From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> writes:

First thing that came to mind was the narrator/radio voice/etc yelling at
you to "GET OUT OF THERE! *FAST*!!!" Or "Rescue the hostage before they execute them!"

Which usually means take all the time you need to. There's no need to
rush the mechanics and screw up 17 times getting there. And if you do,
it's not going to matter.

Yes. And then you play a game where it does matter. I've been playing
Outer Worlds and, well, twice now some NPCs died because I didn't bother rushing to them. No real impact, maybe a bit more XP if you save
them. I'll have to try and keep alert for this.

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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 05 Sep 2025 16:53:21 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

What other 'rules' in video games can you think of that are so common
and regular that you don't even see them anymore? Do you think a games
are, in general, better because of it? And what would a game be like
if it broke that rule?

Ok I think I have one. Maybe.

I can imagine someone who has never played a video game before playing
a popular game like World of Warcraft for the first time. At some
point, real life is going to get in the way and this non-gamer person
is going to ask himself... "How do I pause this?"
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sun, 07 Sep 2025 08:55:12 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On Fri, 05 Sep 2025 16:53:21 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

What other 'rules' in video games can you think of that are so common
and regular that you don't even see them anymore? Do you think a games
are, in general, better because of it? And what would a game be like
if it broke that rule?

Ok I think I have one. Maybe.

I can imagine someone who has never played a video game before playing
a popular game like World of Warcraft for the first time. At some
point, real life is going to get in the way and this non-gamer person
is going to ask himself... "How do I pause this?"

That's when you ask, in your best Samuel L Jackson imitation, "What do
you think the 'real-time' in 'real-time strategy' means, mothafucka?"
;-)

But it's a good example of an unspoken rule. Alternately, I can
imagine a non-gamer might wonder in a turn-based game why things
aren't progressing after they makes their move, not understanding that
they need press the 'end turn' button. After all, in real life time
just keeps moving on.


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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

...which often left you baffled and helpless until you fiddled around for hours (and read-the-fucking-manual!) before you had a clear idea of
what was going on.

I remember trying the original Wasteland. Yup, didn't know how to play,
before or after reading the manual. I mean, sure, the manual covered
many things but not nearly all things, especially about the actual
mundanes of game play. It's kinda like chess for me, I roughly know
which moves are legal and which aren't but that doesn't mean I can play
chess.

What other 'rules' in video games can you think of that are so common
and regular that you don't even see them anymore? Do you think a games
are, in general, better because of it? And what would a game be like
if it broke that rule?

After some consideration I came up with a few:

- Random loot drops. "Damn that guy with the sniper rifle was
annoying. Next sniper gets a sniper bullet in his head for sure. Oops,
no, he was only carrying a toaster".

Sometimes there's even a gun on the ground but if the game decides you
shouldn't pick it up you can't.

- Explosions. Too weak, grenade launcher or whatever useless. Or too
strong, grenade launcher more dangerous to the user than anyone else.

And related, armor or let alone a personal shield generator doesn't
protect you from explosions but does from any other kind of damage.

And often it seems explosions hurt you more than your enemies. As in
"wow, that rocket launcher is dangerous, I died 17 times already
trying to kill that guy. The next guy is going to feel it." But when
you finally get that launcher or whatever, it's not that effective.

One more: any explosion is a good explosion. Frag grenades should work
fairly poorly against heavy armor but does it?

- Mines and traps. Plainly visible to you so you can maybe disarm or
shoot them to trigger but enemies and your buddies blindly walk into
them. Better and worse variant is mines that won't blow up if you try
to shoot them, which is realistic considering modern explosives. But
the sensor and detonator on those is indestructible so your own
carelessly placed mine kills or maims you.

Then again, I remember running into random mines in Fallout games and
getting blown up. Wasn't that much fun either. At least those beep but
I was invariably too slow to escape.

- Invisible walls of course but also invisible walls that are rendered
so that you should be able to get through, like a knee high railing.

Let alone miles of impenetrable hedge in a post-apoc world where hardly
anything grows.

- RPGs where someone in your party has a skill you need but they can't
help you because the game only considers the PC's skill.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 09 Sep 2025 12:38:04 +0300, Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote:

I remember trying the original Wasteland. Yup, didn't know how to play, >before or after reading the manual. I mean, sure, the manual covered
many things but not nearly all things, especially about the actual
mundanes of game play. It's kinda like chess for me, I roughly know
which moves are legal and which aren't but that doesn't mean I can play >chess.

