Videogame Objectives

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Video games have objectives. These objectives tend to boil down to about six basic goals, and several variations and modifiers. These are those objectives.

Common objectives include:

  • Escape, or get to the exit. ("Escape from the prison.", "Find a way through the tunnel.")
  • Go to point A. ("Get to the chopper!", "Find Roger and tell him about the crashed chopper.")
    • Go to point A, and interact with X in particular manner. ("Plant a bomb on the structural support", "Listen in on the conversation between Those Two Bad Guys, making sure not to alert them to your presence.")
  • Kill X. ("Kill the Dragon!")
    • Kill everything in X. ("Remove all the monsters in that cave")
    • Kill every X in Y. ("Kill all the Giant Flaming Heads in this dungeon.")
    • Kill or defeat X in a particular way. ("Take Roger down non-lethally"; "Kill The Dragon with his own poison, so that his death looks like an accident.")
    • Kill a certain amount of X without getting hit. ("Kill 3 enemies without dying.")
    • Kill [number] X. ("Kill 20 Zombies, and get back to me.")
  • Bring X to Y. ("Use this purification potion on the cursed altar", "Deliver this letter to the King of the Undead.")
    • Bring me X Ys. ("Bring me Twenty Bear Asses.")
    • Kill X, and bring me his Y. ("Kill the Dragon, and bring me his head.")
    • Escort X to Y. ("Escort me back to town.", "Escort Roger through the maze so he can unlock the door.")
  • Solve a puzzle. ("Find a way through this Block Puzzle", "Find your way through the unlit caves.")
  • Survive until X happens.
  • Collect every item of type X.

Common modifiers (may be stacked):

  • Protect X. ("Don't let Roger die!", "Don't let the building collapse!")
  • Don't do X. ("Don't fall into a hole.")
    • Don't alert X. ("Don't alert the guards.")
    • Don't kill X. ("Take Roger down non-lethally.", "Avoid shooting the hostages.")
    • Don't use X. ("Don't use guns", "don't Heal Thyself")
  • Do any of the above, to multiple targets. ("Plant bombs on the eight structural supports.")
    • Do any of the above, to X of Y possible targets. ("Kill eight of the 12 Giant Flaming Heads.")
    • Do any of the above, to a particular sequence of targets. ("Place the crystals in their matching altars in the order of the rainbow.")
  • Do any of the above, at a particular time. ("Shoot the Giant Mook in between his opening the door and his going through it.")
  • Do any of the above, in a particular amount of time. ("The tower is rigged to blow in five minutes; escape before then!")
  • Do any combination of the above...
    • in any order. ("I'll tell you about Roger if you kill the Dragon and rescue the Princess.")
    • in a particular order. ("If you don't kill the Dragon first, he'll kill you when you try to rescue the Princess.")

Rewards include, but are not limited to:

Compare Stock Video Game Puzzle. See also Variable Player Goals.