In Alexandra’s article “An important part of video games happens offscreen, in our imaginations” discusses how games often leave a lot of room for imagination or interaction with a game’s world. Games have characters, storylines, and settings that aren’t fully written out for the player. Similar to ergodic literature, it takes effort for these elements of the game to be fully experienced, and requires the player to engage with it outside of the game’s controls. In Zimmerman’s Video “Every game is a language” he talks about video game design and how designers get players to understand mechanics during gameplay.
Questions:
Zimmerman mentions that when players are stuck in a game it could be that the game is designed poorly or that it’s interesting and was meant to confuse you. How do you know when a difficult game or piece of literature is interesting and not just poorly made?
An Important Part Of Video Games Happens Offscreen, In Our Imaginations
(https://kotaku.com/an-important-part-of-video-games-happens-offscreen-in-1787621907)In 2008, Dear Esther asked players to do more than just press buttons on a controller. The game asked them to use their imagination to build a personal narrative. Eight years later, contemporary titles like Hitman and Mafia III are also catching on to the value of imaginative play.(97 kB)
