Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The Magic of Winning

I’ve been doing some more work with TOT (and some older games ^.~) and it has me thinking once again about how I play them. There’s something gratifying about accomplishing Nancy tasks, we’ll say like filing or perhaps organizing books. These task oriented puzzles signal a bit of a cheer from my brain when I’ve finished. “Congrats Novel, you’ve won the Bee’s Knees game. You deserve a cookie and a nap.” Now I may be the only one who has his own cheering squad, particularly for Nancy’s minor, and possibly mundane, hurdles, but this experience is very different from actually completing the game.

Often, by the time I’ve reached the confrontation scene, I’m so immersed in the story I forget I’m controlling it. I feel pride for Nancy at having caught the villain and end the nefarious scheme(s). I’m drawn back into the books, thinking that I have a passenger to Nancy’s journey, not actually driving. It is only when I’ve reached the meta-awards that I remember that I have been behind the wheel. I’ve been an unseen assistant, helping to shape the goal-at-hand. I think maybe this is the bigger accomplishment, to leave behind my ego and really step into this character’s shoes. To me, that is a true win.

We’ll talk puzzles tomorrow, I promise!

-Novel (musing) -

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