41
II- The world of a game: playground for personal
narratives
Until now we have mostly explored the tension among
narratives and gameplay on the basis that the game tells a story in a
consortium with the player's actions: it relates the events in accordance with
their progression. In that regard, to complete a game is to respond to the
developers' intentions, and apply to their storytelling ambitions. In his book
Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds, Jesper
Juul, however, identifies two game structures with two ways of creating
challenges for players: «emergence» where simple rules create
variations and «progression» that entails challenges presented
serially (Juul 2005, 5). A distinction that he emphasizes is not a
categorization, but a mere description of two models that can, in fact, overlap
with each other.
Through Hades we investigated interactive
storytelling in which the player mostly acts as a participant, meaning the
authorship still lies primarily on the designers' hands; the player drives the
plot as the hero but still follow a more or less straight line. But as we saw
earlier, narratives in video games acquired many distinctive forms that result
from the design of space in games, one of them embracing the
«emergent» structure Juul mentioned:
Emergence is the primordial game structure, where a game is
specified as a small number of rules that combine and yield large numbers of
game variations for which the players must design strategies to handle. This is
found in card and board games, in sports, and in most action and all strategy
games (ibid, 5).
Emergence comes from the many possibilities the rules of a
game offers. Simple rules lead to complex and often unforeseeable consequences
(Arsenault, 2005) that escape the designers' expectations; the player
interactions are not planned but rather an occurrence that creates novelty and
surprise for them and the system. It is a rule-based system rather than a
pre-scripted one. Strategy centered games for instance are susceptible to that
phenomenon, since the players usually craft their own method to beat the game.
According to Chauvin et al., emergent games possess «specific
characteristics» for emergent narratives to happen, which are
«coherence, agency, possibility space, uncertainty and co-authoring»
(Chauvin et al. 2014).
Emergent system is I believe best described using Tabletop
RPG (or Pen and Paper RPG) as reference: the Game Master (GM hereafter)
determines the full scale of the world and its rules, while the players can
take any action redeemed possible in it. Therefore, narrative possibilities
become unnumbered, the GM and the players' imagination stands as the only limit
of the game.
Video games labeled as RPG reprise this principle, with the
role of the GM assigned to the computer system. The player takes control of a
character--an avatar of their own creation or not--within a world where their
choices become impactful. Their avatar thus represents a way into the story,
the point of entry for the narratives (Murnane 2018, 39). Something the
open-world, one of the most prominent level-design concepts nowadays,
highlights: players appreciate freedom of exploration and approach objectives
in a nonlinear manner. They are in control of character they project themselves
into. Those games are cases where an overlapping of emergence and progression
occur; they offer freedom whilst in a same time contains the player toward a
main storyline. Especially in online multiplayer games with an Open-world set
up, the vast environment in which players can freely navigate let them display
«emergent behaviors.»
A- A place of Freedom, living and retelling in the
Open-World
Open world games are particular regarding storytelling. In
today's standards, the narrative
process relies on the designers as well as the imaginary
capacity of the player. Similar to
Tabletop RPGs, narratives are generated by both sides: the GM
(designers) crafts the world, its
background and rules, fashions various plots alongside the
player the live the game through
their avatar. This narrative outline is referred as
«narrative duality» by Cayatte Rémi:
The specific feature of video games `narrative rest upon the
possibility, if not the necessity, to have both sides alternately share the
narrative responsibility, in a dynamic of cybernetic oscillation between two
authors: the designers and the players. [...] Video games tell a story by
allowing an almost simultaneous dialogue between the framework's creator and
the players as the author of one or several plots of a game (Cayatte 2018,
12-13, my translation).
42
Cayatte applies this principle of narrative duality to the medium
as a whole. The designers
frame the world of a game; the temporality of the game and the
unfolding of the stories depends
on the players--as we stated above with Hades. However,
open world games tend to embrace
that conceptualization of shared authorship, with both the need
of having the player follows a
guided storyline and the necessity of giving them the capacity
to fashion their own experience.
With that said, the open world concept displays numerous forms;
some focus on the
player experiencing the game's world as a vast playground where
the objectives are mostly
their own. That is the case with Sea of Thieves, for
which the experience around the player's
43
capacity to navigate anywhere they please from the get-go. Others
like The Witcher III are more
narrative-driven, they use the open world as a means to deliver
a story with a stronger
framework (Fregonese 2017, 127).
Open world, the playground of
emergence
The concept of open world encompasses numerous codes and as it
is, could be seen as
ill-defined. Often label as a genre, it is more accurate to
describe it as a form of level design
that provides players a large playing area, the freedom of
movement and exploration--no
constraint on the direction to take--and the means to forge
their own adventure. Typically,
games with open world leads towards emergent gameplay, since the
player is given a certain
level of agency which enables them to have the game's world
respond to their actions. Freedom
is usually the word used to describe the promise of an open
world game, and what is expected
from the label. But that type of design exists on a spectrum:
games use it on very different scale,
for different purposes and do not necessarily answer to the same
criteria. Should we take The
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda 2011) and
Cyberpunk 2077: both are to be considered open
world games, but their use of the design differs from one
another.
The open world in Cyberpunk 2077 is found in Night
City; a very dense city and whole
entity for which its role can be perceived as a character. The
purpose of Night City is to immerse
the player into a cyberpunk setting, to display the lives of the
people who live in it. The city
remains the core of the plot until the very end and constantly
expose the game themes: disparity
between people, power struggles between corporations, over
presence of body transformations,
etc. The player is supposed to witness the world's
contradictions, the dystopia, to reflect about
the high-tech era and what drives the various storylines. Night
City directs the game' narratives,
and frames the plot along the several quests--main or secondary.
The city's omnipresence
constantly affects the characters, how they act; the player
deals with ubiquitous adds that expose
human decadence, in part through the very invasive technology
displayed in [Figure 5
|
]. Rather
|
|
|
than being at the center of the experience, the open world
structure serves the story and immerse
the player through environmental and textual narrative for them
to be confronted with the city,
with the world it embodies. The open world is the narrative core
of the game.
44
Figure 5 - Cyberpunk 2077, in-game ad
in which a track and field runner appears to be in an F1 pit stop
For Skyrim, the main idea behind the open world is
the freedom afforded to the player. Though the player is imposed a strong
narrative arc--their heroic destiny as «Dragonborn» and their role to
be in stopping the dragon Alduin, the World-Eater--they quickly become able to
navigate the world (Skyrim) as they wish. That is not to say it is not possible
with Cyberpunk 2077, however, Night City, with how dense it is, is
meant to be almost suffocating: the world influences the player more than they
influence it. In contrast, Skyrim exhibits a more open space that
calls for exploration, the limits of affordances are less defined--a difference
in design that can be observed on [Figure 6] and [Figure 7]. The path
of exploration in Skyrim, and by extension the order in which the
sequence of events is running, is up to the player's discretion. In other
words, the game encourages emergent narratives by letting the player
experiences the world as they see fit. In his dissertation Emergent
Narrative: Stories of Play, Playing with Stories, Eric Murnane notes that
Skyrim's open world shines by its large possibility spaces, which
generates many opportunities to form emergent narratives:
Perhaps the most important part of emergent narratives is how
unexpected they are. A game such as Skyrim is a large open world which the
player is free to explore. [...] Possibility spaces in emergent narratives are,
at their core, opportunities in the form of algorithmic randomness. It is the
combination of these that make new and interesting narratives arise. With a
large enough number of variables, the possibility space approaches infinity.
This is certainly the case of a game like Skyrim. There are sufficient moving
parts in this game that the odds of two players having the exact same play
experience in game are staggeringly low. (Murnane 2018, 30)
45
The player is able to approach the game in a way that remains
unique to them. The main plot will enact the same ending whatever happens
during one's playthrough10, but the player decides how to get there.
They can join the Guild of Mages and learn more about magic, the Thieves Guild,
help the empire or fight it with the rebellion ... ignore any side and act as a
lone wolf, chose to live as a vampire or a werewolf, etc. A multitude of
actions with which the player shapes their adventure and determines its
implication in the game's world. The main plot appears less important than the
lore the player can have access to--a whole mythology, strengthened by the
previous Elder Scrolls game. Skyrim's open world seeks to be the experience
itself, along non-sequential narratives dispatched here and there, instead of a
complete framework of storytelling (Fregonese 207, 128).
Figure 6 - Cyberpunk 2077, City Center
district of Night City.
Figure 7 - Skyrim, region of
Faillaise.
10 Skyrim's epilogue displays discrepancies
(mostly in the dialogues) depending on some of the choices available to the
player. However, the main plot's finality remains unchanged.
46
With their affinity with emergent gameplay, open-world games
are often occurrences that display an overlap between the two models described
by Jesper Juul. Taking The Witcher III as another example: like
Cyberpunk 2077, the game revolves around a rich story-- mainly due to
the fact that it is adapted from Andrzej Sapkowski's books--that have a
definite number of endings depending on how the player branch the narratives.
Despite the variety of choices available to the player and the numerous plots
that can branch the story, The Witcher III nonetheless depicts a
storyline from a point A to a point B. Still, the player can easily ignore the
main storyline for hours and hours, perform side quests in any order (most of
the time) they want, hunt monsters, visit towns, etc. Also, contrary to The
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The Witcher III has much less
personalization to offer: the player can only play as Geralt, while the
gameplay frames the possibilities around the latter as a Witcher. Nonetheless,
the player can build their own experience through the free exploration of the
world. They can stumble upon a powerful monster meant to be slain later or
through a specific quest; discover a cave that hides valuable treasures; wander
in the wild without any objectives whatsoever. Once again, the vast open space
let the player control the majority of events that happens independently from
the main story--though it eventually happens in a set of interactions allowed
by the game designers, how the player lives those events are out of their
control.
I chose to describe and compare those games in order to
underline the narrative scope
within the open world concept. It also served to highlight how
open world games display
characteristics of progression as well as emergence: while
giving a large space to play in without
too much restraint, they still provide an objective to fulfill
in a more linear sequence. In Skyrim
and Cyberpunk 2077 cases, it is their main quest, for
which the end represents the climax to
reach. For Juul, who takes Grand Theft Auto III as an
example, this type of structure allows the
completion of the story in various manners, independently of any
expectation from the game:
Grand Theft Auto III is structured in two different ways: In
the big picture, the game is a linear sequence that the player has to complete,
from being betrayed in the beginning of the game to finally getting revenge.
There are a few optional missions and a few missions that can be completed in
different orders, but overall Grand Theft Auto III is a game of progression. It
is up to the player to complete the mission in the way he or she wants. The
advantage of structuring a game like this is that the player experiences a
predefined story by completing the missions, while having freedom to solve the
tasks in different ways (Juul 2005, 82).
Emergence does not entail an unlimited potential; as we
stated before, the more agency the player gets, the less designers can yield
control over the storytelling. As such, video games embedded in an emergent
system still give the player a sense of purpose. In fact, most of the
47
video games do not solely rely on a progression or an emergent
structure, and lie somewhere between the two (Ibid). Talking about Skyrim,
Eric Murnane states that the absence of «a strong imposed narrative
which guides the gameplay» would render «quite difficult for the
player to either enact it or reject it» (Murmane 2018, 23). In other
words, the player's own action--inside or outside the main storyline--carries
out meaning because of the primary narrative (in this case, the player's status
as the Dragonborn, and their heroic destiny). Likewise, Hades, which
we previously categorized as a game of progression--the player has no direct
control over the story's pace, since it depends on whether they manage to
escape the underworld--comprise several elements which I would describe as
emergent. For instance, the variety of weapons and gods' boons combination
afford the player a strategic spectrum in order to beat the game; there is not
a predetermined method to do it.
Moreover, lots of open-world games do not afford the player
to move as they please at first. The games intentionally limit their freedom
for them to become accustom to particular mechanics, learn important details
about the world they are about to explore. The beginning of Skyrim is
rather relevant in that regard: the player character is an unknown prisoner
whose hands and feet are bound, transported in a cart towards their place of
execution -- they can only watch around them. During the short travel, several
key elements of the game world are unveiled until comes the identification of
the character. This limiting opening scene exposes the narrative space to the
player, who then is encouraged to freely explore it afterwards (Murnane 2018,
44). A similar concept is used in The Witcher III: its first area,
while freely navigable, can only be left once the player reaches a certain
point in the main quest. The game tightly frames the first steps of progression
in order to convey its primordial mechanics in a more efficient way.
