It's always interesting to me when fans of a video game are asking the devs to remove restrictions that drive play
.
An example of this is SoD2 requests for bigger bases. Bases are carefully balanced, with a mix of large and small "slots" for facilities, plus some built-ins that can't be removed. There are more facilities to choose from than slots.
You can have a defense tower, or a lounge, you can't have both. Choose.
Removing that choice removes play and just makes the base a checklist.
I think some players don't understand that game play, at its core, is about _frustration_. You have a goal, the game designer frustrates your attempts to reach that goal. Players ask to have the frustration removed, then complain that the game is just a boring walking simulator.
@CarlCravens it can be hard to tell which of these drive gameplay though, as someone who's installed many, many fallout and Skyrim mods designed to smooth gameplay, and removing some of the limits definitely made the game better.
Ex adding a mod where you can send things back to your base it well it is okay if you don't have to stop the fun dungeon exploration to dump another load of scrap back at your community.
@Canageek This is, of course, on of the conundrums of game design. One person's engagement is another's tedium.
And inventory and loot will always be a difficult problem.
I have found myself asking of 7 Days to Die, what would it hurt if the backpack was infinite? I'm not sure it wouldn't be a net gain in enjoyment.
@CarlCravens Likewise OpenXCom removes a lot of the hardcoded limits of the original and it greatly improves things.
I think that the friction needs to have a point, and a lot of the friction in games just comes from either "we've always done it this way" or "We didn't have three years to play it and tweak the interface like modders do"
@Canageek @CarlCravens Yeah, this.
Fuck your frustration, I'm here to have fun. Gameplay is /not/ about frustration, that's merely a means to fun at times.
Tunic has a setting to turn off stamina restrictions in its accessibility menu, for instance. Is it for everyone? Of course not. But it makes the game /more fun for us/ (sometimes), because I want to worry about dodging attacks, not stamina management.
@Canageek @CarlCravens Also like, take rhythm games. They're not about frustration at all. They're about practice, and about /flow/. About getting a little bit better on every attempt.
That doesn't make them easy. But "hard" and "frustrating" aren't the same thing.
Frustration is not the point. I'm not interested in "just gitting gud".
@IceWolf @Canageek @CarlCravens
I suppose the lesson there is that granular assist modes, like the ones in Celeste, go a long way toward more people enjoying a game without having to significantly alter default experience.
@Nezchan @Canageek @CarlCravens Yeah, definitely! More games should do that.
I think my point is a bit broader, as well: just because a game is something for YOU doesn't mean it's that for everyone, and forcing your type of experience on everyone else because "that's just how the game is, get over it" is a bit shitty.
@CarlCravens BORINGS FOR THE BORING GOD