There’s been a lot of hullabaloo lately around Ben Abraham and his Far Cry 2 permadeath experiment over at Sometimes Life Requires Consequences. I love what the guy’s doing — it’s fantastic. But what’s weird to me is the whole thing’s perceived novelty. Because I’m pretty sure we’ve all experienced the same at one time or another in our gaming lives…ever played a title in that relatively well known The Sims series, for instance?
Clint Hocking, perhaps Far Cry 2‘s most prominent designer (and a man who seems quite the humble fellow despite his notoriety), responded to the whole business by saying that Abraham’s experiment isn’t being noticed because he’s “having a more emotionally engaging narrative experience.” Nor is it “because he is playing the game in a more serious way in order to experience more serious emotions.” Rather, Hocking believes that Abraham’s experiment is significant because Abraham is “is manipulating the game itself.”
I find this notion pretty exciting for a number of reasons but, mostly, I’m fascinated because it’s a realization of the game’s meaning that’s not entirely dependent upon a fixed ruleset. All things considered, however, this isn’t exactly unique. That it’s happening in a different and traditionally somewhat rigid, authored genre is great, but the fact of the matter is these kinds of organic, player-defined objectives have been around since about 1989 at the absolute latest.
(mashedmarket) 