INTERACTION DESIGN IN OPEN-WORLD MOBILE GAMES BALANCING PLAYERS' FREEDOM AND RESTRICTIONS Master Degree Dissertation of Yujie Li. Master of Science in Digital and Interaction Design. Politecnico di Milano INTERACTION DESIGN IN OPEN-WORLD MOBILE GAMES BALANCING PLAYERS' FREEDOM AND RESTRICTIONS Master Degree Dissertation of: Yujie Li Student ID Number: 893862 Supervisor: Ilaria Mariani, PhD Co-Supervisor: Davide Spallazzo, PhD MsC thesis submitted on April 2020 Politecnico di Milano, School of Design Master of Science in Digital and Interaction Design Academic Year 2018-2019 To all those who bestowed love and help on me 2020.03.07 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the help of my friends and colleagues, I would not be able to successfully complete this research. They proposed challenges to my arguments during my research, which prompted me to repeatedly review the direction and process of my research, and provided me with valuable information and exhilarating encouragement. I would especially like to thank my supervisor, Professor Ilaria Mariani, who provided me with detailed guidance and very valuable experience throughout my research process, which helped me to conduct my work in a scientific way. With her help, I was able to clearly and rationally plan and advance my research process. Thanks to Professor Davide Spallazzo for giving me suggestions and encouragement at the beginning stage of formulating my research proposal, which helped me build confidence in the research topic. Special thanks to my colleagues in the working team of my internship in NetEase Network Co., Ltd. for their inspiration on my design thinking. I would also like to express my thankfulness to the three professional game interaction designers that I met during the internship and study: Zhenhua Chen, Guangzheng Wang and Yue Liu. They shared with me their valuable work experience in the early stage of my research, which helped me to establish a professional way of design thinking and became a solid foundation for the subsequent research process. Many thanks to three of my friends: Anqi Wang, Minghao Chen, Min Lu who took their precious time to participate in the observation and semi-structured interview. Their help has helped me to build a clear understanding of the current situation, its dynamics and logic, and the main issue of this study. I also want to thank every respondent who sincerely completed the questionnaire and provided sufficient high- quality information resources for research analysis. I want to thank Professor Margherita Pillan for her guidance and suggestions during my application for the internship abroad. Meanwhile, I would like to express the same thankfulness to all the staff at the Internship Center of Politecnico di Milano who facilitated me with my application. It was this internship that gave me the driving motivation to research the selected topic, and also opened up my career path. Last but not least, I want to express my deep gratitude to my family for their infinite support. Their encouragement has made me brave enough to face all the difficulties, loneliness, confusion and achieve the satisfying results. I am here to express all my love and respect for them. CONTENTS Abstract / 2 1. Introduction / 6 1.1 Open-world: definitions and features / 7 1.1.1 The concept of storyline / 11 1.1.2 The concept of freedom / 13 1.2 Non-linear progression and plot in open worlds / 18 1.2.1 Level Design in open worlds / 25 1.2.2 Relationship between levels and players’ freedom / 28 1.2.3 Procedural generation for open-world environment / 29 1.3 Determining research direction / 30 1.4 Research aims and value / 34 2. Player's freedom and interactive experience ss.– A literature review / 36 2.1 Interaction design in games / 37 2.2 Users’ freedom in interactive narrative / 40 2.3 Players’ degree of freedom of interaction in games / 41 2.4 Agency in interactive narrative / 44 2.5 Relationship between player experience and satisfaction ssssss ssssss.of needs / 48 2.6 How do professional agencies review games / 51 2.7 Reflection on case studies / 55 2.8 Summary of literature review / 56 3. Research methodology / 58 3.1 Research questions and plan / 59 3.1.1 Summary of questions and corresponding sssss ssssssssssssmethodologiesss / 59 3.1.2 Table of research plan / 62 3.2 Research methodologies used / 63 4. Research process and analysis of results / 70 4.1 How do professionals design for players’ freedom / 71 4.1.1 Respondent Information / 71 4.1.2 Summary of professionals’ experience / 72 4.2 Investigation with players / 79 4.2.1 Observation of gaming process / 80 4.2.2 Analysis of semi-structured interview reply / 82 4.2.3 Questionnaire feedback data analysis / 83 5. Guidelines for balancing players' freedom and restrictions with interaction design / 102 5.1 Highlight