Maps

Todays lecture was on maps and their significance to certain game genres. I found today very interesting, I've always loved maps in game as well as physical maps provided in game cases such as the well known Rockstar titles (GTA, Red Dead etc). They allow you to get a mental grip on the world and begin fabricating it within your own head to know where you're going and if assigned something to do, where to go. 

I find the physical maps particularly special because when you purchase a game, you're still jsut purchasing an experience, you're not purchasing something 'physical', but the map makes the game 'real' in a sense, even though it's virtual you begin to make it real. Skyrim came with a map and I found this particularly useful for marking certain locations on it. For example there's an Ebony ore mine near an Orcish stronghold that resets every 45 game days or so, but the amount of ore you can amass can then be smelted and turned into armour and weapons. I remember first stumbling upon it and checking the map to mark it so I could go back there if need be. 
Another reason I adore maps is usually because they represent some form of 'world'. Open world games are my personal favourite as they have the element of exploration that I feel you just don't get with level based games. Within level based games you're 'funneled', if you like, down certain pathways, there just isn't much room for interpretation, whereas with a world map, you're free to go wherever you like right from the get-go. Now admittedly certain areas within these world maps, if you're not high levelled enough, are too dangerous, but it's nice to know you have the option to go there if you feel like risking it. 

I think this is what makes a lot of open-world adventure RPG's so successful, they quench the thirst in players for exploration and being inquisitive, two things which I personally adore doing within new games. I've only ever experienced the overwhelming sense of 'uncharted land' and brand new exploration in two games, the RPG Skyrim and the MMO Runescape, two games which I still play to this day, the latter quite heavily (having in excess of a solid 365+ days of gameplay). This is something I've NEVER come across with a level based game such as Halo, Crysis or CoD to mention a couple, they have very limited longevity factors to me, once I've played them through once or maybe twice, I've never revisited them as I've already discovered and completed everything. 
Whereas with, Runescape for example, I'm STILL doing new things to this day, recently a brand new city was introduced with a whole range of exclusive new things to do. That's the beauty of 'Open world', it can be added to at any time with any degree of size. It could be a new cave or a whole new faction, it doesn't matter, the point here, which I've used several times, is the word 'new'. People like 'new' things, and discovering a world for the first time incorporates exactly that, a 'new' experience for the player. 

There will be parts in here that probably don't make much sense but I feel very passionately about this subject and wanted to get my thoughts out into writing as todays lecture struck a chord with me.