For open world games, the focus ultimately lies on finding a
good balance in the combination of scripted, narrated gameplay (progression)
and the freedom of interaction within the said world -- something that is
usually a regulation of narrative design. According to Patrick Redding, who
worked as a narrative designer on Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft Montréal,
2008), the story is an output which is infused with certain themes, supported
by a premise and specific mechanics. Thus, it is important to differentiate
«the premise of the game and the story, which is ultimately the thing that
unfolds as a result of player input» (Chris Remo & Brandon Sheffield
2008). Therefore, it is all about providing a narrative premise and let the
player decide what to make of it; the environment and the characters support
and drive their journey down the world. Control over the narratives is lessened
for the designers, in order to bring the game's
48
story under the spotlight. Certainly, most of the open world
games imbed creative ways to impose the main, storyline on the player without
breaking their experience of freedom. Side quests are one of them: they tend to
distract the player from the principal objective by giving them substantial
contents that do not interfere with the main story. In Cyberpunk 2077
such quests are used to deepen the player's understanding of the world,
while offering them the opportunity to create a more meaningful adventure--they
can for instance develop a romance with some characters. Though some of those
quests deliver additional endings for the main plot, they happen in parallel
most of the time. Then, advancing further on the main quest will unlock several
more side quests. An almost virtuous cycle which ensure freedom within a
dramatic storyline.
One other method often used in open world games to keep the
player at least partly focused on the intended experience is what has come to
be known as the «Ubisoft Towers» («Open World» 2022). The
game initially provides only a section of the map and requires the player to
perform particular challenges or obtain specific objects in order to reveal
other sections. By doing so, numerous points of interest and new objectives
(quests, events, etc.) become apparent. The name «Ubisoft Towers»
stem from the studio Ubisoft that promoted this principle across most of their
open world games (ibid), starting with the Assassin's Creed series in
which the players need to climb actual towers. Since then, the mechanic has
been reprised by many games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(Nintendo 2017), Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady 2015) or more
recently Ghostwire: Tokyo (Tango Gameworks 2022).
In the framework of Jesper Juul, the concept of open world
establishes a game as
«emergent games with progression components» or
«progression games with emergent
components,» hybrids of the two models he describes (Juul,
2005, 71). That type of design aims
at non-sequential experience of explorable spaces and the
player's experimentation with the
game's world, without letting them directionless nor without
clear-defined objectives. Even
Minecraft provide a semblance of pre-designed
progression notably with its achievement tree
(Advancements)11. Designers work around their control
over the narratives and the player and
gauge the balance based on the experience they wish to convey.
As Arsenault points out, as
emergent as a game aim to be, it nonetheless seeks «to
fashion a given experience.» The player's
free will «remains framed by the conception choices that
structure the system» (Arsenault 2011,
11 The advancement system (previously called
achievement) provides players a list of challenges to complete, in order to
gradually guide them through the game («Advancements» 2019).
49
228). From one player to another, the adventure in the world of
Skyrim varies in a lot of ways--
and a player lives a different one each time they redo the game.
Still, it occurs «within the
possibility space that constitutes the whole game
experience» (ibid).
Nevertheless, emergence remains an inherent part of the open
world design, the product
of a desire to offer a semblance of freedom, or at least
sufficient autonomy for the player to not
feel entrapped by a scripted, linear game. Some games strongly
rely on the player to build up a
story: they focus on delivering an experience that renews itself
for each session.
Generally, when we discuss emergent video games, we think
about sandbox games. Set up in open world environment, they let the player to
their own devices right from the start and usually allow them a great degree of
creativity. The most notable includes Minecraft, The Sims (Maxis 2000)
series or Terraria (Re Logic 2011), to name but a few. Here again,
sandbox englobes a conglomerate of games and different gameplay experiences.
Hence, it is as much perceive as a genre than a type of gameplay or design. In
a talk with Gamasutra, Matthew Woodward, Senior Designer at CCP (Eve
Online), discusses the ambiguity of the term:
[«Sandbox»] is really hard to define, because it is
so ingrained in what we do, that we know what it is, but it is hard to put into
words [...] Basically, it is three things: being social, goal-driven and
emergent--making a game open, giving players control, essentially, and if you
are making a multiplayer game, making it as social as possible, because that is
why they are playing the game in the first place (Kris Graft 2012).
Woodward emphasizes later that emergence is the most
important aspects (ibid). Sandbox thus tends to define games with strong
emergent systems, in which player is given most of the control--but still
driven by a goal. The term sandbox itself refer to the container children used
to play with sand and create more or less anything they want («Sandbox
game» 2008). For this reason, the label entails the ability to freely
create. However, it does apply to games where there is nothing to build in the
proper sense: Skyrim and GTA III are designated as sandbox
games for their ability to offer the player freedom to complete tasks as they
wish, and to interact with the various inhabitants of the game's world.
The «sandbox» part intervenes more in a moral sense (doing bad
things, good things) and within the possibility of navigate the world freely
(Murnane 2018, 23). Sandbox, in a broader sense, designate open world games
that focus on emergent systems to create emergent gameplay and narratives.
50
Sail close to the game: a player's
methodology
In order to explore emergent narratives in context, I
directed my research towards Sea of Thieves. The title is a
first-person12 open-world adventure game which embraces the sandbox
format, developed by Rare and released in March 2018. We assume the role of
pirates in command of a pirate ship, alone or up to four players, and navigate
the vast open sea in search of numerous treasures, islands to explore and
challenges to face. The world is shared by several players simultaneously:
encounter leads either to ferocious battles for one side to rip the other from
their spoils, or to form alliances in order to kindly share the loots.
I chose to analyze this game for I believe it perfectly
represents emergence in video games: it displays few defined rules, while it
greatly encourages players to partake in their own adventures. Our voyages can
be set up independently from any quests, or we can take expeditions submitted
by the games (trading companies)--each play session becomes unique. As a matter
of fact, the game was designed with the intention to provide a playground where
players would fashion stories and then recount them. Shelley Preston, senior
designer at Rare, explains in an article for MCV/DEVELOP Magazine what the
studio was set on when they begin to work on the game:
Ultimately the idea for Sea of Thieves can be
distilled into a simple terminology that we use: players creating stories
together [...] It was inspired by looking at this emerging trend where there
were lots of videos online of people playing games in unique ways, using the
game almost as a backdrop to have their own stories. [...] And then at the same
time we were obviously looking ahead to the future and thinking about
streaming. At the time it was on that trajectory towards being as big as it is
today and we were thinking about how perfect streaming would be for a game like
this and how we could make a game where it was as watchable and shareable as it
was playable. So really the context was making a game where players could
create stories together that could be shared socially (Preston 2019).
Thus, Rare did not just focus on the player experience, it
developed the game to be an adventure that can and would be shared. The game
itself became the backbone for the player and their endeavors. Rare also
designed the game around its streaming capacity, so the stories would be
recounted through Twitch13 and YouTube for hundreds and thousands of
people to live the same
12 First person in video games refers to a
particular in-game perspective in which the game renders the viewpoint of the
player's character («First person [video games]» 2007). The player
plays through their character eyes and usually only see its hands or its
weapons.
13 Twitch is a live-streaming platform which let
anyone broadcasts various content. It primarily focused on video games live
streaming but includes a lot of other categories like «Just
chatting,» «Music,» «Sports,» etc.
51
adventure, a socially shared one. Sea of thieves is
also set in a world of constant evolution; portrayed as a «game as a
service»14, it regularly provides new contents for players to
enjoy and to bring out new rules of their own. To experience various
situations, I focused the several play sessions on the «free
adventure» mode--which let you unattached by an initial quest--for the
greatest amount of autonomy, and played the sessions with different self-made
objectives each time.
The purpose of my research towards Sea of Thieves
was to better comprehend «stories told by players.» To that end,
I devised my methodology in two steps: first, I experienced the game myself,
accompanied with three other players, then alone. For the interpretation of the
data collection to be insightful for the narratives at hand, I followed Murnane
Eric's example in his work on Skyrim, taking on «the role as
player rather than researchers» (Murnane 2018, 26). Second, I collected
data about other players' experiences of the game by investigating the official
forum as well as the dedicated Reddit page (see Annex: Sea of Thieves related
posts sampled).
The inquiry was inspired by Nardi's approach in her analysis
of World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment 2004), a digital
ethnography she explains to be a procedure that «go with the flow»
and follow «the interesting and the unexpected as they are encountered in
the field» (Nardi 2010). My overall methodology is thus a
«participant observation»; to comprehend the game's mechanics, its
rules and their application by the players. Essentially, my focus was on the
narratives and the experience from a player's perspective, while I examined the
story as a complete meaningful unit. For the following analysis, I also used
Cayatte's approach on narrative duality, with the «framed experience»
on one side (the experience as planned by the designers) and the
«procedure» on the other (how the player «proceeds» within
the game) (Cayatte 2018). It situates the player as coauthor in the possibility
space of the game. Murnane describes it as «what the player experiences in
the moment compared to the numerous possible things he/she could be
experiencing» (Murnane 2018, 13). It is an acknowledgement of the
uniqueness of one play session: emergent narratives are therefore experiences
framed by the player within a vast possibility space. They thus recount their
play session with selected details «out of all the possible interactions
which happened in that play section» (ibid, 14). In the section
«Hundred Thousand Billion Fingers» of their book
14 Game as a service (or GaaS) represents
videogames provided with content on a regular basis, which primary goal is to
retain players as long as possible. It is a way for studios to monetize the
game after the release and to keep the game ahead in the industry news by
continuously communicating around it (Epyon 2017).
52
Metagaming: Playing, Competing, Spectating, Cheating,
Trading, Making, and Breaking Videogames, Stephanie Boluk and Patrick
Lemieux explains the phenomenon and states that the players «do not
experience the multiplicity, but rather the singularity of each
engagement» (Boluk & Lemieux 2017, 176).
Emergent narrative in Sea of Thieves: a pirate life
for the player
As I explained above, Sea of Thieves put you in
command of a pirate ship. It can either be a sloop, a Brigantine or a Galleon,
all suited for a certain number of players. To begin with, it is not just about
«driving» around a ship to go from point A to point B. You have to
actually manage it like a real ship--though it is obviously simplified. Sails
must be hoisted, then adjusted according to the wind; the ship damage must be
repaired; you need to bail the water out of the ship... When playing with 3 or
4 players, which entails the use of a Brigantine or a Galleon, there is a
greater need for coordination. Operating those large ships can indeed prove
difficult, but the actions required to run them can be executed faster in
groups (like to raise the anchor or set the sails). In like manner, piloting
the boat asks for a mate to call for any obstacle that would come in the way,
or to give direction when needed, since the pilot has almost no vision in front
of them.
What is notable here is that the game strongly emphasizes
what happens (and can happen) on the ship. While the avenue for exploration and
discovery stands at the pinnacle of what the game offers, the most memorable
moments of one session tends to happen on the ship. For one thing, the
management of the ship obviously calls for fantastic fails from the players,
whether because of miscommunication or because no one saw the enormous rock in
the middle of the sea. Between two destinations, a lot can happen, and when
nothing does there are still a lot of things to do: playing music, fishing,
drinking until someone pukes everywhere, going for a swim, dancing and using
pets as cannonballs, etc. Sea of Thieves provides many features for
players to «create something» on their trips aboard the ship. Their
story is written along their wandering through music in unison [Figure 8] and
frenzy drinking session; you can even put one player in prison, for whatever
reason. There are many minor interactions such a sleeping in a bed, cooking
meat or sitting on the bow [Figure 9] to help them feel they
«live» in the world, actions they are able to contextualize and weave
into narratives. For Fregonese, these emergent narratives «work more
through incidental details than the gameplay loop» (Fregonese 2017,
Figure 8 - Sea of Thieves, the crew
playing music in unison.
Figure 9 - Sea of Thieves, my
character sitting on the bow.
