Games

I can't stand narrow games.

A game should be a canvas upon which the player as an artist creates art.

With that said, most "open" games fail in their openness because they fail to restrict the player. Creating tonnes of systems and mechanics is useless if those systems and mechanics are not something you're forced to engage in through restrictions, or are not something that results in meaningful choices.

For example, there is little point in giving me a stealth method to achieve a mission if running straight through the front doors stabbing everyone in the face is easy, time efficient and holds no consequences. Why would I bother stealthing if I can press one button to counter the enemy attack and cut through hordes of enemies? It's shallow. It doesn't produce stories.

Restrictions are a necessary component of openness. You have to give the player reasons to make different choices. You don't have to lock them out of the "let's attack head on" approach entirely but at the very least you need to make it hard and hold consequences in order to make alternative methods enticing or to give people a "story" they feel was earned.

Too many games pile on a million possible options for the player and then utterly fail in giving the player any incentive to use any of them.