Talking about the freedom of the game: giving players a chance to change the world

The patriotic Wallace of Scotland Patriots shouted at the sacrifice before the August 23, 1305: "Free--!　　He used his life to encourage the Scottish people to win freedom (well, just in the movies). Since the birth of video games, whether in "Space Invaders" (invaders) to intercept alien aggression, or in the "Pacman" (PacMan) in the side of eating beans to avoid blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde of the hunt, or in the "Soul Doo Luo" (contra) repeatedly challenges the limits of the customs time, the game players are in accordance with their own will and the way in which those who have already been known to the heart of the operation. Note that the key is here: whether it is technical barriers or developers intentionally, the game is a variety of restrictions of the program, but the final operation of the right, the fate of the characters in the game, all in the player's handle and the key mouse.　　Many gamers have created a vague measure of freedom for the most curious power in human history. In fact, the game "freedom" is not a scientific or formal concept. Directly affecting the so-called degree of freedom is a concept called "Non-linear Game" (nonlinear gameplay). As we all know, the ordinary linear game has no freedom to say, and the freedom of the game can not be linear, in general, the game plot and process the more complex, the more difficult to improve the degree of freedom, and even can only regress. No one complains that the freedom of the space invaders is too low because the entire game world has only one screen size, all enemies are on top of your head, and the sphere of activity you play is the one-dimensional trajectory underneath the screen. At this time you are not a frog in the well, but God, you can see the whole world, the one-dimensional trajectory is full of infinite possibilities, you do not want more. But unlike the call of duty, it has a compelling script, an unparalleled grand scene, and shocking war environment, but you are in the game of the world feel helpless, because you always can not open those who seem to be able to kick open a door, also can not skip that in the reality of a random jump can turn over the barbed wire, You always feel that there is something missing, you always feel that door behind there should be a room, you always feel behind the barbed wire clearly there are road. But in fact, behind the door, just nothingness, the scene behind the barbed wire is just decoration. This may be the fate of the game, at least for the most. [Page] However, in fact, many times, there are numerous game developers to this fatalistic challenge.　　Let's take a look at online games with universal "high degree of freedom". "Web Genesis" (Ultima online) This landmark game was born on September 24, 1997, the first known graphic MMORPG of the history of the Great Origin Company (It can be said that origin by the Electronic Arts industry before the closure of a priceless gift to China, although UO has not been able to officially enter China, but today online games have become the whole of China's gaming industry. Should we thank it or curse it? And running the game on five continents is one of the few clever things that Electronic Arts has done in more than 10 years. People in the 14.4k speed of the production of hunger bread, drinking wine bought, feel the day and night alternating and four seasons change.　　These wonderful elements lead directly to the emergence of high quality online games such as "World of Warcraft". "Genesis of the Web", one of the ancestors of graphics MMO (note: currently and 3DO a game called "Meridian 59" is controversial about the title. Freedom, however, is a meaningless term for online gaming, for the simple reason that the nature of the game itself determines that the main interaction in the game occurs between players , but thanks to God for giving mankind the most precious wealth-free will, so freedom in the online game has lost its weight. The vast majority of network games and the existence of feeder task systems are for one purpose only: upgrades, the seemingly dense branch of the existence of the task is only to not let all the players together to do the same thing, in the process of upgrading, the player's brain is not the enjoyment of the game itself, And always only in advance to figure out the level of the capable after the earth-shattering "big things."　　So the network game is not the freedom of the carrier, but a test site. But there are exceptions, such as "My World" (Minecraft). The Golden age of independent gaming is that when a stand-alone game that is only in beta can have millions sales and tens profits, many of the things that have been thought impossible in the world have to be reconsidered. A world that can only enter a player at a time, and when he dies, any changes he makes to the world (and possibly no changes) will be permanently saved and extended to the next player who enters the game. This is beyond the traditional online game of the new model flashing the light of freedom, but unfortunately this strange thinking of the alternative game can never become mainstream.　　[Page] So the single game to brave the burden. "Grand Theft Auto" is no exaggeration to say that Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto" series is the saviour of modern action games. The change of two-dimensional to three-dimensional is simple, but it is not easy to adapt the freedom from two-dimensional to three-dimensional world.　　"Grand Theft Auto 3" basically laid the foundation of modern sand table games, players in the free City of Ecstasy drag-racing, to kill, no evil, even the "Prince of Persia" has been called "Assassin's Creed" of the GTA-style distant relatives. There is no doubt that the GTA series of high degrees of freedom, which makes small knitting often in the Internet cafes see pupils open invincible slaughter the Army anything has a limit or weakness, theoretically the freedom of the game does not exist, but if it is hard to say there is aA weakness, it is from the player's point of view, that is, when the player is not interesting, then the direction of the freedom of failure.　　