53
66). Our own stories are crafted from these various
interactions which does not necessarily serve the gameplay, but our immersion
into the game. That is why the title takes the liberty of putting great
distance between the different islands and objectives. During my sessions, it
was not uncommon to navigate for more than twenty minutes before we could reach
our destination, giving us plenty of time to fool around and interact in silly
manners.
54
To a same extent, Sea of Thieves attempts to make you
feel pirate as much as possible with numerous immersive details: destination is
set using a «physical map» disposed on the ship, you navigate using a
compass while your equipment consists of old guns without any sort of reticle
and poor accuracy (Warren 2018). During a gameplay session with some of
Polygon's journalists, Shelley Preston said that they heavily focused on the
«pirate adventure, the sense of travel and exploration and
discovery.» All in all, the main goal was for the players to have a
«feel of children playing dress up, that sense of playing pirate.»
(Preston 2018).
A lot of effort has also been put into environments, with a
truly astonishing visual for the sea, storms which sound and feel realistic or
volcanic islands whose volcano erupts and throws lava rocks within a wide area.
In a GDC talk, Rare's art-director Ryan Stevenson outlined the essential role
played by the game's environment and its influence on the players:
In Sea of Thieves clouds form, waves crash and the sails
billow in the wind ... the plants would sway in the breeze as well. From the
swell on an ocean, to the swinging of lanterns below deck, the world was never
still. This is especially prominent in the water and also the sky weather and
the passage of time. This was really important to create that sense of living
world and that drama of being on a pirate ship, sailing through the waves [...]
So we knew that these [the environment] was gonna be a really important part of
the game. The sea was gonna be this powerful character within the world; we
wanted it to be dynamic and also feel like its own entity, had the power to
force the player around in the world so as their boat is crashing through the
waves triggering these emotions as you ride over the crest. And it varied from
appearance depending on where it was in the world, so from calm lagoon, to big
storms, to just the open sea (Stevenson 2018).
In the game, the environment certainly has a strong impact on
our immersion. The world looks and feels organic, it has us believe in its
living and persisting state; the sea changing state between a calm friendly
water into a dreadful storm feels natural enough to feel like we truly have to
constantly take it in consideration. This is no surprise considering Rare
treated the sea as a fully-fledge character, both here to be contemplated and
faced. Without a doubt, environmental storytelling here exerts a hold over our
ability to fashion our adventures: our surroundings meaningfully imply the
context, which we use to mold our identity within the game, and within the
narratives. We craft our own stories as adventurous pirates inside the flow of
information continuously delivered by the world. An anecdote I find revealing
as an illustration is that me and the people I played with, used navy and
pirate dialect without realizing it at first. Right and left became starboard
and port side («tribord» and «babord» in French), behind
became astern («en poupe»), the flag our «colors,» etc. We
instinctively used basic knowledge of piracy--at least what we knew from
fictions.
55
For most of my play sessions, I and the other players decided
to go with our own objectives, putting aside any story-driven quests (the
«Tall Tales»). We decided on an Island to explore or an event to take
part of and set sails there after we carefully stocked up foods, wooden planks
and cannonballs. Beyond the interactions we can perform to animate our travel I
described above; numerous events unexpectedly took place along our
peregrinations. Although our adventures often proceeded without any
turbulences, what we can designate as a snowball effect occurred quick enough
to throw us off balance. As we sailed in direction of a Skeleton fort that just
spawned, another players' ship appeared. The «pirates» on the galleon
took battle stations in a blink of an eye and fired upon us. At this instant,
coordination becomes even more crucial: while some of us would repeal the
assailants boarding us, the others had to patch up the holes on the ship and
bail out water with the buckets to avoid sinking. Many cannonballs exchanged,
boardings and skirmishes later, a megalodon appeared out of nowhere and
assailed the other players. We thus took the opportunity to sink their ship,
retrieved their treasures, then sailed away. Alas! Before we could reach an
outpost - where we are supposed to obtain gold from our various treasures - the
sea became black as the night; a few moments later, a giant Kraken stormed us
[Figure 10], sunk our ship and ultimately ripped us off of all our loots.
Figure 10 - Sea of Thieves, random
appearance of the Kraken, known to be the strongest creature of the game
56
This succession of events was the results of the players'
actions and procedural events generated by the game - in this case, the
Megalodon and Kraken apparition. A simple cocktail that nonetheless led to
unexpected situations and helped us forge this unique story. Upon our encounter
with the rival pirate ship, we could have faced a thunderstorm, skeleton ships,
ghost fleets, or other monsters, but it happens this way, with the giant shark
and the big bad octopus, at this very precise moment. Another key point to take
note of is how the players are able to approach such situations. During the
confrontation, each side tried different stratagem in order to bring the other
down. One of the enemy's players snuck into our ship and dropped anchor, which
momentarily immobilized the vessel and was now prey to a storm of cannonballs.
Meanwhile, due to our low stock of ammunitions, some of us took explosive
barrels and dived under the enemy's ship to make them explode from there,
greatly damaging their hull. Like Chauvin et al. pointed out, «emergent
games more easily allow the possibility for dramatic actions that greatly
impact the course of the game» (Chauvin et al. 2014).
In an play session on my own, another memorable encounter
occurred: as I brought treasure chests aboard my sloop, a player jumped aboard
my ship without me noticing. He then surprised me with the in-voice chat as he
shouted words I could not comprehend. As I was about to shoot him, he began
circling around the deck while he held a banana in his hand and asked me where
I came from. Once I told him I came from France, he started playing music and
sung in French, going on about «baguette» and «saucisson».
He then offered me an alliance, and finally jumped off the ship. A hilarious
moment for sure, but also a demonstration of players' unpredictive behavior.
The fact that he used a banana and music as a peace offering is, I believe, a
simple yet good example of how one is able to use interactions outside of their
initial purpose. Here he acted in an absurd, laughable manner; his used banana
as if he wanted to give it but instead ran erratically with it, just before
performing a French song of his own invention. It turned out the player was a
Twitch streamer specialized in Sea of Thieves content, who was sailing
in search of other players to help and create entertaining and unforgettable
moments with his community.
Again, as much as emergent a game wants to be, it falls short
without offering a least a semblance of purpose for the player. Back to its
release, Sea of Thieves was actually suffering from a lack of
objectives to provide: looking at the press review at the time, critics pointed
out that the game felt «light on meaningful things to do» (Devore
2018), it brought up a world «devoid of content and features»
(Wccftech 2018) or it desperately «need some sense of narrative»
(Meer 2018). Since then, Rare has put a lot of care in giving players
challenges to
57
overcome and seeds for their adventures, notably through the
Tall Tales. Design director at Rare explained in an official «behind the
scene» video in Sea of Thieves YouTube channel, why it was ultimately
important to bring substantial details about the world and more depth to it
through those tales:
I think the opportunity with stories is centering on
particular emotions. And when we were building Tall Tales, the name for the
stories were around emotions and feelings: we had a tale of wonder and a tale
of love, very much about giving people specific feelings. But I think, just
from a player's perspective, if you know more about the world, the reason why
things are the way they are, what character motivations are, why that shipwreck
is there, I think it allows players to role play more effectively in the world
(Sea of Thieves 2019).
Aside from the different trading companies that offers
various quests and voyages with treasure maps or basic bounties, players can
embark upon these Tall Tales, episodic narrative conducted mission filled with
riddles and trials. Those quests are heavily focused on the game's lore
(«Tall Tales» 2019); it is about discovering the history of the world
within various storylines which are bound to be emotional venture.
With my usual mates, we undertook what is considered in the
game as the first Tall Tale named «Shores of Gold». The tale
comprises nine whole quests with the reach of the Shores of Gold as the
ultimate goal. Albeit the objectives are now determined, they are not given in
direct manner like a point on a mini-map but through a «Tale book»
[Figure 11]. The book contains a written, illustrated fable, with several hints
that lead us to our next destination. Hints and puzzles along the quests are
not necessarily difficult to handle, however, they do erect a margin of error.
Since the destinations remain intentionally unclear, we can - and we did -
stepped into the wrong island. What I want to highlight here is how these tales
are still structured around the emergent nature of the game: you are not
constraint to one path and can still wander around the world. The tales still
involve vast number of possibilities in regard of one's experience, and outside
of the events that compose their storyline, they keep the sense of unique
adventure.
Nonetheless, it depicts stronger narratives as the designers
strengthened their involvement toward the proceedings of these quests. We had
an actual story to keep track of, characters to engage with, precise islands to
explore... What we experienced was a mix of authored and procedural elements -
hints and puzzles can change for instance - that had us experiencing the tale
the game wanted us to apprehend, while adding our own approach into the mix.
Furthermore, several elements introduced within the tale persist within the
game's
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world: at one point, we needed to find a specific cave within
an island, which proved to be one we had already search in a previous session -
and we had found the cave. The tale thus provided us the answers to
«what» and «why» that surrounded this island. The designers
use the tales to convey details about a world that exist, tale or not. It thus
serves the narratives they authored, but also the narratives we forge along our
following adventures.
Figure 11 - Sea of Thieves, a Tale
Book that contains indications or hints for a Tall Tale.
Sea of Thieves presents extensive opportunities for
players to combine allowed interactions and actions in a clever way, or simply
in accordance with the story they wish to undertake. The game does not require
technical prowess, nor does it lock content behind a progression
system15 - almost the entirety of the content is available from the
start. However, Sea of Thieves with its various quests and Tall Tales
keep a codirection in the storytelling process: the players experience
narratives with grant them substantial elements to fashion their own
afterwards. By crafting their own adventures, then sharing them one way or
another, they de facto participates in the game's story.
15 Some quests do require completion of previous
ones, but overall, Sea of Thieves' line of progression revolve around
cosmetics and achievements.
59
Sea of Thieves, the players and the
tales
In an open world game, players experiment a certain amount of
freedom. The more they have, the more they enjoy autonomy in the way they spend
their time within the game. Players can surprise each other and experiment
different ways of interacting and immerse themselves into the game's world. In
the case of Sea of Thieves, its open world design not only afford an almost
total autonomy - a trait of Sandbox games - but also includes random
appearances of events, enemies and environmental challenges, which I myself
experienced and described on the previous section. A calm situation can quickly
escalate into total mayhem. Therefore, it is a powerful anecdote generator that
players are but eager to share in community spaces like forums, reddit,
YouTube, etc.
I took particular interest towards player's recount of their
experience in Sea of Thieves, how they construct their own stories and
build the narratives relevant for an audience. The game's community is active
in several social online spaces, such as Twitch, YouTube, Discord, etc.
However, I directed my attention towards the Sea of Thieves
subreddit16 (r/Seaofthieves) and official forum as they serve
as a gateway for the other style of content (integration of videos, pictures,
etc.). They are also the primary spots for players to share, discuss, and write
anything regarding the game - the subreddit has 445 000 community members,
whilst the official forum is where every single player is redirected by the
studio.
For empirical data, I gathered about twenty posts in which
players tell stories they find significant. In most cases, they relate events
they consider «funny» or «unexpected» and have the
potential to be of interest for the community. For his own investigation
towards player's stories within Skyrim, Murnane note that the players
«tell stories that have the possibility of mass appeal»; they build
their narratives with selected details, omitting any part that would prove
irrelevant «because they are aware that there is an audience» and
that telling a story «must excite» (Murnane 2018, 77 & 84). That
statement is indeed observable within the two sources I used, especially in the
subreddit, for the platform tend to favor short posts. Players' shared stories
thus are thus intentionally condensed in order to captivate a community that
can in turn relate to the event displayed. The official forum does contain more
elaborate storytelling, but
16 Reddit is a social network focused on social
news and stories, in which members can comment, up-vote or down-vote a post. It
then determines its global visibility on the site. Reddit is organized in
communities created by users, commonly known as «subreddit»; each
subreddit is a space dedicated to one community, such as a game's community or
any community devoted to specific topics like TV shows, science, music, etc.
60
the players still focus on the interesting parts of their
story - they talk about the event that entailed them to come to the forum in
the first place. The data studied also takes into consideration the comment
system in which occurs player's reactions to a story and conversations about it
that strengthen its relevance. Puente and Tosca highlight that «every
comment, every response, each reinforcing each discrepancy contributes to the
social construction process of storytelling» (Puente et Tosca 2013, 6).
