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Cerberus and Verisimilitude
http://www.ferrousmoon.com:80/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1891
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Author:  IPGhost [Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Cerberus and Verisimilitude

I realized the other day why Uplink was such a fascinating game to play. Not because of the novelty, the minimalist futuristic graphics, and definitely not for the "realness" of hacking into stuff that the game delivered - but because it recreates a fantastic, unrealistic, Hollywood-esque experience.

Think about all the total brain-crawling-out-of-skull logic-defying hacking sequences you've seen in movies and the like. That's what Uplink set out to recreate, and I think if Cerberus is to maintain itself as an interesting game to play, it should take some hints there.

It's not so much about the actual mechanics of networks, security and compromising both - but rather about the experience delivered (however fantasmagorical that may be). Granted, Uplink failed by not having more quest missions and making it WAY too sandbox, but hey, it was their first game, forgive and forget.

Cerberus can and should do better, I think. Even if it involves sacrificing minor details, like, say, filesystem incompatibilities. Or the fact that a backtrace, in the real world, would be pretty much instantaneous (you hand out your IP to the machine you're connecting to, hello?).

Etc.

Author:  Holland_is_mad [Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:26 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cerberus and Verisimilitude

1) I agree that it's about the experience much more then the realistic correctness.
2) However a certain degree of (faked) realism is required to make the experience rewarding.
3) I disagree that a real-world trace would be instantaneous as that is what anonymous proxies are there to prevent.
4) However in the real world the "nodes" of companies cannot be used as anonymous proxies.

Author:  IPGhost [Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cerberus and Verisimilitude

Quote:
2) However a certain degree of (faked) realism is required to make the experience rewarding.
Obviously, but it shouldn't go overboard with the realism. That's not the point of a hacking simulator. If you want a real game, play it in the real world.
Quote:
3) I disagree that a real-world trace would be instantaneous as that is what anonymous proxies are there to prevent.
4) However in the real world the "nodes" of companies cannot be used as anonymous proxies.
So you disagree then go on to contradict your own statement? Lol. I wasn't pointing at any specific example, just that we shouldn't get hung up by how "real" Cerberus turns out to be.

No, you can't just randomly route through computers you haven't installed proxies/trojans on. But yes, Uplink let you do it anyway, because it added a new dimension to the game, no matter how unrealistic it would be to implement in the real world.

Author:  FinalWarrior [Tue Aug 25, 2009 1:28 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Cerberus and Verisimilitude

Quote:
If you want a real game, play it in the real world.
Only no. That sort of logic is what gets Jack Thompson all hot and bothered. The whole point of a game being a game, regardless of how realistic it is or isn't, is to keep itself separate from reality. Y'see, it's because of this thing called "consequences". Consequences in games are avoidable because the game is only a simulation of reality - all you have to do is restart. Consequences in real life are, for the most part, decidedly unavoidable.

Incidentally, phantasmagorical is a real word and means close enough to the Urban Dictionary denotation of "fantasmagorical".

Coincidentally, I don't think you're using the right meaning of "verisimilitude". Verisimilitude means, approximately, "the appearance of reality" - but more precisely (at least, from my point of view), "the appearance of reality within the context of oneself". Uplink is verisimilar: while it isn't at all like real hacking, it maintains its own "reality" of hacking. Basically, it doesn't break from itself; Uplink establishes its own appearance of "reality", and keeps up that appearance, thus making it easier for the audience to suspend their disbelief.

(Verisimilitude is why a lot of Hollywood flicks can get away with Hollywood physics - in real life, bullets don't create highly-visible sparks when they hit nonorganic objects, but as long as all bullets that hit nonorganic objects spark in the movie, the appearance of reality is maintained.)

I personally hope that Cerberus retains a high degree of sandboxery while simultaneously maintaining a stupidly terrifying high degree of verisimilitude... kind of like Uplink.

-- Griffinhart

Author:  IPGhost [Tue Aug 25, 2009 6:10 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Cerberus and Verisimilitude

Which was exactly my point:
Quote:
That's what Uplink set out to recreate, and I think if Cerberus is to maintain itself as an interesting game to play, it should take some hints there.

Author:  FinalWarrior [Tue Aug 25, 2009 5:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Cerberus and Verisimilitude

My apologies, then. I misinterpreted your first post as saying "Cerberus should sacrifice verisimilitude in favor of gameplay".

-- Griffinhart

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