To Visit

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In some games, the goal is to visit various locations. The means of reaching these locations is not important; agents can use a variety of movements including traversal or teleportation. The order in which these locations are visit are also not important, although some locations might have to be visited before others can be. Visitation can either be nearly exhaustive (ie, Pac-man) or selective points (ie, the rivets in Donkey Kong) of the entire game space. Exhaustive, voluntary visitation is used to explore a given game space. While not required, many games encourage this approach by rewarding the player with special items for visiting places that are out of the path of the required game play.

Some games require the player to visit only one location to accomplish an episodic goal. These games often require the player-controlled entity to traverse a space in between its starting location and the location goal. In some games, the exact path to the location goal is not important. For example in Super Mario Bros., it doesn't matter whether Mario stays above ground or takes the shortcuts through the underground in many levels. As long as the player successfully directs Mario to the end of the level, he has completed the episodic goal of visiting the location goal. However, in racing games on a loop track, the path taken is relevant, as the starting location and location goal are the same location.

Strong Example In Super Mario Bros, Mario must visit the locations at the end of each level marked by a flag. In doing so, the level is completed.

Strong Example In Team Fortress Classic, player-controlled entities must visit the location marked by a flag of the opposing team's color. This allows the entity to collect the flag. Once an entity possesses a flag, he must return it to the location where his own team's flag is when it is not captured. If his own teams' flag is present at that location, the team scores a point.


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