Comments establish the context within which the various stories are shared,
notably through an upvote systems that determines the prominence of one's story
throughout the community. As such, storytelling among communities is an
«act of performance» delimited by the said context that represent the
«understanding of the game by the community, who will respond with
approval or disapproval» (Ibid, 9).
Players construct their story thinking about the audience
that is their community. Hence, there is a tendency regarding the type of
stories they share. Because of the enormous possibility space of the game
established by the open world design, about half of the posts I gathered are
about impressive feat - like a lone pirate defeating an entire crew - which
demonstrate eithers clever use of interactions or simply skills. The other half
concerns escalated situation due to players' actions or game's procedural
system with animals and monsters' appearances. Also, there are some outliers: 2
posts are about pointing out something that «every player» already
encounter. In fact, one of them enacts what is commonly known as a meme [Figure
12] to express the kind of experience the game provides, which is
supposedly apply to all. In r/Seaofthieves, most of the events are either
recounted through a recorded video introduced by a short sentence, or a concise
text illustrated by a picture. On the other hand, the forum is a place favored
for a more textual approach on the storytelling; some posts are in fact
dedicated for players to recount their adventures in a more sophisticated,
stylish way. For example, KattTruewalker set up a post that seek to regroup
tales of players' «adventures on the High Seas - a place for authors,
poets and storytellers!»
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Figure 12 - Meme by reddit user Kmvfefjklv,
representing what players tend to experience in Sea of Thieves after
clearing an objective (here, a fort).
Looking at the whole picture, the shared stories largely
involve the unexpected. Treppoman for instance tells how he and his crew found
their ship to be an inferno and struggled to put out the fire. As he
desperately throws water with its buckets, he stops before the kitchen area and
acknowledges the source of the fire. Laughing, he says, «Oh I know what
the problem is...It was my banana I accidentally left on the stove! It was me
all along!» The climax of the story is obviously the absurdity of what put
them in this situation: a mere banana. What stands out is how surprise
Treppoman, before he confesses his deed to his crewmates while laughing,
«Captain, I have a confess to make...maybe you remember that I'm the
cook?» This silliness represents the catharsis of the story; it compelled
other players who could relate to share similar events. In the comment section,
DoctorWhoToYou recounts their own experience that combines food, stove and
fire. During their first hours playing the game, they sunk their ship two times
in around before realizing they put it on fire with the pork they were trying
to cook whilst carefreely going on exploring an island. Others like
Jamesisonfire21 explain that once they discover cooking accident could happen
in the game, they would do «the banana bandit» and start fire with
food.
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Sea of Thieves certainly immerses the player in a
carefree environment where the «anything can happen» is expected to
lead to laughable moments. So, there is no surprise when player's stories aim
at being humorous and light-hearted. Proof is, storytelling that includes
Megalodons and Krakens - the biggest and deadliest sea monsters in the game -
remain constructed around some sense of goofiness. With his post entitled
«So we encountered a flying Megalodon...», Wildbaws shares a video of
their galleon assaulted by a Megalodon. It indeed appears to be flying towards
the ship, ends up crashing on it and makes the barrels in it explode. The
monster dies on the spot with the ship in rumbles. Wildbaws clearly understood
that this event was the result of a bug, yet they retell the event as any
genuine story. The giant shark is presented not so much as a threat that as any
other element of the game that can lead to silly moments.
Narratively, Megalodons and Krakens - especially the latter -
embody the most feared danger thrown at players by the game. They are not only
enormous and deadly; above all, they appear randomly. Thus, they constantly
remain in player's thoughts, even more so when loots are at stake. Once they
manifest, they can quickly sink a ship while they remain difficult to take down
- the kraken forces the players into battle by darkening the water, which
heavily slow any ship in it. With this in mind, it is no wonder that players'
stories about them tend to be in moments they least expect them to appear, or
when they have much to lose. Tales about epic battles against the Kraken are
not that common. They rather focus on the timing (usually bad) of the encounter
or how it overlaps within successive random events. Of course, the fact that it
spawns very rarely and that it is a unique world event - meaning there cannot
be multiple encounters at once - must be taken into account. Nonetheless, when
players relate this kind of event, the battle itself remain secondary.
This in particular highlight how the game influence the type
of story tells by players. We determined that players share experience within a
context establish by a community as an audience, but that community did forms
around the game and its thematic. Murnane examination of Skyrim
players' stories shows emphasis on heroic tales and epic battles against
dragons and giants, with their character as the heroic figure (Murnane 2018,
79). After all, Skyrim does introduce the player as a fated hero meant
to vanquish an evil dragon. Therefore, the game's community unsurprisingly
thrives for tales about deadlock situations and narrow victory achieved in
grand gestures - Skyrim helps them earn those moments with features
such as the «killcam» that deliver the final strike cinematically. In
contrast, Sea of Thieves does not frame the player's character along a
main story, nor does it give an initial objective to follow.
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From a narrative point of view, all the player know at the
start is that they are a pirate. Hence, the game has less influence on their
initial behavior. Moreover, the various NPCs often act silly during quests -
even Tall Tales - while the whole narrative design lean on humorous traits. It
is indeed a world where skeletons eat bananas, chests cry, explode and make you
drunk, characters and players shot themselves out of cannons, etc. Players thus
generate their stories in accordance to this rather jovial universe.
This is not to say that Sea of Thieves cannot be the
playground for «serious» and humorless tales, nor does it mean that
Skyrim is no material for players to joke around or act foolish. Their
respective world and thematic shape the player's initial perception, though the
high capacity of emergent narrative consequently afford adaptive storytelling.
In the Sea of Thieves forum, there are several non-comic tales to be
found: within the post of Katttruewalker, another user devised an entire story
in five chapters, entitle «The damned Rider of the Ferry and The Song of
the Dead.» A tale about a pirate that seeks «The song of the
Dead», a mysterious melody he heard while facing death in a battle against
a horde of skeletons. He presents a novelized storytelling of his own game
experience that uses the game's lore, and leaves out the cartoony aspect of the
game. In essence, it is a different demonstration of emergent story.
Another strong aspect of Sea of Thieves that supply
players with stories that need to be told is the PvP (Player versus Player).
Some will devote entire session to hunting other players, hoping to find and
abundant source of treasure, or simply for good sport. In general, the
unpredictability of these encounters make relation between players extremely
tense. Nobody knows for sure that a sighted ship is not hostile; no one can be
certain that the other crew is willing to form an alliance, nor if they will
abide to it until the very end. Players thereupon exchange more cannonballs
than words, and are proud to share achievements following a confrontation. As
an illustration, Crazed Corsair tells us that, after his crew gave up the chase
of another ship, he alone decided to «take matters into his own
hand». In his video, he demonstrates his ability to emerge victorious
against an entire crew, with a «final bold move» in which he was able
to climb up on the enemy ship's crow's nest and drop explosive barrels onto the
deck. Crazed Corsair this event with the objective to «impress»,
since beating a bigger crew is known to be a difficult feat. A similar story
from another user depicts him taking revenge upon another crew, after it
«sunk his solo sloop while it was docked». He «hitched a
ride» on their ship without anyone noticing. At one point, a skeleton ship
appeared and attacked
64
the crew. He then took the opportunity and killed them while
they were busy repairing their ship.
The PvP, above anything else, led to unforeseeable situations
- as I could experience myself - either because one fails to anticipate the
other or because the game keeps throwing random events at the players while
their focus in on beating the enemy. By all means, this strong accent on PvP
also led players to seek out unorthodox way of defeating their foes, such the
«banana bandit» mentioned above. And of course, it delivers even more
materials for stories to be related.
An important thing to realize is that the high frequency of
players confrontations compelled the community to institute their own rules.
For instant, as a mean to avoid conflict, players tend to use
«Parley!» in an attempt for negotiations - greatly inspired by the
use of the expression in the movie Pirate of the Caribbean. In the
same fashion, ships with their cannon pointed at the sky usually call for
peaceful activities. There is also a flag code to signal other of one's
intention. Likewise, the community tries to balance the odds for solo players.
From a PvP standpoint, a sloop is inherently weaker than a brigantine, and even
more compared to a Galleon. Needless to say, it is not unusual for a galleon
crew to chase after a single sloop (as we saw above). Consequently, there
appear to be an implicit agreement among the community: should a sloop witness
another lone captain being chase by a bigger ship, the former shall join the
fray and help the latter (Marshall 2018).
In a sandbox game such as Sea of Thieves, procedural
events and players' actions continuously model the global experience and the
stories that emerge from it. The several layers of unpredictability of the game
constitute the first motor of storytelling for the community. Here, emergent
narratives represent what surprise, excite and amuse players who thus wish keep
a record of these special events by sharing them. When observing these stories
I gathered, it appears that players tell what they believe stands out, express
unique, singular moments. As a matter of fact, none of them involved Tall Tales
or any narrative driven adventures; they relate moments they feel are theirs
and theirs alone. It either demonstrates their achievement, or the complete
absurdity and silliness of a situation, in accordance with what the game's
world whole ambience wants to convey. By examining these stories, and trying to
live our own within the game, it allows to better understand the act of play,
its deep bound to the stories players create for themselves. The nature of
emergent narrative is tied to the limit and affordances of the game; players
play within these boundaries and stretch them
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along their own narrative goals. Beyond the act of play, there
are stories shares by authors and readers. They shape the game outside of the
game.
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B- The gateway to the virtual world: narratives and
immersion through the avatar
Using the prism that is the open world design, we described
emergence and players' narratives from the angle of immersion: emergent
gameplay and narratives are generated through the player's engagement towards
the game, as they interact within it. The state of immersion thus being the
quintessential form of interaction, where the dialogue between the player and
the system appears blur enough to be unnoticed. However, there is one specific
aspect we fail to address properly. The immersion as a dimension in the act of
play includes an object of reflectivity we occulted until now: the avatar.
Whether it is a fully made character using a game's creator tools or an already
fully-fledged one we incarnate, the avatar is the gateway into the game's
world, what transports within its story and cosmogony.
In his study «Enter the Avatar: The Phenomenology of
Prosthetic» Rune Klevjer note that the avatar works as an extension of the
player. It «relocates the body» into the screen space:
The on-screen marionette becomes part of that through which a
world comes into existence, part of the player's «I can». The player
is being re-wired and re-directed towards «important figures against
indifferent backgrounds» through the integrated prosthetic apparatus of
controller and on-screen avatar When we play, because the avatar extends the
body rather than pure agency or subjectivity, screen space becomes a world that
we are subjected to, a place we inhabit and where we struggle for survival. We
learn to intuitively judge, like we do in the real world, the opportunities and
dangers of the environment (Klevjer 2012).
Klevjer suggests that the avatar therefore serves an almost
direct projection of the player into the game space. It determines not the
player's affordances within the game, rather it is the virtual body from which
«layers of fictional and narrative significance» are added (ibid) and
nuance the story implied as a whole.
The avatar, in many ways, represents the player that controls
it and act as a vector between them and the game. It can be an object of
mise en abyme of this relation - like dialogues only understandable by the
player - but also an embodied representation of the player with a psychologic
connection, a «persona». As an empirical element of a game, the
avatar influences the player's perception - it stimulates their empathy towards
it and the world. The RPG genre in video games usually displays strong emphasis
on the avatar, the capacity of the player to personalize it and actively
participate in its growth, one way or another.
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Here we examine the avatar and its role in the player's
immersion in a game. We try to determine how the characteristic of the
avatar-character can influence the player's connection to it, and their overall
in-game perception.
Immersion in Video Games, a Work of the
Senses
The concept of immersion has been considered as of one the
most important experience of gaming by researchers, gamers and designers alike.
Within the video game context, immersion is perceived to be important, if not
essential. It appears as much as a state for players to reach, as it is a
powerful marketing tool for the industry which often highlights the immersive
capability of a game. According to Arsenault and Picard, «video games
evolution can be understood as the search for an always greater, better and
more encompassing immersion» (Arsenault and Picard 2007, my translation).
