Constraining Interaction to Create Emergent Narrative

1. Constraining Interaction to Create Emergent Narrative Greg Costikyan CEO, Manifesto Games

2. Before 1973... • People would have looked at you funny if you said something like “games are a story-telling medium. • Chess? Monopoly? Candyland? Or even Afrika Korps?

3. In 1973, two things happened Colossal Cave: ...and Dungeons & Dragons:

4. “Interactive Fiction” • Colossal Cave was considered “Interactive Fiction” from the start... • Though interaction is limited (few viable actions at each location) • And as fiction, it’s not that interesting. • Later games in the genre work better as fiction (e.g., Tom Disch’s Amnesia)

5. Interactive Fiction • Text adventures no longer a viable commercial genre—but they live on as a hobby/literary movement (see www.ifcomp.org) • Graphic adventures declining in popularity, but some still appear • Leads also to “action/adventure hybrids” (e.g., Psychonauts, Fahrenheit)

6. RPG • Boom in tabletop RPGs in the 70s • Direct inspiration for computer/console RPGs (e.g., Richard Garriott’s Akalabeth, the precursor to the Ultima series, was based on his D&D campaign) • Indirect inspiration for MMOs (via MUDs) • Leads to LARPs • In 21st century, spawns the “indie RPG” movement of experimental RPG design • Still commercially both in tabletop & digital games

7. Cultural Clash over Role of Story & Games From the Start • In 1977, the Game Manufacturer’s Association (collection mainly of tabletop wargame & RPG publishers) adopts the name “adventure games” for its field (over the objections of wargame publishers who prefer “simulation game”) • Every GDC (and before it, CGDC) conference has had talks debating the role of stories in games

8. ...and Continues • Today the biggest debate among game scholars is between “narratologists” (who view games as a form of narrative) and “ludologists” (who maintain they must be viewed as formal systems) • No end in sight (despite by calls by some, e.g., Janet Murray, for a truce)

9. Basic Problem: • There’s a central conflict between the demands of story and the demands of games • Stories are linear. Though they can leap about temporally, they are experienced the same way every time. • Games are non-linear. Though they are experienced over time, game sessions are different each time.

10. From Story to Game • You can put most games on a continuum from “story-with-minor game” to “game-with-vestigial story attached”.

11. Cortazar’s Hopscotch • Two Paths. • But really just a play with time (Proust/Remembrance of Things Past, Joyce/Ulysses, Vonnegut/Slaughterhouse Five) • These are hat-tricks—not going to see a genre of Hopscotch novels • But still interesting: This is the minimal branching narrative (one decision point) • More game-like than a typical story, but still a long way from a game

12. Hypertext Fiction • Robert Coover, Eastgate Systems, afternoon: a story (Michael Joyce) • Multiple choices at each node, netlike narrative • Generally not a predefined resolution, instead strives for the reader to have an epiphany after exploring enough of the narrative • But… not necessarily a good way to tell stories… • And… no goal, aimless browsing—not a good game

13. Gamebooks • A/k/a “Choose your own ending” or “which-way” books • Fighting Fantasy • Branching narrative, sometimes rudimentary game system • Lots of dead ends (but at least one ‘win state’) • Basically the same as hypertext—follow a link to the next bit of text…

14. Solitaire Adventures & Paragraph-System Boardgames • Solo Adventures are similar to gamebooks, but use the more complicated rules of a tabletop RPG, thus more potential outcomes • Para-System: Boardgame, leading to occasional short gamebook style adventures with resolution. Tales of the Arabian Nights. • Considerably more replayable

15. Dragon’s Lair • Arcade analog to gamebooks • Two paths at each decisionpoint, one leads to death. • Popular when introduced (1984) because the first game with cinematic-quality visuals… • But sequels failed, because this sucks as a gameplay concept.

