Wk 10: Grand Finale - Dramaturgs in Pervasive Play

In order to create the sense of performance, one needs to create the thrill of being watched. Without an audience, the interaction between the player and the viewer is lost. In IMS, platforms where audience can watch others ‘perform’ include MMORPG & simulations like Second Life. Another characteristic of pervasive games is the strong sense of community identity. Users of these IMS platforms are also characterized by a great sense of community (i.e. players who ‘mourn’ for death of a World of Warcraft player by gathering at his favourite haunt) thus making it a good match.

The advantage of IMS is the greater manipulability than real-life environments which provide authors with greater room for imagination and creation. This is effective for enhancing the narrative because it allows the author to make use of the space to tell the story. Injecting a strong narrative into the game can also increase the sense of immersion of the gamer.

However, the narrative in this case would have to be realistic and tangible, meaning that grand quests to save their beloved princesses are a no-no. Something that players can relate to reality i.e. alien watching, matrix explorations would be more tangible. In other words, the narrative has to connect to reality and this can be enahnced by out-of-game-world applications like blogs, emails and even internet telephony.

The narrative should also not be too prescriptive and left slightly ambiguous to allow for interpretation bythe player. This is easily achievable and perhaps possible to make more interesting in IMS where clues can be given in ways otherwise restricted in a realistic environment.

'Dramaturgs' should constantly monitor the feedback from the participants such that the design of the game is within the zone of proximal expectation. Players like a sense of unexpectability but if it were too unexpectable, players might not feel the sense of self-efficacy as when it were just one or two notches above their expectations. By keeping it so, players will be able to feel that their expectations (in the form of the guesses) are within the ballpark but there is still a sense of unexpectability that will keep them motivated to think of more possibilities and thus forward the game. This principle can also be integrated with the crafting of the narrative.

Also, it is important to ensure that whatever players do in the games, it has to be convention-breaking, which is the thrill that players seek. In a game like World of Warcraft this could take the form of a demonstration to protect the monsters and prevent their mindless slaying. This will create the same kind of desire to be surprised that gets players involved in real-life pervasive games experience.