MESTRADO MULTIMÉDIA - ESPECIALIZAÇÃO EM TECNOLOGIAS Exploring the Game Master- Player relationship in video games Abel Neto M 2016 FACULDADES PARTICIPANTES: FACULDADE DE ENGENHARIA FACULDADE DE BELAS ARTES FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS FACULDADE DE ECONOMIA FACULDADE DE LETRAS Exploring the Game Master-Player relationship in video games Abel Neto Mestrado em Multimédia da Universidade do Porto Orientador: Miguel Carvalhais (Professor Auxiliar) Coorientador: Pedro Cardoso (Assistente convidado) Junho de 2016 Resumo O objectivo deste estudo é explorar a relação entre os participantes de jogo que assumem o papel de Game Master e os que assumem o de jogador nos videojogos. Esta relação, escassamente explorada em jogos de computador, existe há décadas em jogos de tabuleiro, um dos primeiros exemplos sendo o Dungeons & Dragons, no qual um participante assume o papel de árbitro e contador de histórias, controlando todos os aspectos do jogo excepto as acções dos jogadores. Através do desenvolvimento de um protótipo de jogo, descobrimos que existe valor na inclusão desta assimetria em jogos de computador, e avaliamos a sua viabilidade e vantagens/desvantagens. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Videojogos, Game Master, Gameplay, Assimétrico Abstract The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between game participants that assume the role of Game Master and those that have that of Player in videogames. This relationship, barely explored in computer games, has existed in board games for decades, one of the first examples being Dungeons & Dragons, in which a game participant acts both as a referee and as a storyteller, controlling all aspects of the game, except for the actions of the players. Through the development of a game prototype, we found that there’s value in including this asymmetry in computer games, and evaluated its viability and benefits/disadvantages. KEYWORDS: Video Games, Game Master, Asymmetric, Gameplay Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been finished without the guidance and insight provided by my advisors Pedro Cardoso and Miguel Carvalhais. I would like to thank them for the continuous help and patience during my work on this dissertation. I would also like to thank my family for their understanding and support throughout my academic journey, as well as my friends, for keeping me sane. Abel Neto Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Problems, hypotheses and research goals .......................................................................... 1 1.2 Research methodology and work plan ............................................................................... 4 2. The Game Master ................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Early History ...................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Functions of the Game Master ........................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 The role of the Game Master ..................................................................................... 9 2.2.2 Current Game Master functions in computer games ............................................... 14 2.3 Motivations of Play .......................................................................................................... 16 2.4 Asymmetric Gameplay .................................................................................................... 19 2.4.1 Symmetric and asymmetric games .......................................................................... 20 2.4.2 Strong asymmetry vs. weak asymmetry .................................................................. 20 2.4.3 Benefits of asymmetric gameplay ........................................................................... 22 2.4.4 Challenges of asymmetric gameplay ....................................................................... 23 3. Defining Game Master Action............................................................................................. 27 3.1 Game Master Mechanics ................................................................................................. 27 3.1.1 Aesthetics................................................................................................................. 27 3.1.2 Player relationships .................................................................................................. 29 3.1.3 Actor management ................................................................................................... 31 3.1.4 Rules ........................................................................................................................ 36 3.2 Game Master Action ........................................................................................................ 40 3.2.1 Preemptive action .................................................................................................... 40 3.2.2 Intervenient action ................................................................................................... 41 3.2.3 Scopes of direct influence ........................................................................................ 42 3.3 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 44 4. Project ................................................................................................................................... 45 4.1 Prototype .......................................................................................................................... 45 4.1.1 Concept .................................................................................................................... 45 4.1.2 Mechanics ................................................................................................................ 45 4.2 Testing ............................................................................................................................. 47 4.3 Results.............................................................................................................................. 47 4.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 49 5. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 51 5.1 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 51 5.2 Limitations ....................................................................................................................... 52 5.3 Future work ...................................................................................................................... 52 References .................................................................................................................................. 54 Cited works ................................................................................................................................ 56 Appendix A — Form ................................................................................................................. 58 Core Module .......................................................................................................................... 58 Social Presence Module ......................................................................................................... 59 Post-Game Module ................................................................................................................ 60 Game Master Module ............................................................................................................. 61 ix Introduction 1. Introduction In board games, the existence of a game participant whose role is not to play but to oversee and shape the players’ experience was popularized by the 1974 board game Dungeons & Dragons. In this role-playing game, the player that takes the role of Dungeon Master (DM) is the participant in charge of creating the details and challenges of a game session, while maintaining a realistic continuity of events. In effect, the DM controls all aspects of the game, except for the actions of the players’ characters, describing what they are supposed to see and hear. With the advent of computer games, these functions were delegated to the game system. While this is useful for single-player games, it also takes away a role that thousands enjoy in the board game. With this in mind, the inclusion of a similar role in computer games has great potential. While there are few examples of videogames where the role of DM has been implemented, more titles currently in development1 are planning to rediscover and explore this in computer games, therefore being a subject that beckons study in order to ascertain its viability and its benefits/disadvantages. As we will detail later, some study has already been done on these matters. However, most of those efforts were directed towards implementing the role of a Game Master (GM) in Computer Role Playing Games (CRPGs). The work presented in this dissertation will not be restricted to a videogame genre in particular, aiming to explore the GM-Player relationship in various contexts. 1.1 Problems, hypotheses and