fasting

Games don't have to choose between making resources either plentiful or scarce. No resource has to be supplied in steady stream throughout the game -- be it ammo, mana, health, gear, or other.

My religion, like others, includes an annual time of fasting. For forty days, we make especially difficult sacrifices to remind ourselves of our reliance on God. A game's players can similarly be called to fast; to go without something they normally have access to. The fast can be forced, encouraged, or merely suggested. The player might even be given the choice of what to sacrifice. There's a variety of possible benefits.

The general idea of a fast has been implemented many times before, but I believe there's still plenty of room for innovation.

The most common form of fasting in games is temporarily forcing the player to use a particular weapon or category of weapons. Bioshock, for example, occasionally removes the player's guns so that plasmids must be relied on exclusively. Many shooter games remove players' preferred weapons from time to time.

Another form is lack of aid resources. Left 4 Dead's AI director sometimes makes first aid kits unavailable to increase difficulty.

The form of fasting I find most compelling is reliance on persons or characters. This might be more common in games than I can recall right now, but I'm sure much more exploration is possible.

As in my religious example, such reliance might be constant throughout one's experience but reinforced in a particular moment. People tend to ignore what they are used to, so the momentary emphasis is important. For example, the player in Deus Ex is constantly dependent on NPCs to understand the what's going on (the plot), but it's not until the player realizes he has been lied to or manipulated that he becomes actively aware of that dependence.

A couple shooter games I've played included moments when the player's wounded character is firing at enemies while being dragged by an NPC ally. Left 4 Dead is fully of dependency caused by temporary inability (such as being pinned beneath a Hunter).

What other forms might fasting take in games? and to what purposes?

friendly differences

So Darren and Brent have been catching some flack lately for saying they don't think too highly of WAR. Today, Darren asks why anyone cares? Well, here's an answer. It doesn't apply to all people, obviously. Some have a bone to pick with those two. But then there's friends.

It's only natural to want to be able to share your joys with friends. When a friend doesn't share your excitement in something, sure, you can just accept it and move on. But people often like or dislike things because of expectations, and those expectations can sometimes be changed.

For example, for a long time, a friend of mine couldn't share my pleasure in bands like Badlands and Circus of Power. He gave them a good listen, hearing out full songs, but he just shook his head and said "no thanks". After a while, though, either his tastes or his expectations changed. He was saying how awesome those bands are and asked me for copies of my CDs.

Friends trying to change your mind doesn't necessarily mean they're insecure about their love for the game. Sometimes, it means they're surprised that you don't see what they see and they're hoping -- as good friends do -- that you might change your mind and join 'em eventually.