Mary’s relationship with open-world games is complicated. But it’s not the games that are to blame, but mainly her playing style.
Actually, I should love open-world games. I like the idea of moving freely through a world, being able to choose what I want to do next.
However, after the initial joy of so much freedom, a certain fatigue sets in. I notice how I increasingly enter autopilot mode and mindlessly complete one task after another.
I look for the shortest paths, skip story dialogues from side quests because I lose patience, find quests exhausting where not every monster drops what I need, and I only move through the actually beautiful world with tunnel vision.
In the past, I simply dismissed this as “open-world fatigue” and made excuses: the genre is worn out, I don’t have time for such long games anymore, all side activities feel the same.
All along, it wasn’t the games, but me that was the problem.
“I need to do this now”
My playing style is the problem. Because I want or need to complete all side quests and tasks in an area before moving on with the main story.
It doesn’t matter at all whether I can’t return to the area for a while afterwards or whether the game world allows me to choose when I do what. My inner urge to complete every quest and task in the area repeatedly ruins my gaming experience.
Worse still: The feeling of needing to take everything paralyzes me to the point where I leave beloved games lying around for weeks because I think of all the annoying side tasks I still have to do.
For example, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth has been sitting around for two weeks because I don’t feel like tackling the last major area. Meanwhile, the main story is approaching its climax.
Take away my quest log and icons
Just because I have identified the problem for myself doesn’t mean I can automatically solve it. I wish I could simply walk past side quests and continue with the actually fun part.
But it’s not that simple. Therefore, I need the support of games to get a handle on my destructive playing style. How this works is demonstrated by Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which I couldn’t put down for a full 90 hours until the end.
Instead of long lists of quests or side activities, Zelda simply gives me a few markers that I can assign myself and my current quest givers. However, the quest givers only tell me which direction my goals are in, without providing the exact locations.
This forces me to actively engage with the open world and go on exploration trips. Sure: I will never find all the secrets, quests, or Korok seeds. But since the game doesn’t actively write it on the to-do list for me, I can live with it.
Is this really just a me problem?
When I told some colleagues about the idea this morning in the office, I heard a lot of “Oh yes, I know that!”. So I have the slight suspicion that I’m not alone with my open-world problem.
How about you? Are you unlike me strong-willed and can simply ignore side quests and the like? How do you approach open-world games and what do you place special value on in side tasks and world design?
Maybe you have a secret super trick that solves my little problem. That would be wonderful. Because I really want to love open-world games, but I just can’t stop ruining them for myself.
