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Date: Sun, 08 Sep 2002 08:56:25 -0400
From: John Colagioia <JColagioia@csi.com>
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Subject: Re: [CONTENT] Puzzle fairness
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Daryl McCullough wrote:
> John says...
>>If you hand me a gun in a game, I'm eventually going to get
>>frustrated or bored enough that I'll try shooting everything
>>and everyone.  Telling me, "that's naughty," is just going to
>>frustrate me enough to quit, in all probability.
> Interesting point. However, I would say that if you at the point
> of shooting everything in sight, then the game has already lost you
> as a work of interactive fiction, even if it may still be possible
> to enjoy it as a game.

I dunno.  Casting against type, here, consider the general feelings
on "Photopia."  You're led to use the particular verb through
somewhat subtle clues.  I can imagine a game which provokes the PC
into doing something unpleasant by fostering a sense of frustration.
In fact, when I feel that frustration, I usually give the game the
benefit of the doubt, and assume it's an intentional part of the
experience.

I don't think I've been *right*, yet (perhaps "Anchorhead," but more
on that, later), but hey, I'm an optomist, sometimes, all right?

> There is a sort of behavior on the part of the player that is the
> flip side of the breaking of mimesis on the part of the author. At
> some point, the player stops exploring the fictional world as a
> world, and starts exploring it as a program. The player does things
> just to see how the program reacts, rather than because his/her
> character would have any reason to do them.

Again, I'm not so sure about that.  Let's take the original example
in "Anchorhead."  You're stuck in a miserable New England storm (I
actually love walking in those, but I'm probably in the minority) in
a strange town where everyone apparently hates you on sight.  You
have no car, and of your only two known sources of help, one
mysteriously can't care less about your problems, and the other is
missing.

Now, let's layer it on.  Even ignoring the storm, everything is
giving you the creeps, and, for various reasons (the mist and the
geography), you can't navigate to anyplace where you might be able
to dry out (home or a bed and breakfast, assuming one would even
exist in Anchorhead).

Putting myself in that situation, I suspect that the rules would
quickly go out the window, because we're actually on the verge of
worrying about survival (judging by Michael's condition on the walk
home, I suspect there was some more wandering the streets before the
game started).  Personally, I'd very likely break in, and be quite
willing to live with the presumed consequences (payment for any
damage, potential legal conviction, whatever) afterward.

It'd have pissed me off much more to learn that I was *supposed* to
take apart the lantern in the bar with Michael's Swiss Army Knife
(which he'd give me, once I asked for it), and find the ancient key
hidden within that acts as a skeleton key for all the shops of
Anchorhead's downtown area.  Oh, right, and I'd have to buy the
lantern from the barkeep, of course, using money I got by selling
seashells I found down by the lighthouse to one of the students on
campus...

[...]

