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by Fnoord 1837 days ago
> Hall was pleased that the card was solved through the collective efforts of online communities. It reinforced her fundamental belief that the internet can be a unifying force

Wisdom of the crowd, oh yes. However, this also trivializes games because you can simply look up a guide for a game. Which leads to games being primarily about dexterity, or leads to (for good or bad) RNG (which is also problematic in itself).

Sure, you can explore yourself on your own pace, but its less efficient, and today's world there's too little time, too much to do. Everything has to be efficient and min-maxed. Whereas back in the days you could freely explore and experiment in Space Quest, King's Quest, Police Quest, MUDs, or even sandbox MMOs. I feel like this is lost. You can also observe it in toys for children. There's toys which are limited in scope, and toys which allow for experimentation, exploration, improvising, and imagination. Some toys can be used for both purpose, such as Lego.

The way I played with Lego, was first following the manual, and then using my own imagination (trying to save the manuals nonetheless). Also, the most fulfilling was making your own. Sadly I never got into RPing with Lego until a friend of mine introduced me to it way later.

PS: Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

2 comments

> However, this also trivializes games because you can simply look up a guide for a game.

Reliance on guides predates the internet. For 1990s console RPGs like Final Fantasy, me and everyone gamer I know bought a (paper) guide for it.

> Everything has to be efficient and min-maxed.

I don't disagree, but this has been around forever, at least in RPGs (table-top and computer). If there's a social element, it's even more pronounced. For example, just try playing a certain race/class/talent combination in the endgame in World of Warcraft Classic that isn't on the community's collective "approved" list for raiding. That game is over 15 years old, and was just as bad about min/maxing and optimizing then as the reboot has been the last 2 years.