Let games be as challenging as they need to be

In a terrifying piece on the future of video games, Steve Fulton describes the rise of the hardcore and how developers are reconstructing the challenge of yesteryear to make games that matter. It’s a piece that scares and confuses me.

After Pressing Start: Animal Crossing

Who needs someone telling you what to do all the time? You can do what you want, when you want, where you want. Yeah, living on your own, being free. It feels great. You can’t help but giggle at first.

YOU ARE HERE: How games have become domesticated

In their dawn, games used to live in the wild. The savage beasts that they were didn’t care if you managed to collect all the 50 secret gems or if you didn’t realize that fruit basket in the living room was part of a puzzle. These beasts left you to roam without an inkling of direction.

Try to remember the last time you were lost in a game. When you had to wander aimlessly, trying to find something – even if you were still unsure of what you needed to find. In fact, when was the last time you discovered something in a game? Something cool that was not already stated in your objective list? When was the last time you found something that truly surprised you, like a secret dungeon or an item whose existences wasn’t already hinted by the vacant spot in your inventory?

Well, how far back did you have to go? I passed through a couple of Animal Crossings along the way, but was only able to find the “Era of Discovery” – when the blurb “Discover Planet X” on the back of a game box made sense – back in the days of the original Zelda and Metroid. Games during which we were asked to discover what we were supposed to be doing in the first place.