Wife is addicted to crap TV. I would cancel my $200/mo U-Verse service in a second if she'd let me.
Let us know if you survive should you decide to go against her wishes.
I know I wouldn't if I did it to mine.
The real plot problem is that not enough effort goes into game plot development.
I dunno - sometimes they over-do it, taking themselves way the hell too seriously.
I think the coolest game I ever played is still an old-assed text-based game. The game came with a scratch-n-sniff card, a 3D comic book (with glasses), and just enough 'plot' to get you started. The plot is is scare quotes because, quite frankly, it's intentionally stupid, silly, risque - but hellishly funny. The game itself required a ton of imagination on your part (because it was all text-based), and a lot of mental recall to avoid getting lost, killed, etc.
Even now, 2+ decades later, I still get a smile when I think of the so-called "plot" (it begins in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, then instantly puts you on Mars, etc...)
That aside, here's something else to consider: one of the absolute most popular games of the '90s was the Doom/Quake franchise, right? The 'plot' for Doom and Quakes I, II and III were thin at best, and let's be honest - it only got in the way of the real reason we all played Quake: Kill shit in realtime 3D and watch the gibs fly. The big 'plot' in the CTF/Team Foretress/WeaponsFactory MODs, and in CounterStrike and suchlike? Really - what plot?
I guess what I'm getting at is this: a plot is only useful sometimes - not all games need one, and if a game really needs a heavy, complex plot, then maybe it's just trying to cover for crappy gameplay?
To add to your point:
Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Pong, Tetris: What story ? There is hardly one there, if any. Eat pellets, get high score. That is Pac-Man's story. Tetrris? None. Donkey Kong? A big ape stole your girl. Get her back. The end. Pong? Use paddle. Don't miss the ball.
The point is: Story is not that important in video gaming. The level of immersion and interaction and how a gamer does this is key in the suspension of disbelief in a game. A lot of times, gamers can't even remember the story, just that they did something in the game.
I'm not convinced by TFS. The answers are, roughly:
Am I the only one who finds arbitrary restrictions in games, either because the technology couldn't cope, or because the game designer knows how you want to play better than you do, or just because, really annoying? If there's a door there, it should open. If it won't open, there shouldn't be a door there. How hard is this? Putting a door there that's never going to open just frustrates the player and destroys the suspension of disbelief. It reminds them that they're not really in this world they can see, they're in some arbitrarily limited construct devised by a "product manager" at some company to try to screw a few bob out of them. Of course there need to be some limits on the world, because the technology isn't infinite; good game design should make those limits look natural so that the player never even notices that the limit is there.
Tomb Raider games are amazingly annoying - some things you can jump and grab, some things you can't. The only way to tell is to jump and try grabbing it. If it doesn't work, maybe you can't jump and grab that thing, or maybe you just didn't quite get it right. I know, I know, this is not the point of Tomb Raider games, Lara is, but still...
It's called Critical Path. The path the game designer needs/encourages you to go to "win" the level. With the exception of sports games, simulations, and sand box games: There is always a Path, even if it looks like you are not following one. A good game designer knows all possible ways to go from Point A to Point B and either rewards you or obstructs you from going that particular way.
The whole experiment with the door is to demonstrate how different players in the design process view something like a door in a game. This is to be expected though. Each person in the development process has a different view of what would happen in the world they are creating. This also demonstrates the concept of Critical Path being key to a good designed level/game world.
As for doors opening/locked: The only way I see it breaking the suspension of disbelief is if doors that normally were always closed suddenly became operable near the end of the game without explanation or doors that were open-able become disabled even though they are clearly marked as open-able.. Marking them? At first that might break the perverbable "4th wall", but if they get immersed into the world all the signs and indicators become second nature and no longer have that much impact. It becomes "normal" to press a button to open a door even with a mysterious floating text there to indicate it. They don't even read it: They just instinctively realize that door is open-able because the indicator is there.
"10 gunshot and stabbing victims will take part in the trials"
Jesus, I can already picture a scientist charging around a shopping mall with a revolver and a switch-blade yelling "For science!"
Or Combustible Lemons
If they pay me $15, I'll take a copy. Don't want it on any device I own or use though...
They couldn't pay me enough to put WinBlows 8.1 on anything.
Old programmers never die, they just hit account block limit.
