Creators intentions vs. players' behavior
It's obvious who would win. The question is how to avoid the fight.
Imagine that you’re making a game about ecological disaster but something that players learn from the game is that a proper way to get rid of unwanted stuff is to throw it overboard.
Well…
Here comes the story about creators' intentions and players' behavior...
I read this story in EDGE #388, where Andrzej Blumenfeld, CEO of Far From Home, was talking about Forever Skies. In this survival game, the ecological catastrophe made the planet uninhabitable to humans and you as a scientist fly in an airship high above toxic clouds.
The game setting was inspired by the situation in Kraków, one of the cities in Poland in which air pollution reaches a dangerous level. But despite the creators having a clearly stated mission, the release has brought some surprises.
“We added a recycler since people were just going to the edge of their airship and tossing unwanted items overboard which felt a little odd for a game set around environmental issues,” said Andrzej Blumenfeld.
That’s not an exception - noble ideas often don’t go in pair with actual players' behaviors. I would say that games are the most difficult medium to convey a message intended by a creator.
It’s because as game developers we try to provide players some freedom in their choice of actions, but also need to take care that the experience is engaging (others may say fun but in my opinion, it's too limiting).
The best example of “fun” winning with the message is the fate of The Landlord’s Game, a cautionary board game designed by Elizabeth Magie in 1904 (sic!). What did she say about her game?
“It is a practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences."
Magie created two sets of rules:
One included tax which rewards everybody when wealth is created. It was anti-monopolist in its intention.
The other one is about showing how monopolies crush all opponents.
Unfortunately, the second one was more engaging to play and was copied to make Monopoly, one of the most profitable board series ever made.
If you want your game to say something particular, DON’T focus on words in dialogues or even the setting of the game.
What’s more important is what the player DOES.
Neurobiology proves that too.
Brain plasticity means that everything that we experience leaves a trace in the mind. The more frequent the experience, the stronger its effect on our future behavior.
As Donald Hebb said:
“Neurons that fire together, wire together.”
If a child is told by its parents to do something, but parents are doing the opposite – what the kid will follow: their behavior or their words? It is quite clear, right?
Now, put players instead of kids and game developers instead of parents.
And remember to SHOW them how to behave instead of TELLING them what to do.
I dig the Monopoly example from an INCREDIBLY insightful presentation made by @SorenJohnson. Check out his blog and the podcast, they are awesome sources of knowledge.
Buy or wishlist Forever Skies - it's a really interesting game especially if you are a fan of survivals like Subnautica! And the fact it's trying to say something about the problems of our world is something I respect a lot.
I also had a post with another good example of players behaving differently from the creator's intention and how it links with the psychological theory of self-determination. Read it here:
