Anna Anthropy posted a list of her games’ goals in response to a challenge by Andi “Jumpman” McClure. Seemed like something worth doing for my own games. So below are the stated player character or plot goals in my games. I’m not including LORE, since goals depend entirely on the individual group playing it.
- Collect treasures and survive a dangerous environment
- Understand an alien environment
- Escape a surreal environment
- Hack into computers to fight totalitarianism and terrorism
- Mine, demolish, and defend candy planetoids
- Do the following:
- Experience an apocalypse
- Talk to a snake about an apple
- Collect a treasure
- Set down a suitcase and depart
- See a significant other off on a plane
- Grow to adulthood and establish a home then (as another character) kill or ally with yourself
- Read texts by fully exploring environments
- Give people respect for mold by manipulating their lives
- Destroy evil
- Survive an invasion of your home
- Communicate with others, collect treasure, and race through environments
- Balance abstractions of emotions
- Collect treasure and avoid danger
- Learn about and explore an unfamiliar environment
- Wait for a door to open in order to get an answer
- Beat your friends at a card game or explore a mysterious environment
- Travel through a familiar environment to check a beacon
- Collect treasure in a hazardous environment
- Protect your offspring from danger
- Escape or control an unfamiliar environment
Some patterns I’m seeing are below. I’m counting the component games of The Bryant Collection as one game each.
- 40% of the games involve exploring or traveling through an environment that is important to the game.
- 40% of the games involve fighting or avoiding adversaries or physical danger.
- 28% of the games involve seeking knowledge or information.
- 20% of the games involve engaging with others in a social or emotionally manipulative way without violence.
And as a side note, only 28% of the games provide a way to directly physically harm another being.