Great Games do not Force a Player into a certain Direction

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about how the freedom created by open world games attracts a broad variety of player types.

One of the key aspects of open world games is the freedom that is given to the players. Instead of providing them with a linear story which is based on a sequence of pre-defined goals a player must complete, open world games offer various activities to the players thus allowing them to choose what they want to do inside of the virtual worlds. As a result of this, each player experiences a unique story as well as the feeling of being an actual part of the virtual environment which ultimately results in a deeper immersion.

Skyrim

For instance, the role-playing game Skyrim provides players with a main story line, many side quests, various factions that like the player to join them as well as a vast virtual world full of secrets and treasures which can freely be explored. That way, players can decide if they want to follow the main story line, if they want to help out a certain faction or completely ignore the goals provided by the game for the purpose of discovering special places in the world.

In addition, open world and even many role-playing games provide a high amount of various activities players can perform inside of the virtual world without actually requiring them to utilize all of those game mechanics in order to play the game successfully. Hence, players experience another degree of freedom as they can only focus on some of the activities which they enjoy or use every feature of the game. Of course, players who take advantage of many game mechanics might have a better overall performance in the game, but this mostly is important for some very special events a player rarely encounters during the regular gameplay.

Minecraft

For instance, Minecraft, amongst other things, allows players to craft various types of armor which subsequently can be enchanted for the purpose of increasing a player’s capabilities, making the armor stronger or more durable. In addition, players can brew various potions that can have various positive effects on the player such as taking less damage or moving faster. While enchanting and brewing helps players to survive and is needed in order to defeat the strongest Minecraft enemies which only appear when they are summoned, it is not needed for the regular gameplay. Naturally, players who wear stronger armor do not need to be as careful as unarmored players, but this mostly is not important when a player likes to explore the world or build ambitious projects.

In the end, digital games that can be played in various ways and do not force players to perform certain activities mostly attract a broad variety of different player types as everyone can focus on a particular aspect of the game that matches the own interests.