You only get what you put in.

So how do EoFFers feel about games that force the player to do some of the heavy lifting? Maybe you're playing a sandbox game with no direction. Or perhaps you're playing a game that describes things mostly in text. How do you feel about games that ask the player to either find their own structure or use their own imagination to fill in the blanks for a game that may had lower budgets than typical AAA games. Do you dig stuff like Minecraft, or perhaps play some really old school RPGs from the 80s where you got one visual and a page of text telling you stuff? So how do you feel about games that ask more from the player and what are some of your favorite and least favorite that do so?

When I was younger, absolutely. Now I play video games to relax, most of the time. Sometimes I fancy something that requires more thought, but frankly I'm happy to play through a linear game more often these days.

I've always hated getting lost in games, so nope.

I feel I can enjoy both extremely open and extremely linear games. But even in open games, I like to have at least a little bit to guide me through it. For example, I really liked how the Sims 3 added opportunities - nice little short term goals that give you something to do and enrich your player-created narrative.

I like in like Etrain Odyssey. The goal is there, climb the tree of whatever, but the characters are up to you. I like character building.

Games with little to no direction have grown on me over the years. I enjoy things like Minecraft and Terraria these days, while 10 years or so ago I didn't like that kind of thing.

I don't mind it in RPGs and such either, as long as you don't incessantly throw random encounters at me as I find my way (which sadly, a lot of the old-school ones do)

I like structure. I hate hand-holding.
I like direction. I hate tutorials.

Also, I like the concept of games like Minecraftwherein you can build whatever you want, but I hate the execution of games like Minecraft where you BUILD WHATEVER including yourself and enemies. It's just too weird.

I like games that have a set course but allow you take a break from the action to do hobbyist things: throw darts, shoot hoops, race, build, collect, etc.

I like to be able to build things but I don't like being told what to build, unless it's by an NPC who is going to be using it. In Dragon Quest Builders, you build "rooms" for your residents. Three walls, roof, door, bed, torch. Done. Unless they ask for something specific like a window or a second bed. Putting a bed in the room doesn't make much sense as usually the person using the room would provide their furniture unless you're running a hotel which is what is feels like in DQB despite that it's suposed to be a town.

I don't play simulators because they are usually relegated to one aspect of reality (i.e. farming, construction, etc) and it did doesn't feel as if the story is engaging. I'm greedy to want a game whose story interests me but also provides a realistic approach to side-ventures and real-life escapism.

I like the meta-experience of playing a videk game within a video game. It can be as simple as pinball or a Atari-era dungeon crawl. Observer (which featured Rutger Hauer) had a good one which you had to play on every computer you came across in-game in order to see the next level. And it was ultimately pointless. Just simple dumb fun.


As for character development, I've never liked games where you create your character. The initial amusement you get from creating a self-insert (which even if you're NOT creating a version of you, you're still ALWAYS creating a version of you) fades with the realization that your character is just not that important to the plot. The downside to "anyone can be a hero" is that your role feels kinda superfluous. If you could literally be anyone, why are you even here? Just let someone else do it. I've got more important things to do.

I appreciate games where the main character's form is predetermined. I liked Fable's method of letting you have multiple names while still having those names spoken aloud by NPCs. All the names are descriptive rather than personal. Still that just revives that feeling that I could literally be anyone as none of these NPCs knows my real name ('cause I don't have one).... Of course, that's just how I feel about RPGs.

I don't generally care for sandbox style games, so stuff like Minecraft I can appreciate what it does, but I know it's not really for me. Yet I have been really happy going back to older RPGs or text based games because I actually prefer having a lot of that stuff left to imagination rather than the game detailing every aspect. This was something I was thinking about wile playing VIIR and how it tried to "flesh out" sections, which I concluded didn't need to be fleshed out and largely hurt the final product more than helped it for me. I think this aspect is also why I've gravitated towards Dark Souls and SaGa in the last few years because both franchises hit that sweet spot of having some structure to them that keeps me from just wandering around aimlessly until something happens, but also leaving the narrative as more of a mystery I have to piece together which is honestly been more fun than trying to deal with a game writer who thinks they are more clever than they really are.