16. Text & Graphic Adventures • More free-form: Not predetermined paths, but limited game spaces until new ones are opened (beads on a string concept) • Free combination of game objects within spaces • Not that different from a gamebook, except that the ‘text’ can respond interactively to you—new paths opened/items available

17. Graphic Adventures • Characters (but limited decision-tree interaction) • Cut scenes (but when overused, kill gameplay—e.g., Tex Avery: Overseer) • At best, this is a happy compromise: Compelling story, entertaining gameplay (e.g., Grim Fandango) • All games are structures—but graphic adventures quite constrained—necessary to ensure excellence of story

18. PC/Console RPGs • Ultima, Final Fantasy, Zelda, etc. • Intimately tied to story, but far more freeform on a moment-to-moment basis. • Often multiple ways to overcome obstacles • Some choice of spaces to enter • Character growth • But one (or a handful) of outcomes, story experience not much different from player to player.

19. PC/Console RPGs (con’t) • PC/Console RPGs still highly dependent on story—but a greater degree of freedom—more “gamelike” • Limited repeat playability because tied to an essentially linear story

20. MMORPGs • Large-scale environment, thousands of players • Sometimes a “story of the game,” but players have no impact on outcome—linear story irrelevant to gameplay. • Mini-stories in the form of quests. • Since the game goes on forever, and it is hard to allow players to meaningfully impact the world, real story is impossible.

21. MMORPGs • To add story, you need to bring the game to a conclusion: A Tale in the Desert… • Or allow real changes to the world (but hard to do in a multi-server environment) • These are “story settings”—but have almost lost the connection to story in exchange for becoming good social environments as well as good games.

22. Tabletop RPG • Game system very similar (sometimes identical) to PC/Console • --but vastly more freeform: since there is a GM, players can do anything he deems physically possible. • While there are “adventures” (=pre-written stories), most GMs create their own stories for their friends.

23. Tabletop RPGs • True ‘roleplaying’ for the first time—showing off for friends. • (“Roleplaying” in MMORPGs is bogus, because no possible impact on game outcomes… ) • “Stories” are created through play, and for participants, can be if anything more powerful than the ones they receive through interactive media…

24. Tabletop RPGs • …but are invariably dull as hell if told to non-participants (expedition write-ups suck). • Many RPGers don’t give story a second thought: more interested in roleplaying, problem solving, or character advancement (the Blacow player types).

25. The Continuum • Thus, you can view the continuum between story-with-minimal interaction (Hopscotch) through the game-with-some-story-connection (tabletop roleplaying) as an attempt to find compromises between the highly linear nature of story and the inherently non-linear nature of games

26. Constraining Gameplay • I used to think that was all there was—there was only one dimension along which “narrative games” could lie... • But maybe a better way of thinking about it is that to tell a satisfying story, gameplay must be constrained to ensure that story does emerge.... • And reducing gameplay to interaction within “beads on a string” is only one way...

27. “Embedded Stories” • Multiple stories embedded inthe game—each linear, butencountered by players indifferent orders, thus improvingreplay value. • MMO quests. • “Paragraph-system boardgames.” • True of some (not all) console/PC RPGs

28. Beads on a String—But Multiple Paths Within Each Bead • Asset development for digitalgames is expensive—hard to get away from “beads on a string”... • But you can allow multiple ways to solve each problem—and multiple ways to shape a character (fighter, sneaker, hacker)... • And multiple outcomes (victories of different game factions).

29. Ending the MMO • The “never-ending”MMO with multiple shards essentially cannot permit players to shape the overall arc of the story, if any. • But if you end the game, you can. ATITD has two possible outcomes: the players accomplish the tasks necessary for Pharaoh to triumph over the Stranger, in 1 year of play—or not.

30. A Tale in the Desert (con’t) • And high degree of player freedom during that year. • Commercially risky—you lose a big piece of the player base with each game end. • But artistically worthwhile.

