Richard Bartle and the Lost Girls: IMGDC 2009 Keynote

Dr. Richard Bartle's keynote for the last day of IMGDC was quite possibly one of those events that defines an industry, creating a ripple that affects everything that comes after.  He offered a stellar analysis of a key feature, and problem, in virtual world design, suggested a solution that seems obvious (in retrospect, of course), and wrapped it all in an outstanding and compelling metaphor.  

The issue he identified was the dichotomy between open "sandbox" worlds, and constrained "game" worlds, where the players are basically on a scripted path, with the minor exception of the existance of pvp.

Dr. Bartle showed how this divergence was historically created by the original divergence in MUDs, which had initially included elements of both kinds of experience (game and social) but had diverged in the 80's into game and social worlds - a split that has been carried forward since then, to the detriment of all.  Game worlds become ultimately repetive and meaningless, and social worlds are impeneterable and unfocused.  

The ideal solution is to recombine the two, with scripted events and activities early on to educate the player and offer social context, and more open play possibilities once the players have learned the system mechanics and other components of their new world.  Everyone benefits, as the players have an easier entry into the world, and a richer cultural base from which to start, but also have the freedom to experiment and create that game worlds so often lack.  

The metaphor that consistently ran through the talk was of three young heroines: Alice (last seen in Wonderland), Dorothy (recently in Oz), and Wendy, who told stories of Peter Pan and Neverland.  Dr. Bartle pointed out that the three illustrated the key play experiences outlined above: Alice's reaction to Wonderland was "Curiouser and curiouser".  She was enchanted by the newness and sought to have other adventures as she explored a wide new world: the play of an open ended world of new creations and experiences.  Dorothy on the other hand, immediately wanted to go back home, and mostly travelled along one track, the yellow brick road (untill she wandered a bit to take down the uberboss).  And Wendy was the creator, who crafted stories of Peter and Neverland for her younger brothers, creating content for others.

It really was an exceptional talk... I'll try to find out if the slides are online, and post a link when I do.

Comments

[Tiggertazz]

I liked the Keynote, it was very creative and has merit in many ways. After reading the slides you can look back at all the games you play and say; "Oh crap why do I have all these accounts, the games all look like WOW." Then running to you EVE Online account you log in and look around and think." how could I ever get lost in a sandbox?". But we do, we sit in front of our computer getting lost in the many worlds of 0's and 1's. Though as gaming companies try and push out games to cover every aspect of interest and such in every human on the planet. Some companies are trying to mix it up. Take EVE and CoH two games that have hit the 5 year mark. EvE has been working hard these past months to gather up a new player base by implementing in game Universities to shorten the learning curve of the game. Thus creating a sold player at the beginning. This way less new player have a chance to get lost in their sandbox. City of Heroes started to look the same in every mission and the game Devs seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with player demands of creativity. With Issue 14 the Mission Architect, the player base surpassed the Devs 5 year creativity in one day. Diminishing the stale content of "oh this map and bad guys again." Though nether is perfect it growth. Though we may all want to really think about if having the perfect game would be good for us. If the gaming companies ever got it right we would all end up looking like the humans in the movie Wall.E. I leave you with this not exact quote from Jurassic Park " They where so occupied with whether they could, they never ask themselves whether they should.
Tiggertazz

[kpallist]

slides here:

http://mud.co.uk/richard/IMGDC2009.pdf

[gaia gold]

I liked the Keynote, it was very creative and has merit in many ways. After reading the slides you can look back at all the games you play and say; "Oh crap why do I have all these accounts, the games all look like WOW."