The real world does not have a resolution problem, and literally any human could spend a decade exploring literally any patch of dirt and grass on the surface of the earth. The real world is infinitely deep
Zeigfreid (Brevity is the dark souls of wit)
Yes, but is it really?
I mean, yes, no matter what obscure small thing you think of, there’s a paper somewhere in the world ranting about it. But, at the same time, we have been questioning ourselves the meaning (the purpose, the resolution problem) of life almost since we had a language to articulate those questions with. The fact that for every small patch of dirt there’s been some nerd exploring it doesn’t mean that all of us could do it and definitely not for a decade.
The world is not deep. We decide voluntarily to look at it in that way. We decide to give importance to some things and others not, and those we don’t know about, is like they don’t exist. We invent meanings, goals, interests, reasons. They’re as fictional as the rules of a game, and just as meaningful (as we let them be). And when we give them meaning (notice the play between “definition” and “something that matters”) we learn about them, cause learning is a way of caring.
Anyway, enough with the existentialism.
Really any game that carefully crafts the way it communicates its system so the player may learn it through play, through direct and intimate control of a piece of the system, so they can exploit it, dance with it, FEEL it.
Jack (HAIKU games)
I’m not sure all of the games we play we do because of the resolution. The first time, probably most of them, yes. But in many cases, once I mastered their Gamefeel part, and “I understood them”, I just stop playing, as Droqen says in his “Non-gamefeel content”, so there’s not a second time. Just as many songs I play one day just to try them, and once I get the hang of them, I abandon them. But I keep on singing the same songs over and over. I keep on dancing to the same tunes and playing a few games repeatedly. Because they ̶G̶A̶M̶E̶FEEL good. There’s no exploration, just plain visceral pleasure. And that’s amazing.
And also. I always say that Nintendo games only give you back as much love as you decide to invert in them in the first place. They don’t offer super deep content to engage with, but rather an open space where feels good to be, and enough room for you to create your own story there: build, explore, customize shit. So just as with “a branch of math, or a lover’s body, or the 3rd wave coffee scene in Paris”; you can also be bored by all those things, regardless of their depth. Maybe it’s not about running out of things to explore, but of running out of love.
…
I promise I’ll write something less depressing next time ^^’