While developing The Legend of Zelda for Wii U, Nintendo realized what now seems obvious: a rider guides a horse, but does not explicitly control it.
“This is a densely wooded area.”
“Yep, I’m hardly touching the control stick.”
“You’re not touching it!”
“Yeah, and I won’t hit any trees. Real horses don’t run into trees very often.”
In newer games, a character might push themself away from a barrier if the player runs into one. But why does the character allow themself to run into something to begin with? No one runs into a wall intentionally.
How many interactions in software could be improved by this kind of thinking?