Gun Godz and Bernband are two games which differ greatly from one another. Gun Godz is a game which is heavily authored. The developer knew what kind of experience they wanted for the player, and that was a fast paced Doom like shooter. This can be seen in how the levels are quite linear, with strict start and end points. The game also makes the player move fast through the levels as that is the best way to avoid damage from enemies. Like Doom, there are different weapon types with them being designed in a certain way that the player uses them like the developer intended.
On the contrast, there is Bernband. An open world game, where you are free to do what you want. There are no instructions, no end goal, no motive to do certain things. The developer made this game in a way so that each player has their own experience while playing the game. It has no story, no explanation of where you are or what you are doing there. That is up to the player to decide as they make their own story and feed their own motivation to do what they want. This can be seen in the city’s name: The Pff. It provides no information to the player of why the city is called that, no context. A meaningless word that through playing the game, can become something through the player’s experience.
In some ways though, these two games are similar. For example, both games encourage the behaviour of moving forward. In Gun Godz, you are motivated to continue along the path to find health, ammo and the end of the level. In Bernband, you may not be seeking items, but you are motivated to keep moving forward in finding new locations you haven’t been to before.
So why would people want to play these two contrasting games? Well there is the traditional, linear shoot’em up: Gun Godz, where a player might want a fun and challenging experience. Then there is Bernband, for those who wish to have an experience that I found to be like no other game. Its blank canvas allows players to imagine the world and provide context for it themselves. They will have an experience different from their friends, while in Gun Godz, they can compare scores and relate in their experience with the game.
Daniel Buckley 
You came up with some similarities that I didn’t think of like, both games encouraging you to move forward until you hit an obstacle and have to find a different route. Bernband was definitely more of an experience that relied on the player having a behavioural reaction to the open world and the creator had relinquished there control over the narrative just like Hocking mentioned was a way of thinking about games.
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