We’ll Know It When We See It
by ted2112, HSM team writer
I’m a musician, and one of the funny things about stepping out into the road of playing music is the aphorism that ‘the road never ends.’ Whatever instrument you choose, there is no stopping point where you say to yourself, “I’m happy; I’ve mastered this.” It simply doesn’t work like that.
We tinker, tweak, experiment, practice, change, and practice some more. We are searching for a sound. We don’t know just what that sound is, but we’ll know it when we hear it. Some of the most important music of our time has been produced this way, and you’d be surprised at just how much it’s a part of our DNA.
In the great Uncharted series by Naughty Dog, the protagonist, Drake, was on a quest of discovery of something he had no idea what it would be. In the game, he could have stopped at any point — yet he didn’t. In U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Bono talks about all the amazing things he has done, yet still hasn’t found that unknown thing that he is seeking.
One of my favorite tech stories is that of Steve Jobs’ return to Apple Computers. He came back to the company after being forced out (and started a new computer company that failed). He was out of ideas; he had nothing, but knew that he would know that next new amazing thing when he saw it. He reached out to everyone for their ideas, no matter how trivial, and in that found the idea for the iPod. That little mp3 player changed Apple’s fortunes completely.
This is one of the things that draw us to video games. Sure, we might have some info and a few screenshots, or perhaps a commercial on TV, but you really don’t know what it’s going to be like until you actually play it. We walk into the unknown, searching for that thing we have no idea what it’s going to be. MMOs and sandbox-style video games excel at this, and that sense of exploration ignites that desire of stepping out into a road that has no end.
Let’s face it: for almost all of us, there is no adventure or epic quest in our life. We work hard, try and succeed as best we can, but the closest we get to a boss battle is our commute home. This is the allure of gaming: the fulfillment of the need to search for things, when we don’t even know what they are.
I love sushi, and the choices are enormous. It can be like a food adventure. Some things end quite badly, but some rock your world when you try them. You get to step out into the unknown and fly by the seat of your taste buds.
Video games have come a long way. In the beginning, there was no mystery as to where you were going; instead, it was a question of motor skills. Could you accomplish some reflex-based task? Over time, searching for the unknown has become the very central core of gaming. Like fiction itself, we aren’t let in on the mystery until the very end, if at all.
I was thinking about Digital Leisure’s Western Frontier. The space is truly massive, with a ton to explore. As Home experiences go, it’s easily one of the best you can find. Yet, at least for me, it hasn’t 
presented that certain something we hope to find upon exploring these types of spaces.
I think that if you look back at all the Home games that somehow didn’t live up to what we’d hoped, Mercia comes to mind. We will find too much known and not enough unknown. It’s that unknown that keep us turning the pages of the sushi menu or novel, or looking for that perfect ratio of condiments for burgers, or that next rack of clothes in the store.
We are people out for a quest, to capture that certain something. What that certain something is, I still can’t say — because, like Bono, I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.
January 30th, 2014 by ted2112 | 2 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
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:^/ It’s said that a good novelist starts with his story’s ending, and works backwards from there. Likewise with a good game’s story. The writer begins with something to say, then works out what to reveal, and when.
Many of Home’s spaces lack this. Mercia had enough mystery to make me wonder what their world had been before whatever disaster struck it, but it didn’t feel as if we were progressing towards its restoration. Just grinding away at open-ended mission after mission.
It was as good as Home’s limitations allowed, I suppose, but there wasn’t a satisfying sense of getting to know these characters, and thus to care for them.
;^) You’ve made a good point, man.
That unknown “something” is what has driven man forever to find what is missing, be it a new continent or the answer to a medical question, we are all seeking something in life to give us that “Eureka, I’ve found it!” experience.
For many it will never come, they give up the hunt before accomplishing anything. Home can offer some experiences like nothing else out there right now, but I agree that none of the gaming offerings have that mysterious something. Home isn’t a game anyway, it is a social experiment so if you are looking to find that special something there, you won’t unless it is in a relationship with another person. I would say that for those who have found a marriage here, it has done that.
Good read as always Ted.
Nice read Ted.