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From: rwallace@tcd.ie (russell wallace)
Subject: Re: Gratuitous objects
Message-ID: <CxCsqA.ELp@news.tcd.ie>
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Organization: University of Dublin, Trinity College
References: <36ids8$gk0@dewey.cc.utexas.edu> <oiXjiPG00gpIM2uukJ@andrew.cmu.edu> <36ndigINNds4@life.ai.mit.edu> <Cx86Dx.5Hu@acsu.buffalo.edu> <3750a3INNiks@life.ai.mit.edu> <375480$4gl@nntp.interaccess.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Oct 1994 12:15:46 GMT
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In <375480$4gl@nntp.interaccess.com> sharvey@interaccess ( S.P.Harvey) writes:

>David Baggett (dmb@min.ai.mit.edu) wrote:

>: This trend against using hints is insidious.  It pretty much makes me want
>: to stop writing puzzle-based stuff, frankly, because I don't want to write
>: things that are simply inaccessible to people who aren't capable of solving
>: the puzzles without frustration.  I want everyone to be able to finish the
>: game.  (And if I make a game too easy, then if what I'm hearing is true a
>: decent portion of the audience will think it's boring because it offers
>: them no challenge.)

>I must agree with Dave on this point.  What's the use of IF designers 
>wracking their brains to come up with creative and challenging puzzles, 
>if no one wants to feel the frustration involved in trying to solve these 
>puzzles?  One must remember that incredible elation that comes when a 
>puzzle is cracked, and the solution is elegant, realistic, and novel.  
>The frustration and the reward are two halves of the same whole.  Myself, 
>I can still remember _to this day_ the frustration of the "lighted face" 
>puzzle in Enchanter.  This was what, 10 years ago?  The next memory in 
>line is of finally decoding the dream, solving the puzzle, and reaping 
>the reward.  It's a glorious combination.

Indeed, some people find this to be the case.  Personally, I don't
particularly like puzzles, when I run into one that I can't solve
immediately I prefer to use a hints command or a walkthru file rather
than have the thread of the plot broken by spending some long and
indeterminate amount of time trying to guess the answer, and if there
isn't any hints command or walkthru file available I usually give up.
(Yes, I feel this way even about well designed puzzles.)


--
"To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem"
Russell Wallace, Trinity College, Dublin
rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie
