Dramatic Elements in Games

I remember hearing a story of Shigeru Miyamoto who was commissioned to look into this new “video games” thing that all the kids were talking about. He walked into an arcade for the first time and absolutely hated it. There were dots on the screen shooting blobs at other dots. What is the point of all this? He probably thought. Here we have this amazing new tool for interactivity and we are letting it go to waste. No wonder video games experienced a crash before this brilliant man decided that there needed to be a change. Whatever Miyamoto actually thought after experiencing games for the first time, I am sure we as gamers cannot be thankful enough for his contributions. The man pretty much invented story telling in games. With characters, and a world you could get lost in. Because of this games were never the same, and without some sort of dramatic element, it is hard to even call the experience a game. Since that time way back in the 1980s designers have come up with some extremely outstanding ways of gripping its players in the experience and I would like to take a look at just a few of them… won’t you join me?ChallengeChallenge is one of the most engaging elements and will arguably keep most players hooked longer than any other design element, however Challenge is a double edged sword. according to the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Challenge is most engaging when the player has tapped into a state of "flow". This is why challenges in the real world are not considered to be as engaging, since in the real world we are not provided with constant feedback to curb our frustrations in trying to reach your goal. The player must learn the specifics of the game system, and feel like they are masters of it. Furthermore the challenge should increase with the players ability so that this control doesn't become constant making the game boring. Instead the player should feel as if his/her choices are significant. Flow is considered to be the medium between Frustration and boredom that consumes enough of our cognitive reflexes so as to make us forget about their use in the real world, but not too much that it makes us want to throw the controller through the screen. Challenge becomes engaging when it tricks us into thinking we are masters of that challenge, because who doesn't like feeling like they are the master?[any veteran of this Mario Party classic will know how it borders the edge of flow and frustration]

• PlayAlthough I mentioned that challenge was one of the most engaging aspects of games, it is difficult to compare its importance to the value of play, as play is one of, if not the most important aspect in creating a game.It is at the heart of any good experience, and as it is considered traditionally opposite of work it allows the player to de-stress and relax. Despite its importance however, it is not very easy to classify and there are many different definitions out there from several different fields of study. One of the most useful definitions for Game developers comes from the sociologist Roger Callois, who says there a number of different ways to classify "play". There is Competitive play (agon) such as sports or e-sports like starcraft, there is Chance based play(alea) that you experience at the casino, Make believe (mimcry) play such as Live action Role playing, and Vertigo or risky based play (ilinx) like you see in X-games like skiing and skateboarding.These specific examples are mostly rule based play (ludus). Callois also describes examples of Agon, Alea, Mimicry and Ilinx with free form play (Paida) examples, which is more like the play we experience as children, (playing make believe, dress up, jumping up and down etc) in addition to Callois, experience based approach, there is also a more player focused approach to defining the different types of players who are actually engaging in the play and what they prefer take away from the experience. they are as followsThe Competitor - any fps/e-sportThe Explorer – JourneyThe Collector – Banjo KazooieThe Achiever – Tales of Symphonia (any huge Rpg)The Joker – the Leroy Jenkins of every online gameThe Artist – Mario paintThe Director – not many games made in this category (maybe directing an ensemble in Wii music)The Story Teller – Fire Emblem (especially the new one where you marry off your army)The Performer – Guitar HeroThe Craftsman – Minecraft

• Premise

If you recall my last Blog post, I mentioned the importance of procedures in games. But to say that holding the down button activates a function which creates a forward force vector to propel your character is a boring way to imagine your game. A premise is used to mask these seemingly straightforward and obvious procedures with fantasy. Press forward to activate the engines and cruise through the depths of outer space. This sort of description is what keeps players excited about your world but can often be overlooked by developers, since these people are spending most of their time looking at the back end of the game, the code and the collision boxes used as placeholders. This is BAD DEVELOPING PRACTICES, if premise is not at the very principle of your design then you are going to have a bad time, or rather your player is going to have a bad time which means you have failed as a developer. Premise is defined by the world in which you are a player, the characters who inhabit the world and the history of the world. Can you just take a look at the map for oblivion for a moment?This world is so expansive, it is breathtaking, THAT is good premise, when you can say “I’m-a scale that f*ing mountain” just for the hell of it, it means you have delivered and sold your world as a fun place to just explore. It is not uncommon for the premise to go beyond the scope of the story, which is a great way to set up a sequel and leave your players begging for more. However it is important not to to take this too far by setting up an exciting premise and then not deliver on it. like how “Remember Me” or “Final Fantasy 13” created huge expansive worlds and limited their players to a linear path.

• Characters

There are many ways to define a character in a game, and there is no proper way to do this. One of my favourite juxtapositions in games comes from the differences between Western and Eastern RPG characters. Western RPGs tend to lean more toward Agency, in that the main character is a shell of the player and everything that is happening is a choice of your own. This can make the experiences more meaningful for the player but can also be restricting in the way the character interacts with others in more story driven games. In Japan, they are more about creating empathy in their characters. Their actions, voice and name are all their own and the player is simply the driving force that allows the main protagonist to reach his or her end and we are given more reason to feel for the character and possibly relate on a deeper level than the nameless voiceless protagonist. The Japanese method is more common in story driven games, but lately a balance between empathy and agency has been emerging from both sides of the world by creating character choices that allows the player to have some influence over what the main protagonist is thinking. Mass Effect and Persona have shown us just how effective this balance can be, and you do not need a sales expert to tell you that these games were both very successful.  However the protagonist is usually not the only character but you could argue they are the most “round”. This means that the character is realistic, and has a personality and even flaws that allows the set up for a personality change later. There are also “flat” characters that don’t really have much of a personality or if they do it is often based on a stereo type like the sleeping guard or the happy shop keeper. Flat characters are more for utility, like the a guard who lets you pass the gate when you give him something he asks for.however all characters must have some sort of purpose, weather it is to fight alongside you and be your emotional support along the way, or to stand in a city to give it the feeling of a busy place. A good way to define this is to ask what are the characters wants, needs, hopes and fears. These methods of characterization are important when you are attempting to deliver a message or attract a certain audience.

• Story

When all of the above are considered a good story will almost write itself, however there is still much disagreement on how a story should be portrayed in a game, which I definitely think is a good thing. It means we get a variety and fans of a certain narrative style that may be less popular still get to enjoy all different types of games. Traditionally games have not been very interactive in their story telling. They follow the structure where you play a level, and then enjoy a cut scene before the next level. This approach is better when your focus is on gameplay first and story second, contrary to this is putting the story first. Many a year of fantastic narrative driven games is proof enough that this approach does not diminish the interactive experience in any way but instead serves to make it more enjoyable and more engaging to the player. Many of these experiences follow a template, the most famous of which is the Hero’s journey, which can be found in several classic films and games such as Journey and Star Wars. Another way to make stories more interactive is by using the branching method akin to a “build your own adventure” novel. I cannot go without mentioning Deus Ex here as the game forced you to make decisions without you even realizing it, making it not just a good narrative experience but an unexpected look into the players own psychology.There is also a third wave of story driven ‘games’ that seems to refuse both of these ideas by ditching interactivity for extremely simple procedures, often just walking, to allow a story to unfold before your eyes. Some game scholars believe this to be the “future” or the next logical step forward in the media cycle such as video games were the next logical step after movies. MYST was a fantastic example of this that these scholars love to reference. Which they have every right in doing so considering the game was at the top of the charts for months despite the outbreak of most modern interactive genres as we know them today, including some of the earliest FPS and RTS.