Interview RPG Watch interviews Jeff Vogel

[Section8]

I don't see this as opposed to my example, I see it as reinforcing my point. If all the walking ended in nothing, it would be useless (that's why it's "filler" and not coolstuff). But if there is some coolstuff (summiting) that depends on the completion of the filler (walking), then the filler gains value because it is the trial by which you prove your worthiness and attain the coolstuff. The same summit without the filler as a "guardian trial" would have much less worth. So the filler has created value by making the summit (or whatever accomplishment) meaningful.

I'm not sure you're getting me here.

because it is the trial by which you prove your worthiness and attain the coolstuff.

In my example, you're walking without breaking a sweat. That's a trial to nothing but your patience. You're not really testing yourself, and since you're on a treadmill, there is no real summit.

The way I see negative game filler - let's take NWN, since it's a textbook example - is that you're basically vesting time in a boring activity, and your "reward" is either a more interesting activity, or a virtual gain.

That to me is the equivalent of walking for an hour on treadmill to charge a battery that powers a gaming machine for five minutes.

It's like downloading a game demo, and instead of simply just letting it passively transfer, it pauses every ten seconds until you click a nag button.

You can argue that there's a sense of accomplishment in having tested your patience in order to attain something to provide enjoyment, but I already
spend 40-50 hours a week working to earn my recreation. I'm not willing to have something I enjoy less than work taking up the lion's share of my spare time just to better appreciate a further diminished recreation time.

By all means, trial me. Let me prove my worth to attain the coolstuff. Just don't try only my patience.

 

[Claw]

Apart from all the rats in two early locations, Fallout didn't have filler, did it?

That was more like a combat tutorial than filler. Also, the molerats were a sufficient challenge for a non-combat character. Besides, rats made sense in the environment.

The random rat encoutners were merely a nuisance, though.

 

[RGE]

I don't see how rats made sense in any of those two environments. Rats are living creatures who eat stuff to survive, much like humans. Apart from long dead Ed, what are they going to eat in that mountain cave? Ok, maybe there was enough to eat outside the cave, despite it supposedly being a wasteland out there. Maybe they were just hiding from the sun in there? Maaaybeee...

But down in the old Vault 15? I could see how the bigger rats might eat the smaller ones, but what are the smaller ones eating? Do they climb up the two elevator shafts and feast upon the sand? Ok, perhaps there are little bugs that they can eat, bugs that feed on air and sunshine. Makes total sense. Not at all filler to make an otherwise deserted place more interesting and challenging and XP-rewarding.

I also wonder who left all the stuff down there, but seeing how I'm going to have to drop off several pounds of similar loot in Modoc today, I guess it was someone who got lucky out in the wasteland and didn't have the strength to carry it all to a trading post. Thus they decided to stash some spare equipment in a place nobody visits.