Yet again, immersion in games is arduous to define, or more specifically, to
identify what drives the definition (Brown et Cairns 2004). According to the
basic definition by the Cambridge dictionary, immersion is «the fact of
becoming completely involved in something,» using as a sentence example
«total immersion in a video game is almost like living another
life»17. Therefore, it suggests a state where one's senses
cease to interpret information outside of the screen space, a faultless focus
on the object of interest. Although this may be enough to some degree of
understanding, some designers tend to differ on what it means for video games.
For Marcin Przybyowicz and P.T Adamczyk, respectively music director composer
and senior composer at CD Projekt Red, immersion is equivalent to
«engagement,» which correspond to «fun»:
It [Immersion] makes combat more exciting if the player cares
about the character. It makes the story more intriguing if the choices and
consequences that the player makes resemble some sort of reality; it makes
exploration more intriguing if the player's curiosity is fed back by the design
of the world [...] In order to truly appreciate a work of art, you have to
either suspend disbelief or create secondary belief in the presented reality
(GDC 2022).
To them, immersion consists in a make-believe of an alternate
reality for the player to find enjoyment in it. It is a work of design
involving music, sound--diegetic or not--and images
17 Cambridge Dictionary, s.v,
«Immersion,» accessed April 5, 2022.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/immersion
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that make the player «feels» the world, creates
emotional attachment as well as involvement toward the whole story.
Within game studies, researchers attribute immersion to a
state reached through the interaction with a game's system and the gameplay
experience. The said state thus depends on the game characteristics and the
player's perception of the game's dynamic--hence it ultimately varies from one
subject to another. In their article «Fundamental Components of the
Gameplay Experience: Analyzing Immersion,» Ermi Laura and Mäyrä
Frans established the immersion as a «multidimensional phenomenon»
that displays various «aspects that can appear and be emphasized
differently in the individual cases of different games and players» (Ermi
and Mäyrä 2005). Through a gameplay experience model, they called
«Sci-model,» they divided immersion in three distinct forms: Sensory,
challenge-based and imaginative and immersion.
Sensory Immersion is a dimension of play
related to the senses, stimulated by a game's audiovisual rendering. This is
probably the type of immersion closest to the Cambridge dictionary, and what
gaming communities seem to acknowledge as immersion. Ermi and Mäyrä
state that «large screens close to the player's face and powerful sounds
easily overpower the sensory information coming from the real world.» The
player thereupon only perceives the stimuli of their senses induced by the game
world.
More specific to video games, challenged-based
immersion is deeply related to the player's skill (motor and mental).
A «feeling of immersion» attained when «one is able to achieve a
satisfying balance of challenges and abilities.» To put it in another way,
it is based on the player's ability to interact with the game.
Then, imaginative immersion concerns the
player's involvement with the game world, its stories and its characters.
Within this game experience, the player more directly perceived themselves
within the diegetic game world; they can «feel or identify with a game
character» (ibid). Whilst it does not solely belong to role-playing game,
the RPG genre is particularly prone to this dimension of play since it relies
on a very structured world and cosmogony. Arsenault Dominic and Picard Martin
prefer to call this type of immersion «fictional immersion» rather
than Ermi and Mäyrä's version, as they note it includes «all the
forms of fiction, including narratives and representation» (Arsenault and
Picard 2007).
An important thing to note is that these three dimensions of
immersion are merely identification of processes within a game experience. The
SCI-model establishes how it is
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formed and emphasizes on the fundamental components. Ermi and
Mäyrä thus explain that immersion in modern video games displays
multiple forms at once:
Since many contemporary digital games have richer audiovisual
and narrative content than for example classic Tetris, these three dimensions
of immersion usually mix and overlap in many ways. In other words, the factors
that potentially contribute to imaginative immersion (e.g., characters, world,
and storyline) are also apparent in the interaction design (e.g., goal
structures) and the audiovisual design (how goals, characters and the world are
represented and perceived) of well-integrated game designs (Ermi and
Mäyra, 2005).
As we already highlighted on the sections above, video games
are complex computer programs that integrate other media in their designs.
Moreover, they require the player to be an active participant - at various
degrees - which delivers said gameplay experience. Just like narrative design
involves many artistic fields (sound-design, level-design, writer,
quest-design, etc.) in order to create a meaningful and coherent narrative
experience, immersion is the result of complex dynamics between various game's
aspects. The multidimensional phenomena exposed by the SCI-model shows the
mechanics video games are able to use to create what we refer to an»
immersive experience». For instance, Dead Space (Visceral Games
2008) heavily relies on its sound design to keep the player immerse in its
world: it conveys a horrific atmosphere mostly through the rattles of unseen
monsters, far away screams that echo across the vast empty spaceship and other
various reactive sounds that keep the player on edge. In the same manner,
Sea of Thieves creates immersion through its powerful environmental
narrative that displays a world in motion with water that moves and sounds
realistic, the creaks of the ship that sails the sea and the trees that sways
in the breeze. However, the immersion would certainly not work that well
without a sense of challenge when facing those unseen monsters, nor without the
detailed structured world that enables the player to consciously live the
adventure on the sea.
Hence, video games possess numerous elements that are likely
to induce immersion. This is not, however, a binary notion: immersion supposes
a degree of involvement. The degree changes over time, depending on the
player's receptiveness to the said elements. The study of Emily Brown and Paul
Cairn finds three levels of involvement - from lesser to greater degree:
engagement, engrossment and total immersion (Brown et Cairns 2004). Each level
of involvement is attained through the removal of «barriers». The
barriers correspond to conditions the player or the game must fulfill; they
«act to defines and scope the level of involvement with the game»
(ibid).
·
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Engagement: «the first stage of
immersion». It strongly depends on their initial feeling; if the
«style» of the game fit their preferences, and if the overall control
and rules appears intuitive enough for them. This level is then reached
throughout the investment of time and effort the player is willing to put into
the game. If the game provides rewards they judge worthy of their attention,
the investment increases. The more they play, the more they feel engage.
· Engrossment: when the player becomes
further involve with the game, they «become engrossed». Given that
the game construction, meaning features such as «the visuals, interesting
tasks and plot» among others, is satisfying enough to «suspend their
disbelief of the game world», an emotional development happens. Player's
investment affects their emotion while their attention is almost entirely
focused on the game.
· Total immersion: At this point,
«the game is the only thing that impacts the gamer's thoughts and
feelings.» The total immersion occurs when the player feels completely
detached from the outside world, with their attention solely focused on the
game. Their attachment to characters becomes empathy - they deeply care about
their situation - whilst they are intensely receptive to the game atmosphere
(graphics, sounds and the plot appear more relevant). According to Brown and
Cairn, one's inability to feel «empathy and transfer of
consciousness» are unable to be in «total immersion» (Brown and
Cairn 2004).
From Brown and Cairn's study, Arsenault and Picard
established a model of immersion that take into account video game genres. The
premise is that each genre «would have its own immersive focus, meaning it
would favor a type and level of immersion.» Notably, First-Person Shooter,
that renders the action from the viewpoint of the embodied character, mostly
seeks sensory immersion in order to convey «strong sensations». By
contrast, RPGs emphasize the worldbuilding and the interconnection of game
system elements that forms the gameplay - what is asked of the player is
therefore «exclusively mental». Thus, the focus tends to be found in
imaginative immersion and challenged-based immersion (which Arsenault and
Picard name «systemic immersion) (Arsenault and Picard 2007).
Of course, the subjectivity regarding a genre's definition as
well as the technical evolution of video game entails variation and
diversification in those tendencies. For example, RPG such as The Witcher
III: Wild Hunt demonstrate strong sensory immersion through vast and
beautiful scenery, and a great deal of graphical details. For Arsenault and
Picard, it allows to divide the types of Immersion given by the SCI-model in
several subtypes. Sensory immersion can thus be «visceral, contemplative
or kinesic», whilst challenged-based immersion can be «diegetic,
narrative or identifying» (Ibid).
In essence, immersion is also a matter of subjective
experience. Whereas designers certainly focus on some immersive elements
according to the game experience they wish to convey, immersion ultimately
delivers a variable experience and is subject to a great number of factors.
Particularly from the player's side, the feeling of «presence» within
a game world
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may be easily altered by the mood at a given moment.
Nevertheless, the notion of immersion stands as a process of communication; in
effect, even in the aforementioned state of «total immersion», the
player remains aware that they are playing.
Overall, the studies I expose here only consider immersion as
a mechanical interaction between the player and the game. The need for player
input defines the sense of immersion; the player delves into a virtual space
that «cuts» them off from the real world to varying degrees. However,
I believe these studies fail to highlight how immersion can also occur through
the avatar. In essence, it serves as a vector for "player presence" within the
game. Whilst Brown and Cairn touch upon the game structure that can convey this
cognitive involvement from the player, it only places the avatar as another
element influencing the level at which the immersion happens, or establishing a
type of immersion. I argue, however, that in many cases it is the object that
characterize the player experience, and how the game allows the experience to
occur.
Avatar: path into the game, vision of the
world.
Up until now we have discussed story, narratives, plot and
immersion by analyzing the role of both the medium and the player. The video
game as a narrative medium sets up a dialogue between it and the player. What
we call interaction represents the latter's input using an intermediary device;
a console and its controller, a computer with its keyboard and mouse, a
smartphone, etc. Thus, the principle of interaction is represented through
these three elements: the game as object, the player, and the technological
device that allows the dialogue. With that being said, one can argue for a
fourth entry in this minimalist model. Within a game, the player has an
«embodied presence» through an avatar. There is a relocation into the
virtual space conducted by the avatar.
In Klevjer's aforementioned study, he made a distinction
between two «common uses» for the notion of avatar : the avatar
«understood as a playable character» and avatar «understood as a
vehicle through which the player is given agency and presence within the
gameworld» (Klevjer 2012). To put it in another way, the difference would
rely on the method in which the player's presence is establish in the game.
There is the avatar as an actual character, like Geralt from The Witcher
III or your persona in Divinity Original Sin II and the
«vehicle of agency»
72
that is not a necessarily a character per says but an
«object» the player embodies, such as a spaceship in Everspace
(Rockfish Games 2017) or a car in racing games. Nevertheless, this
distinction only helps to highlight two main model in the type of role the
player can assume; it expresses the space in which they can navigate and the
manner they do - with a character or a «non-character».
In this section and the one that follows, the avatar is
studied mostly through the observation of character-based video games and games
labelled as «role-playing games». Indeed, they entail a deeper
connection between the player and the avatar, thus allowing a more proficient
analysis within the length of my work. However, we shall keep in mind that the
conceptualization of the avatar extends beyond simple personification of a
character or any particular genre - after all, one «plays a role»
even in non-RPG games. There are also cases where there is no
«visual» avatar or one specific embodiment within the game, like for
example Tetris (Pajitnov 1984) or 4X games such as Sid Meier's
Civilization VI (Firaxis Games 2016). The notion of avatar and how these
games localize the player is not irrelevant for the subject at hand, however,
it shall need further investigation in future works.
As we previously determined, video games let the gamer
participates in the storytelling process; they do not watch the protagonist,
they are playing it. The phenomenon of immersion we discussed above happens
because of the gamer's «presence» inside the virtual word. Yet that
presence is not physical; they are represented and introduces through an avatar
that is part of the narratives as a whole. In the same manner the player can
assume different roles according to the type of games, the avatar manifests
various characteristics in order to represent the player in specific ways.
Barnabé Fanny and Delbouille Julie explored the particularity of the
regarding its role as an interface between the game and the gamer:
With its acting mediation between the player and the
game-object, the avatar is one of the main vectors of the video games' inherent
reflexivity. Whereas it often takes the forms of a fictional character (or at
least, of a digitized icon), it also depicts the player who controls it;
consequently, it introduces an empirical element into the game universe. In
effect, it operates like a shifter, these deictic characters (such as personal
pronouns, adverb of time and place...) which part of the meaning only activate
when they are assumed by a given speaker (here, the term can thus reflect
different places according to the authority that utters it) [...] By enabling
two distinct planes of realities to meet, the avatar constitutes what Genette
name a «metaleptic vehicle». Moreover, it frames the existence of
«interactional» metalepsis (Ensslin 2011), i.e. beyond the narrative
thresholds that are not written as such in the story, but which go through the
player's action (Barnabé and Delbouille 2018, my translation).
