Yesterday, I was able to log about 2 - 3 hours of play into the Mass Effect 2 system. It was one of the more boring times I've had with a game in recent memory. I spent the time traversing my own ship trying to tease out research upgrades out of my crewmates Miranda and Jacob (which I failed at). I spent time recovering some crates from some robots. Heck, I spent fuel traversing the galaxy to get two low-level engineers a more efficient engine piece they wouldn't have to "check as often". Afterwards, I was playing "Skillian 5" poker with them for a few measly credits. But most (least?) of all, I spent much of my time hovering in orbit at various planets, scanning their hides for various mineable minerals. Talk about a rush! Talk about in-depth character development!
Why did I do this? I would love to say that I don't know or that I was forced to in order to advance the storyline but alas, I was not. You might ask where then, precisely, was the motivation to carry out such tasks.
It's not too hard of a question to answer actually. First, I am so in love with the ME systems that I am motivated to extract as much as is possible from the experience (including Iridium deposits :) ) even if not all of the experiences are gut-wrenching or thought-provoking. It is only new once, I want it to last as long as it can with as many experiences as possible. Indeed, I was pausing to stop in various locations in-game so I could listen to the full radio advertisement that was bring broadcasted above. Imagine a learning system that had students wringing it out like a wet towel. How could such a system be designed? What huge effect could it have and what contrast would it have to most of learning systems today?
Second, I am one to try and master the experience and in systems such us these, that often requires a penchant for fetch quests, long conversations, needless transactions, essentially, delayed gratification. So I do all that for experience points, unlocked conversation options, ship and weapon upgrades, etc etc. Because at the end of the day, I want to maximize my potential in the system, totally destroy anything that stands in my way, find the most powerful pieces of whatever that's out there.
So when you see me scanning for platinum that will allow me to construct a faster scanner, don't laugh. Instead, think of a student as compelled to squeeze every single drop out of chemistry lab or their creative WWII project.
- Controller 22789JK7
(Killer scanner on planet Patseyev)
Jon,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see you trying to get every last experience out of your game. You see people, like yourself, trying to get everything out of a game but then there are people that will people, perhaps the same people, not making the same effort in their education. What is that engagement factor of the game that is able to draw people in that education is not able to do in some cases?
Think about how you will make your final project game capture the full engagement of your players. Good luck in your game play and your final game design!