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Why Death Matters: Player Experience in Online Worlds Lisbeth Klastrup slides at: www.klastrup.dk Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup The talk • what is an online world? • how to analyse online worlds • death, death, Death and Death • how to analyse Death • ”death” and the gamesystem • a catalogue of death... • player experiences with death • the function of death • death and worldness Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Framework 2003 ph.d. thesis: Towards a Poetics of Virtual Worlds: Multi-User Textuality and the Emergence of Story • ”reading about” =>”participating in” • ”text” => system producing multiple texts • game => gameworld • not just player vs world (PvE) =>both player to player and player vs world Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup What is an online world? An online world is a persistent online representation, which enables synchroneous communication between users and between users and the world, within the framework of a space designed as a navigable universe. The spatiality of the online world cannot be perceived in its totality. Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup The online world compared to a single- player or online fps game • networked • character info saved on central server • persistent • character changes individually over time • world changes over time • many players (+64) • gameelement is only an (influential) part of the experience of being in the world Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup A poetics of online worlds • Poetics = rules and ”laws” of a general nature • What creates the experience of a specific worlds ”worldness” /literariness • A vocabulary of interaction forms, agents, performative and communicative possibilities Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup ”Worldness” the combination of a specific fictional frame, gamesystem & design, the possibilities for communication and interaction, the player’s ”lived story” in the world, and the social interaction in and about the world... .... creates a player’s experience of the particular worldness of an online (game)world Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup ”texts about” Ù worldness ...a world is defined not only by what is inside but about all the ”paratexts”, which surround it, incl. the stories players tell about the world EverQuest: 19,2 million hits World of Warcraft: 60,7 million hits worldwide Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup To analyse a world.. • the world as ”tool”, software • aesthetics & univers (generel fortolkningsramme) • structure & sociality (gamesystem, identity design, agents, forms of interaction) • Phases of experience (”lived life”) Shameless commercial!: Klastrup: "EverQuest som en ny tids fiktion - kommunikation og interaktion i en online verden" i Digitale Verdener - de nye mediers æstetik og design, Gyldendal 2004 Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup The world as interpretative frame • genre (”sci-fi”, fantasy etc) • backstory • ”geography”, physics • visual style • music Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Eve Online Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup EVE Online – the worlds largest game universe! Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup The Death (Stories) Project • Exploring how a particular feature impacts the experience of worldness • The interplay between cultural context, world design, game mechanics and players’ experiences with their characters • Partly comparative studies: general traits? • What kind(s) of death do players tell stories about? • Guidelines for improved world & story-generating design? Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup The particular appeal of death [the] power of death to either galvanize or corrode social systems and to either stimulate or neutralize the social participation of their members … (Kearl: Endings: A Sociology of Death and Dying, p. 9) the way a given culture/society talks about and handles death a defining characteristic of that culture and its social system gamesystem Ù community Ù culture Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Worlds I’m looking at • EverQuest • World of Warcraft • Lineage II • Dark Age of Camelot • Ultima Online • City of Heroes • Star Wars Galaxies • Eve Online • Anarchy Online Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup ”Texts” I’m looking at • faqs • player forums, guild websites, player-produced material (machinima etc) • gamesystem & game functions • what players say “in game”, interviews • the death-stories survey • literature on the sociology of death • + first-hand experience... Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup death, death, Death & Death • death as function & in-game mechanics » as result of malfunction (bug, dead server etc) » death in battle/duel (killed by system,NPC or other players) » as voluntarily chosen player strategy » NPC death (NPC killed by player) » (involuntary) suicide • death of character as (social) event in the life of a player & hir character(s) = the experience of one particular death • Death as symbolic event • Death of a player • Death of a world Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Death as malfunction The worst thing about any online RPG is that you tend to die for really dumb reasons, i.e. you suffer a power outage, you lag a lot, you get dropped from the server because a mouse is loose in the Globalcenter router again, etc. Death sucks..[..] Player at http://mu.ranter.net/asheron/betacombat1.html, 2001 Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Game design: designers vs players? Designers wish for balance: • overcomable obstacles & possibility of progression vs exitement knowing there is punishment for doing ”wrong” • enforce & encourage character care Players wish for easy play??: • ”bad” deaths as design flaws • penalty ok, but only if reasonably balanced Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Death & game balance As with other games, avatar death must be accompanied by a disincentive of some kind, or players won’t care if they die. The trick is to find a disincentive that is appropriately proportional to the likelihood of their dying – to put it in simpler terms, it’s a balance problem. (Rollings & Adams Game Architecture and Design,, pp. 525) Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Death death penalty • a contested area • necessary gameplay function? • must provide challenge, but must not disencourage player • generally bound to space & performance • displacement and ”stat” punishment • death = resurrection (”permadeath” a rarity) Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Death & game balance II …some of the more primitive and tedious aspects of the real world that players don’t want to experience act, unfortunately, to set up some of the more advanced and ejoyable aspects that they do want to experience. (Bartle, Designing Virtual Worlds, p. 386) Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Too much death = too little money Because game play must appeal to both longtime gamers and newcomers, makers of games like EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies and the coming Middle-Earth Online (based on "The Lord of the Rings"), have chosen softer death penalties to avoid scaring off less experienced players (New York Times, March 2004) Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup WoW’s death penalty argument Q: This death penalty isn't harsh enough One of the fundamental philosophies we have had throughout the development of World of Warcraft is to avoid overly frustrating elements used in other MMORPGs and make the game FUN. Of course, we realize that one cannot take this philosophy too far, since we also want players to respect the world, which is why things like falling damage, death penalties, and other elements exist. If players do not feel like they are overcoming obstacles, then the game does not feel rewarding enough. World of Warcraft FAQ Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup The Newbie Fix From http://www.darkageofcamelot.com/faq/ What happens when your character dies? • Death systems in online RPG games are often maligned, criticized, scorned, and outright hated. However, they fulfill a critical aspect of games that is almost always overlooked by the player: having something bad happen when your character dies imparts a sense of tension and excitement. There is simply no excitement in adventuring through a world where loss of life is meaningless - a game with no or little penalty for death will soon be fully explored, and become boring. • In Camelot, we will balance the good of excitement and tension with the bad of having a death penalty. There is no death penalty for characters under 6th level. Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Gamesystem & structure ”You are dead!” (a preliminary catalogue of the staging of death) Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup A (preliminary) catalogue of death Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Eve Online Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Eve Online Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Eve Online Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup EverQuest Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup City of Heroes Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup World of Warcraft Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup World of Warcraft Södertörn högskola 17.maj © Lisbeth Klastrup World of Warcraft Södertörn högskola 17.maj
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