How to keep the fun by reining envy in

As we discovered last week, a little envy can make a game more fun… or at least motivate players to keeping on keeping on. But envy wouldn’t be considered one of the seven deadly sins if it really were all fun and games. The dark side of envy can definitely ruin it for everyone, and game design is just one way to rein it in.

What’s so bad about envy?  If the envy of knowledge increases wisdom, doesn’t that make more fun?  Unfortunately, not everyone who becomes envious can or actually does improve.  The best way to get a great lawn, as they say, is not to work really hard on your lawn, but to pour gasoline on everyone else’s.  The apotheosis of envy means the “envier” destroys the object of his or her envy.  Here are just a few approaches to moderating player envy so the game can continue to be fun.

Combatting NPC envy

The biggest cause of negative envy in games is impotence.  If the player cannot hope to become better than the object of envy, there’s only two choices — destroy it or stop playing.  Particularly in single-player games, avoid cut scenes and other moments where NPCs have abilities that players can never hope to attain. Unless, of course, the players can then kill them and release their envious feelings. Makes you wonder how many times you’ve killed the big bad and actually wanted him dead due to envy?

Combatting player envy

How about envy among players?  You may not like the answer, but it’s an oldy but goody: game balance.  In the instance of Cain and Abel, both Cain and Abel made a sacrifice to God, but God preferred Abel’s sacrifice.  Cain became envious and killed his brother.  Just so, in games, two players might make the same effort, but one is rewarded more than the other because of the arbitrary nature of the game design.

Some insist that if everyone has equal access to the resources of the game if they put in the time, the game is inherently balanced.  If some players are better than others, some are just better than others.  This argument doesn’t take into account that different players have different interests and talents and don’t take kindly to being marginalized.  Designing for multiple Bartle types in MMOs, for example, will help balance the game add different arenas for players to compete and succeed.  However, if you are designing a simple game intended for only one type, there are still different strategies to design for within that type.  Balancing a game allows a diversity of player types to succeed without too much envy.

Giving players their own tools against envy

Envy to some is only a sin if it encourages the one who envies to steal or take something from the other.  Flagging or unflagging players to prevent PvP prevents this aspect of envy to come out.  But the tools to combat envy don’t stop there.  In some cases, players can choose which toon titles are visible to other players.  So a player who earned a badge for being the best explorer ever could actually hide this accomplishment in favor of something more amusing and less likely to cause envy and enmity.

What more do you think can be done to prevent player envy?  What games do you think particularly let envy run wild?

This post brought to you by Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.

Found this blog entry useful? Click here to e-mail it to someone or share it:

Ain’t envy fun? The sin of envy in game design

Have you ever seen phat loot someone else had in game, then worked your butt off to get it? Then you’ve seen the power of envy in game design. Inspired by the History Channel series, today we’re continuing our exploration of the seven deadly sins of game design and writing with envy. Though a sin in the Christian tradition, envy can play a positive role in your game design and story.

Envy did not exist on the original list of deadly sins, probably because it was drafted by a monk sworn to poverty. While the list is technically not in the Bible, “thou shalt not covet” suggests this sin is older than the list itself, and one we are most uncomfortable talking about.  Envy rears its ugly head wherever there are possessions and, by extension, special abilities that ascribe status. Envy is insatiable, which is good news for game developers seeking to take advantage of this sin.

But how do you create envy?  Wishing you had something someone else has is a great motivator and arguably what makes games work. Here are just a few ways to create envy in your game, which will spur your players on.

1. Competition
Competition breeds envy. You won’t be able to avoid it. If you have a higher score than I do, I just might be envious.  Game designers take advantage of this by heaping on the competition with games within games in both single and multi-player.  MMOs take the cake with competition, adding a number of levels to compete on — level, PvP rank, badges, guild rank, etc.  Social games add game-wide score charts, while PvP and duels allows players to express their envy mano e mano.

2. Elite goods or abilities
When you create elite loot or skills that can be seen by other players, it will lead to envy and the inevitable question, “Where/how did you get that?” The cape in City of Heroes, which you can only get at level 20, is a great example of envy for lower level players.

However, don’t think single player games can write off envy altogether. Players may see an NPC with a skill or ability and be spurred by envy to continue. In Final Fantasy VII, you are teamed up early with Sephiroth, who pwns your opponent while you swing at it with a “dink.” Envy of this ability is both a motivator and foreshadowing of what you will have to become to defeat him.

3. Customization
Building games and virtual worlds, like Sims and Second Life, can be particularly prone to envy, because someone can always build a bigger, prettier house.  Envy based on customizing is one part elite good envy and another part envy of another player’s ability or talent.  Even in City of Heroes, where everyone has equal access to the costume customizer (say that five times fast), envy is created with impromptu costume competitions.

Whether against other players or against the computer, envy can improve the fun for everyone. “The envy of scholars increases wisdom” goes an old saying. Just so, the envy of players increases fun, if done right.  Next, we’ll be exploring the dark side of envy and when you might want to moderate this deadly sin in your game.

In the meantime, can you think of games where your envy of an NPC prompted you to learn more about him/her?  How about times when you envied a player in a multi-player game?

This post brought to you by Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.
Found this blog entry useful? Click here to e-mail it to someone or share it:

How to avoid powerlessness and apathy in game design

We’ve been exploring the seven deadly sins of game writing and design.  Whenever players cease to care about the game or its outcome, they experience the despair or acedia of sloth.  Players will most likely despair when they don’t have any choice, when the player is actually powerless to affect the outcome.  Players may cease to care and give up, giving in to apathy and sloth.  Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way, and here are just a few ways to stop the feeling of powerlessness.

1. PCs have the same abilities whether the player controls them or not
If a character can’t climb walls during play, but he can during the cut scenes, players can feel frustrated and apathetic about the whole game.

It works in the opposite way as well.  Final Fantasy VII is one of the hallmarks of RPG games, and even made our list of essential RPGs from a writing standpoint. One woman told me this story, however. A little girl was enjoying the game when the scene came up where suddenly you could no longer control Cloud’s movements. You know what’s coming. When Aeris dies, the girl turned to her mother and said, “Why doesn’t she just use a Phoenix Down?” Indeed, by that time you could easily resurrect “dead” characters with a Phoenix Down, but you couldn’t save Aeris because the story demanded it.

2. Don’t tie players’ hands
Even in linear stories, options are nice for players. If a player can’t find the workaround you envisioned, s/he just might stop caring. On a larger scale, allowing players to choose an ending that is meaningful rather than forced upon them, like in THE WITCHER, can make them feel quite powerful, and may encourage replayability as well.

3. No deus ex machina
Players actions should actually decide the outcome of the game. The opposite, deus ex machina, means “God’s” actions lead to the outcome.

In games, God’s actions can be both positive or negative. In Final Fantasy V for Super Nintendo, players must stop the destruction of crystals. Every time you arrive to save a crystal, it is conveniently destroyed just as you get there. On the other hand, in Resident Evil 2, you can defeat the big boss when Ada miraculously hands you the keys to the kingdom by tossing you a missile launcher. Convenience in game design is still convenience and can leave the player feeling nerfed.  What’s the point of going after the crystal if it’s going to be destroyed anyway?  Why can’t the guy with the missile launcher defeat the big bad?

Eliminating powerlessness may be an admirable goal, but some players actually enjoy a bit of it in moderation if it deepens the story.  You will have to decide for yourself what experience you want the player to have and work from there.

Have you seen better examples of powerlessness in a game? Have their been times when you actually enjoyed a sense of powerlessness in a game story or design?

This post brought to you by Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.
Found this blog entry useful? Click here to e-mail it to someone or share it:

Are you guilty of gluttony in game writing and design?

It has been said that there can be too much of a good thing, and game writing and game design is no exception. The sin of gluttony embodies this concept, but gluttony isn’t about quantity but excess. Continuing on our exploration of the Seven Deadly Sins, how does gluttony play a role in game writing and design?

Too much writing
Gluttony in game writing is far too obvious. The dialog trees go on too long. The cut scenes last forever. Even well-written games have fallen prey to the sin of gluttony. While Bioware games are a shining example of good story and writing in games, one blogger joked how you could learn the deep dark secrets of your plumber if Bioware were writing the interaction (if anyone can find that post, drop a link below!). Some have nicknamed Planescape: Torment, another example of great story, Planescape: the Novel. In game writing as in all things, moderation is key.

Too much “art”
Gluttony brings to mind rotund individuals shoveling food into their faces, but according to the History Channel series, gluttons come in all shapes and sizes. If you always eat fine foods, you could be a glutton as well. Medieval priests would claim you are in essence putting your experience of the food first before your relationship with God.

Does this mean we should make sure there’s something flawed in the games we design, like medieval artists who put flaws in their work? Luckily or unluckily, we have yet to see a perfect game. Instead, we should strive to use all aspects of design in moderation — not too much emphasis on gameplay over story, nor too much emphasis on story over anything else. Furthermore, we need not drill down a theme or concept to its very core. We end up with games that are too serious or try too hard. At the end of the day, it is only a game.

Too much fun?
The goal is to make the game more fun, but some developers have approached design with the goal of making it more addictive.  Of course, studies have shown that compulsive gaming is not an addiction, but that hasn’t stopped some developers.  The drawback with this approach becomes apparent whenever you talk to people about playing games.  They reply: “Oh, I can’t play games.  I would get nothing accomplished!”  In this way, encouraging player gluttony could actually hurt sales.

On the other hand, I have worked on an MMO where we aimed to create gameplay experiences that could be accomplished in 15 minutes or half an hour.  This way, players could better weave gaming into a full life.  Which way do you think the wind is blowing — toward more addictive games, or games that can be played in moderation?

Clearly, gluttony has more than one face when it comes to games.  In what area do you think the game industry is stumbling the most?

Posted by Anne for Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.
Found this blog entry useful? Click here to e-mail it to someone or share it:

The three signs of sloth in game design

Good news! If you were slothful, you wouldn’t be reading this, at least according to last week’s definition of sloth. According to the History Channel’s documentary on sloth, however, lack of productivity is not what this sin is all about. Instead, it’s a merging of two sins: Tristessa and Acedia, and their role in game writing and design is a bit trickier.

What are tristessa and acedia? Tristessa means sadness or, in today’s terms, depression, while acedia means apathy. Taken together, these two sins lead to a spiritual apathy, where if others suffer, you don’t care enough to do anything about it. The apotheosis of this sin is despair. According to the church, if you’re despairing, you are inherently turning away from God and the “Good News.”

Now enough religion, which sins actually lead to sloth in game design?

1.  Unclear goals
Years ago when I was hiring game writers, one writer’s sample particularly jumped out at me. Her story and action were good, until she had the player arrive in a new locale and wander around for awhile. I asked her why she didn’t have a clear goal at this point in her story. Her reply? To her, wandering around aimlessly in games happened frequently.

If player goals are too esoteric, whether that be because of a poorly constructed story, insufficient content, or just bad game design, you’re coming dangerously close to sloth. Obviously, the writer above was new to games, but if your player is despairing of ever figuring out what to do next, they may just give in to despair and sloth — and watch TV instead.

2.  Poor writing and delivery
Good game writing doesn’t distract the player from focusing on the fun of the game. Great game writing can motivate the player and adds to the fun of the game. Unfortunately, that means bad game writing can actually demotivate the player.

Have you ever been playing a game and felt like you were being sent on meaningless tasks? Then you’ve felt the caress of sloth. MMOs, unfortunately, often suffer from this sin. If you read reviews of certain quests, like those in WoW, however, players will actually praise quests that offer you the chance to care about the characters and a reason to be involved. Clearly, many players want to care, but because of developer apathy, can’t.

Great writing won’t stop the sin of sloth if it isn’t delivered to the player well. City of Heroes/Villains has some great quests, but I have personally been bogged down by the blocks of text in some of the quests. Ironically, my own “productivity” sloth led to “apathy” sloth in that I just gave up and stopped caring. To keep players caring using the writing and the story, incorporate the writing in every aspect of the game through narrative design.

3.  Powerless players
Powerlessness is the worst aspect of sloth in game design.  If players wanted to feel led by the nose, they’d be watching Ocean’s Twelve.  People play games to feel important.  If the player despairs of ever being able to influence the course of the game, then s/he will stop caring and stop playing.

Powerlessness can creep into your game in many ways, such as through tying the players’ hands, allowing deus ex machina endings, and allowing only trivial choice. Clearly, combating this harbinger of apathy would require another post.

Is despair ever good?
In most good stories, the main character reaches a point where all hope is lost, and where s/he could legitimately despair of ever finding a way out.  It is then that the character’s… “character” is tested and s/he digs deep and pushes onward to the final goal.  Despair is a necessary part of the story, allowing the character to reject the sin of apathy and sloth and rise again.