the challenges the system poses to players / 104 5.2 Create novel and rich interactive experience of freedom / 105 5.3 Embed game worldview in interaction design / 107 5.4 Help players establish a dynamic and balanced relationship with game environment / 109 5.5 Refine interaction design and connection between game contents / 111 5.6 Personalization of interface components / 112 6. Discussion and conclusion / 114 6.1 Contribution to knowledge / 118 6.2 Conclusions, open issues and future developments / 123 7. References / 126 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. Definition of an open world / 9 Figure 1.2. Detroit: Become Human – Review the entire game process with the android /12 Figure 1.3. No Man’s Sky – A spacecraft bound for a planet / 13 Figure 1.4. Minecraft – Monster’s palace in the wilderne at night / 14 Figure 1.5. Horizon-Zero Dawn – The main character, Aloy, exploring in the wilderness / 14 Figure 1.6. Minecraft – A small part of the extensive amount of tools that can be produced by players / 15 Figure 1.7. Basis of most interactive narratives: the branching narrative by Savant (2019) / 21 Figure 1.8. Foldback stories simplified structure by Adams (2010, p.174) / 22 Figure 1.9. Basis of most interactive narratives: narrative structural unit by Savant (2019) / 23 Figure 1.10. Basis of most interactive narratives: narrative structural unit by Savant (2019) / 23 Figure 1.11. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Head to the bonfire / 24 Figure 1.12. Top 10 game markets ranked on their revenue estimates for 2019 by Newzoo / 30 Figure 2.1. (Top) Tony Manninen’s model of interaction forms in terms of top-level types (Tony, 2003) / 39 Figure 2.2. (Bottom) King of Glory – Observe the effect of the character model projected into the real world through screen / 39 Figure 2.3. Tomb Raider 9 – Laura was caught and arrested in Canyon Temple / 46 Figure 2.4. Dimensions of Agency; Arrows Indicate the Direction of Influence (Harrell & Zhu, 2009) / 47 Figure 2.5. Relationship Between Player’s Feeling of Competence and Important Outcomes (across genres) (Rigby & Ryan, 2010) / 49 Figure 2.6. Relationship Between Player’s Feeling of Autonomy and Important Outcomes (across genres) (Rigby & Ryan, 2010) / 50 Figure 2.7. Relationship Between Player’s Feeling of Relatedness and Important Outcomes (MMO and FPS) (Rigby & Ryan, 2010) / 51 Figure 2.8. IGN – Intervals of review scoring /53 Figure 2.9. Reasoning of literature review – Research vacancy: How to balance players’ freedom and restrictions from interaction perspective / 56 Figure 3.1. Map of applications of methods for research questions / 62 Figure 3.2. Research timetable / 62 Figure 4.1. Ace Racer – Adjusting decals of a car / 76 Figure 4.2. Minecraft Mobile Edition – Battle interface with few instructions / 80 Figure 4.3. Minecraft Mobile Edition – The only interface of item system / 80 Figure 4.4. LEGO Infinity – Battle interface with clear and / 80 abundant information and guidance Figure 4.5. LEGO Infinity – Introduction of usage and access of items in item system together with awards of obtaining certain items for the first time / 80 Figure 4.6. Questionnaire distribution / 83 Figure 4.7. Q1 – How often do you play games on different platforms? / 85 Figure 4.8. Q2 – Have you ever played open-world mobile games? / 86 Figure 4.9. Q3 – How often do you play them, and in case you did not play them recently, how often did you play them before? / 87 Figure 4.10. Q4 – Commonly, how long do your mobile game sessions last? If players played more games with different durations, they can choose more than one answer / 87 Figure 4.11. Q5 – Which kind of mobile games do you prefer to play? / 88 Figure 4.12. 12 most impressive open-world mobile games mentioned by respondents / 89 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 4.13. Q7 – When playing a mobile game, which is the factor that you value the most, that is to say, what do you consider key for a pleasant gaming experience? / 90 Figure 4.14. Q8 – According to your understanding (through game videos or trailers) or in your gaming experience of mobile gaming, have you ever felt that your thoughts or actions were restricted by the open-world system? / 92 Figure 4.15. Q10 – Do you think the effect of the restrictions is negative or positive? / 92 Figure 4.16. Air Walls – Invisible barriers that limit players range of movement / 93 Figure 4.17. “Electronic” components powered by Redstones / 93 Figure 4.18. Q11 – Have you ever felt the need for more freedom for better experience in open-world mobile games? / 95 Figure 4.19. Q14 – Do you think the restrictions and freedom of players in games should be addressed to a more balanced state, that is to say that more emphasis should be placed on players' freedom and constraints? / 98 Figure 4.20.