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Referring to Gérard Genette theories in narratology,
metalepsis here relates to «transgression of the boundaries» that
separate two distinct worlds (here the physical and the virtual) and/or induce
the convergence of different narrative levels (Genette 2004). Therefore, the
avatar acts as a mediator between the player and the game; the latter expect
the former to play a role, which creates a partial merge of the actual and the
virtual. The avatar responds and behave according to the player that
manipulates it: the avatar acts both as an interactive tool and a projection of
the player's identity that enact narratives in the fictional as well as in the
physical world.
The intention behind the avatar as a character is to allow a
transfer of consciousness. Often, there is a desire to «insert» the
player within the avatar. It becomes a mean of identification, as well as a
narrative device. In essence, that is the reason behind game tropes such as the
«silent protagonist»; famous characters such as Link (The Legend
of Zelda), Samus (Metroid) or Gordon Freeman (Half-life)
are among the most prominent examples. These characters lack any sort of
dialogue and at most resort only to interjections - in short, very limited
voice acting or indistinguishable noises. A main reason for this particular
characteristic would be for the player to better identify with them. To put it
another way, by being silent, the protagonist becomes a vessel, a proxy for the
player's own voice and thoughts - the answers or written dialogue are therefore
enacted solely through their visualization, in the same manner they
«imagine» the voice of a book's character.
When asked about Link's conception, Shigeru Miyamoto - the
creator of The Legend of Zelda's franchise and many other famous
Nintendo games - underlines his yearning for a close relationship between the
player and his character:
For me it has always been important that the gamers grow
together with Link, that there is a strong relationship between the one who
holds the controller and the person who is on the screen. I have always tried
to create the feeling that you really are in Hyrule. If you don't feel that
way, it will lose some of its magic [...] The way Link reacts creates a closer
relationship with the player (Miyamoto 2003).
The identification is more about the perception of the
character than the direct embodiment of the one in control. In the case of
The Legend of Zelda, the protagonist is named (Link), has but little
features that can be personalized - none in most games - and his overall
personality cannot be altered - he is a destined hero who confronts evil. The
character remains in fact physically and mentally the same, regardless of who
is playing it. Protagonist's characteristic limitations (here the voice and
dialogue) nonetheless permit one to impersonate it: the player becomes Link,
and Link becomes «unique» through the former's perception of his
missing features. The
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more the player feel a strong relationship with Link, the more
they are able experience his world - which refers to the aforementioned total
immersion though empathy.
Additionally, letting some of the avatar's aspect blank
induce some questioning from the gamer in control. If the protagonist does not
talk, hide their feelings and reactions, there is a lack of details the gamer
starts to wonder about; it creates a sense of mystery surrounding the
protagonist. Notably, in the original Metroid game (Nintendo 1986),
the silence of Samus Aran is an inherent part of her narrative traits: she is a
lone bounty hunter who explores hostile worlds and faces dangerous, sometimes
unknown, creatures. The worlds in which the actions take place are devoid of
any friendly life. The game portrays a very independent character entirely
focused on her mission, with very little exposition towards her backstory. Her
condition as one of the greatest bounty hunters is basically the only
information the gamer is given. As a matter of fact, until the very end, they
do not know that Samus is actually a «she»; it is recognized as one
of the most famous revelations in the video game industry, since it was kept a
secret even by the game's instruction manual, which referred to Samus as a
«he» (Robinson 2007). The player's connection with a character like
Samus happens through this void of information: the avatar's characteristics
and world appear open to interpretation. The reveal of Samus gender effectively
used this space of interpretation and the player's presumptions about her
gender -even more so since video games were (and still are, in a lesser degree)
dominated by male protagonists.
Of course, rthe concept of silent protagonist was also born
out of technical limitations; voice acting was certainly not the norm (nor
could it be included effectively) at the time of the above-mentioned games and
characters that had no dialogue often meant a significant gain of time for the
designers. Yet it became part of these emblematic protagonists and an inherent
aspect of their functions as avatar. Significantly, Samus began to speak in the
games following the original - though it remained scarce - but in the last
entry, Metroid Dread (MercurySteam 2021), the bounty hunter returned
to her silent treatment. A decision Yoshio Sakamoto, producer of the game,
explains in an interview with Gamespot:
In this game, Samus barely speaks. The reason that I wanted
to make it that way is the main theme of this game, which is dread. I felt that
to convey the current situation of Samus or what Samus is thinking right now,
this would be better conveyed to the player not through actual words or actual
voice, but more with acting or visuals. I want the player to think, «What
is going on? What is Samus feeling right now?» That is why I decided to go
this way for this game (Sakamoto 2021).
75
Here Samus reflects the player but also the thematic of the
game. Her silence can be regarded as a piece of narrative design: it
strengthens the feeling of being isolated in hostile environment as well as the
terror that lurks in it. At the same time, it individualizes the player
experience. The avatar act as a character (Samus), but also a tool that helps
convey a specific atmosphere when controlled.
The basic idea behind these avatars is to build an immersive
relationship between them and the players. Though the former, the latter
engages in the game world; there is a transfer of consciousness towards the
avatar which exposes the player to the context, characters, thematic and
narratives. However, just like the total immersion is never truly
«total», the identification the player exerts stays within the
boundaries of their awareness: whatever the case, they still acknowledge the
avatar as a virtual entity.
The player relates to the avatar through what Katie Salen and
Eric Zimmerman calls «the double-con-sciousness of play» (Salen and
Zimmerman 2003). By taking control of a game character, the player builds a
relationship with it as they delve into its world. The avatar act as a
placeholder for them. It can lead to an emotional attachment and empathy that,
as we determined earlier, construct the immersion phenomenon. Nonetheless, the
avatar persists as an «object for the player to manipulate according to
the rules of the game»:
Through the process of metacommunication, the player is aware
of the constructed nature of the character within the larger system of the
game. A game avatar is simultaneously both subject and object: on one hand a
mask to be worn, and on the other a tool to view and manipulate (Ibid).
The avatar as a character is thus central for the game and
its narratives, while being the object that give access to it. This mediation
role, video games then use it as discursive argument to address the player. A
concept that Barnabé and Delbouille establish as a «reflective
process»: the game operates by means of metalepsis that translate its
«ludo-narrative organization, its possibilities and its rules of
manipulation» (Barnabé and Delbouille 2018). To better exemplify
the concept, this kind of dialogue tend to happen during tutorial sequences:
the game addresses the avatar with a discourse that only make sense for the
player (Ibid). The FormSoftware Soulsborn series regularly resort to this type
of communication through its message system 18[Figure
13].
18 In the Soulsborn series, one can write message
(with preestablished words) to other players, either to help them or to mislead
them.
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Figure 13 - Dark Souls III, a message
on the ground gives and advice that only make sense outside of the game.
Salen and Zimmerman note that double-consciousness is the
main reason character-based games delivers «such a rich and multi-layered
experience». The avatar acts as a gate for the narrative tapestry of the
game world and fashions the player appreciation of it. The game then can add
layers of complexity to enrich the experience and strengthen the player-avatar
bound, such an advance management of the avatar's resources (Salen and
Zimmerman 2003). That is in fact the main appeal of the RPG genre: usually set
with developed storytelling, the genre put an emphasis on the character the
player controls, who displays several forms of development (i.e., outside of
the narratives). In these games, players tend to design the avatar for the role
they wish to assume, and adopt a fictional personality.
77
Playing a role, developing an avatar: the legacy of
Pen and Paper RPG
First, it may be convenient to define RPG. In order to stay
in line with the common understanding of the genre, I use here the definition
of Encyclopedia Britannica:
Game genre in which players advance through a story quest,
and often many side quests, for which their character or party of characters
gain experience that improves various attributes and abilities. The genre is
almost entirely rooted in TSR, Inc.'s Dungeons & Dragons
(D&D; 1974), a role-playing game (RPG) for small groups in which
each player takes some role, such as a healer, warrior, or wizard, to help the
player's party battle evil as directed by the group's Dungeon Master, or
assigned storyteller19.
Yet again, the definition shall only color our perception of
the genre. As we previously established, genre is also a matter of
subjectivity. Though RPGs take their roots in Dungeons and Dragons,
the label certainly is not applied solely in regard of a game's similarity
with the tabletop game. For instance, taking a look at the Steam Store page, we
can see that Assassin's Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Québec, 2018) is
referenced as RPG among other tags. Indeed, the game offers an improvement
system for the character (with statistics and capacities), a story quest, side
quests, along with a certain variety of playstyle. On the other hand, Dying
Light (Techland, 2015), while it displays the same basic features, is not
considered as a RPG - or at least, it is not regarded as a prominent aspect of
the game. Additionally, RPG nowadays comprises numerous subgenres; JRPG
(Japanese Role-playing game), Action-RPG, Tactical RPG, CRPG (Classical RPG),
etc. It thus covers a large scope of titles, all with their defining features.
In this section, I intend however to analyze a CRPG - with a focus on the
character creation - since in effect, this subgenre is the most directly tied
to basic of Pen and Paper RPG. Specifically, I direct my attention on
Divinity Original Sin II, which not only embrace its D&D
roots, but is also widely acclaim for doing it extremely well. Eurogamer
indeed describes it as a «CRPG of unparalleled breadth and dynamism»
(Lane 2017) while Gamespot gives it a perfect note, stating the game «is
one of the most captivating role-playing games ever made» (Todd 2017).
At this point, and for what follows in my work, it however
conveys to distinguish the RPG (the video game) to the role-play (to incarnate
a character). The latter reflect the practice born along tabletop games like
D&D, where the player embodies a character and seeks a
19 Encyclopedia Britanica, 15th ed.,
Hosh L., William, "Role-playing game", accessed April 7, 2022.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/role-playing-video-game
78
complete immersion by talking and behaving like the said
character is supposed to, according to the features applied to it during its
creation. In RPG, the role-play designates that same practice, except it
usually happens outside of the game's frame, i.e beyond the character's
characteristics initially given by the game and the development it undergoes in
it. The role-play is especially practiced in MMORPGs, which we will discussed
later on. With this in mind, here, I explore the player-avatar connection in
RPGs as a whole, not expressly on the basis of role-play.
During my researches on the relation shared by players and
their avatars within RPG video games, I started to examine the
conceptualization of character creation among the Tabletop RPG communities. I
rapidly stood upon an interesting notion, directly connected to this peculiar
relation: bleed. According to the fan site RPG Museum and the Jeepform
dictionary, «Bleed» in role playing games is a phenomenon «of a
player feeling the emotions» of their character and vice-versa. A state of
mind in which the line between the player and the character fades away;
either's emotions «bleeds» over the other and alter his or her whole
perception (RPG Museum 2020) (Jeepform 2007). In other words, the term refers
to a state of immersion which take its source in the relationship between the
player and their avatar. After all, the avatar is created in great details - in
D&D for instance, the character creation can take several hours -
and usually participates in several campaigns20. Therefore, it
rapidly becomes the pivotal entity for the player's involvement in the game.
Plus, the game master design the narratives according to the character's
actions (since the story emerge from the play); through their avatar, players
thereupon collaborate with the GM in the storytelling process.
Returning to video games, RPGs certainly keep the
aforementioned connection, even though they do not necessarily expect players
to fully commit into role-play. Though immersion certainly happens differently,
the avatar stays central toward the experience. Through the whole game, the
player does no solely control a character: they undergo growth along with it.
Broadly summarized, the gameplay of video games under the RPG genre revolves
around the story and the construction of the character; whilst RPGs generally
use a «lighter» version than Pen and Paper RPG for their creation
tool, it remains an important step for the player. Right from the start, there
are plentiful aspects to choose for the character's build. From a full
character creation
20 Often in Tabletop RPG, a game is divided in
several campaigns, either for a continuing storyline or in order to set up
various adventures in the same universe. It allows player to improve their
knowledge of the said universe, and further develop their character (level,
capacities, relations, etc.) since they use the same across the campaigns
(«Campaign (role-playing games)» 2003).
79
perspective, here are a non-exhaustive list of customization
elements to pick for their avatar during its creation:
· Races: the player decides which race
their character belong. On top of the appearance it entails, each race displays
benefits in different fields (combat, speech, trade, etc.). It is also a way
for the game to present the kind of races that inhabit its world.