31. My Life with Master • Narrative arc is explicitlyfixed (the villagers willdestroy Master). • Game explicitly played in scenes with beginnings, middles, ends. • No dierolls for individual actions; actions are unconstrained. • But a die-roll is made to determine whether the player “succeeds” or “fails” in this scene—and he must roleplay the results.

32. ...The Constrained Narrative RPG • In other words, the game specifically constrains the players to an explicit narrative... • Which can, however, vary greatly in detail from playing to playing. • And unlike traditional RPGs, the burden of storytelling is shared among players and PCs.

33. The “Narrativist” RPG • More generally, a new breedof experimental “Narrativist”RPGs work to share the waythe story is shaped among players and GMs • E.g., Ron Edwards’s Sorcerer, in which all players have paranormal powers, which they can use only by unleashing their inner demons—always at a steep personal price • Not so much “games as stories”—but “games as theater”

34. Gamist-Narrativist-Simulationist Theory • Evolved by Ron Edwards and other participants at The Forge • Attempts to few RPG gameplay as motivated by a desire for accomplishment (gamism—”I want more EP”), a desire for exploration and verisimilitude (simulationism—”that’s not realistic!”), or a desire to participate in a compelling story (narrativism).

35. Bartle & Yee Player Types • Interesting overlaps with the Bartle (achievers, explorers, socializers, killers) and Yee (relationships, immersion, grief play, accomplishment, leadership) player types... • But the motivation behind GNS theory is mainly to try to understand how to design games to shape narrativist gameplay • ...And it all ultimately boils down to figuring out what set of constraints on gameplay allows for a high degree of player freedom, and forces the emergence of a coherent narrative.

36. Can This Be Done Digitially? • It’s hard to see how (most) GNS-inspired games can be modified for use in digital media... Since they depend (as all tabletop RPGs do) on the creativity and flexibility of a live gamemaster (and live players)... But...

37. Constraining One Place is Okay if You Free Up Somewhere Else • From this, we can learn at least one important thing: You can impose strong constraints on gameplay (e.g., determine in advance the outcomeof a scene) if you free up player action in other spheres (no die-rolls for success/failure of individual actions) thus giving players the sense that they still have freedom of action within the system

38. How Else Can We Constrain Gameplay to Force A Narrative to Emerge? • Worth thinking about. • We need to get away from “beads on a string”—I think we’ve basically rung the changes on what can be done with that approach.

39. Approaches to consider... • Breaking the narrative into discreet chunks that can be encountered in multiple orders • Having more chunks than will be encountered in a single play-through, so there are still surprises with repeat play • Imposing a defined arc on the narrative (beginning and ending fixed) but allowing high degrees of freedom in between.

40. In General... • Conceive of gameplay and story as discrete entities, and look for non-traditional ways for them to interact with each other. • Finding different ways to grant players “freedom of action” while working within a constrained narrative—or ways of constraining player freedom in one area while freeing it in another to produce an emergent narrative

41. References • Colossal Cave: www.rickadams.org/adventure/ • Interactive Fiction Competition: www.ifcomp.org • Graphic Adventures: www.adventuregamers.com/ • Dungeons & Dreamers, Brad King & John Borland, McGraw Hill-Osborne Media, New York, 2003 • The Forge: www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/ • Game Manufacturer’s Association; www.gama.org • Janet Murray’s DiGRA 05 talk on narratology/ludology: www.lcc.gatech.edu/~murray/digra05/

42. References (con’t) • Hopscotch, Julio Cortazar, Pantheon Books, New York, 1987 (originally published in 1966 as La Rayuela) • Robert Coover: www.brown.edu/Departments/Literary_Arts/coover.htm • Eastgate Systems: www.eastgate.com • afternoon: a story:www.eastgate.com/catalog/Afternoon.html

43. References (con’t) • A Tale In the Desert: www.atitd.com • My Life With Master: www.halfmeme.com/master.html • Sorcerer: www.sorcerer-rpg.com • GNS Theory: www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/1/ • Bartle player types: www.mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm • Yee player types: www.nickyee.com/facets/home.html