Ruling the Open Gaming World

Fable 3

Howdy, gents. I hope that this post finds all of you starting the holiday gaming extravaganza that this time of year is typically known for. As I said, we’re mostly taking it easy for the next couple of weeks, but because I like you all, I thought I’d share a post with you that I found.

Over at the Moving Pixels blog at Pop Matters (one of my favorite gaming blogs), a recent article goes over the idea of owning the open world in single player sandbox games. Taking a look at new games Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Fallout: New Vegas and Fable III, they study the recent trend in game design that pushes players to control major portions of real estate and owning/converting as much of the game world as possible. It’s interesting to think about the idea that in many of these games, the players tend to want to set the main storyline aside in favor of getting invested in the world itself, which I guess is the case with many RPG’s as well, even apart from owning land.

I think this gets to another interesting issue as well: does this mean that the stories in those games aren’t actually all that compelling? If we are willing to set them aside to do everything else but the stories, is there a problem with the design there? In addition, most of these games almost seem to require a fair amount of exploration and sidequest upgrading in order to stand a fair chance in the proper endgames.

So what do you guys think? Do you tend to set aside single player campaigns in favor of sidequests? Do you like the idea of controlling game worlds, or do you just focus on the stories when you play? Go!

Source – Pop Matters

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

3 thoughts on “Ruling the Open Gaming World”

  1. I would not say that the storylines are not compelling, but that the game offers so much more than just that. The open world is just more intersting than an already compelling story. At least that is what I would hope it to be.

  2. It’s not really that the story lines are not compelling for me, it’s just that alot of times when you finish the story line the game is over (if not in reality then to me it has ended) So to get the most out of a game, I do all the side quests first.

  3. I was just talking about setting aside single player campaigns in favor of sidequests with a friend today. Since I’ve been playing Oblivion again I’ve remembered how distracting those quests can be. “You must search for Tiber Septim’s armour” Sure no problem I’ll just go to Chorrol for a moment to buy a new sword. “My daughter’s missing, can you find her?” Well I DO have the place marked on my map. 10 minutes tops. (Half an hour later) Well that’s done, I’m right beside the fighter’s guild so I’ll just accept that latest contract and do it if it’s nearby. (When I get near the main questline’s mission’s location) Ooh! Ayleid Ruins! I need a few welkynd Stones for YET ANOTHER QUEST I’ll just pop in there for a moment *lather, rinse, repeat.*

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