addink on 5/12/2010 at 17:44
Don't you mean 'Bazinga!' ?
henke on 5/12/2010 at 18:21
Trolling is it?
Out of interest, Zylon, what would call your own contributions to this thread?
ZylonBane on 5/12/2010 at 18:39
A ham sandwich.
henke on 5/12/2010 at 18:43
More like a shit sandwich.
Sulphur on 5/12/2010 at 18:51
Sort of looks like a man sammich to me, to be honest.
A manwich. Mmm.
june gloom on 5/12/2010 at 20:31
Quote Posted by henke
More like a shit sandwich.
"You can't print that!"
ZylonBane on 5/12/2010 at 21:04
Quote Posted by henke
More like a shit sandwich.
Hey, I'm not responsible for the meat packing regulations in your country.
demagogue on 5/12/2010 at 22:11
Bazinga!
Chade on 5/12/2010 at 23:01
Quote Posted by henke
When I was writing this thread I was thinking about emotions like "cowardice" and "shame" and how difficult it is to impose those feelings on the player. And I mean impose them enough that they actually affect the way you play the game. But I see now that it can be done. Let's say you're playing an RPG and you promise a character to do something, but then fail at it. I can see the player feeling apprehension about meeting that character again. But here's the crux, it needs to be possible not to fail. Because if the game forces you to fail it's meaningless. The player won't carry the responsibility of the failure on his shoulders, and thus won't feel shame.
I'd like to play a game where to proceed you need to place another characters in danger, and then the responsibility is on you to stop them from coming to any harm. So if you want to complete the mission, you spend a little bit of time befriending the npc, and hopefully you start to care a little bit about his life, and then you get him to do something a little bit dangerous, and if you don't find him within 30 minutes he gets fired (he doesn't die, because you want him to hang around and reproach the player later). But if you want to complete the mission and get the super dooper bonus award you get him to do something very dangerous, and if you don't find him within 20 minutes his entire family goes to jail.
nicked on 6/12/2010 at 06:52
I thought of a fairly good example - Left 4 Dead. Plenty of opportunity in those games, especially during the climactic battles, to abandon your emperilled teammates to save your own skin. Especially effective when you get the chance to run to the rescue vehicle at the end. Do you act like a hero and go back to get that friend who's trapped by a Smoker? Or do you run for the boat/truck/helicopter cos "fuck 'em, at least I'm getting out of here". I guess the feelings are much stronger because most of the time it's a real human player whose life is in your hands, but even with bots it's a well-constructed test of one's moral fibre! In theory, any coop game can elicit these kinds of reactions, but Left 4 Dead is the most effective example I can think of.
