<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
<div>Devin,</div><div><br></div><div>I tried to poke at that very question in an article I wrote a few months ago:</div><div><a href="http://www.artfulgamer.com/2008/09/02/the-lost-art-of-game-packaging-and-the-digital-only-turning-point/">http://www.artfulgamer.com/2008/09/02/the-lost-art-of-game-packaging-and-the-digital-only-turning-point/</a></div><div><br></div><div>To save you a few minutes - I basically argue that 'feelies' are the way-station between the player's reality and the game world... they're a physical instantiation of the game's world that gives the player a focus for their imagination. Without the feelies, it's a completely different kind of game. I use Ultima IV as an example - if you don't read the manual and use the feelies, you won't get a real "role-playing" experience from the game. At least, that's my take on it.</div><div><br></div><div>Wasteland famously uses the "paragraphs" system ... it was a way of overcoming a storage problem according to most sources. Still, it lends an awfully unique experience to playing the game - "You encounter Harry the Bunny Master. Read paragraph 85". Although a lot of people found WL's paragraph system clunky, I thought it gave the game some psychological realism otherwise not possible.</div><div><br></div><div>Just my $0.02 CDN, $0.01 USD.</div><div>- Chris</div><br><div> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#0000f0" style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; color: rgb(0, 0, 240); "><a href="http://www.artfulgamer.com/"><u>http://www.artfulgamer.com</u><u></u></a></font></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 21px; "><font face="Times New Roman" size="5" color="#a8a8a8" style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(168, 168, 168); "><i>'in search of the poetic and lyrical in video games...'</i></font></p></div></span> </div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:20:17 -0700</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">From: "Devin Monnens" <<a href="mailto:evilcowclone@gmail.com">evilcowclone@gmail.com</a>></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Subject: Re: [game_preservation] Preservation Whitepaper Brainstorm</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Progress</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">To: <a href="mailto:stuart@feldhamer.com">stuart@feldhamer.com</a>, <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>"IGDA Game Preservation SIG"</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><<a href="mailto:game_preservation@igda.org">game_preservation@igda.org</a>></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Message-ID:</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><<a href="mailto:b96706b70811110620v1867ffdencbf829a7e684f331@mail.gmail.com">b96706b70811110620v1867ffdencbf829a7e684f331@mail.gmail.com</a>></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">How relevant are, say, cloth maps from Ultima? Originally, I think this sort</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">of thing was used to 'enhance the experience,' but I haven't read anything</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">regarding how much that really DOES affect player experience. Nowadays, I</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">just consider most of that stuff to be schwag.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">But yeah, the key fact that we are preserving more than just bits is</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">important. Manuals and packaging are in themselves important as it helps put</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">the game into context (and as you noted, some are unplayable without them -</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">just try beating Metal Gear Solid without the game case OR consulting a</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">guide if you haven't beaten it already). More importantly, we know that some</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">games contained information that could not be - or simply was not -</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">communicated through gameplay, which is essential to chronicling the</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">development of the medium.</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">-Devin</div> </blockquote></div><br></body></html>