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By Mark Damon Hughes <kamikaze@kuoi.asui.uidaho.edu>

   There are people for whom a bare minimum of interaction along with pretty pictures they can drool in front of makes a good game, and people for whom a bare minimum of flash along with intensive gameplay makes a good game - Myst vs. Tetris, to pick two icons of game design. I'm firmly in the lattter camp.

   IMO, good gameplay has something to do with the following elements, but in what weighting I've no idea:

• Fast reactions
• Forethought & planning, puzzle-/problem-solving
• Interaction with NPCs (and other players in non-local MP - 4 players standing around Gauntlet don't need help to communicate, but 4 players on 4 different continents do)
• Feedback as to your condition in the game (throbbing steering wheels, red-tinted screen, "Blue Wizard is about to die... Blue Wizard needs food, BADLY" "Don't shoot the food.")
• Active challenges (enemies, traps, other players)
• Passive challenges (pits, areas with different rules, hazardous environs, survival)
• Ease of control

   I don't think it has anything to do with the following, though these can be nice (often essential for a really great game) when they're in addition to good gameplay:

• Special effects (video, sound)
• Storyline
• Deep world background