Sophisticated players will never truly feel this despair, because of the story structure.  Or will they?  From games like Ocarina to Shadows of the Colossus, failure is part of the story and therefore part of the game.  Does this lead to despair, or hope for games in general?  What do you think?

Posted by Anne for Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.
Found this blog entry useful? Click here to e-mail it to someone or share it:

How to avoid sloth in game design

The seven deadly sins have an impact on game design and writing, and sloth provides one of the most interesting and perhaps counter-intuitive issue to date. What exactly constitutes sloth, and is it good or bad for games?  According to the History Channel’s Seven Deadly Sins, sloth may not be the sin you think it is.

Non-gamers might laugh at the idea of criticizing sloth in game design, since many people consider playing games inherently slothful.  My father once told me to stop wasting my time playing so many games.  Now whenever I get a check for my game work, I wave it in his face and say, “Eat it!”  No, not really, but you get the idea.  However, sloth has been vilified throughout the ages for reasons other than it’s a waste of time for individuals.

Lack of Productivity: The Community

If a society decries sloth as a sin, it’s because it hurts society as a whole.  Therefore, the sin of sloth has been a particularly big deal since the advent of industrialism.  Sloth was bad for the corporation.  Before that, sloth was bad in small communities that depended on the work of each member.

When we asked for the greatest sins of sloth on Tuesday, one commenter called “bots” a sign of the sin of sloth.  I had a friend who would leave his character scripting and leveling while he went to work, so it’s hard to say that is a true sign of sloth.  Other bots can be quite useful, dispensing information or items to visitors when one person wouldn’t be able to do it all.  In this sense, every NPC is a kind of bot.

The real problem with bots, of course, is if they mess with the community.  If a bot is spamming uncontrollably in a general chat, or if a script is going through and killing all your mobs, you’re bound to be upset.

From a game design perspective, the way to avoid sloth that affects the community is to provide tools for the community — bringing to mind guilds with machiavellian leaders — and to effectively police, to the best of your ability, griefers.

Lack of Activity: The Individual

In a single-player game, however, if players aren’t doing anything, they’re not harming anyone in the community.  That is, until they find the game boring and stop playing.  Therefore, the biggest sign of sloth in game design is not having enough fun or content for the players to enjoy.

If there isn’t enough content, it doesn’t mean the developers are lazy or slothful.  It’s usually a management decision based on time and resources.  One MMO that will remain nameless was notorious for its lack of content, but fortunately the non-slothful nature of the community made the game fun enough until the content could catch up.

Thus, the solution to a lack of productivity or activity is to make sure there’s enough fun to be had on the one hand, and enough tools available to make sure no one abuses the fun to be had.

But guess what?  That’s not what the sin of sloth was originally about.  Stay tuned next week for the real sin of sloth.  In the meantime, which game design tools have been particularly effective in battling sloth?

Posted by Anne for Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.

Found this blog entry useful? Click here to e-mail it to someone or share it:

Game development and the seven deadly sins

Sin and game development seems like a punch line, but there may be more wisdom in the seven deadly sins than we think.  The History Channel has been airing a terribly addicting series on the Seven Deadly Sins and their history throughout the world.  At the end of every episode, the conclusion is pretty much the same:  the sins or temptations aren’t going away, and for those who overindulge, it could be a literal hell on earth (they really like that turn of phrase).  The series got me thinking on how these sins have an impact on game design.

First of all, what are the seven deadly sins?

1. Lust
2. Gluttony
3. Greed
4. Sloth
5. Anger
6. Envy
7. Pride

Game design and writing have been guilty of all of these sins at one point.  Too much text?  Gluttony.  Loot-based game?  Greed.  But are all these sins bad for game development, or do game developers instead need to pay special attention to them when designing?

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be exploring these sins and how they have an impact on game development.  Now don’t be alarmed — we’re not going to point fingers and scream “Blasphemer!” at any developer.  We’ll leave that to you 😉 Instead, we’ll explore how these sins negatively or positively impact game design and writing.

Which sin do you think is the deadliest sin to avoid if you want to make a good game?  Which sin do you think could actually improve a game?

This post brought to you by Writers Cabal, a game writing and design partnership.

Found this blog entry useful? Click here to e-mail it to someone or share it: