Ron Gilbert told Tim Schafer that gamers today lack the patience and diligence to solve the puzzles in point-and-click games of the past. I agree that that statement applies not only to gamers, but to this generation overall. For some, the puzzles break the flow of the gameplay, instead of being a part of it. The run-and-gun mechanic is stalled to stop and use critical thinking to solve the puzzle, and that could spell death in today's action oriented crowd. Then, to actually spend time searching for clues, learning about the puzzle and how it works, the short attention span of the gamer will be insulted and the gamer will look to another game. I call this the culture of now, where today's technology allows almost instant communication. Sending a letter in the mail, or even calling someone, is now replaced with a text. Waiting for photographs to develop and mailing them to relatives is archaic; just take the picture on your phone and send it digitally to another phone or put it on Facebook for all to see. Somewhere along the line, we seemed to have lost hours although there the same 24 hours in the day. Information can't come fast enough.
Also discussed in the interview is the need sometimes to walk away from the puzzle in the game to reflect on it. As the player is doing another task, the subconscious is working on the problem and the result is the "Eureka" moment. That flashbulb above the head realization. I read an article about Benjamin Franklin, who, when trying to solve a problem, would go for a nap in his chair. In each hand he would hold a small cannonball, and place his arms on the armrests. As his subconscious worked on the problem, he would eventually fall asleep, relax his hands, and the cannonballs would drop to the floor, awakening Benjamin Franklin at the moment his subconscious would either solve the problem, or be close to it.
This kind of patience and diligence is not popular with gamers today. Gameplay consists of trying to get to the next level as fast as you can by gunning or hacking as fast as you can.
Myst would be the
only game that I've played that comes close to the point-and-click mechanic
outline in the interview and in the Host Master and the Conquest of Humor
adventure game. In Myst, you walked
around and clicked on things to see if there was a reaction, and then apply
that to solving the puzzles. I don't
remember a time limit, you were free to explore and even admire the scenery.
In Host Master
and the Conquest of Humor game, it did seem a bit cumbersome to have to click
on the commands (use, look at, pick up, turn on, talk to) to interact with the
environment. And as discussed in the Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer interview,
there is a trial and error approach to some of the puzzle elements. I would click on the overhanging tablecloth
that had the fake fruit on it. Tim's
avatar would have a funny comment. Then
I would try using it, moving it, turning it on, pulling or pushing it, finally
using the cigar cutters to cut the hanging cloth thereby revealing the not
under the table. I found the cigar box
and the open matchbook first, before I revealed the safe behind the picture, so
I already knew the code on the matchbox was the combination for something. The mobile phone I could not figure out how
to use: the newspaper I combing with the half of another note to reveal a joke,
and tried texting the joke to the number on the newspaper but got some kind of
"message could not be sent" error.
Before I had to go to work, I had found 7 jokes out of the 22. I did not want to use an online guide (I am
sure one exists), just so I could have those "aha!" moments that were
discussed in the interview. Like Tim
Shafer said, when you are truly stuck on a puzzle perhaps then use a guide, but
if you use a guide for all setbacks, then the puzzles just becomes a hurdle, a
hindrance if you will, to the game experience instead of being a part of it for
the gamer.
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