Introduction
Okay, so the other day I posted on a thread about philosophy about an over developed sense of gaming governing how I live and see the world; a gamer complex. Someone posted questioning it. Now, this got me thinking about it all and how it would all work and how it would all fit together. I am requesting the help of any Escapists who stray onto this thread to help me finish this philosophy, fill in any gaps and rid it of any bugs.
Overview
The basic idea is that my life, and the lives of those around me, are all games. It may seem like a horrible concept at first, to compare someone's life to a game. Like I said, over developed gamer complex. The principle is that everything we do is in a sense a quest or mini game of sort to the bigger game of life, in which the objective is like all games, complete it 100%. In the following passages I'll explain it all in as much detail as possible and edit it as we all go through (maybe including update notations for reference).
Age
Seems like a pretty decent place to start. A level up system generated according to time spent in game. As you spend time in game you will learn how to play and how to do certain things and this is why you do not level up according to experience points. As you spend your time in game you will earn experience by completing a range of tasks. If you manage to reach 100 you win the 'Happy Birthday' achievement.
Being a Baby
To sum it up, this is the tutorial. This is the stage in which basic functions are learned and you become accustomed to the games control system. This quest ends at a certain age whether the player is comfortable with the controls or not. Due to a bug, some players may experience difficulty while in this stage that will cause problems throughout. If this problem arrises the best known way to help is to phone the game help line. Another bug may cause the player to experience the tutorial stage with no tutorial in a long free roam time. The only known solution is to hope a different version of the tutorial kicks in.
School
The prologue to the game. This quest is started immediately after the tutorial mission free roam time is up. This quest must be completed one way or another and unlocks the achievement 'Qualified'. This is a simple stage that doesn't take up too much game time in comparison to others but can be lengthened for an added bonus reward.
Love
In my opinion, this is the main quest line. It is debatable whether love is the meaning of life (or 'The Answer' as some may call it) however what is life without it? Taking love out of life is like taking Project Purity from Fallout 3 (I will reference Fallout a lot, I used it's engine for my philosophy) the game still has it's quality, but there is little point to it and there is a pretty disappointing ending, right? So, man or woman, love is the main quest line that completes it all for you. Once you are done with the main quest line you come to sex. Sex isn't a quest, it's a reward. A mini game along the main quest line that you will gain access to after certain things are completed. As you complete this mini game, you should get better at it; as you would in all mini games. By completing the main quest line you win the 'Kay Eye Ess Ess Eye En Gee' achievement. If the sex mini games are played with over 100 partners you win the 'Sleazeball' achievement. People dispute whether this is an actual achievement.
Disease
So, we have the main quest line, but are there any side quests? Yes, disease. This is one of the missions available along the line that may make you better or may cause you to get stuck and turn the game off. This mission will take some skill and some luck to beat but it can be well worth it in the end (depending on how the mission is tackled, what level you are and just general luck). Certain missions are difficult at different levels and can often cause you to get stuck, meaning you cannot complete the game. Once the mission is complete however, you are awarded with great respect and admiration and will grant you valuable experience points for completing later missions of the same sort as well as unlocking the achievement 'Vaccinated' and the perk with the same name. This perk will bring you an increased resistance to any diseases you catch a second time around. Disease side quests are randomly generated and can be played on top of the main quest line as well as other side quests. Some can also be repeated and some, through bugs, limit game time due to being unable to beat the mission. The game's help lines will gladly assist with the bug.
Jobs
This is another side quest that the player can complete. This side quest rewards you with money. Money is a vital part to the game and makes the main quest line much easier to complete. It is strongly advised that the player spend some amount of time on this side quest as the benefits of it are quickly used. Different jobs are available to players depending on what level they are, how many experience points they have and to how the school prerequisite was completed. All jobs have a scale on which you can progress. By ascending on the scale to the top of your field you get the 'Corporate Schmuck' achievement as well as the bonus money.
Fun
Fun side quests are simple to complete and offer a small amount of leisure that will go towards making you happy. By being happy, most players find it easy to complete the main quest line. Though the quests are easy, they only offer a small amount of points that can easily be taken away. Side quests of this sort can take a long time to complete but during that quest you gain leisure (which is constant throughout said quest) and these quests are rather aptly named. They are often replayed. There are many different fun quests in the game to be completed; any the player doesn't like do not need to be returned to and another can be tried out. By completing over 50 different fun quests you will be granted the 'Fun Lover' achievement.
