The topic I wish to address is a common subtopic to many; it has to do with options, "sliders", etc. Whenever something displeases a part of us, someone suggests a slider, an on/off option, etc. Not necessarily a bad idea, but I'll present the problem in the shape of my own experience.
I used to play on normal difficulty, because I liked the challenge. Then I realised you could change the difficulty level at any time, and I immediately felt bad about this. Why? Because I had to resist the temptation, on my own. But I did so for a while. Then, one day, after dying for the 87th time in this dark complex series of caves, and losing yet all my items, I thought: "I really want to explore that area, shall I turn the game on peaceful for a moment?" I resisted the thought for 40 more deaths. I resented the fact that all my current efforts could be outdone by just a few clicks, and that I had to blind myself in order to think this was a bad alternative. Then I gave in, and got into peaceful mode.
Oh the joy of exploring this damn cave without any problem! Except I wasn't proud. It felt like cheating. Right there and then, I wished the difficulty level couldn't have been changed after you generated a new world.
Then I got back to normal, but the spell was broken: I had tasted the forbidden fruit, and no longer saw a valid reason to get back to normal. I kept playing on peaceful and visiting caves peacefully.
Long story short: even though I voluntarily chose to play on peaceful, I regret to have been given the freedom to change my difficulty level. I know what's coming to me when I say that:
You weak-willed individual! Don't blame the game for your short-comings!
Fair enough, but I know I'm not the only one to feel this way. Hear me out: crafting weapons, crafting armours, developing survival kills, etc, it's all done to resist better to mobs and their attacks. In the absolute, clicking "peaceful" gets you to the same place, so after a while, you have to force yourself against yourself, to not choose an option that maybe you should have no freedom over (except once, before your world is generated).
Don't get me wrong, I have been very happy to have that freedom when endermen started taking blocks away from everything, but apart from that, I sometimes regret that I have the freedom to remove challenges like this. It's a complex situation in which I want to not have to want something that hinders me, I don't want to have such a control over my enemies, because with such control, they feel fake when you do fight them. It's like, "I can remove you at the snap of a finger, but I'll fight you for sports." I don't want to fight for sports, I want to fight because I must, not because I choose to. Think of another game. Now imagine that there's a button that removes all enemies. That button is always at hand. I wouldn't like that! I wouldn't like to have that evil temptation around me all the time.
I don't mean to focus on the difficulty level and such, that's just an example. You can use examples (real or imagined) for any other aspect of the game. I am interested in hearing how you feel about all this, and if anyone else feels the way I do.
The same thing may happen to the hunger/food system: if you know that a few clicks can remove the problem of food and hunger (at any time), doesn't eating become a self-inflicted chore? I don't mind chores when I have zero choice about them, but this is different.
The larger topic, thus, is whether we shouldn't be forced to more things, and have our freedom reduced - and I mean specifically in the sense that too much freedom may kill a game (imagine invincibility in every game you've ever played, that sort of "freedom" would kill tension utterly, and you'd probably never want to play these games).
Playing on normal or else currently feels as if I were using my toes instead of my fingers: it feels like a superficial difficulty I'm imposing on myself for no good reason. Fighting mobs is a means to an end, that's why we shouldn't be exposed to the choice of removing them so easily; they are by definition a nuisance (the good kind) but for this reason must be imposed on us so we don't feel like they're a fake enemy (since an enemy you can remove any second isn't really a threat, we're just fooling ourselves).
I am not suggesting that the difficulty level system should be changed (although I think I would like that), I am merely inciting you to share your opinions on everything I said here. Keep in mind that the main difference between creative mode and survival mode is precisely this restrained freedom, and this is why those of us who play on survival like it. Imagine if you could suddenly get as many items as you wanted in a few clicks, could you still dig for hundreds of them? It's what I often do to get blocks to build things, but if I knew there was such an easy way to do it, I'd become disheartened because:
1) I wouldn't want to acquire this stuff that way
2) I couldn't work hard for it knowing there's such an easy way, I'd feel stupid (that said, the distance between creative and survival is enough to remove that feeling, since it's a different mode, etc)
Reduced freedom is required for survival, by definition, but how far should it go? Feel free to add your own questions to everyone, using examples I didn't use here.
I hope we'll have an interesting conversation. :smile.gif:
I think notch should add something on world creation:Locked difficulty. This would make it so that the difficulty would NOT be able to be changed. You'd pick the world's difficulty at creation! What'cha think
Like a choice on whether difficulty should be changeable or not? I suppose that's workable, but that's yet another choice I may not want to make! It's a choice about choice itself, we're getting meta fast here! My line of thinking, currently, is "Don't give me choices over things I shouldn't have choices over", such as enemy strength (which we can't change, rightfully so).
But it's an idea. If I did that, though, I may find myself regretting my choice, "Why didn't I leave the option to change levels?" To erase that regret, I'd need to have been forced. If I was never given the choice, there would never be any regret, because it'd be just how the game is. I think that's what I wish for.
heh, I've had the same experience in other games, though it happened the opposite way for me in minecraft. I started on peaceful, but got addicted to normal. However, I don't think we should restrict players because of this. Maybe try a few challenges (Perhaps downgrade and to the infamous 404 challenge?) to get a taste for difficulty, but removing options isn't the way to go.
Difficult choices is just an unfortunate truth, but I like robly18's idea of not letting you change difficulty ingame if you lock it.
If any senator wishes to read this, I suggest a SUSA bill. Stop United States Act. If the internet needs to babysit your lawmaking, Then there's something wrong.
Dude, HTFU and take some personal responsibility for your choices and stop expecting external institutions to provide structure for you. Don't you get enough of that in the real world already?
Minecraft is a perfect encapsulation of existential crisis and my point is that it's a GOOD THING for us, as real people, that we're forced to make these decisions. Be grateful to have choices with meaningful consequences instead of a grey morass of compelled realities.
Would it be possible to attach a difficulty modifier to different game settings, with bonuses/rewards of some kind for using them? I understand how you feel like peaceful is too tempting, and is there for you at any time. However, more options is always better. In order to get the best of both worlds, I think the game should give the player an XP bonus or even new achievements for playing on harder difficulties. A simple example would be for a player to collect a diamond/open a dungeon chest/etc. after first spawning on "hard" difficulty (without changing it), and they'd get an achievement for "Like a boss" or something similar.
Along another line, X amount of hours played without changing to peaceful would grant a durability bonus to some or all crafted items, or a speed bonus for their function. Harder difficulties could bring bigger bonuses, i.e. 5% slower hunger progression for 100 hours on normal, 10% for 100 hours of hard. As for combat, maybe 100 creepers killed on hard difficulty would give a 10% damage reduction to creeper explosions. I'd like to think the bonus would be tied to your profile, and would carry over any difficulty or world changes after you get it (maybe not SMP though, as that's a little overpowered.)
Of course Peaceful would get nothing as far as game advantages, but tooling around without threat of dying is reward enough on its own. :smile.gif:
Interesting idea. A check box at world creation: Allow difficulty settings? y/n. Selecting n gives better drops, like maybe zombies drop armor or something on occasion, but you can never change the difficulty.
I am also often tempted to switch to peaceful when I'm far from home and night falls. But a lot of that has to do with lag on my laptop.
Dude, HTFU and take some personal responsibility for your choices and stop expecting external institutions to provide structure for you. Don't you get enough of that in the real world already?
Minecraft is a perfect encapsulation of existential crisis and my point is that it's a GOOD THING for us, as real people, that we're forced to make these decisions. Be grateful to have choices with meaningful consequences instead of a grey morass of compelled realities.
So you're telling me to harden the F up because I want things more difficult for me? Interesting. I believe I explained my point well enough in the first point, if you didn't understand, I don't think I can explain it again in a more enlightening way; moreover, your reaction was anticipated. I had foolishly hoped that stating so would spare me the redundance.
As to my personal life, I'm pretty much free. I just like rules in a game. The rest is explained in details in my first post, try reading it fully.
The topic I wish to address is a common subtopic to many; it has to do with options, "sliders", etc. Whenever something displeases a part of us, someone suggests a slider, an on/off option, etc. Not necessarily a bad idea, but I'll present the problem in the shape of my own experience.
I used to play on normal difficulty, because I liked the challenge. Then I realised you could change the difficulty level at any time, and I immediately felt bad about this. Why? Because I had to resist the temptation, on my own. But I did so for a while. Then, one day, after dying for the 87th time in this dark complex series of caves, and losing yet all my items, I thought: "I really want to explore that area, shall I turn the game on peaceful for a moment?" I resisted the thought for 40 more deaths. I resented the fact that all my current efforts could be outdone by just a few clicks, and that I had to blind myself in order to think this was a bad alternative. Then I gave in, and got into peaceful mode.
Oh the joy of exploring this damn cave without any problem! Except I wasn't proud. It felt like cheating. Right there and then, I wished the difficulty level couldn't have been changed after you generated a new world.
Then I got back to normal, but the spell was broken: I had tasted the forbidden fruit, and no longer saw a valid reason to get back to normal. I kept playing on peaceful and visiting caves peacefully.
Long story short: even though I voluntarily chose to play on peaceful, I regret to have been given the freedom to change my difficulty level. I know what's coming to me when I say that:
You weak-willed individual! Don't blame the game for your short-comings!
Fair enough, but I know I'm not the only one to feel this way. Hear me out: crafting weapons, crafting armours, developing survival kills, etc, it's all done to resist better to mobs and their attacks. In the absolute, clicking "peaceful" gets you to the same place, so after a while, you have to force yourself against yourself, to not choose an option that maybe you should have no freedom over (except once, before your world is generated).
Don't get me wrong, I have been very happy to have that freedom when endermen started taking blocks away from everything, but apart from that, I sometimes regret that I have the freedom to remove challenges like this. It's a complex situation in which I want to not have to want something that hinders me, I don't want to have such a control over my enemies, because with such control, they feel fake when you do fight them. It's like, "I can remove you at the snap of a finger, but I'll fight you for sports." I don't want to fight for sports, I want to fight because I must, not because I choose to. Think of another game. Now imagine that there's a button that removes all enemies. That button is always at hand. I wouldn't like that! I wouldn't like to have that evil temptation around me all the time.
I don't mean to focus on the difficulty level and such, that's just an example. You can use examples (real or imagined) for any other aspect of the game. I am interested in hearing how you feel about all this, and if anyone else feels the way I do.
The same thing may happen to the hunger/food system: if you know that a few clicks can remove the problem of food and hunger (at any time), doesn't eating become a self-inflicted chore? I don't mind chores when I have zero choice about them, but this is different.
The larger topic, thus, is whether we shouldn't be forced to more things, and have our freedom reduced - and I mean specifically in the sense that too much freedom may kill a game (imagine invincibility in every game you've ever played, that sort of "freedom" would kill tension utterly, and you'd probably never want to play these games).
Playing on normal or else currently feels as if I were using my toes instead of my fingers: it feels like a superficial difficulty I'm imposing on myself for no good reason. Fighting mobs is a means to an end, that's why we shouldn't be exposed to the choice of removing them so easily; they are by definition a nuisance (the good kind) but for this reason must be imposed on us so we don't feel like they're a fake enemy (since an enemy you can remove any second isn't really a threat, we're just fooling ourselves).
I am not suggesting that the difficulty level system should be changed (although I think I would like that), I am merely inciting you to share your opinions on everything I said here. Keep in mind that the main difference between creative mode and survival mode is precisely this restrained freedom, and this is why those of us who play on survival like it. Imagine if you could suddenly get as many items as you wanted in a few clicks, could you still dig for hundreds of them? It's what I often do to get blocks to build things, but if I knew there was such an easy way to do it, I'd become disheartened because:
1) I wouldn't want to acquire this stuff that way
2) I couldn't work hard for it knowing there's such an easy way, I'd feel stupid (that said, the distance between creative and survival is enough to remove that feeling, since it's a different mode, etc)
Reduced freedom is required for survival, by definition, but how far should it go? Feel free to add your own questions to everyone, using examples I didn't use here.
I hope we'll have an interesting conversation. :smile.gif:
Like a choice on whether difficulty should be changeable or not? I suppose that's workable, but that's yet another choice I may not want to make! It's a choice about choice itself, we're getting meta fast here! My line of thinking, currently, is "Don't give me choices over things I shouldn't have choices over", such as enemy strength (which we can't change, rightfully so).
But it's an idea. If I did that, though, I may find myself regretting my choice, "Why didn't I leave the option to change levels?" To erase that regret, I'd need to have been forced. If I was never given the choice, there would never be any regret, because it'd be just how the game is. I think that's what I wish for.
Difficult choices is just an unfortunate truth, but I like robly18's idea of not letting you change difficulty ingame if you lock it.
Minecraft is a perfect encapsulation of existential crisis and my point is that it's a GOOD THING for us, as real people, that we're forced to make these decisions. Be grateful to have choices with meaningful consequences instead of a grey morass of compelled realities.
Along another line, X amount of hours played without changing to peaceful would grant a durability bonus to some or all crafted items, or a speed bonus for their function. Harder difficulties could bring bigger bonuses, i.e. 5% slower hunger progression for 100 hours on normal, 10% for 100 hours of hard. As for combat, maybe 100 creepers killed on hard difficulty would give a 10% damage reduction to creeper explosions. I'd like to think the bonus would be tied to your profile, and would carry over any difficulty or world changes after you get it (maybe not SMP though, as that's a little overpowered.)
Of course Peaceful would get nothing as far as game advantages, but tooling around without threat of dying is reward enough on its own. :smile.gif:
I am also often tempted to switch to peaceful when I'm far from home and night falls. But a lot of that has to do with lag on my laptop.
So you're telling me to harden the F up because I want things more difficult for me? Interesting. I believe I explained my point well enough in the first point, if you didn't understand, I don't think I can explain it again in a more enlightening way; moreover, your reaction was anticipated. I had foolishly hoped that stating so would spare me the redundance.
As to my personal life, I'm pretty much free. I just like rules in a game. The rest is explained in details in my first post, try reading it fully.