Matrix Online: What Makes A Good Game?

The question that everyone has an opinion about, What makes a good game? MxO.Walrus stopped by the official Matrix Online Forums to get your opinions.

Thanks for everyone's feedback on the last topic. It seems like most of the community would like a forum specifically for graphics or at least for sigs. I'll see what I can do about that.

In the meantime, I'm going to try to get a new topic up for discussion every week. What it's about will depend on what's going on with beta, in the community, or just with the game in general. This week I'm asking for your opinion on what makes a good game.

Last week, I was talking with some team members about other games we play. We were discussing what it was about a game that made us want to play it. Not only what initially sparked our interest, but what made us go back to a game and dust it off every now and then (if we ever shelved it).

The most obvious example for me is Civilization III. While part of the draw was remembering how much I enjoyed the first two games, I'm also a fan of turn-based strategy. I've enjoyed a few RTS games, but I generally don't play them well and lose interest quickly. However, a turn-based game with the scope of Civ III can hold my attention for a long time.

That's another draw for me: huge scope. Give me an open-ended game that doesn't leave me feeling directionless and I'm all over it. Civ III gives me that with the ability to choose my play style and multiple victory conditions.

The replayability is a fairly obvious perq: every time you play you can have a different map, a different civilization, and different enemies. The changing map is a big deal for me, because I love the exploration stage of the game. Building, researching, and working with or against other civilizations is all well and good, but I just can't get enough of wandering around finding out what's over the next hill. I'll start game after game just to experience the exploration stage.

So we were wondering what makes you want to play a game. What attracts you to a game in the first place? What makes you keep playing? What makes you come back to it again and again?

Here's the Full Thread