Replayability in Strategic Computer Games Kasper Allan Pedersen To cite this version: Kasper Allan Pedersen. Replayability in Strategic Computer Games. 2012. hprints-00728892 HAL Id: hprints-00728892 https://hal-hprints.archives-ouvertes.fr/hprints-00728892 Submitted on 6 Sep 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Abstract The idea for this thesis originates in a curiosity concerning why so many of the strategy games from the 1990’s are still being played today. Many of the games still have very active fans that modify their old favorite games for online play just so that they can share their passion with other fans around the world. What aspects about these strategy games is it that promotes the level of replayability that has kept them fresh while so many other games have disappeared from play. Out of this curiosity came the question: How do rules and aspects of narrative affect the replayability of a strategic computer game and why are some games replayed even after they have been completed multiple times? To discover what creates the replayability in the old strategy games a thorough analysis of Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares (MicroProse 1996) has been carried out. This analysis was compared with the responses from a qualitative internet survey posted on the fan forums of numerous of the most famous strategy games of the 1990’s. The theoretical foundation of the thesis is in hermeneutics, ludology, narratology and flow theory. Together the analysis and the survey have yielded much information on how replayability is created in a strategy game. My conclusion states the nature of that information and suggests a few points that should be included in the production of a strategy game to make it replayable. 1 Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................... 5 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Research Question ................................................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Delimitations ........................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3 Hypothesis ............................................................................................................................................... 7 2 Theory ............................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.1 Hermeneutic Theory ................................................................................................................................ 9 2.1.1 Possible Arguments Against the Hermeneutic Approach .............................................................. 10 2.2 Game Studies ......................................................................................................................................... 10 2.2.1 Games as Formal Systems .............................................................................................................. 10 2.2.2 The Narrative of Games .................................................................................................................. 11 2.2.3 Geographic Narrative ..................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.4 Cyborg Consciousness .................................................................................................................... 12 2.2.5 Flow ................................................................................................................................................ 13 2.3 Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 14 3 Method ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Structured Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 15 3.2 Empirical Study ...................................................................................................................................... 16 3.2.1 Creating the Survey ........................................................................................................................ 16 3.2.2 Choosing the Informants ................................................................................................................ 16 3.2.3 Choosing the Questions .................................................................................................................. 17 3.2.4 Questions for Qualitative Survey at Game Forums ........................................................................ 18 3.2.5 Sorting and Analyzing the Answers ................................................................................................ 18 3.3 Description of Survey Results ................................................................................................................ 19 3.4 Method for Game Analysis .................................................................................................................... 20 3.5 Description of Case ................................................................................................................................ 22 3.6 Method Criticism ................................................................................................................................... 22 4 Analysis of MOOII ......................................................................................................................................... 26 4.1 Object Inventory .................................................................................................................................... 26 4.1.2 The Map of the Galaxy ................................................................................................................... 26 4.1.2 The Colonies ................................................................................................................................... 29 4.1.3 The Ships ......................................................................................................................................... 31 2 4.2 Interface Study ...................................................................................................................................... 33 4.2.1 The Race Creation Screen ............................................................................................................... 34 4.2.2 The Technology Screen ................................................................................................................... 37 4.2.3 The Race Screen ............................................................................................................................. 39 4.3 Interaction Map ..................................................................................................................................... 41 4.4 Gameplay Log ........................................................................................................................................ 45 4.4.1 Emergent Gameplay in MOOII ........................................................................................................ 45 4.4.2 Emergent Gameplay versus Emergence Games ............................................................................. 47 4.5 Summary ................................................................................................................................................ 48 5 Narrative in MOOII ....................................................................................................................................... 50 5.1 Exploration and Colonization ................................................................................................................ 50 5.2 Other Narrative Features of MOOII ....................................................................................................... 52 5.2.1 Kernels and Satellites ..................................................................................................................... 52 5.2.2 Diplomacy ....................................................................................................................................... 54 5.2.3 Random Events ............................................................................................................................... 57 5.2.4 Narrative of the Emergence Game ................................................................................................. 61 5.3 Summary 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