No, I don''t know that I play games to learn rules and figure out how to beat them - I could go to law school if that''s what I was about. I certainly don''t play games for the ''plot''. They''re usually lame in CRPGs compared to what you can find in film, literature or face-to-face RPGs.
What I look for in a computer game is immersion. Immersion is an easy word to use but tough to define and the subjective factors that contribute to the phenomenon for any given player vary. For me what contribute the most to immersion is the sense of being part of a consistant and unpredictable event - the game - that places me in a role and world I find believable. The more consistant (reliable behaviors and rules) and unpredictable (not scripted or repetative) the world is the more believable my role and the world become to me. I don''t care whether it''s Red Baron 3D or King of Dragon Pass, Alpha Centauri or Daggerfall. I''m there, in the zone.
Now, the moment I find myself dealing with predictable, shallow, cardboard cookiecutter NPCs, events and plots like you find in typical fantasy adventure/CRPGs I start yawning. Even good games like Torment or Fallout eventually had me thinking that I could be reading a better book or a nice graphic novel - I''d still get a good story and not have to futz about with inventories or spending time foozle bashing for foozle treasures. I don''t want to play /your/ adventure. I want you to make it possible for me to discover an adventure of my own. Um. Please?
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I liked the other idea about the engine being two steps ahead and having this orbit a loose skeleton plot, perhaps a double-jointed skeleton at that.