The Spirit of Adventure

[Divine Blessing]

recently i came to reflect on the process of (user) habituitation and its factors in RPG design. sometime earlier, maybe around Vampire 2, RPGs personally developed a routine about numbers, progress and overall gameplay mechanics, where everything is about OCR. gameplay became nothing but rewards (i still like rewards though).

but what was the magic before this process professionalised the (RPG) experience into a QA review, an analysis of game design? the magic of the unknown, the vibrant sense of the new, untold myths of catastrophes and miracles, of man and beast, their desires, failures and fortunes, their sucesses and lessons?

my introduction to RPG was Ian Livingstone The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, a (not so) simple kid with a book and a dice and the curiosity for what awaits ahead: adventure. this curiosity to explore developed determination, to overcome the (any) challenge to not just reach the finale, but (to reach) forth and beyond, i found a reason more existential than any career (or my parents, teachers etc) could promise.

this adventure wasnt limited and reduced to (a final) rewards, it was the excitement of every encounter, every twist and turn, the lore and to surpass the limitations of my (chosen) role. sometimes i got lost for weeks in the complete Das Schwarze Auge scenario, contemplated on a fictional world, its geography, its fauna and flora, its history, empires and religions just to recognize i cant ever return to the educated (in progress) career, my parents intented for me. (i soon became a pot-dealer (in my youth, to rebel), but thats another anecdote)

my life grew some magic, it was like me: reborn, an alternate dimension of a former future (Aasimovian) history, a reality, where the singular limitation was my expectation.

since this realisation i analytically reflect on the spirit of adventure on the factors of curiosity, determination and reward (OCR in game design), to retrieve the professionally lost understanding of it. a german saying states "the way (aka the experience) is the destination".
so i decided to go in blind in my next "experiences", to immerse myself again without spoiling my curiosity with a-priori knowledge like META builds, itemisation, endings etc., to not simply analyze, (cuz i cant amnesia me,) but to transcend mechanics and gameplay into a complete-again experience, to recover the lost spirit of adventure.

what sometimes in between this process still held some magic was the implementation of my RL persona, to not inherit a role, but to role-play myself in any given scenario, to decide like the real me would IRL. but then, usually IRL has quite some more tasty rewards than its virtual derivates (and i tend to be too much Paladin). what really distinguishes fiction (and thus RPG) from RL is the option to explore another perspective, another context and another me in a fantastic setting.

it still is about gameplay as a the means to the end of any user experience, but the factors that decide on transparent, "natural" gameplay versus the invasive impertinence of clicks, numbers and mechanics, i dont want to feel like playing a game, but experience an adventure.

 

[perfectslumbers]

What is "OCR," I've spent like 10 minutes googling and cannot find an answer.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

What is "OCR," I've spent like 10 minutes googling and cannot find an answer.

Optical Character Recognition

 

[Faarbaute]

Excellent post.

It's something I ponder time to time aswell as I reflect on what captivated me as a child about games vs now and what games were back then vs what they are now.

It was the spirit of adventure that drew me in, but where has that gone?

Spoiler

obviously OCR stands for "overly complicated reasoning"

 

[Zlaja]

For me, the spirit of adventure requires a sense of danger. Never being able to just go on auto-pilot and brush everything aside in power fantasy style. I also think it's important to be able to get lost in a game (or at least struggle to find your next quest destination) and be forced to rely on your map as an actual tool rather then having it serve as a magical tell all/teleport device.

And finally, it's important to get the itemisation and looting right, so you still retain that feeling of wanting to go out and find more cool shit even after the first few hours of the game.

 

[perfectslumbers]

Optical Character Recognition

Thank you


Games nowadays definitely have less of an adventurous spirit. One of the main aspects of this is the constant refinement of game design. Older games were unpredictable and wild, games nowadays are not. Things like level design and placement of loot and enemies have become a subconscious language that game devs and gamers are constantly seeing. One of the most shocking things playing older games is that Iäll find loot in unexpected places, or find strange groups of monsters. With modern games i can easily predict secrets and locations, I can anticipate the entire design of a game because "good design," is always prioritised over verisimilitude. You can see the abandonment of verisimilitude in other aspects too, like the Ubisofitication of gaming, the emphasis on gameplay loops, the winnowing down of friction so players never get frustrated.

Part of it is textual. If every game was written like Morrowind with conflicting accounts, actual religious depth instead of copy pasted christianity, specific political structures, different interpretations of events, subtle contests of power between guild members, etc etc. Then games would feel much more real and adventurous. Morrowind can have clunky writing and storytelling but the information it gives you and the contexts it places it in is an excellent example of textual verisimilitude.

The lack of roleplaying like you mentioned is a big part of it too. Probably the biggest contributor is the rise of voice acting, and the desire for games to be "epic." Thankfully in the AA and indie scene this sort of thing isn't much of an issue at all. This and the textual verisimilitude is something POE actually did really well imo, I felt like I had a great amount of option to roleplay inside of another world. Too bad the game had many storytelling and gameplay flaws.

