The main idea of it is that computer games players can't see a barrel without wanting to blow it up. It's an odd conditioned response, but then alternative solutions are immediately discounted as they've been tried before and found wanting.
At a GDC lecture on game narrative, Warren Spector told a story about tester behavior during the Deus Ex: Invisible War QA process. At one point, testers approached a T intersection: to the right were laser tripwires and gun turrets; to the left was a locked door; and directly in front was a (usable) window. He said every single one of them, without fail, went to the right. One can imagine how frustrated developers must occasionally get when they watch gamers consistently employ Neolithic problem solving tactics when modern development tools make much more advanced techniques available.
It seems that gamers have been given a limited set of rules by games designers and now know how to make the most of those rules to their advantage. Now that designers have the computing power to add more rules they are frustrated, as it takes a little time for older gamers to adapt.
Maybe if those designers hadn't been turning out the same old games in new clothes for all those years this might not be so pronounced...
I seem to remember that just about every ZX Spectrum game was different in it's way and having no problems with that.
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