· Gender: while some races may no
particular gender, in most cases, each can be male or female. Sometimes, the
gender offers different bonuses for the character and can affect the
interaction with other game world characters.
· Appearance: The physical traits of
the character: hair, face, size, corpulence, skin color, etc. The possibility
greatly varies from one game to another.
· Classes: the classes represent the
character's archetype, which involve specific combat style, type of weapons,
armor, overall abilities, etc. Player-wise, it determines the playstyle they
wish to enjoy throughout the game.
· Attributes: while the classes
generally establish where the character's strength lies, the player can still
adapt the attributes. In most cases, attributes correspond to statistics that
shape the avatar's «qualities,» its «inborn,»
«natural» characteristics. Often, the player can strengthen one or
more attributes of their choosing by distributing points. Then, the attributes
usually increase along the avatar advancement (level, capacities, narrative
progression...).
· Abilities: Depending on the class
(and sometimes the initial attributes), the character is allowed starting
abilities such as martial skills, magics, incantations or sorcery.
· Skills: character's competences and
non-combat expertise. It can be proficiency in particular jobs (blacksmith,
medicine, weaver, etc.), physical feats (acrobatic, athletics, insight, etc.)
or more specific aptitude (survival, investigation, animal talk, etc.). It can
greatly influence how the various interactions unfold.
· Background: the character's life that
precedes the game's events. It determines the character's perception about its
world, its influence, and can offer bonuses or penalty.
Regarding the overall avatar's personalization, video games
obviously differ in what they offer, and in the impact each of the elements
has--it is also dependent of the fiction's genre (high fantasy, science
fiction, medieval...). In any cases, their aim stays the same: a more or less
deep customization of the main character for the player to «give
life» to it. Over the course of the game, the player then tries to act
according to their avatar, and the persona they gave to it. Often, there is a
binary pole system of «good or evil» that enact various consequences,
either favorable or not.
Divinity Original Sin II (DOS II here
after), developed by Larian Studios and released in 2017, draw its inspiration
from D&D and surely applies the Tabletop RPG philosophy regarding
the player's role. Whilst I myself played the game before, I needed to
experience it again, this time more as researcher. I thus spent about thirty
hours playing DOS II to analyze
80
its narrative structure, how it weaves it in a story dedicated
to a fully created character. At the same time, I tried to examine the
evolution of the player(me)-avatar connection along the game's progression.
Before the journey in Rivellon (the game world) begins, there
is of course the character creation to go through. Similar to what I describe
above, DOS II comprises many elements to choose for our character.
Interesting to note here is that we have to pick our character's
«origin». Basically, it determines its ties to the world: its
relation with various NPCs, the manner it perceives the world and vice-versa.
Consequently, we can either use a «custom origin» character [Figure
14] or an «origin character» [Figure 15]. The
former is essentially «blank» since it makes us enter the game with
little to no knowledge about Rivellon and its story. We live the story as an
outsider with no prior connections, and build relations with other NPCs from
the ground up. Conversely, Origin Characters are already part of the world;
therefore, they expose us to it through the eyes of a «native», while
they enact unique narratives, notably with several NPCs. That way, we learn
more about them but also about the game lore. This Origin system is DOS II
equivalent of the aforementioned Background, the main difference being
that it paradoxically establishes whether or not our character is entirely
created. Here, our custom character's background is mostly express through
«Tags» (which dictate their type of person) and its race, since it
inherently alters other character's perception about it. However, whether we
decide to assume our role in the game from a custom character or an already
existing one, we remain the focal points within the whole story, as well as
within the main plot.
Figure 14 - Divinity Original Sin II,
Character Creation with a «custom origin"
Figure 15 - Divinity Original Sin II,
Character Creation for an "origin character", here The Red Prince.
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What is important to realize here is that our choices in the
character creation matter for the whole playthrough. It affects our
interactions with the world, changes the means whereby we unfold the events.
Playing an Undead character for instance (which is a walking skeleton) implies
to constantly hide our condition to avoid that every single NPCs turns
belligerent; the
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personality (tags) entails different types dialogues that
modify other characters' behavior; noncombat capacities (civil abilities)
directly influence the way we resolve enigmas, get out (or not) of a dire
situation, or our ability to get what we want out of an NPC (persuasion,
intimation...). Our character is directly at the center of the narrative
process. With character creation, the game seeks to build an almost instant
connection between us and our avatar. The latter influences the outcome of
multitude of events; since we give it its characteristic, shape its
personality, and controls it, it becomes the embodiment of the role we desire
to play.
At the same time, DOS II affords our character a
large margin of development and emphasizes our capacity to evolve the way we
want. The player-avatar connection is then bound to strengthen over time. We
gain experience each time we emerge victorious of a fight or discover a new
area, learn new abilities and find better equipment that make us even stronger;
we forge new relation with NPCs, engage in various sub quests and
«secondary» plots, while further deepen our knowledge of Rivellon's
story. Hence, the character creation is but the initial entry into the game
world. It neither strictly condition our behavior or the way we pursue our
endeavors through the whole game. As an illustration, whilst we have to pick a
class, attributes, skills and such, it only stands as a starting point. During
the playthrough, we can either stick to our initial choices, or evolve our
character in another direction - would we choose to start as a Knight, we could
very well become a Sorcerer afterwards. That is to say, our playstyle is not
pre-determined, same for our role within the party.
Likewise, the narratives greatly involve our choices regarding
our overall behavior, notably with the important characters of the game. Whilst
this is not merely a system of «good choices/bad choices» that would
rule our character as either good or evil, how we act enacts various
consequences. There are always multiple ways to move forward, and we surely can
do it according to the character we portray. For instance, the first location
after the tutorial, Fort Joy, is a prison we must escape. To do so, various
solutions are available: to broadly summarize, we can fight our way through and
kill our oppressors, explore to find the right item, talk to the right persons,
sneak our way out, etc. Yet, most of these solutions does not prevent us from
carrying out another. Should we want to kill the guards after we went for the
pacifist way, we can easily do so.
Given these points, DOS II extensively aim at
providing us an adventure filled with meaningful choices for our character
(therefore, us) to make. The avatar extends our vision and agency within the
screen-space, while we are subject to the game world sway (Klevjer 2012, 13).
Through the role we assume with our avatar, we influence the story, which
influences us
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in return. The fact that we are impactful right from the
character creation certainly intensify the immersive sense we got with our
avatar. Although I did find myself greatly committed to the growth of my
character, the aforementioned phenomenon of bleed or total immersion stayed out
of my reach. As Salen and Zimmerman noted, players «always know that they
are playing» (Salen and Zimmerman 2003). This double-con-sciousness of
play, we previously mentioned, manifests here. Whether during my recent play
sessions I underwent as a researcher or the previous ones as a simple player,
the feeling of immersion remained scarce within a layered state of mind. There
are arguably several reasons for that: in the first place, as Salen and
Zimmerman's double-con-sciousness suggest, I stayed aware of my player's
status. Mainly because ultimately, the avatar whom I identify with move and
interact with the world under the instructions I give it. The overall
navigation happens through mouse-clicking, the abilities are used by entering
the right keyboard command. Plus, in the case of DOS II, it happens
that we are able to control up to 4 characters, including our own. Even though
the metacommunication works essentially with our avatar, we still enact control
over the companions. Broadly speaking, as a player, we nevertheless linger on
our awareness regarding the extradiegetic interface (the mouse cursor, the key
binding, the narrator...). The type of interaction does not block the
immersion, since of course, we never focus on it in the act of play. Rather,
the roleplaying becomes an ambiguous experience through the means and the
figurative. For Klevjer, strategy and roleplaying games exposes us to
«symbolic interactions», opposed to «tangible
interactions». Instead of a simulated direct action with an avatar that
acts as «prosthetic», we are given a responsive agent that act upon
our instructions (Klevjer 2012, 12). An aspect reinforced here by the camera:
more than the character, we control an omniscient camera, able to navigate way
beyond our character field of vision.
Similarly, seeing as we assume a role, our behavior is
supposedly dictated by the character we wish to portray within the virtual
space. To put it in another way, we try to consciously not act as we would
normally do; in a sense, we perform acting like in theaters or movies - which
is the principle behind Tabletop RPGs. But in DOSII (and in RPGs in
general), players are halfway between role-play and just play since their main
role is already determined (hero, chosen one, exile, etc.). Under those
circumstances, the players find themselves naturally tempted to apply their own
inherent behavior to their action. Compellingly enough, Larian Studios observed
that the majority of players has difficulties to inhibit their good conscience,
and would play a «good» playthrough rather than an «evil»
one, despite trying to do so at first.
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During the announcement livestream for the release date of
their latest title, Baldur's Gate 3, Larian Studios' Senior Writer
Adam Smith in fact compelled players to do «the bad thing»:
We don't want to deliver 45 000 lines of dialogue to you as a
speech, we want you to discover them; we want you to interact with them; we
want these to feel like conversations. So, you're gonna get, on a playthrough,
the ones that fell right for your playthrough and I'm gonna do something...I'm
gonna implore you all. We know that most people tend to be good people when
they play CRPGs. It's the [Divinity Original Sin II] metric that shows that.
So, what I'm gonna ask you to do if you play [Baldur's Gate 3] early access,
use it as an excuse to do the bad thing; I want you to be the worst version of
yourselves [...] Some of [the characters] you'd never speak to, some you just
kill if you're playing the good option and some of them have really interesting
stories to discover, so I beg of you, be evil, just this once, but be good in
your life (Larian Studios 2020).
Using their experience with DOS II, the designers
wish players to go as evil as they can, so that they can discover all the game
has to offer. Because they know that most of them act good whether because they
want to be heroes, or just because they act good naturally. Designers also
wants their game to function as a «digital Dungeon Master», that
allows players to react as they see fit (ibid).
Of course, it is important to note that players do not solely
think their action over their character's personality. Often, rewards are taken
into account: their decisions can be based on the best equipment or the
greatest amount of gold they can obtain. In this case, pragmatism supplants
idealism or romanticism. Contrary to tabletop RPGs, CRPGs like DOS II
are not based on imagination; the player branches part of the narratives
along their decisions, but the story includes a finite number of possibilities
in a set up world. For these games, guides and walkthrough are common
occurrences, so the player knows they are able to acquire knowledge over a
specific branch and the entailed rewards beforehand. Similarly, there are saves
and checkpoints: any fail or bad choice can be void if one desire so, just by
loading a previous save. The player thus is able to make as many attempts as he
need to in order to obtain the results they want.
In essence, DOS II is a D&D inspired
campaign with fewer flexible plots and outcomes. That is because in video game
RPGs, the game master is basically a computer: it cannot sway out of the
pre-programmed story. It does not adapt the story through play, but provide a
set of possible outcomes for the player to choose. Ian Bogost highlighted this
contrast though the comparison between online and traditional retail: since the
latter is managed by humans, they can be reasoned with over basic processes
like a return policy. Should a client try to return a product too late, the
problem may be solved through persuasion or even tantrum. Humans can
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bend the rules. However, for computers, rules and policies are
unalterable; a late return is then automatically rejected (Bogost 2007, 5-6).
For RPGs, this contrast is heavily marked by their non-emergent nature compared
to Tabletop RPGs. Those are inherently emergent as there are no boundaries if
not for the players' own imagination. In a video game, technologies and designs
dictate the affordances, the space of possibility for them (Fassone 2017, 74).
As such, RPGs, despite being deeply rooted with their pen and paper
counterpart, rarely display emergence. They offer vast choices regarding the
player's character, its overall evolution, and the whole narrative, but all
those choices fall into the expected. The plotlines as conceptualized by the
designers and the plotlines formed by the player's input are outlined, but
never divergent. The player influences the course of the whole story, though it
stays within the array of possibility framed by the designers. If a dialogue
leads to five possible choices, it also means that there are five different
outcomes; the outcome is decided, not created.