Heh. If you don't read (or own) the manual in Wasteland, you can't
finish the game. It was one of those games that had off-disk journal
entries that were absolutely vital to getting through the quest. ;-)

One more: any explosion is a good explosion. Frag grenades should work
fairly poorly against heavy armor but does it?

- Mines and traps. Plainly visible to you so you can maybe disarm or
shoot them to trigger but enemies and your buddies blindly walk into
them. Better and worse variant is mines that won't blow up if you try
to shoot them, which is realistic considering modern explosives. But
the sensor and detonator on those is indestructible so your own
carelessly placed mine kills or maims you.

On a related note: EXPLOSIVE BARRELS.

We're all trained that those red barrels over there will explode in a
most satisfying way if shot, that it's actually disappointing when
games don't do that. But it's such an unrealistic and unexpected thing
if you aren't familiar with the trope. Not just the improbablility of
the explosion, but the fact that the barrels are just everywhere in
games.

It's a lesson even a person entirely unfamiliar with games learns
pretty quickly though. It just takes one bullet and then you know. ;-)




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 9/9/2025 2:38 AM, Anssi Saari wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> writes:

- Explosions. Too weak, grenade launcher or whatever useless. Or too
strong, grenade launcher more dangerous to the user than anyone else.

And related, armor or let alone a personal shield generator doesn't
protect you from explosions but does from any other kind of damage.

This reminds me of boss weapon/party npc issues.

Giant guy with a giant sword that deletes you in one or two hits, you
get it after but it hits like a wet noodle, and looks like a short-sword.

You defeat insanely difficult NPC, who then joins you and he dies like a
chump to the next mook.

- Justisaur
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 10 Sep 2025 08:35:05 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

This reminds me of boss weapon/party npc issues.
Giant guy with a giant sword that deletes you in one or two hits, you
get it after but it hits like a wet noodle, and looks like a short-sword.
You defeat insanely difficult NPC, who then joins you and he dies like a >chump to the next mook.

And, related, the whole idea of scaling enemies to begin with. Why
does it take three shots to kill a security guard at the start of the
game, but they can absorb a whole magazine of bullets at the end?
Especially since that gun you have at the end is reputed to be ten
times more powerful than the pea-shooter you started with.

Or just that the boss monster is always super-powerful? I mean, look
at King Charles III; how many hit points do you think that geezer
has?*


















* Six. King Charles III canonically has six hit-points. I checked the
Earth rule-book (v3.0) and that's what it said. Trust me; would I make
up something like that?. ;-)







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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com> writes:

This reminds me of boss weapon/party npc issues.

Giant guy with a giant sword that deletes you in one or two hits, you
get it after but it hits like a wet noodle, and looks like a
short-sword.

I've suspected that sometimes even with ordinary enemy loot drops. I
wonder if it's common to just nerf them? You get the weapon/thing they
dropped, except...

You defeat insanely difficult NPC, who then joins you and he dies like
a chump to the next mook.

Or the same thing, you recruit someone who's presented as a badass who
just turned a battalion of mooks inside out to your party. But suddenly
he's level 1 with no XP.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Anssi Saari <anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi> wrote at 21:10 this Saturday (GMT):

Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> writes:

First thing that came to mind was the narrator/radio voice/etc yelling at
you to "GET OUT OF THERE! *FAST*!!!" Or "Rescue the hostage before they
execute them!"

Which usually means take all the time you need to. There's no need to
rush the mechanics and screw up 17 times getting there. And if you do,
it's not going to matter.

Yes. And then you play a game where it does matter. I've been playing
Outer Worlds and, well, twice now some NPCs died because I didn't bother rushing to them. No real impact, maybe a bit more XP if you save
them. I'll have to try and keep alert for this.

Or the vast majority of games that do the whole "evil villan is on the brink of destroying the world" but still let you go off and do a million side quests instead of facing the issue :D
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 05 Sep 2025 16:53:21 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

What other 'rules' in video games can you think of that are so common
and regular that you don't even see them anymore? Do you think a games
are, in general, better because of it? And what would a game be like
if it broke that rule?

