1Gorebash1

I'm on the verge of sending this question to be answered on the Bombcast to see what they say and I'd love to be able to quote Vinny for my dissertation,

@nintendoeats said:

@Vodun said:

@nintendoeats said:

@Vodun said:

@nintendoeats said:

@Vodun:The game gives you an indication of whether or not your behavior is bringing you closer to or further from your goal. It has graphics that indicate the direction that you are going, the sounds indicate when you are going off the road, the odometer tells you that you are making progress...all the required elements are there.

The graphics moving and odometer only show you that you're moving. Not that you're moving in the right direction (teaches you nothing). A sound indicating you going off road doesn't necessarily mean it's good or bad, merely that it's happening. All this feedback is too unclear to actually reinforce a behavior.

The player will assume that they are going in the right direction whether it is the case or not, therefore they are conditioned.

I suppose, but this is solely based on the assumption that the player believes that going straight ahead is the only right thing to do.

If they do anything other than go straight ahead, they will be pulled backwards. Unless the player believes that Tucson is in the opposite direction that they are facing, or that the goal cannot be achieved (which requires a phenomenal amount of designer mistrust from the player) then they are forced to the assumption that moving forward is the right thing to do.

This does raise the interesting point of false conditioning, but I know that most developers hate the idea of directly lying to the player. I personally think that when used properly, false conditioning could be very cool. It's something you have to be careful with though.

if I recall, that sort of false conditioning was used in The Void as well as Pathologic, to amazing results.

So is it truly possible to lose playing Desert Bus?

The Objective of the game is to drive a bus from Tuscon to Las Vegas in real time, at a maximum speed of 45 MPH. This is a feat that would take 8 hours of continuous play, as the game cannot be paused. There are no passengers on the bus and there is very little scenery. The Bus veers to the right slightly, making it impossible for the player to tape down a button and finish the journey. If the bus goes off the road it stalls and is towed(also in real-time) back to the last city you left from. When you make it to Las Vegas you score exactly one point. Also, the game asks you if you wish to continue, but only gives you 2 seconds to answer before the game quits.

Ok, this is me just testing the waters to make sure that I understand what we are talking about. Would Tic-Tac-Toe count? You have no indication of whether or not your strategy is working until the game is over, so in theory a single game of TTT does not contain any conditioning.