I think another important part is the emergence of meta-mechanics, mechanics that don't reflect the games world but exist purely as gamification. Early TTRPGS, where CRPGS were spawned from were very specifically intent on abstracting the way the world works into the mechanics. Vancian casting wasn't just "hey wouldn't this be fun!" It was a genuine part of the metaphysics of magic, same with alignment which was a metaphysical force within the universe the players played in, same with attributes which were meant to represent the range of mental and physical capabilities of any creature. Nowadays games have skill trees and cooldowns and minimaps and other fluff that has no connection to the world, it's just contextless mechanics floating in the void, "game design." This is something Dark Souls and Demons Souls are amazing at, they are very lacking in gaminess, and my first playthrough of those two games were an incredible immersive adventure.

Difficulty is another thing. Games that aren't about fighting monsters don't need to be dangerous or difficult to be immersive. But games that are about delving into dangerous places and fighting dangerous creatures should be dangerous. Nowadays games neuter themselves and bend backwards to be smooth experiences.

 

[Zlaja]

If every game was written like Morrowind with conflicting accounts, actual religious depth instead of copy pasted christianity, specific political structures, different interpretations of events, subtle contests of power between guild members, etc etc. Then games would feel much more real and adventurous

Yeah, say what you want about Morro's clunky gameplay, but the way background lore was written and presented elevated that game to a great height when it comes to immersion. While playing the game I would often stop and ponder on stuff like "am I really the Nerevarine?", "what is Azura's role in all of this?", "why is Caius Cosades always barechested?" and "is The Lusty Argonian Maid based on a true story?". Good times.

 

[Humbaba]

For me, the spirit of adventure requires a sense of danger.

That and stumbling into things. Walking around the wilderness in BG and ending up fighting a druid with his bear friends out of nowhere is part of what makes that game feel like an adventure.

 

[nobre]

recently i came to reflect on the process of (user) habituitation and its factors in RPG design. sometime earlier, maybe around Vampire 2, RPGs personally developed a routine about numbers, progress and overall gameplay mechanics, where everything is about OCR. gameplay became nothing but rewards (i still like rewards though).

but what was the magic before this process professionalised the (RPG) experience into a QA review, an analysis of game design? the magic of the unknown, the vibrant sense of the new, untold myths of catastrophes and miracles, of man and beast, their desires, failures and fortunes, their sucesses and lessons?

my introduction to RPG was Ian Livingstone The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, a (not so) simple kid with a book and a dice and the curiosity for what awaits ahead: adventure. this curiosity to explore developed determination, to overcome the (any) challenge to not just reach the finale, but (to reach) forth and beyond, i found a reason more existential than any career (or my parents, teachers etc) could promise.

this adventure wasnt limited and reduced to (a final) rewards, it was the excitement of every encounter, every twist and turn, the lore and to surpass the limitations of my (chosen) role. sometimes i got lost for weeks in the complete Das Schwarze Auge scenario, contemplated on a fictional world, its geography, its fauna and flora, its history, empires and religions just to recognize i cant ever return to the educated (in progress) career, my parents intented for me. (i soon became a pot-dealer (in my youth, to rebel), but thats another anecdote)

my life grew some magic, it was like me: reborn, an alternate dimension of a former future (Aasimovian) history, a reality, where the singular limitation was my expectation.

since this realisation i analytically reflect on the spirit of adventure on the factors of curiosity, determination and reward (OCR in game design), to retrieve the professionally lost understanding of it. a german saying states "the way (aka the experience) is the destination".
so i decided to go in blind in my next "experiences", to immerse myself again without spoiling my curiosity with a-priori knowledge like META builds, itemisation, endings etc., to not simply analyze, (cuz i cant amnesia me,) but to transcend mechanics and gameplay into a complete-again experience, to recover the lost spirit of adventure.

what sometimes in between this process still held some magic was the implementation of my RL persona, to not inherit a role, but to role-play myself in any given scenario, to decide like the real me would IRL. but then, usually IRL has quite some more tasty rewards than its virtual derivates (and i tend to be too much Paladin). what really distinguishes fiction (and thus RPG) from RL is the option to explore another perspective, another context and another me in a fantastic setting.

it still is about gameplay as a the means to the end of any user experience, but the factors that decide on transparent, "natural" gameplay versus the invasive impertinence of clicks, numbers and mechanics, i dont want to feel like playing a game, but experience an adventure.

Bro, congratulations for you have indeed transcended the CRPG. Now, go outside, there's the real adventure.

 

[vonAchdorf]

Spirit of Adventure was the daddy of Realms of Arcania.

 

[V_K]

Spirit of Adventure was the daddy of Realms of Arcania.

(but also came here to say the same thing - I thought this thread was about the Attic game)

 

[octavius]

What is "OCR," I've spent like 10 minutes googling and cannot find an answer.

It's the thing Amazon uses to scan old magazines and books in public domain, before they sell the stories to idiots who don't care about lots of spelling errors.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

If every game was written like Morrowind with conflicting accounts, actual religious depth instead of copy pasted christianity, specific political structures, different interpretations of events, subtle contests of power between guild members, etc etc. Then games would feel much more real and adventurous

Yeah, say what you want about Morro's clunky gameplay, but the way background lore was written and presented elevated that game to a great height when it comes to immersion. While playing the game I would often stop and ponder on stuff like "am I really the Nerevarine?", "what is Azura's role in all of this?", "why is Caius Cosades always barechested?" and "is The Lusty Argonian Maid based on a true story?". Good times.

Barechested eh?

lusty maiden?