The Paradox of Open World Game Design

By The Game Overanalyser

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Open world game design is often critiqued for being too controlling, constrained, guided. We do see a shift from this philosophy towards more self directed experiences, whether Breath of the Wild or Elden Ring. However, what if this duality between freedom and control speaks to something deeper , an ideology of networked control that transcends the game itself. Support on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gameoveranalyser Thanks to all Patrons as well as new patrons -Mourdjen Bari - Sam Kirk Sources - Open World Empire: Race, Erotics, and the Global Rise of Video Games , Christopher B Patterson - The Freedom Fallacy , GDC Scott Rigby , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vct13OhIio&t=41s - Meaningful Choice in Game Level Design , Matthias Worch GDC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEF4GVNzkUw&t=23s - Fallout GDC Postmortem , Timothy Cain https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2OxO-4YLRk -Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games , Greig de Peuter and Nick Dyer-Witheford

Tags: open world game design, elden ring, breath of the wild, game analysis

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