Outer Wilds |When a player matters

I’m tired of seeing in modern games that developers perceive players as people who are unable to reason and make important decisions in the game. I think that the game is a platform or, one might say, a machine that the player must assemble in details with the help of training developers, but the most important thing is to assemble himself and go to the finish line on this machine. As, for example, it was in the games of the 90s or zero, when the developers did not pursue the goals to earn money, but rather they themselves were interested, like children, to create their own game-dreams, in which it would be interesting for them to play.

This attitude towards players is understandable: it is necessary that the game swept as a large amount of the audience as possible, and those who do not like to strain their gyrus are a lot, which means the developers are more guided by this audience. Therefore, there is a feeling that you are like in some walkers that do not allow you to fall, as well as encounter sharp corners. Thus, the game slides into simple follow -up markers. Also, the spectrum of decision -making by the player is reduced to choose objects only with green characteristics for equipment. There are a lot of similar games now, so projects that have at least some demand for the player are now especially not enough.

Previously expressed like the grumbling of the old grandfather, that “it used to be better,” but it is rather a cry of the soul that there is a degradation of games;loud regret about not used huge potential, and most importantly, as for me, is indignation at me as a player who is capable of more than just following markers. And therefore I really appreciate such games when the game does not drive the player to the finish line, and the player himself breaks through to the finish line. Outer Wilds is one of these games, and now I want to tell a little about her.

“What do I need to do?”

The player asks the question when he sits down for the first time for the flying ship in Outer Wilds, because the game does not tell you where to fly, and doesn’t even say what needs to be done at all, and therefore the player suddenly faces a harsh truth: he will have to decide where to fly and what to do on a particular planet. His game boldly lets it into outer space, like a chick from a nest to a real world, only in our case the nest is a planet of camella, on which our journey begins. And this initial stage is very important, because here the player must answer the questions: will he play on? Is it ready to take up the game consciously and, thus, completely immerse yourself in the game, unlike most modern AAA projects? Maybe I caught up with too much pathos, but, it seems to me, the player really answers such questions subconsciously, because later at the beginning of each game cycle he will have to answer himself the question: “And what should I do now?”And put markers for yourself. However, what pays off such a relatively high demand for the player? What does he get in the end, after such a conscious approach to the game?

Emotions

Sometimes in childhood passing some game was nongamstopsites.uk a risk of getting stuck in some moment, because you did not pay attention to dialogs, records and other nuances in the game. Usually I had similar situations in the games of the Point-And-Click genre. And in such situations, I was forced to return to previously completed locations to find a key item that allows you to move on or find out important information. And what is the joy when the old, already boring location is replaced by a new one with new NPS and objects. Such joy is explained by overcoming the player of the test, which for some time detained him during the game and, accordingly, caused difficulties in passing. And based on this example, I conclude: the less tests are present in the game, the less it can cause vivid emotions.

Outer Wilds, it seems to me, experiences the player to independently draw conclusions based on the information received in the process of studying the game and, thus, make important decisions with which he can advance in the game. And what is a pleasant feeling when you suddenly yourself, without any clues, advanced in passing. Such a feeling is akin to the child that I described above. And in the surroundings of Outer Wilds, you feel like a real researcher who reveals one secret after another. In my opinion, Outer Wilds is more like UNCHARTED than Uncharted, if we are talking about the game experience, which is felt very well here.

The game is static

The effect of overcoming the testing player is also intensified by the fact that the game itself does not change. The static of the game is explained by the fact that the cycle of the game world does not differ from other cycles: the planets fly in the same orbits, and the sun at the end of the cycle inevitably explodes. That is, the game will be the same as at the beginning, as at the end of our passage, only the player’s awareness of the rules of this world changes. The game seems to exist without a player – it will not tell you the patterns of his processes, they will proceed regardless of where the player will be and what he will do. Outer Wilds only explains to you how to use tools that will help you explore the world, but no more. And already at this moment you have the impression that you are facing something unknown, having some rules, patterns, which you have to comprehend yourself.

When the player begins to study information consistently, understand the rules of the game, he begins to move on. The most curious thing is that the game does not reward us in any way for some of our promotion in the game: not experience, like in Souls, after winning the boss, nor a key subject, as in Point-And-Click games. We just learn something new, we will find out some answer to our question and that’s it, just new information. And, it seems to me, here the hormones of joy does not give us through artificial methods (with its expirins and coins), but the ancient instinct of research: we seemed to reduce chaos around us, and it has become safer, naturally our brain approves and delivers deserved hormones of joy. Thus, the static of the game and some ignorance of the rules of the world allows us to plunge into the role of a real researcher, trying to understand the laws of the local world.

Danger and marshmallows

Since Outer Wilds does not tell us about his rules, her world seems to be quite dangerous for the player, if only because the player at the first time may not even suspect where she can be in wait for him: under the character, the stove in a black hole can just fall into open space, or just in dark caves can crush sand. And therefore, the player during the study of the next planet is in suspense. And until he understands the reasons for these dangers, he will not be able to overcome them normally. And such threats are additional trials for the player, overcoming which he will become a little happier.

The most pleasant thing is that we start every cycle by the fire in the campaign of our comrade, given that we conduct all our sorties and research of the world alone, without any partners. At first glance, the fire has a useless function – to fry on the fire of marshmallow and eat them. This process does not give us anything: we do not get an increase in health, we just spend time on Outer Wilds very important. So why this fire is needed? Just in order to relax a little, after he encountered a threat in the previous cycle. Bonfire and marshmallow are needed to just sit and reflect on further actions. It is also noteworthy that such a bonfire is on every planet, from which we can conclude: no matter how dangerous these planets are for us-on each of them you can find some kind of safe corner where you can light a fire and fry marshmallows to get a little distracted and relax from all these dangers. Everyone needs rest.

The player matters?

Will the player matter to developers if they obviously made more focus on creating unique rules and dangers for each planet, and not to ensure that the player was not mistaken and did not lose, because no one likes to lose? Is the developer this can assume that the player is capable of a mistake, for some misunderstanding of the game? As it can! The game will be called the game while the person plays it. Does not pass (to the marker, and then to the credits), but plays that it allows the opportunity to lose and win, but this works only when the rules of the game are correctly built, then it already depends on the player how he will play within these rules. The process of the game itself should not be strictly controlled by the developers, but on the contrary, they should, as it were, should let the player alone into this world that they built up, so that they themselves comprehend him and make their unique adventure. When the developers consider the player a capable of such an independent adventure, then the player for them really matters.

Conclusion

In general, it is very symbolic why such games, requiring a conscious approach from the player, are usually missed in Outer Wilds (as it was in my case during the first passage), when at the same time there are video games dictating what needs to be done to obtain this or that result instead of giving a system of rules within which the player has already creatively approached certain goals. We usually choose those that require the least intellectual efforts, namely to act on the direction in order to get the notorious expirins, but, unfortunately, this approach, as a rule, does not give us vivid emotions after passing, and the absence of serious tests already excludes any immersion in the game and emotions too. As they say, this says a lot about our society in which people “pass” most of their lives before the “final”. Let’s be played playfully, approaching the solution of problems creatively and we will play only in good games for which we are meaningful ..