ninja gaiden is a classic side scrolling NES game. in it you play ninja gaiden (pronounced guy-dan) who runs, jumps, swords, and ninja stars. the goal is to reach the end of the level without dying. at the end of each level is a boss. defeating the game results in a cs where you get to kiss the girl and then a rolling of credits. also, the ending was that much better because it was one of the most difficult games anyone has ever played.
note that while there is theme to the game, the 'game' itself is manipulating a character to reach a goal. the fun comes from success rather than the manipulation itself. i will agree that there is fun to be had from the limited types of interaction with the enviroment... and there is fun to be had from 'being a friggin ninja' as well. but the true fun comes from completion of goals. in this, the line between winning and fun is grayed. it was very much a game. winning-oriented.
quite a while ago (2004), ninja gaiden was revived. in the new ninja gaiden, the gameplay was mostly the same (though 3D). BUT a huge addition to the gameplay was the addition of more interaction... in fact... the way you kill things... what weapons you use... in it, they expanded greatly on the 'imma friggin ninja' aspect of the theme. now, a player of ninja gaiden could play the game and enjoy it not solely for the completion of goals, but also too exclusively for being a ninja. in fact, hard parts of the game may seem like impediments to getting to enjoy being a badass. in fact so much of the game was centered on how you kill enemies, one could think of your avatar as an action figure. it was very much a toy. play-oriented.
how in the hell does this compare to glitch one might ask? allow me to share.
firstly, think of glitch not as the revived ninja gaiden. think of it first as the original ninja gaiden. in glitch, you are mostly going to be goal oriented. get food to get money to get more food to get a house. get x to get y. on getting y, enjoyment. food is your only potential pitfall in the platforming game of glitch. sure you can jump and there are holes, but falling off the screen doesn't result in death. think of it like a really soft ninja gaiden with no boss fight at the end and no awesome CS or credit roll when you defeat the non-existent last boss. but nevertheless, glitch in this regard is goal-oriented, though you make your own set of rules for victory. the thing is, it does worse at being a game than ninja gaiden.
now think of glitch like the new ninja gaiden sans 3D. in glitch you play an avatar who interacts with things. though, interaction is highly limited. you water things. you splank players. but the interactions have little to no excitement to them. the impact on the world is minimal. the fun aspect of using your glitch character as a toy wears off rapidly once you've 'done everything.' whereas in ninja gaiden, it's still fun to do some of the things you've already done. it's fun to see how different weapons will interact with the environment and enemies (plus you're a ninja). while that eventually too wears off in ninja gaiden, it's still much more like a toy than glitch.
what's my point. glitch, at the end of the day, doesn't do as well at being a goal-oriented game (success isn't hard to achieve nor is it rewarded very well), and it doesn't do as well at being a toy (interaction is limited and uneventful.)
now, i'm not saying ninja gaiden is a better game.
not even close.
they're far too different.
glitch also has the 'social' aspect. but... in my opinion... the games that i cared about the social aspect were games where i cared about the game first. that is, the game should be the draw... the social aspect should grow around a great game. if glitch is a better game and a better toy, the social aspect will improve ten fold as well.
this post was food for thought. let me know what you think.