To Transport

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Entities can transport entities from one location to another. The transporting entity (the transporter) must possess the entity being transported (the trasportee). As the transporter moves, the transportee moves with it.

Transporting is most often used when one entity (Entity A) does not have the means to move to a desired location. If another entity (Entity B) has the ability to move to that location, and has the ability to possess Entity A, then Entity B can transport Entity A to that location.

This manipulation is common in role-playing games where quests often require the player-controlled entity to seek out and return an item to someone. Upon successfully transporting the item to that person, the player-controlled entity is rewarded.

This is also used in strategy games where some units may not be able to traverse certain terrain, like water. Special units are designed that have the ability to traverse that terrain and carry other units as well. This unit are commonly called "transports."

Examples

Strong Example

In Diablo II, the player-controlled entity is required to find the Horadric Malus and return it to Charsi (a non-player entity). Upon successfully transporting the Horadric to Charsi, the player-controlled entity is rewarded with the option of improving one of his items.

Strong Example

In Starcraft, each race has a transport ship (Dropship, Overlord, and Shuttle) that allows them to fly ground units. The benefit of this is that ground units do not have to move around obstacles or use ramps to move onto cliffs. While being transported, the ground units cannot do anything until they are unloaded from the transports.

Strong Example

In Zelda: Wind Waker, the player-controlled entity can lift and carry some other entities. This is necessary to solve puzzles that require entities to be placed in certain locations. By lifting and carrying the objects to another location, the player-controlled entity is transporting them.

Weak Example

in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the player can ride shuttles and submersibles between certain levels and sub-levels. Additionally, in most places there is the option of teleporting back to the player's spacecraft, the Ebon Hawk. However, what makes this weak is that the destinations of the transports are fixed, and usually the transportation itself takes place in a cutscene, totally apart from the player's control. Also, the members of the player's party are interchangeable even after the transportation has occurred. For example, on the forest world of Kashyyyk, the player is transported from a high platform onto the forest floor, where Jolee Bindo, an ex-Jedi, is found and added to your party, requiring you to send one member back to the Ebon Hawk.


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