Our group is currently looking towards making some sort of cooperative game where there is some element of getting to know the other players. As such, there are certain questions we will have to answer with our prototypes.
Do the social rewards of the game feel balanced with the game’s mechanical goals?
It is important to determine the value of the social interaction our game provides, if we are designing our game around the idea that this should be a draw to the game, especially when it comes to the mechanics of the game itself. If the game is too mechanical, it could focus players towards figuring out the mechanics and drive away the atmosphere of social interaction the game is trying to provide. If the game is too basic, it could prevent players from interacting with each other. A prototype to answer this question would be taking an existing game like tic-tac-toe and test out our prompts and see how motivated players are to be social. I imagine that with interesting questions, the players would be more likely to interact with each other despite the mechanical barrier of a ‘boring’ game like tic-tac-toe.
How do we ensure that the game accounts for all types of social dynamics?
It’s important to make sure the game we create remains fun for all different social situations and hierarchies. For example, the game must be equally motivating for an extrovert who dominates the conversation, and an introvert who might find it harder to speak up. If there is a mismatch in motivation levels, it can disrupt the flow of cooperation. A good way to prototype this is by testing out a cooperative task while explicitly limiting the amount of contributions based on assigned roles representing different power dynamics. If the task is well designed and interesting, I believe that players lower on the social hierarchy will be motivated to include themselves in the game as well.
Is the game emotionally easy to set up?
It’s important to make sure that players are easily able to buy into the game, not just physically, but emotionally. If players are not motivated to be vulnerable, the level of social interaction the game can provide will be greatly diminished. We want players to easily be able to assimilate to the social standards of the game by virtue of wanting to play it. A good prototype to address this could be to create a question-based game and have more points be assigned to more vulnerable questions, so that we can test if the idea of the magic circle does increase players’ vulnerability. I predict that with a compelling enough set up, the magic circle will be enough to get players to want to buy into the emotional requirements of the game.
