Comments on: Scavenging in Fallout 3 http://www.hiwiller.com/2009/01/21/scavenging-in-fallout-3/ Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:23:44 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Zack http://www.hiwiller.com/2009/01/21/scavenging-in-fallout-3/comment-page-1/#comment-568 Zack Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:02:37 +0000 http://www.hiwiller.com/?p=317#comment-568 That's the nice thing about armchair designing - you can sit back and say "I think this would make the game more enjoyable." without having to defend it via playtesting and such if I were actually a designer at Bethesda. MDA isn't a science, it is a philosophy. The three-act structure isn't the science of creating a drama just because Aristotle taught it in Poetics, but it has helped a lot of writers since put together captivating works. That’s the nice thing about armchair designing – you can sit back and say “I think this would make the game more enjoyable.” without having to defend it via playtesting and such if I were actually a designer at Bethesda.

MDA isn’t a science, it is a philosophy. The three-act structure isn’t the science of creating a drama just because Aristotle taught it in Poetics, but it has helped a lot of writers since put together captivating works.

]]> By: Counter Point http://www.hiwiller.com/2009/01/21/scavenging-in-fallout-3/comment-page-1/#comment-567 Counter Point Thu, 22 Jan 2009 05:59:08 +0000 http://www.hiwiller.com/?p=317#comment-567 While I understand the logic of your points I don't think that it sounds like it would make the game more fun. The pay off for spending your time looting is to not have to worry about things and enjoy the spoils you have rightfully earned. I also have a sneaking suspicion they built the economy to be a broken by players because it feels good to think you outsmarted a game. Honestly the entire MDA philosophy is trying to make a science out of a creative endeavor -- it's rather frightening. In it's defense I only gave it a quick read, I'll print it out, chew it over, and get back to you. While I understand the logic of your points I don’t think that it sounds like it would make the game more fun. The pay off for spending your time looting is to not have to worry about things and enjoy the spoils you have rightfully earned. I also have a sneaking suspicion they built the economy to be a broken by players because it feels good to think you outsmarted a game.

Honestly the entire MDA philosophy is trying to make a science out of a creative endeavor — it’s rather frightening. In it’s defense I only gave it a quick read, I’ll print it out, chew it over, and get back to you.

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