Before CS177, I had never thought critically about what makes games impactful. I had some previous game design experience from CS 247G Design for Play, however that course was more focused on what games are, what makes them fun, and what kinds of fun games can provide. From fellowship to exploration, Design for play provided deep insight into the enjoyability aspect of games. However, not all games fall within the category of providing joy and fun. That Dragon, Cancer for example does not create the same emotions and the same type of fun that Call of Duty or Cards Against Humanity provides. It instead focuses on having an emotional impact on the player, by taking them on a journey based on discovery and narrative storytelling. This kind of game does not fall into those categories of games we would traditionally label as “fun”, yet they are highly regarded and recommended because of the emotional impact the experience of playing the game has on the player. This type of experience reveals that games are not just avenues for fun, but are also ways to impart knowledge and experiences to the player.
Games provide a unique avenue to promote learning. A well designed game is inherently engaging, and can be used to effectively teach anything from basic probability to complex systems. We were able to demonstrate this with P1, which was oriented towards teaching users about a system. Through the utilization of mechanisms like Arcs and Loops, we were able to design a core gameplay based around educating users on a system that is not well understood. In my case, this was politics and the process candidates go through to become President of the United States. Through the gameplay based around traveling the country, securing votes, debating others, and choosing to make moral or immoral choices, the players were presented the opportunity to learn about the system by experiencing it themselves. As a game designer, creating the game meant understanding how the system worked as deeply as possible, and then finding ways to emulate it in a game setting that allows complete novices to be able to learn the basics within as short of a time frame as possible, ideally on the order of minutes. This process then becomes iterative over the course of playtesting, where we continually update the game to improve the core mechanics to ensure that the game is playable and is able to effectively teach the system. Without these iterations with actual users, we never would have been able to effectively streamline the game to tailor the real needs of the players.
The other impactful way games can affect people is through sharing experiences, especially through narratives. Interaction fiction games are an especially well known part of this category, with many tools such as Twine dedicated to their creation. These games can often include some of the other primary archetypes of fun, especially exploration. However, their primary source of impact is through telling a story or sharing an experience. This War of Mine for example tells the civilian story of war, contrasting the common perspective and style provided by many first person shooter games. Their tagline, “Not everyone in war is a soldier”, reveals to the player that this game is not about the traditional sense of war, but about those whose stories are not often told: The civilians. The game focuses on resource management and on sharing the emergent stories from the characters with the player. This game is known for showing the horrors of war through the experiences of everyday people, something that (outside of the occasional separated limb) is not associated with the traditional first person shooter style of war game. These games focus on using the NPCs as obstacles for the player to mow down in order to advance, as opposed to them actually driving certain aspects of the story. A review of the game from Gamespot really emphasizes the core differences between the two styles:
“Is this a game you want to play? No. Is it a game anyone with a beating heart should play? Yes. A million times yes. It’s a longform exercise in empathy, a sobering piece of work that fills in the blanks left when all we see of war are the headshots. It’s a much-needed course correct in the current shoot-first-ask-questions-never gaming landscape that supposes war is won because one supreme badguy caught a bullet through his brainstem. No: It’s won when the people who lived under his boot get to go home.” – Gamespot
The impact from the game comes from the experience, with fun being a mere vessel for the player to be impacted by the stories in a unique and special way.
While my future in game making is unknown, I do know for certain that I’d like my games to have an impact on those who play them. For some games, maybe that means a peaceful escape, for some maybe it’s a way to just turn your brain off after a long day. But I think I would get the most personal satisfaction out of making a game that not only shows the player something they’ve never seen before, but also provides them an experience they can’t get anywhere else. A new perspective, a new side to the story, a new way to look at the world. These are just a few examples of how games can have an impact, something I hope to keep in mind for my next endeavor.
