Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Shipwrecked with Three Computer Games

A question going around is what three non-internet computer games you would want if they were all the recreation you did for three years.

Admittedly it's a silly question. The answers most people gave on the page I linked to show one reason why: computer games do not offer enough of an outlet for creativity. They have come a long way (warning: link has sound) but this progress has been too often in graphics rather than game depth or breadth.

My choices would all be based on creative outlets:
  • Whichever real-time strategy game has the best scenario editor. I have not done this since I actively played Age of Empires II, so I assume a newer game currently takes this title. (I made nifty edenic and post-apocolyptic maps for that game.)
  • Whichever first-person-shooter game has the best scenario editor. I have not ever done this. A long time ago I played Thief II, and the best part of that game was its fan community and the missions they made, as well as the spillover into an amazing Unreal Tournament mod. (Apparently in the games Thief and Thief III you are not a good guy. In Thief II you were a thief simply burglaring to pay the rent in the first mission, where you discovered about an evil plot to kill all the city's inhabitants. For the rest of the game you were a good guy, being sneaky while trying to save the city.)
  • Whichever computer role-playing game had the best campaign editor. I have not ever done this either, but know some recent games have specialized in this feature. Too bad Ancient Domains of Mystery has no such feature.
Game play itself would get really old after a few months. I'd need to be able to create things to share with friends and family once I returned from isolation.