Why do people like "exploration" or "maze" games?

It really depends on the game, but games with fun exploration are often times fun in the same way that exploration in real life is fun. You never know what you are going to encounter and it's fun to figure out where to go sometimes. It can be exciting and rewarding.

As for the maze aspect... It's no different than solving any other kind of puzzle. It's fun to figure out. There is a reason why there are big books of mazes out there. Some people just like to solve this kind of puzzle.

It's hard to describe "why" because why does anyone like any kind of game? It just comes down to personal taste.

If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. There's really no rhyme or reason for it. In some games, like Metroid and Castlevania, it is presented in a way in which I like it. In others, like Banjo-Tooie and DK 64, it's presented in a way I don't like it.

Would you guys agree that Exploration and RPG aspects of any particular game fulfill a different entertainment need than, say, Shooting/Platforming aspects do?

IE, could a pure RPG (Final Fantasy) entertain in the same way that a pure shooter-platformer (Contra SS) would?

I don't think so - I think they fulfill completely different needs. Exploration/RPG aspects provide the same sort of enjoyment that many TV shows and movies do - they're basically like good daydreams, right? You shut yourself off for a bit, live through some other perspective, and you feel refreshed once the daydream is over.

A game like Contra SS isn't refreshing to me - it's a test, more akin to practicing free throws, taking swings at a driving range, or hitting a squash ball alone. I get enjoyment out of those games when I feel like my skills are developing, like I'm getting better at something - even though the something is unimportant. Imagination really doesn't even come into it - the closest I get to involving myself in the character is thinking something like "Take that, you robotic son of a bitch" after beating a boss...and, really, I could think the same sort of thing about a golf ball if I was a little bit weirder.

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Originally posted by Jeremy
If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. There's really no rhyme or reason for it. In some games, like Metroid and Castlevania, it is presented in a way in which I like it. In others, like Banjo-Tooie and DK 64, it's presented in a way I don't like it.

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I do think that we could, potentially, reason out why some people like exploration games.

Hey, if we weren't all so hardcore and we decided to embrace our inner casual gamers (for those of you that have them), we could ask:

Why do you like hard games?

I mean, it's a good question, isn't it? There are enough challenging things out there in the real world that there's no real reason you should be spending time challenging yourself in front of a television. If you want something challenging, why don't you go out and try to start a business, or sleep with more women, or develop your chip shot, or whatever? And, is it healthy to have your need for challenge fulfilled through video games when there are so many better ways to apply your natural abilities?

Maybe because they find it challenging, I can't say I like it a lot or hate it so I'm in between... now the real question is why people like those silly DDR games ;)

Well I guess people do have different tastes and one fun game to them might not be fun for you and the other way around too I would imagine... you get the idea :)

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Originally posted by Stone
See, I don't see how exploration has anything to do with intelligence or depth in gaming. It's not like the exploration in Metroid or one of Rare's games often requires any sort of deductive or analytical ability - the placement of the items you're searching for doesn't fit any sort of internal logic often enough for deductive ability to be useful. More often than not, you spend a lot of time moving back and forth (in my experience) until you stumble upon that last Golden Twinkie or Ice Ray upgrade or whatever.

Good graphical adventures (Day of the Tentacle or Sam and Max) are the only exploration-heavy games I can think of that maintain (and necessitate) enough of a sense of internal logic to NOT be mindless.

The quick thinking involved in reflex-based games, or the thinking involved in understanding a gameplay system, so on, seem to force a person to flex their intelligence more regularly than exploration-based gaming.

Actually, I'd argue that the reason people like exploration games is exactly because they're mindless. A game like Metroid gives you the excitement of seeing new things and enveloping yourself in a character without forcing you to have to deal with challenges like hard combat or difficult platforming. You can shut your brain off, and be sort of placated by easily destroyable enemies and easily makeable jumps, while you wander around an engrossing environment. It's a lot like a RPG, really, but the illusion of gameplay is stronger.

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Finding the "Ice Ray" isn't random at all. It requires realizing where you've been and what you can access now that you couldn't before. The flow of Metroid, especially, is generally a huge logic puzzle with enemies in the halls. It's all based on internal logic - you see a passage or door for which you see the Ice Beam to pass, so you search for the Ice Beam. Once you find it, you look for the next item, always realizing you can now access more than you could before.

