Museum of Mechanics: Lockpicking – an interesting experiment for video game history buffs

Museum of Mechanics is a fascinating concept – a virtual hall of exhibits, featuring faithfully recreated examples of one idea (in this case, lock-picking) from games throughout history, alongside the curator's explanation and analysis of each. The intended audience are game developers, but it's enjoyable for anyone interested in the history of video games, and how they can approach the same idea in so many different ways. I came away from it with a renewed appreciation for the thought that goes into these seemingly minor elements of game design. When you reached a locked door in the original Fallout, your character's stats and abilities influenced a behind-the-scenes dice roll to determine whether you could unlock it and move past. Games such as Skyrim give you on-screen picks that must be rotated in virtual locks.