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[Rechan]

The notion of save points is interesting, actually. When you think of old games, that made you restart from the beginning, many of those games also wanted you to spend a lot of quarters. Or expected you to sit in front of the screen from start to finish (which was a very, very long time).

Here is actually an article on the history of death in video games.

Some video games however do vary it up. For instance, Bioshock has saves, yes. But, throughout a level there are these giant tubes. When you die, your body actually re-materializes in one of these tubes in real-time. So if you died right outside the tube, then the enemy is still out there and will eat your face as soon as you step out. Otherwise, you have to run back to where you were killed before. The aforementioned Prey is another good example.

Originally Posted by Umbran

I would expect that for most computer game players, the primary motivation is playing the game. The story behind the game, and the playing of the role, are secondary in comparison to the pushing of buttons and the working of strategies.

Depends on the game. After all, I think the major motivation for "playing a video game" to the end is: 1) Wanting to see the full story/the ending/experience everything, and 2) the satisfaction of "beating" the game.

Button mashing and strategum is just how you achieve the above.

Originally Posted by Mallus

On the other hand, games with save points can pull more moments of pure surprise on players, that is, they can use challenges that really aren't meant to be solved the first life through. Part of the fun of software games is really just gussied-up trial-and-error. Die and restart until you solve the challenge.

On the contrary, I really, really despise games that not only expect you to do trial and error, but they design the situation so that is the only way to succeed.

The various "Grand Theft Auto" games are a great example of this. Take for instance a mission that's a car race. During the race, someone at a pre-designated point jumps out in your path, and you crash your car, and lose. The only way to "beat" this is that you have to remember every little pitfall and eventually run the entire mission "perfect". You must master the entire situation from start to finish.

That is extremely frustrating from my point of view. Especially when each go-around is long or tedious.

There is some wiggle room. Megaman is an example - the strategy to "beat" the various bosses is to memorize their pattern, and to discover their weaknesses versus various other powers you achieve when beating another boss. That process of learning and then exploiting the pattern is enjoyable for me. The problem comes when, if you die, you have to go through a long stage just to get back to that boss.