The Free World

Freedom is appealing.
As players its a major draw for us.
And there are many games that offer us this freedom, in the form of the “Open World “and while a fair amount of them are good, they have something in common with the open world games that are bad.

They still suck....


Yeah. Even the good ones suck.

What makes one good and another bad is really all in in the initial entertainment value, and how long and how well they can keep you there. The good ones, can keep you there for several days.
While the bad ones will only last several minutes.

But weather its a good game or bad one, the initial entertainment value WILL eventually wear off.
And that's when you will clearly see just how much the game really sucks.

A common theme of the best open world games is to keep you interested with the story-mode, using it to distract you from the obvious suck its going to thoroughly deliver later on, Just after you've finished the story-mode. When that happens, It sucks just the same as all the other bad open world games that couldn't hold your attention. Because now, like them they have no more substance to offer you.

Whats happened after the credits roll, (or after you been bored to death), is a reveal of all the game really is, and what you can really do in its game world.

And in most cases, the answer to both is “Not much.” which is a direct contradiction to the “Do Anything” theme in the advertisements that usually come with the marketing campaigns of these games.

Its the harsh realization that without missions, or quests, or storyline...
You really have no purpose....and with no purpose you have absolutely nothing to do.
No conflict, No goal, No threats, No consequences.....No Game.
And without that, the game has just become boring.

This is the fate of all open world games, and it stems from a lack of actual game designing on the developers part.

In most games that don't have an open world platform, the experience you're having has been designed to play out a certain way. Even though you have control over the avatar, the designers have laid out plans to have you act and react exactly as they want you to. Its what some of us call “the Authored Experience.”

In an authored experience we want you to make all the actions and decisions that you thought you were making on your own, and if you fail we are even going to kill you in a very specific pre-planned way, so that we can influence you to make the “choice” we want you to make next time. Its a lot of carefully planned micromanagement disguised so that you don't realize that its happening. So that you don't realize that while you're playing the game, the game is also playing you.

However, in an open world game, that kind of detailed planning does not exist.
The designers literally leave just about everything to chance. and while leaving it chance gives you all of the freedom to make any of the choices you want...The overall quality of the experience is left to chance as well. And on its own, chance isn't very good at crafting an experience that's both interesting AND enjoyable

Which explains why the best open world games, tend to be mission based, like RDR or Saints Row, and lock you into exclusive mission sessions. Because inside of those sessions...actual game design has taken place, and we've given chance and proper nudge in the right direction. Its hardly to the level of a true authored experience, but its just enough to give you a purpose and duty, for at least few minutes or until the session ends.

Its really just enough to say “Hey Player! Shoot At This Thing!!.” or something just as basic.
“Go Over There!” “Kill this guy” “Protect this guy” etc... take your pick.
That's about the the extent of the “authoring” going on, but its better than the alternative...

Open world games that don't have missions, and don't lock you into a game session. So there is never any refuge from just how boring these games tend to be at their core.
They have their basic goals too, but the problem is that they aren't session exclusive and can be completed, or not completed at your leisure.
Which completely eliminates any sense of urgency, (no matter how much that NPC seemed distressed about it.) and without the urgency, you begin to realize...you don't HAVE to do anything.
And the only reason you can “do anything you want” in the first place, is because their was never really anything to do to begin with..