Julian Bleecker

It seems counter productive to say these games are/will be "plot free" or that they won't be goal-based narratives.
In order to create engaging experiences in these large worlds, the designers want to shift the traditional goals of conquering to goals that encourage exploration and community building. And many games have made successful attempts at this.
There are people who will play in a sandbox, no matter what. But I think in order to increase the acceptance of non-violent, non-traditional games, the designers should sneak in some traditional "goal-based missions" in there. These can be disguised pretty cleverly, and can yield incredible results and high levels of participation; two traditional game design goals that I hope these designers ARE continuing to pursue.

"Interactive, immersive, operatic paintings."

Sounds like Richard Wagner talk to me... the Gesamtkunstwerk...

Good point kellee,
but "goal-based missions"... sounds so much like a military srategy, they are talking about MMO operatic paintings. I imagine that they would like break from the traditional "carrot on a string", though a difficult task to accomplish while still providing a compelling experience.

I have to admit though, if there is no goal, having any kind of community experience would be hard.

I imagine like the real world, users would create meaning and purpose, where some simply would tell them there is none.

except in the real world, i don't HAVE to pay to participate (although just like in MMOGs, it can make things more interesting if i do)

I agree with you Kellee - this game is beautiful (it's actually a screensaver). But it's currently a little too tilted towards beauty, and not enough meaningful action. It's diverting to wander a 3d world as a human-faced deer (a Miyazaki tribute if 'er I saw one). But my media diet has trained me to want to explore. The other deer provide limited distraction, the forest is lovely but same-ish.

If only I could leave a trace! Silly human.

If I just want to wander through a forest, I'll go hiking in a REAL one.

Beyond that, the notion of a "plotless game" is ridiculous. Even if no plot is built into a game, an emergent plot will be created by the player's path through the game.

It certainly is pretty though--props the them on that! They talk as if this type of exploratory space is a new idea, yet (admittedly without having played "Endless Forest") it sounds a lot like the old Cyan game, "Manhole" (conceptually)