If I only know a limited number of words, then that also limits the number of ways I can assemble them into sentences. Eventually I’ll reach a point where I’ve exhausted every possibility and combination, a point where I have nothing to say, a point where I start repeating myself. I may not have reached this point yet, but I think I’m closing in on it.
The clearest solution is to get more words; I need more of them in my system. And I’m partly talking about literal words here, but I’m mostly referring to figurative ones. Words – particularly action words – represent possibilities.
One of the reasons I’ve gotten so damn tired of videogames is that they really only give you one verb: “kill.” Yeah, some games – at least on the surface – try to give you more choices than that, but those “complex choices” are nearly always implemented in a way that’s hokey and inflexible.
But “kill” applies to anything. 99% of the time, it’s a function that’s hard-wired to a specific button. You press that button and your avatar will do something violent.
The only nuanced way to interact with anything in a videogame is to shoot it. It’s not like real life, where you have hands. In a game, you’re effectively just a disembodied gun. This gets old after a while.
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