Finding True Freedom In Videogames

SMALL CORRECTION: Yu Gi Oh has a three card limit, not four! I added that section last second and now I feel a bit dumb! You are choosing to give me money on the internet of your own free will, it's such an empowering choice, wow! look at you go!: www.patreon.com/ArchitectofGames ... On the other hand, maybe freedom wasn't such a good idea after all: twitter.com/Thefearalcarrot

Worth noting that the meaningless of grading in Art Sqool seems to be an intentional, scathing critique of actual art school. Doesn't make the game more fun, but I feel like the dev deserves some credit there.

As a player, I have always wanted more endings, not just more options. Give me the same options I have always had, just make them matter.

I'm in Dragon Quest Builders 2's postgame and my god does it feel like I can be or do or make anything. It's to a degree almost no builder has ever inspired in me, so I feel this video on a deep level. And I had to do it by finding a spark the game nudged me to find on my own, to self-start.

I design tabletop RPGs and I continuously emphasize in them that the most important thing you can do for Players is to give them a feeling of agency. A lot of GMs are worried that they'll "Railroad" their group when what they should know is that what matters is respecting their self-expression and preserving the illusion of choice.

The hypothesis of "freedom via a perceived limitation" reminds me of that Yoko Taro quote that for a player to feel any sense of freedom, they need a frame of reference and to then shatter that. That the game needs to communicate an in-world limitation, then the game actually lets the player subvert it making them feel like a rule breaker and thus more freely. Following up on that, I do wonder what the opinion on "subversion" and game twists does for game design, like before Undertale was the big indie darling, I have fond memories of 2008 freeware game Iji that was effectively a 2d platforming immersive sim but was known for having tons of player acknowledged actions from as early as just jumping head first into ceiling lamps to later having Iji herself change voicelines depending on how passive or violent the playstyle of a run is. I'd also say the biggest form of "subvert what the player thinks is a game limitation" is spoiler how the original pacifist run had no mechanics tied to it like Undertale so the player's entire first run of grief and strife would also push many to actually try to be pacifist (rather than being handed a Mercy option and being lectured about not using it all the time).

Someone's been enjoying Echoes of the Eye lol. Understandable, an absolutely brilliant expansion to my favourite game of all time

No Man's Sky is the perfect example of giving players a literal universe to explore, but in the end they'll want a direction to head towards, a goal to achieve, or a system to abide by. I like the game not for solid gameplay loops or well-crafted stories or any of the usual things a game is praised for. I like it because it captures what true freedom is. You can go anywhere and do anything but what are you really doing any of that for?

the thing is "do anything with zero constraints" just isn't compelling because then theres nothing to do and no motivation to do it other than "i want to build this cool thing"; the best "finding your own fun" is when you have this deep and interesting story that you're ignoring to see how many bees you can eat before your character dies

I love the Outer Wilds Echo of the Eye music in the background <3

Once art games got brought up this essay, and especially once artistic feedback was mentioned in the context of those, I was really hoping Chicory: A Colorful Tale would become an example, particularly the art lessons. Of course, perhaps the game doesn't particularly fit the overarching theme of the video as well as it does for that specific segment. If anyone is reading this, I highly recommend checking that game out. Made by many of the same people who worked on Wandersong!

I really like games that have many layers of simulation going on, where you interact with the world, and you can end up affecting it in a way you wouldn't even expect. Though it's not as direct as a game that is programmed to have a response to every choice you take

Freedom is nothing without a struggle as you can not see the value of something if you do not know what it is like to be without it.

You put these these concepts I’ve been mulling over for a long time into words so eloquently. It’s why I “feel like I can do anything” in super Metroid, but I find myself doing nothing in Minecraft. (Not saying Minecraft is bad btw) What fun would flying be if there was no gravity? What fun would lifting something be if it wasn’t heavy?

“Creativity comes from limitation”

This video had summaries my entire existential dread in video game. No matter how much choices you have in building deck, choosing weapon, equipment, etc, you will always ended up choosing the most optimal one. This is especially true in PVP, which is basically means that PVP is pointless, because you (and everybody else) will always ended up doing (or trying to do) the single most optimal way to play instead of just having fun and expressing yourself by using your own strategy.

Hollow Knight has a great sense of this with the huge amount of sequence breaks they are

7:40 Well actually, modern Yugioh has a greater focus on playing specific archetypes, where the player choice revolves around which cards from the archetype to play and which archetypes to combine it with (synergies in play style/generic text). A lot of the banned cards belong to specific strategies, rather than just being generically powerful.

Kind of an old one, but I remember really enjoying the freedom in MySims Kingdom (wii version). You are basically able to build whatever you want with the blueprints you have, but each zone you can build in also has some kind of puzzle that gives you a goal with whatever you are creating. You can make things as barebones utilitarian or highly decorative as you want, so long as you remain within the bounds of the puzzle. Sadly, once the game’s story is over there really isn’t anything interesting left to do. But starting a new playthrough was always fun.

Thank you for the shout out Adam! 🙏