ETC Applied Research Team

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ETC Applied Research Team

• Final Presentation
• December 15, 2003

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The Team
Eben Myers
Ben Smith
David Jimison
Shanna Tellerman
Brenda Harger, Faculty Advisor
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Original High Level Goal

• To research character and emotion in online games
  from a fresh perspective (Art Drama) and to
  write a research paper that provides practical
  applications to game design.

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• Emergent Stories in Massively Multiplayer Online
  GamesUsing Improvisational Techniques to Design
  for Emotional Impact

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Distinct Medium of MMOGs
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Defining Characteristic

• Hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously
  inhabit the same persistent game world.

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Unique Features of MMOGs

• Play together
• Real-time
• Unscripted
• Potentially never-ending

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Design Challenges

• Unpredictable player behavior
• 1,000 heroes
• Multiple play styles and skill levels

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Stories

• Stories are important to human beings
• Satisfying stories have an identified structure

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Stories and Games

• Linear stories tend to be used in linear games.
• Multi-linear stories are also used in games.

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Emergent Stories

• Authored on the fly.

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Improv

• Storytelling on the fly
• Real-time
• Unscripted

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CROW

• Character
• Relationship
• Objective
• Where (setting)

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Character

• External and internal characteristics
• Physical body
• Status
• Given circumstances
• Personality traits
• Inner needs

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Relationship

• Three types
• Biological
• Professional
• Social

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Objective

• Objective is a goal
• Physical
• Psychological
• Combination
• Objective should be expressed as a verb

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Where (setting)

• Time period and location for the story

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CROW Web

• CROW elements are dynamic and interrelated
• Action should cause change in one or more
  elements of CROW
• Change in an element of CROW can affect other
  elements of CROW

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Moments of Truth

• ...we rely on works of fiction, in any medium,
  to help us understand the world and what it means
  to be human ... we lose consciousness of the
  medium and see neither print nor film but only
  the power of the story itself (and) think about
  what truth it has told us about our lives.
  (Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck)

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Moments of Truth

• An empathic connection to a universal feeling
  through a specific incident in a story

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Moments of Truth dont have to be profound.
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Important Points

• MMOGs are a distinct medium
• Emergent stories can help meet the challenges of
  this medium
• Improv techniques (CROW and CROW web) create a
  foundation towards moments of truth

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Challenges

• Were not gamers
• We are 5 people writing together
• The scope of our topic and our ideas is huge

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Were not GamersPlaying Games

• Aliens vs. Predator Extinction Animal
  Crossing Def Jam Vendetta Earth Beyond
  Final Fantasy X Grand Theft Auto III Grand
  Theft Auto Vice City Halo Ico Jak
  Daxter The Precursor Legacy The Legend of
  Zelda The Windwaker Max Payne Metal Gear
  Solid Substance Metroid Prime No One Lives
  Forever 2 Silent Hill 2 The Sims The Sims
  Online Splinter Cell Star Wars Galaxies An
  Empire Divided Star Wars Knights of the Old
  Republic Super Mario Sunshine Toontown Online

• Together
• Individually
• Always discussed from a critical and analytical
  angle

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Point of View and Camera
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Linearity
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Reward Structures
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Were not GamersTalking to Gamers

• Surveyed ETC students
• One-on-one conversations

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Were not GamersResearch

• Gamespot, Gamespy, IGN, Mobygames, and many
  others
• Talked to designers at EA

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Were not GamersIts a Strength

• Ultimately, being non-gamers meant we could bring
  an outside (artistic/dramatic) perspective to the
  topic.

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We are 5 people writing togetherManaging time
together and apart

• Meetings/discussions
• Outlines
• Divided up writing
• Group editing

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We are 5 people writing togetherCommunication
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We are 5 people writing togetherGreater than
the sum of our parts
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Huge ScopeExpanding the Scope First

• All games not just online games
• Breadth first study of video games

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Huge ScopeNarrowing Down

• Looked for topic areas that were new and
  different.

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Sparks
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Deliverables Written Words

• Paper
• Documentation of our thoughts/process

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Deliverables EA Workshop

• January 9th
• Held at Maxis
• Open to all of the EA community
• Our objective
• Present our ideas in the form of practical
  applications that game designers can employ

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Future Publications?

• We will take ideas from our paper and write them
  into different published forms.
• Conferences (ACE 04, ICEC 04, GDC 05)
• Magazines/Journals (Game Developer, Journal of
  Game Studies)
• Online (Gamasutra)

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Special Thanks

• The Sims Online
• Jeff Lind - Dev. Dir./Team Lead
• Andrew Boyd - Designer
• Jessica Lewis - Associate Producer
• Earth Beyond
• Chris Klug - Creative Director
• Sean Dugan Writer
• The Sims 2.0
• Lucy Bradshaw - VP Production/Dev.
• Lisa Dennis - HR
• Bob King - Animator
• Billy Hsu - Console Development

• LotR Return of the King
• Eric Leive - Artist
• Jane Ng Artist
• ETC Students/Alumni
• Jon-Paul Dumont
• Richard Colvin
• Jon Parise
• Nate Jones
• Ira Fey
• Ted Hung

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Questions?