Level Design need not suspend disbelief

Narrative is not reality nor the vice versa
In the strive for more realistic games, stories and characters we often forget a very key idea around any form of narrative, which is the suspension of disbelief. The suspension of disbelief is the idea that the human brain is smart enough to know when they are experiencing a narrative, and to be able to halt themselves from critiquing what in the real world would be considered illogical. We know that when we are watching Dr Who, that we aren’t watching a documentary about a persons life, but a scripted, planned script played by actors. However when we consume the content, we do what is called suspension of disbelief. We don’t see David Tennant acting out a character he is hired to play, we see Dr Who (The Best Doctor) and his adventures. We allow our selves the freedom ignore the reality behind what is happening, to give ourselves enjoyment within a narrative.
For years this has worked within books, movies and video game design. A trend I’ve noticed within indie games dev recently is developers striving to at meaning an story to nearly everything that is placed within their games. Why is this treasure chest here, what is in it, why is that item in it, who left it there, what was the name of the mother who’s son left a treasure chest under a tree that contained a potion. I have a few theories why indie game devs might think like this. Games like Skyrim are what a lot of people draw inspiration from and Skyrim is riddled with examples like this. There is a tent, in the north with 2 dead bodies inside, one of those bodies contains an amulet of Mara which signifies that the two bodies were a married couple who were on a honey moon when they were killed by wild beasts. This isn’t a quest line or even a point of interest that stands out. It is a whole lot of information that is gathered from implications and written in a way that players understand that this isn’t a random tent with bodies in it, but a tragic tale of love and death.
This is absolutely not needed at all, and that brings me back to my point about the suspension of disbelief. We as gamers don’t pick out critical illogical flaws during a normal play through, we enjoy a game. However and as I’ve stated it’s something that I have observed within a few indie game spheres and is horrible as a piece of advice, but people are trying to achieve a level of realism and logic that just isn’t necessary or even possible with most being one man studios. Most indie devs are gamers themselves so I’ll say it from this perspective. We don’t pick up a game to critically analyze everything that is wrong with how believable it is, we pick up a game to have fun, and a consumer, we suspend our disbelief in order to gain enjoyment.
Stop thinking that your players are going to question why there is a treasure chest under the tree. They don’t care. They aren’t going to ask why there are no roads through the forest to the capital city, they don’t care. Stop trying to justify your level design with logic because level design isn’t about logic, it’s about fun. It doesn’t matter why there is a climbing mechanic and it doesn’t matter why there is a boulder puzzle in the middle of the caves. As Consumers we suspend out disbelief and we accept what are given as part of the narrative designed for our enjoyment. Us indie game devs are in a constant battle to stand out from the crowd and that isn’t done by making our game and level design realistic, it is done by making our game and level design fun, because at the end of the day, video games are a form of escapism, and we use escapism to have fun. The players of your game don’t want realism, they want fun.
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