Games and the Western Mind
Some recent psychological research, described in the National Post, has confirmed that not everyone in the world thinks like westerners. This is not surprising, though apparently many psychologists have hoped their work was universal, even when only American college students were used as subjects. Regardless, the new work identifies particular differences. The surprising: Our desire for fairness seems uniquely strong. The unsurprising: individualsm, namely identifying the self with traits rather than a role in society.
The most ambitious role-playing games aspire to stretch our minds a little: to see ourselves in another place and time, with different motives and ideas than we have. Aiding such explorations is difficult: games often struggle to evoke even the physicality of another world believably. It is especially hard because, as the article suggests, so much of our thinking is unconsciously—but very substantially—influenced by our society. Can games hope to evade such biases, even a little?
That was partly my intent with City of Birds which, for instance, has characters with no abilities, only social roles. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it has been successful with people who disliked role-playing previously (especially women). Clearly, games do not have to be as individualistic as they usually are, or concerned with material gain and utilitarian do-gooding; with dice and the numerization of everything. I wonder, though, if role-playing—as a hobby—is somehow uniquely western at its core. If so, there may be limits on what it can do. But we’re far from any limit now, so let’s keep pushing.
Aug 26, 2010 | Filed in design
| Tagged: analysis, anthropology | 0 Comments
Role-Playing Structures II
In my previous essay, I introduced what I see as the two major “structures” of role-playing, mechanisms and imaginings. Here I’ll explore them further: their components, their interaction, and their use.
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Nov 03, 2009 | Filed in design
| Tagged: analysis, indie, nouns_verbs, play, structures | 0 Comments
Role-playing Structures
I’ve often struggled with the definition of games. What is it that makes role-playing role-playing? How is it different from board-gaming or wargaming? These terms may be useful but the boundaries they set are fairly arbitrary, and they could be abandoned.
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Sep 20, 2009 | Filed in design
| Tagged: analysis, indie, play, structures | 0 Comments
RPGs, Models and World-views
Models
A successful RPG ruleset influences a group of players to imagine particular things: both content (nouns) and events that change that content (verbs).
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Nov 09, 2006 | Filed in design
| Tagged: analysis, anthropology, models | 0 Comments
4-Block Game Analysis
Here’s a method I came up with for analyzing role-playing games and for designing them. I started thinking about successful narrativist designs and what they have in common. In particular, tend to foster play that has a lot of momentum: the action is driven forward without needing a lot of "kick-starts" to get out of a rut.
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Apr 26, 2006 | Filed in design
| Tagged: analysis | 0 Comments
Articulating Goals
Does this conversation sound familiar?
Person 1: Hey, I’m designing a game system. Can you give me some advice?
P2: Sure. What’s the goal?
P1: I want a system that’s detailed but rules light, and realistic but with super powers. It needs to be balanced, highly flexible. It should allow any kind of character and let the players to do anything they want. It needs to be immersive and, above all, fun!
P2: …
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Jun 13, 2005 | Filed in design
| Tagged: analysis | 0 Comments