Walking into people's houses. When I pick up a game, I assume it is okay
to walk into someone's house and start tossing the place until the game establishes there are rules against this. Some games, in fact, expect it.

This extends to pot smashing/lawn mowing in Zelda. I'm sure there are
videos showing what that would actually look like IRL. I always got a
kick out of imagining it.
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 9/16/2025 9:58 AM, Zaghadka wrote:

On Fri, 05 Sep 2025 16:53:21 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

What other 'rules' in video games can you think of that are so common
and regular that you don't even see them anymore? Do you think a games
are, in general, better because of it? And what would a game be like
if it broke that rule?

Walking into people's houses. When I pick up a game, I assume it is okay
to walk into someone's house and start tossing the place until the game establishes there are rules against this. Some games, in fact, expect it.

This extends to pot smashing/lawn mowing in Zelda. I'm sure there are
videos showing what that would actually look like IRL. I always got a
kick out of imagining it.

If its just pot smashing/lawn mowing usually IRL it ends up with an
arrest, a psych eval and either charges or a treatment program (mental
health and/or drug).
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 11:58:07 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

This extends to pot smashing/lawn mowing in Zelda. I'm sure there are
videos showing what that would actually look like IRL. I always got a
kick out of imagining it.

Oh, come on. We all know that Link is working with Big Pottery; not
only does he get any contents of the pots he smashes, he gets a cut
from the sale of the replacements the owners need to buy to repair
Link's vandalism.

Follow the rupees, sheeple! ;-)




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid>
writes:

Or the vast majority of games that do the whole "evil villan is on the brink of
destroying the world" but still let you go off and do a million side quests instead of facing the issue :D

This brought to mind the variant where the civvies or whoever need
saving are all "please Obi-Wan, you're our only hope." And then, "Oh
BTW, a small healing potion costs 10 gold pieces. We're NOT having an
end of the world sale here. Why don't you go kill a few rats or
something?"
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:58:27 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 11:58:07 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

This extends to pot smashing/lawn mowing in Zelda. I'm sure there are >>videos showing what that would actually look like IRL. I always got a
kick out of imagining it.

Oh, come on. We all know that Link is working with Big Pottery; not
only does he get any contents of the pots he smashes, he gets a cut
from the sale of the replacements the owners need to buy to repair
Link's vandalism.

Follow the rupees, sheeple! ;-)

Well, I did find this, and I think you're forgetting about the Frobozz
Magic Pot Conjuring company (for which this is a commercial. It's a free service). So it all sorts itself in the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXmMQJMFL_I
--
Zag

Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 13:58 this Wednesday (GMT):

On Tue, 16 Sep 2025 11:58:07 -0500, Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com>
wrote:

This extends to pot smashing/lawn mowing in Zelda. I'm sure there are >>videos showing what that would actually look like IRL. I always got a
kick out of imagining it.

Oh, come on. We all know that Link is working with Big Pottery; not
only does he get any contents of the pots he smashes, he gets a cut
from the sale of the replacements the owners need to buy to repair
Link's vandalism.

Follow the rupees, sheeple! ;-)

Man, a game where the MC is working with a bad guy secretly would be
awesome




deltaru-
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Thu, 18 Sep 2025 18:40:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Man, a game where the MC is working with a bad guy secretly would be
awesome

It's not quite working with the bad guy, but "Prototype" (2009) was
sort of like that. The game presented itself as a sort of
macho-superhero power-fantasy where you had weird comic-book 'viral'
powers that let you grow blades for arms, or climb up walls, or change
shape into another person. You were dumped in a zombie-infested
Manhattan that was simultaneously being invaded by a brutal mercenary
army that was connected to the company that released the virus that
created the zombies (and gave you your superpowers). You ran around
doing superhero'y things throughout most of the game... but in the end
you learn

<ROT13 for spoilers>
gung va snpg lbh jrer gur crefba jub eryrnfrq gur ivehf naq gur nezl
naq gur pbecbengvba jnf gelvat gb pbagnva gur fcernq bs gur qvfrnfr
(yvgrenyyl rzobqvrq va lbhef gehyl) sebz rathysvat gur erfg bs gur
jbeyq.
<ROT13>

In the sequel, you take on the role of another person, and the
character from the first game becomes your nemesis, having taken a
distinct and overt turn towards the darkness.


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