'Players don't explore': former Grand Theft Auto 6 and Red Dead Online designer lays out the perils of 'open world fatigue'

So there I am playing a game with a big, beautiful open world. It's got lovely scenery and eye-catching landmarks, it's stuffed with quests and missions and collectibles, and I'm free to go in any direction I choose. What's the problem?

Me. I'm the problem, or at least I'm part of the problem, as former Grand Theft Auto 6 and Red Dead Online game designer Cameron Williams explained in a panel at the Game Developers Conference.

Williams opened the panel with a slide titled "Common Open...