Friends
This is an unmarked side quest that will earn the player the achievement 'Socialite'. The objective is simple and the achievement is easily unlocked. The player must simply play in the multi-player for a certain amount of time which differs depending on how the prologue was completed. Friends also award you social which will go towards increasing happiness. By
Relaxing
Relaxing includes using chairs to rest in and beds to sleep in. By wandering around, completing side missions and other tasks you reduce your relaxation. Relaxation goes towards your total happiness. Relaxing too long can deteriorate your health points and there is a known bug that will cause your game to stop mid way through sleep, however this is extremely rare. Increasing your Relax to 100 will grant you the 'Lazy' achievement and perk. This will give you a 50% boost to relax when resting.
Happiness
Happiness is the balance between social, relaxation and leisure. Your happiness affects how ou are received by others. Some find it annoying if your happiness is too high while others will not talk to you if it is too low. Happiness is extremely beneficial to the main quest. Some happiness comes from completing side quests. Achieving a Happiness of over 70 will give you the 'Optimist' achievement and perk which will give you a permanent boost to happiness. Completing 60% of the game with less than 30 Happiness will grant you the parallel 'Pessimist' achievement and perk which permanently decreases happiness by 30 and also
Houses
These can be bought or rented. Houses are where you will find sleeping arrangements as well as resting utilities. TV can also be used as an activity to increase happiness and falls into the Leisure and Relax lists which means it has more happiness than most other activities.
End Game
The game may end in many ways, whether you worked towards it or not. You can either complete the story line, get stuck in the disease side quests or get bored and give up. The end cut scene will be different depending on how the game was played and you will then be shown the leaderboard and how well you score in comparison to everyone else.
02/08/2010: 09.11 GMT - First release
Fill any gaps and suggest your own idea or just tell me what you think on my philosophy that has been expanded from everything is a game to... well, this.
Okay, so the other day I posted on a thread about philosophy about an over developed sense of gaming governing how I live and see the world; a gamer complex. Someone posted questioning it. Now, this got me thinking about it all and how it would all work and how it would all fit together. I am requesting the help of any Escapists who stray onto this thread to help me finish this philosophy, fill in any gaps and rid it of any bugs.
Overview
The basic idea is that my life, and the lives of those around me, are all games. It may seem like a horrible concept at first, to compare someone's life to a game. Like I said, over developed gamer complex. The principle is that everything we do is in a sense a quest or mini game of sort to the bigger game of life, in which the objective is like all games, complete it 100%. In the following passages I'll explain it all in as much detail as possible and edit it as we all go through (maybe including update notations for reference).
Age
Seems like a pretty decent place to start. A level up system generated according to time spent in game. As you spend time in game you will learn how to play and how to do certain things and this is why you do not level up according to experience points. As you spend your time in game you will earn experience by completing a range of tasks. If you manage to reach 100 you win the 'Happy Birthday' achievement.
Being a Baby
To sum it up, this is the tutorial. This is the stage in which basic functions are learned and you become accustomed to the games control system. This quest ends at a certain age whether the player is comfortable with the controls or not. Due to a bug, some players may experience difficulty while in this stage that will cause problems throughout. If this problem arrises the best known way to help is to phone the game help line. Another bug may cause the player to experience the tutorial stage with no tutorial in a long free roam time. The only known solution is to hope a different version of the tutorial kicks in.
School
The prologue to the game. This quest is started immediately after the tutorial mission free roam time is up. This quest must be completed one way or another and unlocks the achievement 'Qualified'. This is a simple stage that doesn't take up too much game time in comparison to others but can be lengthened for an added bonus reward.
