Wake up the inner child
Kudos to the games that fulfill our childhood dreams
I started playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild a few days ago and found once I started I could ’t stop. I’ve never felt so refreshed while venturing in the fantasy kingdom of Hyrule. Playing as the young knight, Link, I travel, hunt, and save the princess. I did almost everything I could have ever dreamed of when I was a young boy in this open-world adventure.
At the beginning of the game, Link was woken up by Princess Zelda’s mysterious call. It seems that the call not only revived Link from 100 years’ of sleeping, but also brought something within me back to life.
I’ve always said that I am a 5-year-old kid living in a 24-year-old body, but my inner child fell asleep long ago. It is he who was woken up by the game; it is he who started to remind me of the dreams I used to have when I was much younger.
Many boys play as knights riding horsed crossing magical kingdom as children. Being able to catch a horse and ride it in the Kingdom of Hyrule allowed me to fulfill that dream. My inner child was deeply satisfied.
Great games fulfill our childhood dreams.
Many successful games are deeply rooted from the dreams we had when we were young. Although Ingress once clinched the most popular location-based mobile game, Pokemon Go surpassed it shortly after its launch. The latter even became a social phenomenon. The two games were developed by the same company and had similar game play. However, Pokemon Go was built on top of a childhood dream that millions of people share — being a Pokemon master.
There are many games that are similar to Pokemon Go, but not as successful. Some even asked players to collect similar fantasy animals. However, it was the Pokemon that took center stage, fulfilling our childhood dreams.
Technology offers us the new experiences, but it is the content that keeps the old memories alive. We love the AR feature in Pokemon Go. However, after a while, we turned that feature off. It’s great that AR technology allows us to see Pokemon appearing through our camera lenses. However, we do not play the game because we can see Pokemon in AR, but because we are empowered to catch and collect Pokemon. The game has transformed us into someone that we always wanted to be when we were young. It is the childhood dream that makes the game great.
Once again, the childhood dream has the magical power. It is a spring that keeps generating beautiful memories and refreshing imaginations. The moment when a dream is fulfilled, we feel wholly satisfied. The advances in technology allow us to fulfill more and more dreams. Our job, as game designers, is to compose many more dream-come-true moments that wake up the kid who lives within us.
