What games have ambiguous goals?

[J T]

I've been interested in goals and "the criteria to win" for games lately, if you can't tell from my recent threads. I would also like to know of any games that have an open-ended or ambiguous game goal.

The only game that's really jumping to mind for me is Minecraft. Your goal is to survive and build, but how you do that has near infinite possibilities and is sort of up to your own definition of what success would be in the game world.

Maybe The Sims is a bit similar.

[GamingDutchman]

Animal Crossing and, to a lesser extent, Harvest Moon! Both also happen to be two of my favourite series, so its interesting to think about what that says about me

[Menegrothx]

Ultima IV? The player's goal is to show an example to people by becoming the avatar by following the 8 virtues and mastering them. For example, if you get ambushed by an orc and fight with it, you can not kill it if starts fleeing, that's dishonorable.
The really intresting part is how in the next game Ultima V, a misguided tyrant turns the 8 virtues into a draconian organized religion and corrupts the whole meaning of the virtues. I think it's pretty amazing how a 1980s RPG can have such a meaningul and intelligent storyline, I dont think I can think of any modern big budget game that would've analyzed the philosophy behind religions in the same manner. The Age of Enlightenment series is just amazing

The only game that's really jumping to mind for me is Minecraft. Your goal is to survive and build, but how you do that has near infinite possibilities and is sort of up to your own definition of what success would be in the game world.

Dwarf Fortress.

[Gunstar Green]

The Sims series, though I suppose like Animal Crossing the goal is there is no goal. You could maybe include Second Life if you want to call that a game, or any other virtual sandbox for that matter.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

DayZ

SimCity

Those are the only two others that really pop into my head.

[Gamerforlife]

Viva Pinata - There are tons of different goals to pursue. It's all up to the player

[lisalover1]

Most Adventure games, text adventures in particular. They have a tendency to drop you right into a world with little to no explanation of what you're supposed to do.

[MrPopo]

Most Adventure games, text adventures in particular. They have a tendency to drop you right into a world with little to no explanation of what you're supposed to do.

You are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.

[Hobie-wan]

Most Adventure games, text adventures in particular. They have a tendency to drop you right into a world with little to no explanation of what you're supposed to do.

You are in an open field west of a big white house with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.

Use mailbox flag with flint stone from mailbox on door boards.

[Flake]

LJN Nintendo games. I could never figure out what I was supposed to be doing.