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[MadMummy76]

Progression is linear even in fully open world games, I don't know what are you getting at.

I can't think of any game were progress is not linear unless the game has no progress at all, and just an open ended sandbox, like Flight Simulator, where the means are the end. You are not playing at any particular goal you just choose an activity and do that.

 

[Brian_B]

Progression is linear even in fully open world games, I don't know what are you getting at.

I can't think of any game were progress is not linear unless the game has no progress at all, and just an open ended sandbox, like Flight Simulator, where the means are the end. You are not playing at any particular goal you just choose an activity and do that.

I’m trying to draw a distinction between the two, and maybe see if someone isn’t arguing for one versus the other here in this back and forth.

For instance: I would argue WoW is linear even with its “open” world - you can’t ride the rides unless your progression is at least this tall, after all. Many people would say it’s open because there isn’t any level loading or “zoning” - which I never put a lot of stock in; you get those oddly shaped geographic blocks in there that are just as immersion-breaking as a load screen to me. And others would say it’s open because you ~can~ go anywhere, even if you can’t do anything due to a progression barrier.

Not sure any of those is wrong, just different perspectives.

 

[MadMummy76]

I’m trying to draw a distinction between the two, and maybe see if someone isn’t arguing for one versus the other here in this back and forth.

I'm not arguing for either. In of itself being non-linear or linear is not indicative of a game's quality. Some games are a mix of the two.

For instance: I would argue WoW is linear even with its “open” world - you can’t ride the rides unless your progression is at least this tall,

By this definition the only way a game could be non-linear is if you could defeat the final boss at any time. I only know of one game where that is possible, but I doubt that's the only non-linear game by the traditional sense.

All I'm arguing for is characterizing things by their proper description. If you'd say to someone that knows nothing about wow that it is a linear game, you'd be misleading them.

 

[Denpepe]

For instance: I would argue WoW is linear even with its “open” world - you can’t ride the rides unless your progression is at least this tall, after all. Many people would say it’s open because there isn’t any level loading or “zoning” - which I never put a lot of stock in; you get those oddly shaped geographic blocks in there that are just as immersion-breaking as a load screen to me. And others would say it’s open because you ~can~ go anywhere, even if you can’t do anything due to a progression barrier.

I would say wow is non linear because you have a lot of choices where to go, now this depends a bit on the game version/expac you are playing.

Vanilla had several zones of the same lvl and it was up to you to do which one you wanted, also in Legion you could choose the order in which you did the zones