When I was a child

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15 November 2005

by Mike Rozak

When I was a child, I spoke as child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away my childish things.

1 Corinthians 13:11

When I first began playing CRPGs and text adventure games in the early 1980's, the games basically consisted of:

1. A virtual space to wander around.
2. A collection of unrelated puzzles or unrelated of monsters to kill.

Hunt the Wumpus, Zork, The Temple of Apshi, and Ultima I all basically followed this model. They had not rhyme or reason to their existence, but they were fun (at the time).

As I grew older, I wanted more from my games:

1. Backstory that explained why the puzzles and monsters were there.
2. A variety of sub-games.
3. Variation in sub-games.
4. A huge world.
5. Eye candy.

Wizardry and Ultima II provided these features, and I was satisfied for a time.

I didn't play many games while I attended university, nor when I first started working. When I next explored CRPG and adventure games, I discovered some additional features had been added to the cannon:

1. Quests.
2. Cut scenes.
3. Every game had a few new twists to old features.
4. The ability to play online with one's friends.

Again, I was satisfied for a time, but now I have played enough of those games. I want some new dimensions added to my gaming experience:

1. Meaningful choices.
2. Sympathetic goals; I want to feel that world is important to me, not just important to my character.
3. A small and focused world. I don't want to spend 50 hours playing a game, let alone 500.

Games with these new features are starting to appear; I am not yet satisfied.

A curious question keeps creeping into my head... When I was a child I couldn't understand how I would see the world an adult. As an "adult", I can't understand how I will perceive the world in the future. Will I want even more intricate worlds? Or, in other words: All of the above features are "necessary" for a game, but are they "sufficient"?

Should CRPGs, MMORPGs, and adventure games also involve:

1. Real AI?
2. A director/God?
3. A theme?
4. Something else that I can't even imagine with my child-like mind?