WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Competitive Gaming Design and Community Building Interactive Qualifying Project Stefan Alexander and Maxwell Perlman Advisor: Brian Moriarty, IMGD 3/6/2014 Abstract This project attempts to characterize the qualities that make a competitive game successful. By researching the relevant literature and conducting original interviews with designers, players, and other people associated with the gaming scene, we identified three important development principles: 1. Competitive games should be designed for casual play and balanced for competitive play. Nearly every successful competitive game has far more casual players than it does competitive players. Players should want to play your game regardless of any fame or prize support they could gain from playing it competitively. 2. Understanding who your players are and what they want, both in terms of game content and what they want to gain mentally or emotionally from playing the game, can greatly assist in the design of competitive games. When a player gets to use a strategy they enjoy at a high level of play, the game becomes far more enjoyable. 3. A competitive game is defined by its community. When the community is open, accepting, friendly, and helpful, it reflects well on the game and leads to thriving casual and competitive communities. Communities are also vital to the evolution of their players’ skills. Without a supportive and helpful community, players in that community will have a much harder time being successful than if they were a member of a more supportive and caring community. Table of Contents Introduction and Background .............................................................................................. 1 Examples ............................................................................................................................ 1 Statistics ............................................................................................................................ 1 Introducing the Interviewed People .................................................................................... 3 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3 Qualities of Competitive Games .......................................................................................... 6 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 6 Game Depth ....................................................................................................................... 6 Skill .................................................................................................................................... 7 Evolving ............................................................................................................................. 7 Lenticular Design .............................................................................................................. 9 Fun ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 10 Defining Metagame and Balancing a Game ...................................................................... 11 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 11 Metagame .......................................................................................................................... 11 Metagaming ...................................................................................................................... 11 When a metagame breaks down… ................................................................................. 13 Balancing Your Game ...................................................................................................... 17 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 17 Randomness in Competitive Games .................................................................................. 18 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 18 Types of Luck ................................................................................................................... 19 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 20 Understanding Your Audience ........................................................................................... 21 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 21 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 24 Building Your Community .................................................................................................. 25 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 25 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 30 The Player’s Perspective..................................................................................................... 31 Q. How would you describe your job/hobby to a non-gamer? ....................................... 31 Q. Why are competitive games this popular worldwide? ............................................. 32 Q. What are the main qualities that make a competitive game? ................................ 33 Q. What about the prize money when playing competitive games? ............................ 34 Q. How would you describe the term “metagame”? ...................................................... 35 Competitive Game Spectators ............................................................................................ 37 Social Media in Competitive Games .............................................................................. 37 The Importance of Spectators ......................................................................................... 38 Demonstration of How a Game is Played Competitively ................................................. 41 The Different Types of Players ....................................................................................... 41 To Become the Master of Rhythm Games...................................................................... 43 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 47 Interview Transcripts ......................................................................................................... 48 T1. Interview with Daniel Maniago ............................................................................... 48 T2. Interview with David Sirlin ..................................................................................... 52 T3. Interview with Holon ................................................................................................ 72 T4. Interview with Kevin Landon .................................................................................. 76 T5. Interview with kurOa ............................................................................................... 79 T6. Interview with nazomen ........................................................................................... 83 T7. Interview with Nick Ranish ..................................................................................... 87 T8. Interview with Reid Duke ........................................................................................ 91 T9. Interview with Rich Hagon ...................................................................................... 95 T10. Interview with Zac Hill ......................................................................................... 113 T11. Interview with Zvi Mowshowitz ........................................................................... 121 Japanese Interview Transcripts without Translation .................................................... 144 T12. Interview with Holon ............................................................................................ 144 T13. Interview with kurOa ........................................................................................... 147 T14. Interview with nazomen ....................................................................................... 151 Works Cited ....................................................................................................................... 154 Resources ........................................................................................................................... 159 Introduction and Background Examples When writing about competitive games, we refer to a broad range of titles including RTS (Real-Time Strategy) games such as StarCraft/StarCraft II; other MMO games such as League of Legends (LoL) and Defense of the Ancients (Dota/Dota II); card games such as Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!; fighting games such as Super Smash Brothers (Melee, Brawl,