Love
In my opinion, this is the main quest line. It is debatable whether love is the meaning of life (or 'The Answer' as some may call it) however what is life without it? Taking love out of life is like taking Project Purity from Fallout 3 (I will reference Fallout a lot, I used it's engine for my philosophy) the game still has it's quality, but there is little point to it and there is a pretty disappointing ending, right? So, man or woman, love is the main quest line that completes it all for you. Once you are done with the main quest line you come to sex. Sex isn't a quest, it's a reward. A mini game along the main quest line that you will gain access to after certain things are completed. As you complete this mini game, you should get better at it; as you would in all mini games. By completing the main quest line you win the 'Kay Eye Ess Ess Eye En Gee' achievement. If the sex mini games are played with over 100 partners you win the 'Sleazeball' achievement. People dispute whether this is an actual achievement.
Disease
So, we have the main quest line, but are there any side quests? Yes, disease. This is one of the missions available along the line that may make you better or may cause you to get stuck and turn the game off. This mission will take some skill and some luck to beat but it can be well worth it in the end (depending on how the mission is tackled, what level you are and just general luck). Certain missions are difficult at different levels and can often cause you to get stuck, meaning you cannot complete the game. Once the mission is complete however, you are awarded with great respect and admiration and will grant you valuable experience points for completing later missions of the same sort as well as unlocking the achievement 'Vaccinated' and the perk with the same name. This perk will bring you an increased resistance to any diseases you catch a second time around. Disease side quests are randomly generated and can be played on top of the main quest line as well as other side quests. Some can also be repeated and some, through bugs, limit game time due to being unable to beat the mission. The game's help lines will gladly assist with the bug.
Jobs
This is another side quest that the player can complete. This side quest rewards you with money. Money is a vital part to the game and makes the main quest line much easier to complete. It is strongly advised that the player spend some amount of time on this side quest as the benefits of it are quickly used. Different jobs are available to players depending on what level they are, how many experience points they have and to how the school prerequisite was completed. All jobs have a scale on which you can progress. By ascending on the scale to the top of your field you get the 'Corporate Schmuck' achievement as well as the bonus money.
Fun
Fun side quests are simple to complete and offer a small amount of leisure that will go towards making you happy. By being happy, most players find it easy to complete the main quest line. Though the quests are easy, they only offer a small amount of points that can easily be taken away. Side quests of this sort can take a long time to complete but during that quest you gain leisure (which is constant throughout said quest) and these quests are rather aptly named. They are often replayed. There are many different fun quests in the game to be completed; any the player doesn't like do not need to be returned to and another can be tried out. By completing over 50 different fun quests you will be granted the 'Fun Lover' achievement.
Friends
This is an unmarked side quest that will earn the player the achievement 'Socialite'. The objective is simple and the achievement is easily unlocked. The player must simply play in the multi-player for a certain amount of time which differs depending on how the prologue was completed. Friends also award you social which will go towards increasing happiness. By
Relaxing
Relaxing includes using chairs to rest in and beds to sleep in. By wandering around, completing side missions and other tasks you reduce your relaxation. Relaxation goes towards your total happiness. Relaxing too long can deteriorate your health points and there is a known bug that will cause your game to stop mid way through sleep, however this is extremely rare. Increasing your Relax to 100 will grant you the 'Lazy' achievement and perk. This will give you a 50% boost to relax when resting.
Happiness
Happiness is the balance between social, relaxation and leisure. Your happiness affects how ou are received by others. Some find it annoying if your happiness is too high while others will not talk to you if it is too low. Happiness is extremely beneficial to the main quest. Some happiness comes from completing side quests. Achieving a Happiness of over 70 will give you the 'Optimist' achievement and perk which will give you a permanent boost to happiness. Completing 60% of the game with less than 30 Happiness will grant you the parallel 'Pessimist' achievement and perk which permanently decreases happiness by 30 and also
Houses
These can be bought or rented. Houses are where you will find sleeping arrangements as well as resting utilities. TV can also be used as an activity to increase happiness and falls into the Leisure and Relax lists which means it has more happiness than most other activities.
End Game
The game may end in many ways, whether you worked towards it or not. You can either complete the story line, get stuck in the disease side quests or get bored and give up. The end cut scene will be different depending on how the game was played and you will then be shown the leaderboard and how well you score in comparison to everyone else.
02/08/2010: 09.11 GMT - First release
Fill any gaps and suggest your own idea or just tell me what you think on my philosophy that has been expanded from everything is a game to... well, this.