Mythic: Guides "corrupt your enjoyment"

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Warhammer Online dev is against walkthroughs

Friday 16 February 2007
Mythic Creative's creative director Paul Barnett believes we should just say 'no' to game guides and walkthroughs, stressing that gamers are failing to truly appreciate the wonder of each videogame journey by focusing merely on beating their latest purchase.

"A game guide is actually there to corrupt your enjoyment of the game," Barnett explains in this month's issue of PC Gamer magazine. "It tells you the most efficient, straightforward and dull way to increase your numbers, and in no way tells you the wonder and joy of the game you're playing."

"For most games the wonder and joy is in getting there. In fact in most of life, the joy is in getting to something," he continues, reaffirming what our girlfriends have been telling us for years. "We now have people obsessed with getting to the endgame, not realising that the greatness is in going on that journey."

Barnett's latest game, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (or, aptly, WAR) looks likely to jolt the grind-core masses out of their questing trances, thanks to an emphasis on a more dynamic, dangerous game world. WAR's Realm vs Realm gameplay sees even newbie characters involved in the world's raging battles, and promises to be one of the most exciting games headed our way this year.

For the full preview of Warhammer Online, including Barnett's comparison of Dark Elves with drugged-up toffs, run out and get yourself a copy of the March PC Gamer, on sale now. Or head over to the magazine's official website for more PC goodness.

Ben_Richardson

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.