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To develop the question "why would anyone want to be an ordinary person", I'd like to quote from Brenda Laurel:
"The premise of Rockett's New School, the first title in the series, is that you're a brand-new kid in eighth grade, you don't know anybody, clean slate, and you have to navigate your way to the end of the day. It's just that. And then there'll be another day and another, and when you get tired of looking at the action, you can go behind the action. You can see what Rockett's written in her journal and what pictures she has taken, and depending on who showed up in the scene you can visit other characters' lockers and see what's in there and discover things about them..."
Which sounds utterly fascinating.
Couple of thoughts on applying some of the same theses.
I believed there is, or soon will be, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer game. I imagine it will be like Tomb Raider or Half-Life or Quake - you control Buffy, and kill vampires, solve problems to progress. ON occasion, you may have the option of bringing along friends, who will be able to help you, by fighting on your side, casting spells, giving you information about occult mysteries and so on.
But what if at one point your spellcasting buddy refuses to come along, because you have only been calling her up when you need heavy spell support? And she's been breaking up with her boyfriend and you have barely given her a kind word? Or you have to decide whether the ancient evil can wait a night while you cram for a test, with each decision having consequences? In effect, if you were forced to stop thinking of the Buffy on the screen as an instrument for killing and look at her instead as an individual with a complex network of friendships and emnities, social, academic and personal demands, and the need to succeed not just as a slayer, but as a character.
Ironically, Ganesh's ruminations on text adventures reminded me of "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole", an old Spectrum game where you were given a passage of text, then a choice of 3 possible options, over and over again, developing a narrative over the course of a year of game time. The decisions made affected the (basically linear) narrative, and gave you points, by which you could judge how you were developing as a human being. ON a very basic level, that could be in some ways informative, but, with more than 48k to play with, broadening the options vastly and taking the linearity out of the game.
Who would such a game appeal to? What would be your idea of a game you or your sister/girlfriend/daughter/only female friend whom you have fancied for five years but never plucked up the courage to tell would want to play? What would it involve? Or are attempts to target computer games at women doomed to fail because women have better things to do? |
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, if ya catch my meaning. 
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