Good Replays

Posted on 26 February 2010

So, while it isn’t entirely related to writing, I have been thinking about what makes a good game to replay.  This somewhat translates since I typically love playing games with super strong plots and the like, but game mechanics always play in too.  After all, NES games (what I’ve been replaying lately) aren’t exactly all that wordy, even the RPGs.  But, I think there is something kindred and fundamental to either games or stories you wish to experience multiple times.

And that kindredness (yay for making up words) is involvement.  Both games and books have the ability to draw in a person (escapism anyone?).  And perhaps that world, even after it is no longer brand new, still offers the joy and wonder of the escape even still.  But, what does it take?

Well, I’ll start with games.  The first thing that I think it takes is a low barrier to entry.  This can mean the game is either simple to play or simple to learn (even if it eventually has complex rules to play).  Thus those dreaded tutorial levels at the beginning can actually be amazingly useful to make a game highly replayable.  Yes, you may think “ugh, this is boring, can I get onto the real game” but you may not realize how well those tutorial levels are for reacquainting you with the mechanics.

The second thing, of course, is to be just challenging enough.  Games that are too easy are quickly beaten and quickly thrown aside.  Games that are too hard might get beaten out of spite for the developer, but often times they are not picked back up.  Games that challenge just enough to make the equivalent victory of winning worth it, yeah, those get played over and over.

Now, older games more or less get to rely on those alone.  Maybe music, such as in the quintessential Zelda and Final Fantasy games, but not much else.  It takes newer games to add the next element: story.

And this is where we can pick up writing again.  See, a story can make up for weakness in the first parts.  I have played many games over and over again that were not that mechanically sound because they had compelling plots and characters.  What is best is if the story truly has a well written hero that a player can sympathize with.  Well, duh, that’s a good story in general.  But what makes a person keep coming back?

Complexity, pure and simple.  Even if the character seems simple at first glance, all it takes is the small things, the fleshed out explorations of feelings and situations, to make a player or a reader want to come back and look at it again.  And investiture of the reader into the character will make them cherish the victories and agonize over the defeats, and what is more, it will make them want to do it again.  Remember, this is about escapism, and if a story made you feel that way once, and it was potent enough, you will come back for more, just like with any drug.

Yes, escapism is a drug.  It can be abused to the point of making people apathetic, or it can be just that little something extra that a person needed to get through a tough spot, like an ice cold beer after a hard day’s work.  And in the end, it doesn’t matter if the story is the most eloquent, or even the most original.  If it delivered that escapism fix, it will be there to do it again.  That is why there are books I’ve read ten plus times, and games I’ve played just as often.  They made me escape in a way that others did not, and they continue to still.  The sense of wonder is still there.  And now, I’m going to go back to stabbing moblins in Zelda II (in the original NES format, at that. Whoa.)

Oh, one last thought: despite Lost being escape-tastic, I doubt I’ll ever rewatch it.  Why?  Because it leans heavily on the viewer not having seen what happens.  After the curtain has been raised and the trick revealed, it just isn’t as good.  Yet Firefly has been rewatched a few times already, and likely will be again.  Why?  Because it isn’t about the destination with Firefly, it was the trip there.  And perhaps that is the truest need for any replay or rewatch.  The conclusion should be the least important thing.  Explains why Lord of the Rings is still so widely loved, eh?