EXP Podcast #152: Musings on Mandatory Missions

Long before the advent of Achievement Points, players have chased after goals.  But are all tasks created equal, or are some more important than others?  This week, inspired by Wired's two articles on mandatory missions every well-informed gamer should undertake, we discuss some of the game experiences that give us common ground.  As always, feel free to jump into the comments and share your thoughts.  Thanks for listening!Discussion starters:- What do you consider to be mandatory missions?- Is the idea of a set of canonical video game experiences useful or realistic?- How has time and technology affected what we would consider to be defining video game moments?To listen to the podcast:- Subscribe to the EXP Podcast via iTunes here. Additionally, here is the stand-alone feed.- Listen to the podcast in your browser by left-clicking here. Or, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format.- Subscribe to this podcast and EXP's written content with the RSS link on the right.Show notes:- Run time: 34 min 07 sec- "9 Mandatory Missions All Gaming Geeks Must Master," via Wired- "Readers’ Picks of 9 Mandatory Gaming Moments," via Wired- An interesting interpretation of Portal: "Still Live?  She's Free?" by Steve Bowler via Game-ism- Music provided by Brad Sucks