Category: games

I used to think you’d never see it, but here it is: Hamlet as a text adventure.

It does sort of work as far as I’ve gotten, but probably because the juxtaposition between the play and the text adventure is so jarring as to be fun.

> n
Balcony
A ghost is here.
An exit leads south.

> tell ghost “hello”
“Hey Dad,” you say cheerily. “What’s up?”
“Hamlet,” says the old man after a sigh, “you remember how I was found mysteriously dead in the orchard a couple of weeks back? Well… it’s like this. Your uncle Claudius poisoned me so he could become king and marry your mother. I’d be awfully grateful if you could kill him for me.”
“All right,” you say, “I’ll do it!”
Your life suddenly seems to have purpose.

Update: The game has been relocated to http://rdouglasjohnson.com/hamlet/

Greg Costikyan presents a new rant at the Escapist.

The problem is that once something becomes technically feasible, the market demands it. Gamers themselves are partly to blame: Indie rock fans may prefer somewhat muddy sound over some lushly-orchestrated, producer-massaged score; indie film fans may prefer quirky, low-budget titles over big-budget special FX extravaganzas; but in gaming, we have no indie aesthetic, no group of people (of any size at least) who prize independent vision and creativity over production values.

And this I think is true – consumers share the blame … The game audience must mature in order for the game industry to mature.

Word is that the Chinese government is working on regulating MMOGs so anybody playing more than three hours in a row will be punished in-game.

BBC story.

The server administrators will be happy (less server load).

The scary thing is that because MMOGs are managed at central servers, they are also the ideal cultural form for any totalitarian state: The committee has decided that you will only play three hours per day, young one.

Imagine if the authorities could set time limits on your reading, listening to music, or anything else …

Slate has a short article on Islamist video games.

If you ignore the titles of the Ummah Defense games and the occasional in-game messages?”Alhamdulillah, You Destroyed the Command Ship!”?it’s impossible to tell that you’re playing an “Islamic game.” When I destroyed the third of the four command ships controlling the “Flying Evil Robot Armada” in the first Ummah Defense, I didn’t ruminate on whether my real-life allegiance should be with the robots. I just thought, only one more ship to go!

Same old problem: It’s hard to place or identify a clear message in the game mechanics, but in many game forms, the player eventually only really cares about the game mechanics.

Just don’t overdo it.

Why are all the stories about exhausted gamers from Asia?

From The Economist.