|
Immersion-emotion feedback loop
(Back to TOC)
25 June 2008
by Mike Rozak
Discuss on www.mXac.net/forums
A few years ago, I read the book,
Creating Emotions in Games, by David Freeman. I didn't entirely agree with
the book. Two main messages from the book rubbed me the wrong way:
- People play games, watch TV/movies, and
read books to be taken on an emotional rollercoaster ride. I don't quite
agree with this statement, but I have a theory about why emotions are important
though. See below.
- The examples from the book imply that an
"emotional" game should be an emotional cut-scene, followed by FPS or platformer
gameplay, followed by another emotional cut-scene, then more FPS/platformer gameplay,
etc. I definitely disagree with
this. I suspect David Freeman was intentionally
using common/cliche FPS/platformer gameplay as an example. Or at least I hope he was.
As I pointed out in
Making players forget that they're playing a game, an important feedback
loop between immersion and emotion exists. The two are intertwined.
- Games do what they can to encourage immersion,
like including eye candy, large worlds, gameplay, etc.
- Immersion allows players to get "emotional"
about situations within the game.
- Emotional situations, in turn, cause immersion.
- More immersion means stronger emotions,
which means more immersion.
The same loop happens in TV/Movies and books.
An excellent example is the classic movie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which
gradually draws the viewer into a troubled family. It begins with mystery, and rollercoaster's
its way through a plethora of emotions.
Emotion is critical. Emotion is critical. Emotion
is critical!
It's so important that I'd go as far as saying that:
- Every quest (or whatever unit of "story"
is used in the game) should have some sort of emotional impact, not matter how small.
When a player kills ten rats from the farmer's field, the farmer should look happy/relieved.
If a player kills a dragon, a party should be held in their honour, with all the
local NPCs attending. Emotions don't need to all be positive; bitter-sweet endings
to dragon slayings are easily imaginable.
- Gameplay should encourage emotion.
One of the reasons why "killing things" is the main form of gameplay is that it's
inherently emotional. A MMORPG where you play an an accountant wouldn't work because
adding numbers together and looking up tax-law isn't very emotional.
One more thing...
Many "How to write a story" books say that "story
= conflict" and that it's impossible to write a good story without conflict.
I'll rephrase that equation: "Story requires immersion. Emotion encourages immersion.
Conflict encourages emotion. Thus, conflict encourages story." Don't
mistake the symptoms of the disease for the disease itself!
Likewise, many people assume that "computer
game = gameplay".
In other words, everyone assumes that a "computer game"
(for lack of a better term) must include gameplay. Gameplay is the technical definition
of opponents, choices, winners and losers, etc.
As with stories, don't mistake the symptoms for the
disease:
"Computer games" require immersion. Gameplay
encourages immersion. Gameplay also encourages emotion. Thus, gameplay is a useful
device in making immersive "computer games".
The reason why gameplay is often an integral part of "computer games" is because:
- As I decribed in
Making players forget that they're playing a game, gameplay is immersive because it keeps the player's
mind occupied with the challenge of gameplay.
- Gameplay produces emotions like fear, anger,
fiero, naches, and other wierd-sounding academic emotions. Emotions encourage
immersion. Importantly, gameplay only produces certain kinds of emotions; other
emotions must be evoked through story-like means and/or interaction with other players.
- Gameplay in multiplayer "computer games" is important
for immersion and emotional reasons. It's also important because it provides
a framework for players to interact with one another.
At this point, I could go a step further an claim that
the traditional Bartle player types (achiever, killers, explorers, socializers)
have emotional correlations too, but I still need to think about it.
|