No! Stop! You are not allowed to do that!

[userwhoquitthesite]

I think that if we can get an almost perfect ai.... This could be real and awesome.

I think this statement is devoid of any actual meaning.

I'm not entirely sure what the discussion is supposed to be about. Is it how annoying bad game design is? Because it totally is. for sure. Why can't I walk over this small hill, New Vegas?

 

[Jandau]

I bet that when playing Super Mario Bros you complain that the game doesn't let you go backwards at the start of the level...

 

[SidingWithTheEnemy]

Yar, the white whale was here but it be gone now!

Then... play better games? Your complaining about bad game design issues like poorly placed invisible walls or Fallout's "please don't call us a murder simulator" and then saying you "outgrew" games. That's not outgrowing, that's having enough experience to say why a game sucks. Everything has flaws and bad design if you say that recognizing bad design means you have outgrown it then you're never going to enjoy any form of story media since all media has problems. Congratulations on being more savy on games but let's say that you've grown to dislike the common faults and thus leaving rather then saying you "outgrew it" as if gaming is some sort of phase that people pass through like puberty. I'm sure lots of developers would cry themselves to sleep over that one.

Please refrain from using things in quotes I NEVER actually said. Yes, I do get Moby Dick's reference and catch your drift but fabricating this quote is wrong.

I agree that "outgrowing" computer games is a bad choice of words. If computer games would be just a phase in live I wouldn't spend 70% of my free time still playing them. I just feel lectured by the game in ways that are harder to bear than some years ago.
Having developed a refined taste sounds great at first but in fact its like some drug addiction where your demands are just getting higher and higher.

You don't actually need clairvoyant developers to do get things done the way I like.
Let's compare Fallout 3and Oblivion for a moment.

In Fallout you had immortal children => Bad, because the game lectures giving me something like the 10 commandments: "You shall not kill children"

In Oblivion you didn't have children at all. No problem for me. Of course I wonder what a small Argonian kid would look like, where schools are and if kids are used for child labor in mines but it didn't bother me. My mind wasn't made aware of the fact that you can't kill children (in other words they didn't force me to recognize it, they achieved it by omission)


tl;dr?
Game Designers just need to provide an half-way believable solution why you can't do that or aren't allowed to go over there. Like in-game message "Turn back now, they need you here!", death traps, minefields, NPCs talking like "You shall not pass" thing.

 

[DasDestroyer]

Oblivion:
Me: "Screw you!", followed by killing the other person
Game: "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM"

 

[Project_Xii]

You weren't perchance playing RAGE were you? Cause practically all of those situations applied to me when I was playing that god awful game. It makes me realise how much I hate old game mechanics in everything but the original old games. If RAGE had been released 3 years ago it would have been amazing. Now, despite the oh-so-pretty graphics (when they actually load), it just feels bland and boring.

But yes, I feel your pain in regards to those kinds of things in a lot of games. Whats this? I can't climb up this embankment, even though it's only knee height? I can't possibly wade through that tuft of grass? Or bust through that wood that's practically rotten and falling to pieces anyway? Completely solid you say? Well, Mr. Game Developer, I guess I'll just have to believe everything you say, given I don't have much of a choice in that matter....

 

[MammothBlade]

Borderlands:

Me upon finding an awesome gun: "Oh wow, this is going to be total rape!"
Game: "Don't you dare touch that gun until you get to level 50!"
Me: D:<

Me: "Hay look I'm walking across an infinite seabed at low tide!"
Game: -aims lasers at my head- "WHO THE **** SAID YOU COULD GO THERE? GET BACK TO SHORE MAGGOT!"

You definitely don't want to disobey those laser turrets...

 

[SidingWithTheEnemy]

I actually liked those Laser-Towers from Borderlands. Not the best idea I've seen, but refreshing and quite funny. I tried so many times to drive through there but was always shot. An guess what, it was fun...

[...]
I'm not entirely sure what the discussion is supposed to be about. Is it how annoying bad game design is? Because it totally is. for sure. Why can't I walk over this small hill, New Vegas?

Yes you got the important bit about what this is about. I also wanted to convey that I feel lectured by such games most of the time. Scolded for trying something original or new or doing something that I am not supposed to do.

[...]
You could try playing NetHack or something. It seems to be specifically designed to invalidate your complaints over game limitations - after all, this is the game that spawned the phrase, "The Dev Team Thinks of Everything".

Sounds like a good idea, thanks for the tip. Though as I stated earlier I don't need "clairvoyant" devs, I need games that "don't shove their limitations in my face yelling "NOOO!" at me." Dev Team thinking of "everything normally provide very good entertainment value when you are in an experimenting mood, so I very much encourage that! Go devs, go!

[...]if you like realism and such try ARMA 2 it's buggy, but you'll probably have a blast with it.

Again, thanks for the tip, will take a look at it.

I bet that when playing Super Mario Bros you complain that the game doesn't let you go backwards at the start of the level...

Yes, actually I do. What if I want that "Magic-Mushroom" later? NOOO! You are not allowed to do that! You know those 2D-tower games (where your job is to get up quickly) when some sort of flood is rising so can't get back - That's a good idea.

 

[MammothBlade]

I actually liked those Laser-Towers from Borderlands. Not the best idea I've seen, but refreshing and quite funny. I tried so many times to drive through there but was always shot. An guess what, it was fun...

Yes, and it had me guessing over the reason the turrets exist in the first place. Do they stop people from entering the most dangerous parts of Pandora?

 

[MR.Spartacus]

"accidental summary of every thought I had whilst playing Rage" except for that last bit about dating.

Me: Hey this gap between these sentries is just big enough for me to crawl through. Game: Piss off and go drive around the block before you can start this mission. Me: It's weird how there are so many doors I can't open around here. Game: that weirding you out too huh? GET OVER IT! me: hey it's the first level from Doom! this could be interesting! Game: Just pick up the little dolly and GET OUT!

Borderlands:

Me upon finding an awesome gun: "Oh wow, this is going to be total rape!"
Game: "Don't you dare touch that gun until you get to level 50!"
Me: D:<

I too have found this many times. Me: hey a super powerful new weapon to make the grinding go quicker! game: nope can't let you use that well it'll still be too useful. get to grindin'! *****!

Me: "Hay look I'm walking across an infinite seabed at low tide!"
Game: -aims lasers at my head- "WHO THE **** SAID YOU COULD GO THERE? GET BACK TO SHORE MAGGOT!"

You definitely don't want to disobey those laser turrets...

Me: wonder what's over here.
Game: DOOLALLY!
Me: what? Wait why in the hell am I re-spawning?

 

[badgersprite]

Adventure games could use a lot of this.

-----

Game: "You can't use those things together!"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Game: "You can't use those two items in your inventory together. It's not possible!"

Me: "...I can't tie a piece of string to a stick?"

Game: "NOPE!"

-----

Me: "Use axe on locked door."

Game: "That's not going to help you."

Me: "What do you mean it's not going to help me? That's a wooden door. This is an axe. Puzzle solved."

Game: "Yes. Well. That isn't the solution to the puzzle in this game."

Me: "You mean you didn't prepare for this eventuality."

Game: "No. Now go do a long quest to get the magic dust that will melt the lock."

-----

Me: "Look at well."

Game: "I don't see anything of that description here."

Me: "You animated the well but couldn't be bothered to write up a description for it?"

Game: "...PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE WELL IN THE FOREGROUND."

 

[Veylon]

...And this is why Morrowind was awesome. Pick the locks, loot the bad guys' equipment, go wherever you want, even claw your way over mountains to avoid windy paths.

 

[DustinOffAClassic]

LOL, the OP reminds me of the penguin in SM64 yelling at you for "cheating" after taking the shortcut through the wall in the race.

 

[Asuka Soryu]

Me: We're doing it my way.

Game: No.

Me: You see this hammer?

Game:... Yes?

Me: It wants to make your acquaintance.