Getting to the end can feel so empty.Its not often that I post reactions to stories that I read, but today I will. This one.
Now, this guy obviously loves the game he is playing. He's probably put in 27 hours of solid play to get to Level 80 in this amount of time. I'm willing to bet that he has played the beta, and has got an idea of the missions to do. He has respec'd his character to be exactly suited to the mission path that he will undertake. Before he went to get the game at midnight, he probably logged off right next to the boat to the new lands. He has taken in all the data about the expansion and has studied for the best way to beat it in the best time.
Now what does he do?
Another year or so of raiding, instancing and whatever else you do on endgame WoW. He's obviously missed the point of MMO's, and games in general. Especially with MMO's, there is really no satisfying pay off at the end of the game. There will be when you beat certain missions and raids, but there definately won't be for hitting the level cap. Games are about the journey, not the end.
And now let me take you on a journey of games that are about the journey.
Fable IIThis beautiful world does not deserve to be rushed through.
Fable II has been talked about a lot in terms of length. The story isn't very long, so I've heard, but if that is all you do, you barely scratch the surface. Now I haven't played Fable II, but I can definately say that from what has been said about it and from my experiences with the original, the story is only half the game, if that. Fable has a living world built around it, much like the GTA games, but your interaction with said world is much higher than in Grand Theft Auto. You can buy property, get married, have children, decide whether to have pretected or unprotected sex. Its that deep. While there is an ending, if you rush to it, you will be unfulfilled. You will feel robbed, and cheated. When in fact you have not opened your eyes.
Fable II has another thing going for it in terms of "the journey." All the characters will react to the choices you make, giving them real consequences. However these consequences are on a wondefully subtle scale, and you will only care about them if you care about the world, your dog, your children etc. Unfortunately, Fable II does not completely capitalise on making you want to take time with it. The fact that you only do limited expressions and the bread crums to the next objective make it seem like it wants to take you by the hand, but if you stick to the path, you won't have experienced the adventure.
Mass EffectThe game is more fun when you talk.
Mass Effect is very similar to Fable II. It has a world around it built on choice and consequence, and the narrative provides you with a strong reason to rush to the end. I found myself rushing to the end on my first playthough, simply because I needed to finish the amazing story. However, if you skipped the conversations, did not explore areas and did no side missions, you would feel like this epic adventure was not very epic at all.
Unfortunately with Mass Effect, the side missions are not as good as the narrative journey, and while the game will be extremely bad if you skipped the narrative journey(the conversations and choices), exploring the game galaxy was not as fun as it could have been. The journey in this case, as I mentioned, is the story, which is balls to the wall awesome. If you play the game skipping the set peices which will have you yelling at the TV with joy just to finish it quicker, then you are missing out.
SporeJust getting to the end is Spore-ing.
Spore has an ending. Why it has an ending I don't know, as this game is very much like the sims, you play the game for the creature that YOU made. You want that creature to become strong, and one of the best creatures in the galaxy. In a poor design choice, they added in an ending at the "Center of the Universe." Now, I'd expect an easter egg or something to be at the center of the universe, but this led, like this WoW player, to people rushing straight for the ending, missing out on the entirety of evolution.
With Spore, you should get attatched to your creature. If you were to go out and buy the game simply to see what is at the center of the universe, the point will again be missed. Spore is bursting with so much stuff, that the "end" feels so amazingly empty, that it shocks me to why they even thought it would be a good idea to include in the game. Thankfully, the majority of spore players do care more about the journey of their character than getting to the "end."
Mirror's EdgeThere is a light at the end of this tunnel.
Now, I may be critisiced for including this as its practically a racing game, and with them, you are actually supposed to get to the end ASAP. However, with Mirror's Edge, its about the "flow." The most fun in the demo that I have played, does not come from getting to the end the first time, but from keeping momentum up and getting a good flow going. You are not gonna think "WOOT! I COMPLETED MIRROR'S EDGE!" Instead the thought that will pop into your head when you are doing well at Mirror's Edge is "That was a smooth move."
With the flow such a prominent emphasis in Mirror's Edge, the lines between enjoying the journey and reaching the end as fast as possible become blurred. When you do well in the game, you get the fastest time. So this one is a double edged sword really. Its a chicken and edge question: Is getting the fastes time the best because the journey to that time was great, or is the journey great because you got the fastest time?" I personally don't know, but I do know I didn't want the journey of the game to end.
Closing Thoughts
While that was probably a badly worded and poorly written mess, my thoughts have hopefully reached you. Games are meant to be enjoyed, and people want you to put time into their games and enjoy them fully. I'm sure Blizzard did not intend for people to powerlevel through their expansion and miss out on all the content, but people do. When you listen to a song, you don't put it on double speed to get to the end of the song, do you? Exactly. Games are the same, and going through games while missing out on half the content will always leave you feeling unfulfilled.
