“open world” in games mostly refers to shams. In every instance I’ve seen, the choice is between “whatever forwards the plot” (no choice) and “something random” (false choice).
Agreed on Escape Velocity. Minecraft was my more recent go-to example for “actual open world”. But I think I agree with the upthread point that open world games often aren’t as open as you’d like.
But I think I agree with the upthread point that open world games often aren’t as open as you’d like.
For sure. (An example of the phenomenon: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, which has procedurally generated ‘sidequests’ which reward resources but have absolutely no relationship to the plot whatsoever, and also a single, almost perfectly linear set of plot missions. It’s a great game, and it’s certainly “open world” in the sense that you can (mostly) go wherever you like, whenever you like, but nevertheless it’s a plot railroad, period.)
But whenever someone makes a generalization and says that they’ve never seen counterexamples, and I know that there are counterexamples, then I think it’s critically important to (a) recall and make salient their existence (lest we mentally elide the generalization into a universalization), and (b) consider what features of the counterexamples allow them to be such—and what the pattern of those features tells us about the general trend.
Looking at this.. I think I can definitely imagine a good open world game. It’d feel a little bit like a metroidvania- fun and engaging traversal, a world that you get to know, that encourages you to revisit old locations frequently- but not in any strict order, and more self-organised. I just haven’t seen that yet.
It’s worth noting that the phrase “open world” doesn’t occur in the article, heheh.
Escape Velocity
Agreed on Escape Velocity. Minecraft was my more recent go-to example for “actual open world”. But I think I agree with the upthread point that open world games often aren’t as open as you’d like.
For sure. (An example of the phenomenon: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, which has procedurally generated ‘sidequests’ which reward resources but have absolutely no relationship to the plot whatsoever, and also a single, almost perfectly linear set of plot missions. It’s a great game, and it’s certainly “open world” in the sense that you can (mostly) go wherever you like, whenever you like, but nevertheless it’s a plot railroad, period.)
But whenever someone makes a generalization and says that they’ve never seen counterexamples, and I know that there are counterexamples, then I think it’s critically important to (a) recall and make salient their existence (lest we mentally elide the generalization into a universalization), and (b) consider what features of the counterexamples allow them to be such—and what the pattern of those features tells us about the general trend.
Looking at this.. I think I can definitely imagine a good open world game. It’d feel a little bit like a metroidvania- fun and engaging traversal, a world that you get to know, that encourages you to revisit old locations frequently- but not in any strict order, and more self-organised. I just haven’t seen that yet.
It’s worth noting that the phrase “open world” doesn’t occur in the article, heheh.