I may have overstated by implying that reflex games are mindless. But they certainly don't require intelligence. Some might require strategy, but that's a different element altogether.

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Originally posted by Stone
Hey, if we weren't all so hardcore and we decided to embrace our inner casual gamers (for those of you that have them), we could ask:

Why do you like hard games?

I mean, it's a good question, isn't it? There are enough challenging things out there in the real world that there's no real reason you should be spending time challenging yourself in front of a television. If you want something challenging, why don't you go out and try to start a business, or sleep with more women, or develop your chip shot, or whatever? And, is it healthy to have your need for challenge fulfilled through video games when there are so many better ways to apply your natural abilities?

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That is an interesting question...

I think the answer is simply that the more challenging a game is the more of a sense of accomplishment you get from it. This is actually not different than real life. If you were an athlete, for example, you'd rather play against and defeat stiffer competition than constantly beat up on an easy opponant.

Maybe there is not a "need" to play challenging videogames, but I think it's much more worthwhile than playing games that are pointlessly easy. If you are going to play something it may as well be challenging or what's the point?

I enjoy hard games because of the challenge they provide to me, as a gamer. I enjoy a nice, easy romp in the park games as well. Depends on the mood.

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Originally posted by Stone
Would you guys agree that Exploration and RPG aspects of any particular game fulfill a different entertainment need than, say, Shooting/Platforming aspects do?

IE, could a pure RPG (Final Fantasy) entertain in the same way that a pure shooter-platformer (Contra SS) would?

I don't think so - I think they fulfill completely different needs. Exploration/RPG aspects provide the same sort of enjoyment that many TV shows and movies do - they're basically like good daydreams, right? You shut yourself off for a bit, live through some other perspective, and you feel refreshed once the daydream is over.

A game like Contra SS isn't refreshing to me - it's a test, more akin to practicing free throws, taking swings at a driving range, or hitting a squash ball alone. I get enjoyment out of those games when I feel like my skills are developing, like I'm getting better at something - even though the something is unimportant. Imagination really doesn't even come into it - the closest I get to involving myself in the character is thinking something like "Take that, you robotic son of a bitch" after beating a boss...and, really, I could think the same sort of thing about a golf ball if I was a little bit weirder.

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I completely agree with you. I think this is the reason we'll never see a Final Fantasy with a complex, satisfying combat engine or a Contra with deep character development and plot twists. Role-playing fans would bitch that they have to actually play the game, and action fans would be pissed they'd have to sit through a story.

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Originally posted by burgundy
Finding the "Ice Ray" isn't random at all. It requires realizing where you've been and what you can access now that you couldn't before. The flow of Metroid, especially, is generally a huge logic puzzle with enemies in the halls. It's all based on internal logic - you see a passage or door for which you see the Ice Beam to pass, so you search for the Ice Beam. Once you find it, you look for the next item, always realizing you can now access more than you could before.

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I'm not suggesting that the Ice Ray placement is random - just suggesting that the deductive ability necessary to make a leap from "I need Ice Beam" to "let's start wandering around to look for the Ice Beam" is so minor (and that logic so simple) that it's hardly any deductive ability at all.

Real deductive challenge would involve something like what you found in Lucasarts' SCUMM games - you see some hair on the floor that you can't pick up with your fingers. So, you think for a while and start looking for something that could suck stuff up. You think, ahah, Vacuum, and given that you understand SCUMM logic, you think hm, if I combine the motor, that shopping bag, and a dustpan, (all in your inventory) maybe I could make a Vacuum. Still pretty stupid, but there's a more expansive (if more obtuse) logic involved with that than there would be in something like - "I guess I should go look around until I find the gun that shoots blue stuff to open the blue door".

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Hey, if we weren't all so hardcore and we decided to embrace our inner casual gamers (for those of you that have them), we could ask:

Why do you like hard games?

I mean, it's a good question, isn't it? There are enough challenging things out there in the real world that there's no real reason you should be spending time challenging yourself in front of a television. If you want something challenging, why don't you go out and try to start a business, or sleep with more women, or develop your chip shot, or whatever? And, is it healthy to have your need for challenge fulfilled through video games when there are so many better ways to apply your natural abilities?

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I've been asking this question around here for months.