Why non-linear could become bad

one thing game makers need to keep in mind is why you play video games in the first place. you have the option to do ANYTHING in REAL life, but you get bored and end up playing video games instead. if you make the games too non-linear then one has no choice but to get bored and do something else. thats what happened to me with morrowind. its cool for a while, but most people play video games to be GIVEN a goal. if we wanted to give ourselves a goal then there are much more constructive goals to be given in real life.

anyone agree with me on this?

I quess it takes different kinds of people. Some people just want to try new things with the game, other people need a clear goal. Non linearity has the disadvantage of getting people bored, linearity has the disadvantage of low value (you'll probably only play through the game once).11Marcel

What about games like the Wind Waker that are sort of free-roaming?Funkyhamster

I actually like a good fix of linear games, its nice to have a game which is story driven and you know where you stand when you switch it on so you can just enjoy it.  That said I play a fairly even mix because a lot of games now are non-linear, but in general I get my non-linear fix via PC gaming :D.

Also I went back and got almost everything except a few of those little statues in wind waker :|