"Uninteresting" is a very subjective sense of the word, change a professional point of view is not in the game time to achieve the design goals when the player appears burnout. According to Wikipedia's interpretation of "Non-linear game", there are three main components that differ from the traditional: the branching storytelling, which varies according to the player's actions. A nonlinear level that allows players to perform in their own order, and a sandbox world that is independent of player action (Sandbox).　　However, there are contradictions between these three that are not easy to be perceived but difficult to overcome, which seems to lurk in the core of Non-linear game and is also the source of almost all burnout. To the richness of the game content, today's sand table Non-linear game (such as "Assassin's Creed" "GTA4" "Murder Prototype", etc.) are far superior to predecessors, but this rich content, for a non-linear game is still seriously inadequate.　　In "Assassin's Creed" There is indeed a lot of brilliant action and task, can repeatedly jump from high altitude into the hay heap, repeatedly eavesdropping on others to talk, repeatedly escape the enemy's stalking, two hours later, even if the patience of the good players will be big call boring. "Radiation 2" "Radiation 2" (Fallout 2) is a rare monument in the history of the game, it represents the world's game industry once the highest level, it condenses the world's most heartfelt praise of gamers. All this comes from the wisdom of the Black Island, which is astounding by the freedom of the game. The search for Geck in this dark and ugly world and the assassination of the President is, in fact, a fun-filled challenge to find the details of freedom, a challenge that is still being played by countless players.　　This 1998 RPG game in the limited world allows players to feel a can never play through the illusion, but also indulge in the wonderful plot and role of the fate can not extricate themselves. If you look closely at the conversation, you will find this very interesting thing in fact because "radiation 2" is not what people are always talking about the "sandbox" game, the map is not connected to a seamless transition, so its freedom in its limited world can be perceived, can be appreciated.　　It's like you gave a man a villa, but he may not know how to put the furniture in the villa properly, and finally only feel a burst of emptiness; but when you give him a room, he will be able to play his own space use and creativity, the arrangement of the compact and comfortable. "Sims" So, if you completely avoid the problem of content design, all the construction and design work directly to the players? The work of Sims (the Sims) is the answer. Will White's carefully constructed world is not just a boyVent the real discontent of the sandbags, or a shopping mall for girls to meet the pathetic vanity. He constructs a hypothesis, an inspiration, a hope. will set a community for you, the community is the world, and what you can do in this limited world is almost everything. You work hard, build relationships, spend money on chicks, buy a new set of furniture, constantly upgrade their skills, and then personally design a new house, everything is beautiful, but when everything is in your grasp, you may find that such a successful game in the world only this one, to count online games, At most, add a Second Life (Second). This means that if you just like the game of Sims, you really don't have any other games to play with.　　So it is not a way of freedom to have a game without a competitor. To the richness of the game content, today's new sand table games (such as "Assassin's Creed" "GTA4" "Murder Prototype", etc.) these non-linear games are far superior to predecessors, but this rich content, for a non-linear game is still seriously inadequate. Can you imagine a game, like Braid or Super Mary, with just one jump being completely sandbox and non-linear?　　What happens to the less challenging and less difficult levels where players are challenged by the degree of freedom to successfully challenge high level/difficult content? Nonlinearity is a good thing, but how to create a game that is as exciting as the old linear hurdles of Halo, Call of Duty, God of War, in high degree of freedom, will be a core subject for future game designers to face. How can they anticipate all the challenges when a player has a free world, a branching plot, and a non-linear checkpoint? [Page] must admit that there is no end to the discussion of freedom, which directly leads to a vague topic, and the concept of nonlinear games is far from mature.　　Maybe we'll find out that even if we do, we still don't have the non-linear game of that dream, and we still don't see the free and interesting fantasy world become reality, the Non-linear game still has a fast repulsive and boring side--but then again, isn't the real world often repulsive and boring? In the future, developers may have enough design experience to ensure that any type of game can function in a sandbox world without affecting the expressiveness of the subject itself. The world, like the real world, has unpredictable diversity and complexity, but does not spoil the surprises that it can bring to us; In this world, you always have an important task in your body, you can always leave them to do their own things. It will be understandable, it will be targeted, and it will have intrinsic logic and authenticity. Unlike the real world, you have every moment in this dream worldOwn goal, also exists the omnipresent rule and the justice, all labor can obtain the corresponding return. The MoD of the ancient scrolls is really great. Of course, before that, we have to be prepared to be dissatisfied with the game, though not as heroic as the Scottish insurgents. This is the price of our pursuit of freedom. (Digging the shell net)