In the tenth and final episode of the first season of Meaningful Play, we discuss the incredibly popular open world genre in video games. Specifically, we discuss key questions and issues pertaining to the open world genre, such as what constitutes the open world genre, how the genre is generally defined in terms of constructive elements, what games historically contributed to the development of the genre, and what our favourite open-world games are.

Games:
Ghostwire: Tokyo, Cyberpunk 2077, The Outer Worlds, Watchdogs: Legion, Gods & Monsters, Elden Ring, The Hobbit, The Portopia Serial Murder Case, Shenmue (series), Yazuka (series), Grand Theft Auto (series), World of Warcraft, Legend of Zelda (series), Super Mario 64, Red Dead Redemption, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Assassin’s Creed (series), Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Fallout (series), Far Cry (series), Horizon Zero Dawn, Elder Scrolls (series), Minecraft.   

References:

Giant Bomb 2019, ‘Open World’, Giant Bomb Wiki. Available from: <https://www.giantbomb.com/open-world/3015-207/>.

Graft, K 2016, ‘In open world game design, curiosity is key, says Bethesda’s Todd Howard’, Gamasutra, 17 March. Available from: <https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/268274/In_open_world_game_design_curiosity_is_key_says_Bethesdas_Todd_Howard.php>.

Jaekle, B 2018, ‘The Four Basics of Open World Storytelling’, Gamasutra, 4 January. Available from: <https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/BenjaminJaekle/20180401/315969/The_Four_Basics_of_Open_World_Storytelling.php>.

Moby Games n.d., Sandbox / Open World. Available from: <https://www.mobygames.com/genre/sheet/sandbox/>.

Credits: