Pets

So my friend Stephanie and I were discussing about why Pacman doesn't cry. There's no rules for him to cry. It kinda reminds me a bit of that Tom Hanks line
"There's no crying in baseball"
Anyways, it's true. There's no rules set up by the game that allows you to cry. Try as you may, scream yell, jump up and down, kick the TV, Pacman will not shed a single tear. He'll just sit there, until the ghosts gobble him up.

This proves my point really, games are all about rules. Games are all about what you can and can't do, and the enjoyment really comes out of the exploration of the rules. Pacman works because the rules are finely tuned to allow an addictively fun experience.

I guess in this way, I'm a bit of a ludologist. However, I've been reading a bit of Hamlet on the Holodeck. Do not dismiss narativists.

Games aren't story, that's for sure. But stories can be very important. Why? Stories give MEANING to the game, the rules, the action that takes place. Stories create the environment, which gives the player a reason to affect this environment.

This came up a couple weeks ago when I went to Eat N'Park with my friend Bill. We were talking about the game I'm currently working on, Bandit's Adventure, and how the story and the gameplay doesn't fit.

This led to a discussion about how the story should always fit the game, not vice versa. Now I'm not sure ALWAYS is appropriate, but I believe there's some truth in the matter.

This led me to come up with the meaning of story in a game. I thought I was original, but looking back at some of my notes from the GDC, it seems that Nate Fox from Sly Cooper planted the seed in my head, because his ideas are almost verbatim what I just said.

Anyways, I think anyone who's interested in the Narrativists vs. Ludologist issue read some Hamlet on the Holodeck. I think it shows a great middle ground between the two.

So back to the Pacman issue, it led me to think about how it would be cool if emotions were the primary verbs. So I thought up of an idea for a game, there are many games out there where you have to take care of a pet, but what about a game where you ARE the pet, and the computer has to take care of you? think about it.

Watch, in two years, there's going to be a game that comes out like that and sues me for my idea.