Cult of Jared

Chris Remo has an amazing ability to process the 17 million questions I send in, then read only the question I'm unhappy with. It wasn't even a question! Goddamn it! edit: Here is an actual question, should I play Mass Effect 2? I didn't finish the first game because the plot and world were terrible (Not crazy! Shut up!). I love me a fleshed out universe though, and the comments made it sound like Mass Effect 2 might have achieved that.

I'm not entirely sure who you are talking about, but it might be me. Which would mean I have entirely failed to make the point I've been aiming at. Once more into the breech. I wrote the original post after seeing 'much ado about nothing', and noticing it contained prat falls and deeper themes about trust and judging others. It doesn't matter how engaged you are, the play will reward you accordingly. Speaking entirely as a consumer, it is frustrating that many games cater only to the super-dedicated, or the ultra-tourist. I have never played 'game of war', because reportedly their mechanics never get interesting. I am endlessly frustrated that fascinating games (eve, dwarf fortress, original starcraft) are only rewarding after the first hundred hours. My favorite games nearly always do both very well (Team Fortress, Civilization). To reiterate, I am not talking about saleability or difficulty. I am asking why we excuse games that require a huge amount of dedication before they are interesting. It doesn't have to be that way. P.S: Embarissingly, I have not played Bioshock past Fort Frolic. But I bet Infinite is called such because of the recursive time loop it ends in. Rapture is The Columbia FROM THE FUTURE!

My point (which I cleverly hid such that none could find it) was not that there should be a minimum accessibility. I was trying to point out that accessible and inaccessible content are not mutually exclusive. Starcraft 2 is both legendarily inaccessible when played versus a Korean, and admirably accessible with it's challenge modes. If I lack the vocabulary to read a book then there is a clear path for me to enjoy the book, expand my vocabulary. If I am not enjoying a book because it forgoes all traditional story elements in favor of philosophical ramblings then there is a lot less I can do. There is no easy access to those advanced concepts, no matter how good they might be. This is analogous to the inevitable Farcry 2: that game should* have been way easier for someone who hadn't already immersed themselves in it. My other point was that saying "People who don't enjoy this game aren't creative enough" is equivalent to "People who don't enjoy this game never got invested enough", which strictly speaking is probably not the fault of 'people'. *I am fully aware using 'should' makes me a huge douche.

Ok, gonna step in here to tell you how wrong you are, because I care. Difficult content in literature is great, but only when it is parallel to accessible content. Two examples: 1. 'Gravity's Rainbow' could be an amazing book. We will never know, because it is goddamn incomprehensible. 2. 'The Sopranos' will reward all levels of investment. It supports interest both the superficial story arc and the oblique themes. It is great that Farcry 2 has that depth of play experience, but it only rewards play that is exceptionally involved, which makes it kinda bullshit. If Clint Hocking really thinks "one of the primary problems with my game, is that the people who play it aren't creative enough", he should probably be ashamed. Sorry to take this to academic armchair literature comparison land. I know it isn't a very nice place, and we shouldn't stay long.

Skimmed over the Chris Hecker talk summary, surprised he didn't mention MMOs. Achievements might be external rewards, but MMO gold definitely is, as it can be converted to US Dollars. It's also a sentiment you hear: Since playing WoW, single player games seem pointless.

My understanding is that natural language processing progress isn't pretty. Eliza is apparently as good as it gets.

Oh man, verbal puzzle. Something I hadn't even thought of. That sounds, uh, hard as hell. I have enough trouble with English. That question (which on reflection was scattered, shitty, and unclear), was trying to ask if there are any mechanics that replicate the feeling of a conversation while avoiding a branching narrative tree. For example, while the dragon age gift system is pretty dumb, picking a gift does resemble fishing around for a conversation topic with someone you just met. Any such system would have to be decoupled from narrative beats, like the dragon age system is. Also, Steve's game "The art of Betrayal: revenge of the dialog tree" sounds miserable. Maybe this kind of this is strictly not possible with current technology.

So chris is leaving for some super-mysterious game company. Has he ever read Watchmen? How does he feel about squid?