Ever play a video game with somebody who has /never/ played video
games before? It's eye-opening. There are so many unspoken rules and
conventions in video games - more in modern games than in older ones -
that we - the more experienced players - take so for granted that we
don't even notice how they are influencing us.

Like how, if you're in a steep valley, the goal is obviously to move
forward, because the walls are going to be unclimable. We might give
those walls a test or two but after that we recognize the destination
is down the trail. There's no need try and keep climbing; we know
we'll just bump into the invisible walls that keep us penned in. Just
the inability to climb - to hand-n-feet scrabble our way up a
moderately steep slope - is an accepted usual.

A more modern convention - but one that has become so common that it's
become all but unnoticeable - is the subtle highlighting of climbable
points. Whether it's a splash of white paint or differently colored
rocks, it's a sign that here-and-only-here we can press the action
button to scramble up a wall. Not the nearly identical bit of wall to
the left or right; no, only the discolored part.

Or that choke-points - that narrow crevice you squeeze through, or
that single door opening into a cave-system, stairs down to the next
level - is probably a load point and signifies that most of what you
were doing BEFORE that choke point won't directly interact with what
you'll be doing after. Monsters usually won't chase you, and a lot of
the mini-quests and the associated gear won't have any purpose
anymore. It's completely unrealistic, but we accept it as normal.

Just the fact that you can effectively and easily kill somebody is one
of those rules. Bang; headshot! Guy goes down. How do we know he's
really dead and not just knocked unconscious or shocked into
immobility? Maybe somebody will patch him up and he'll come back?
History is rife with stories of improbable survival stories where
bullets rode along the outside of a helmet, doing no permanent damage
to the wearer. It never happens in video games; headshots equal death.
It's a rule we don't question.

Playing with somebody who doesn't have familiarity with these
conventions is weird. They constantly question what we can and can't
do in games. Why can I climb this tree but not that one? Why can't I
pick up that soup can? I'd like to say something else (or say
SOMETHING) to that character but I'm not allowed to? Their
incognizance of how and why games work the way they do reminds us of
how unrealistic video-game worlds really are. And it makes you wonder
what other rules and laws - in games and elsewhere - we accept so
blindly that we don't even realize we're following them.

On 29/07/2023 13:21, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
> Playing with somebody who doesn't have familiarity with these
> conventions is weird. They constantly question what we can and can't
> do in games. Why can I climb this tree but not that one? Why can't I
> pick up that soup can? I'd like to say something else (or say
> SOMETHING) to that character but I'm not allowed to? Their
> incognizance of how and why games work the way they do reminds us of
> how unrealistic video-game worlds really are. And it makes you wonder
> what other rules and laws - in games and elsewhere - we accept so
> blindly that we don't even realize we're following them.

I'll go with.

- If you have enemies coming towards you then you often need to kill
them and press forward otherwise you'll find a new wave appears as if
out of thin air.
- The batteries in torches last no more than a minute but if you switch
them off they magically recharge themselves.
- Major wounds can be fixed by crouching behind a crate.
- People routinely leaving ammunition lying around in offices.
- Creatures that don't carry guns drop them when they die.

That's enough for now!

JAB <noway@nochance.com> writes:

> - Creatures that don't carry guns drop them when they die.

The reverse is also true, too often. Or the guns always break when they
fall. And the enemies' magic infinite ammo disappears too.