Tag Archives: exploration in games

Food For Thought, General Commentary

We need more etecoons and dachoras in games

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The following post originally appear on Geek Force Network, May 24, 2013. Media substitutions have been made in accordance with UWG’s guidelines.

Well, not literally. But bear with me here…

(And keep reading if that title makes no sense. I swear it will.)

I’ve been on something of a Metroid kick lately. Between writing about Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission on my own blog and watching the At the Buzzer’s Super Metroid Let’s Plays, I’ve been thinking about Samus and her adventures quite a bit. So much so that I just revived an old Super Metroid playthrough that I had started awhile back on the Wii, where I’ve just found the etecoons. Without spoiling too much for those new to Metroid, not everything in that universe wants to kill Samus. In addition to the “kind” Chozo statues (and Samus’s history with that race), the monkey-like etecoons and large birds called dachoras, exist in a couple Metroid games to help Samus.

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Food For Thought

We explore, therefore we are

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Image by Flickr user dadillydog
Image by Flickr user dadillydog

“My problem with these games is that I end up exploring rather than following the story. And then I just want to keep on exploring.” My husband said to me as he traversed the outskirts of Los Santos in GTA V.

I paused and then responded, “Is that a bad thing?”

That’s the point with open world games, after all. Players dictate what their characters do and where they go. But where’s the appeal in deviating completely from the main story and going off on one’s own? What’s in it for the player? Why do we so enjoy exploring in video games?

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