying out a game like Roadwarden, which is gripping and replayable without feeling unweildy. Also, maybe check out some of the Choice of Games titles, mentioned by @Morgan in another thread.

🚀 mbays · 2023-08-27 at 07:31:

You might want to check out the games from the IF Art show, which were explicitly puzzleless. Galatea and Exhibition are two I can certainly recommend, and I think The Fire Tower was also nice.

🌲 Half_Elf_Monk · 2024-02-19 at 20:22:

I feel the same way about some (though not all) moderns games. I wonder how much of that feeling is due to a shift in cognitive habits on our culture's part. There's less wonder in the world. Sometimes IF can solve that by good description, or modern games by a fancy new feature. Either way, for me the best solution is fasting from games for a while, and then coming back with a 'hunger' for it.