Glitches

This may be off topic, but something which was brought up in the lecture reminded me of something which has struck me previously.

Kevin brought up the difference between cheats, which were intended and included by the designers, and then there are glitches which are exploited. I find glitches and their reactions from both developers and players very interesting, in that once they are identified by players you would expect them to be sorted out. However, there have been examples of incorporation of glitches into gameplay by both developers and players to varying outcomes.

One example which struck me comes from Fable 2, in which an achievement is offered for luring a bandit into an area which will cause him to be stuck due to a glitch. This is a strange dynamic, as it presents an awareness by the developers of the presence of a glitch, but instead of treating it as something to be ironed out it is utilised as part of a challenge in the game. The player is then expected to break immersion and deal with this element from outside the game world, but this is often already the case when players are striving for challenging achievements. A video of the achievement in progress can be found below.

http://ah.roosterteeth.com/archive/?id=432&v=more

The flipside of this is players finding and utilising glitches to various ends. My example presents players in the, at the time, newly released Team Fortress 2. The ‘griefing’ video presents players exploiting glitches in the game to create havoc for both their teammates and enemies for entertainment. This ranges from simply getting in the way, and teleporting teammates to dangerous locations, to exploiting a glitch which traps the entire team in their base. This is then taken even further when the griefer turns the home base into a game show, in which players must answer trivia questions over voice chat before he will allow them to leave the base and start the game.

http://youtu.be/JUPzN7tp7bQ?t=4m6s