Back to the avatar, it certainly establishes a sense of
immersion as a body-object that marks the player's presence within the virtual
space. They frame its characteristics and control its actions; therefore, they
manipulate a character while being the character at the same time. Yet, as far
as our understanding of the notion of immersion goes, the phenomenon occurs in
a succession of specific moments (intense battle, deep reflection on choices,
narratives...) without being constant nor systematic. James Newman talks about
a «continuous feedback loop» in which the player has to be seen as
«both implied by, and implicated in, the construction and composition of
the experience» (Newman 2022). Throughout my play sessions, I often find
myself deeply involved in difficult, long fights that required more attention
than usual. On the other hand, more than once did I play my character outside
of its initial frame. In most cases, it was my own personality that would
transpire: with a companion I did not want to be mean to, for instance, or a
choice I made to obtain a better outcome. Hence, as players, the cognitive
frames are fluid: we assume our role as the main character, engrossed by the
numerous in-game activities, whilst our own identity comes into the mix to
constantly reconsider the actions. The player and the Character's identity
provide an immersive experience by being separated; it allows a deep engagement
both through the avatar as the object of our representation in the simulated
world, and our knowledge of the game system. Like Salen and Zimmerman note, the
pleasure in the act of play in fact comes from the player that «embraces
the flexibility of this movement, coming in and out of immersion, breaking the
player and character frames, yet all the while maintaining the magic circle
(Salen and Zimmerman 2003, ch. 27, 36).
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Eventually, the connection the player shares with their avatar
thus allow a physical and mental projection into a game world, to interact with
it and experience its story. All in all, it is a relocation of awareness that
permits to establish relations with the said world, strengthened by the
connection with a customized virtual representation (the avatar-character). The
player then moves in and out of the character frame, fashions the act of play
through their role within the game and their identity as player. Moreover, the
avatar as a character can project the player self-representation which entails
social behavior within an online virtual space. Then, games like MMORPG
demonstrate another dimension of immersion.
C- MMORPGs and the social Heroes: Forging the tales
within a community
Over the course of this work, we have established a conception
of dual narrativity that exposes narratives as intended by the designers--the
narrative design--and narratives developed by the player, as a participant in a
linear, pre-scripted progression (a game's story with a beginning and an end)
or as a player-author within a game that forfeit major part of the designers'
control over the storytelling process. According to Geraldine Wuyckens, MMORPGs
add a third layer of narrativity, that is to say narratives, «created by
the community of players»:
Many players do not solely interact with the game, but also
invest in activities that were not initially planned by the designers. Those
activities are part of the meta-game, which gathers the activities that form
around the game together: fanfiction, players' communities (guilds), websites
and forums, capitalization activities (sale, purchase, collection) or even
players' meetings in real life. Matching the game activities, those of the
players generate stories; there are created by them and their interactions with
each other. [...] this third narrativity is composed of a set of tales that
contribute to each other. They can be fashioned individually or collectively,
inside or outside the game. What establishes the specificity of the MMORPG
narrativity, and distinguishes it from the offline games, mainly concern the
story build collectively, since it is made possible by its nature of MMO
(Wuyckens 2018, my translation).
Wuyckens's approach on MMORPGs narratives considers a
community of players a whole entity; players, by themselves or in groups, shape
various stories independently of the game initial given objectives using both
the game world, its lore and rules, and extra ludic elements of their own
creation or not. Analyzing MMORPGs social dimension and the place of the player
in it, enables to understand players' perception over the narratives and the
game world as well
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as their «life» inside the game. MMORPGs are
probably the closest thing to an actual virtual world; by enabling a great
number of players to interact at the same time, in the same space, it becomes a
social playground. Story and plots are therefore created for the community to
share and recount beyond the game boundaries. In this context, we will also
explore the narrative basis.
Online and massively multiplayer: beyond the act of
play?
What led me to investigate MMORPGs is that, within the whole
medium, MMORPGs hold a special place. With top games like Final Fantasy XIV
(Square Enix 2010) and World of Warcraft respectively registering
an average of 2M and 1M active players per day21, their economic
component with sale and trade, and their overall design that encourage
interaction and communication, they are not only great research materials for
the game studies field, but also for many other academic fields (economics,
linguistics, culture...). Regarding my own research on narratives, MMORPGs best
express the points I explored until now: they display gigantic worlds (most of
the time within an open-world design) which player experience through an avatar
that is shaped and evolve through play, in the same manner as for RPGs.
Moreover, MMORPGs are the ideal playground regarding emergent behavior,
especially in regards of what Celia Pearce refers as «social
emergence» that connect with the world design and affordances (Pearce
2009, 188).
More than Hades or Sea of Thieves, MMORPGs
are known to be very time-consuming especially for whom has but little
experience with them. The reason that compelled me to explore narratives in
MMORPGs nonetheless is that I am a regular player of these games. The knowledge
I acquired prior to my work allowed me to drastically reduce the time needed to
undergo the observations as a researcher. At first, I opted for New
World, a recently released MMORPG from Amazon Games Studios. Whilst it
presents basic aspects of the genre, two of its particularities are that the
economics are entirely managed by players (no NPCs to sell or buy objects) as
well as its strong orientation towards PvP (Player versus Player) with three
factions constantly disputing control over the world's territories. Thus, it
appeared to me as a good research material since I could witness firsthand how
the player would approach the game,
21 Based on the statistics estimates by the MMO
Populations website (
https://mmo-population.com/activity).
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and the evolution they would enact. However, after many hours
in the game, I found myself unable to gather enough substantial data. During
its first weeks of release, New World was unstable: due to technical
difficulties and a large surge of players that oblige Amazon to increase the
number of servers (Yin-Pool 2021), the game revealed arduous to access to,
which disrupted my investigation. The slow pace of my progression then led me
to look for other subjects.
After several weeks at looking upon various popular MMORPGS, I
decided to conduct my research on Final Fantasy XIV (FF XIV
hereafter) on the basis that, for starters, I had played the game a
certain amount of time before. Hence, I was already accustomed to its world,
its mechanics and the culture surrounding players, as well as their way of
enjoying the game. Progression within the game was not an issue since I had
experienced most of the game story beforehand along with my high-level
character. Developed by Square Enix's Creative Business Unit III, FFXIV
launched September 30, 2010, in what is now referred as the version 1.0.
Following the critical and commercial disaster of this version, it was shut
down and relaunched 3 years later (August 27, 2013) in the 2.0 version that is
still up today, with four added expansions.
Apart from my affinity with FF XIV, what convinced me
to undertake research on it is that, even among the other MMORPGS, FF XIV
put a strong emphasis on players' socialization; notably so, it regularly
strengthens their ability to simple «live» within the game. This
aspect appears even more relevant as FF XIV is multilingual by design:
it is available in four languages (English, French, German and Japanese)
whereas the players repartition in different servers are done on a geographic
rather than linguistic basis. In other words, FF XIV is a virtual
space where players from different countries and culture, who do have the same
native language, play and communicate with each other daily. Additionally, it
is a game where the player-avatar relation seems especially strong, for reasons
I intend to highlight below.
Coupled with FFXIV, I carried out my analysis using
World of Warcraft (WoW hereafter). Released on
November 23, 2004, the game from Blizzard Entertainment greatly influences the
design of MMORPGs (including FFXIV) and still stands nowadays among
the most popular ones. I believe that examining WoW amounts to
investigating MMORPG as a whole. With that being said, because it would have
required more time than I could spare, I did not play WoW for my work.
Instead, since numerous research was conducted on the game with various
prospects over the years, I leaned on some that work as well as my own
knowledge about the game. By doing do, I intended to add value to my
participant observation in FFXIV, and better comprehend the
player-game relation within MMORPGs.
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The play to the social: investigating emergence from
the social dimension
In her book entitled My Life as a Night Elf Priest,
anthropologist and professor of the Department of Informatics at the
University of California, Bonnie Nardi compiled about three years of
ethnographic research on World of Warcraft in which she exposes the
«peculiarities of human play» and what drives the players in this
«visual-performative medium» (Nardi 2010, 6- 7). In the chapter
«What Is World of Warcraft and Who plays it?» she provides a concise,
yet introductive description for the MMORPG: `MMORPGs are role-playing games
with hundreds, thousands, or millions of players. However [...] World of
Warcraft is a social world as much as a game' (ibid, 17). MMO stands for
«Massively Multiplayer Online» and designate video games which game
design revolves around the capacity of having a large number of players that
can play and interact in a same, persistent world. MMORPG (massively
multiplayer online role-playing game) then reprises the RPG concept--the player
controls an avatar character and manages its evolution within the game
world--in the multiplayer setting. With that being said, according to Nardi the
MMO acronym is «not entirely accurate» as what defines the MMORPG is
not as much the multiplayer aspect as the social dimension it entails
(ibid).
Besides the multiplayer aspect that forms the basis of the
genre, MMORPGs indeed display a large social playground, for the most part
conducted through their persistent world. To broadly present the notion, a
persistent world is what the name indicates: a world that exists continuously,
and sometimes changes, even when the player is not actually playing the game
(i.e., when they are offline). The world in question is maintained on a server;
usually, an MMORPG exists in multiple instances, which correspond to a server
where players are assigned according to a geographical and linguistic basis.
Players of a same server thus log in the same persistent world. More than
persistent, it is capable of thousands of concurrent players, for MMORPGs are
«synchronous» games, meaning they allow simultaneous play (Bogost
2004, 1).
That combination is what creates the virtual world in the
strict sense of the term, i.e., closest to emulate «real life.» To
log out the game becomes similar to return home after walking around town and
crossing paths with many people: back in one's house, those people no longer
exist in one's immediate space, but they are still out there, attending to
their business. In fact, MMORPGs have towns that serves as a «hub»
for the players like Stormwind City and Orgrimmar, the two main capitals in
WoW that represents the two opposite factions (respectively the
Alliance and the Horde). Players frequently gathers in these towns in order
to
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trade, buy, sell or upgrade their equipment. As a result,
similar to «real» towns, one can observe places crowded with players.
In FFXIV, such places tend to be the «Aetheryte Plaza» (the
cities' main square) or specific districts like marketplaces; walking around
the cities, one gets to observe actual mobs enjoying their free time. I found
this aspect especially interesting from a narrative angle: in the same way we
do not pay attention to every single person when wandering in town, we perceive
this mass of players as an inherent part of the cities we walk through. Just
like a pair of NPCs which make a ruckus in a bar in The Witcher III,
the players blend with the background. From a one's perspective, it could be
argued that they are a compelling and dynamic aspect of environmental
narratives.
Here, I argue in favor of the social dimension as an inherent
component of the game narratives, which connect to the community creation,
Wuycken's established third narrative. Celia Pearce, in her book
Communities of Play: Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual
Worlds, determined that such networked social system provides a
«feedback engine» for what she calls «social emergence,»
notably through the game and world design (Pearce 2009, 45, 188). Since MMORPGs
are virtual worlds which take in numerous players at once, their design
includes tools for players to communicate and interact with each other. They
can form groups, join guilds; they have a chat box with several channels,
allowing to converse privately or across a given area; in some cases, they are
able to obtain their own house. Also, it extends beyond the game itself: there
are websites, forums, discord servers and social networks (Twitter, Reddit,
Instagram, etc.). Players craft their own community space as well, often
focused on specific aspects of the game. FFXIV community for instance
created a discord server for the «official» subreddit (/ffxiv) which
has more than 220,000 members; the website «Eorzea Collection» is a
fan-made catalogue for players to share their «glamour,» i.e., their
character's outfits. MMORPGs designed affordances regarding social systems thus
favor «an accelerated form of emergence,» for the «social
context of play and the design of the game software itself facilitate this
feedback process» (ibid, 45).
The act of play within MMORPGs is therefore inherently social.
The play induces «social feedback» from which emergence manifests.
Players use the particular context and the game affordances to partake in
social activities they organize themselves. It includes large-scale gathering,
fashion show and even online weddings--FFXIV has its own wedding
system (the Ceremony of Eternal Bonding) for which two players must set up a
date, can invite other players and obtain various gifts such as the wedding
outfits. But beyond «basic» activities, players use the social
playground inherently provided by MMORPGS for social organizations like wide
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protests. In July 2021, the California Department of Fair
Employment and Housing (DFEH) sued Activition Blizzard (which own WoW)
for its «frat boy» culture in which female employees faced widespread
sexism, sexual harassment, and were subject to unequal pay and retaliation
(Allsup 2021). Following the DFEH lawsuit, many WoW players were
horrified to learn about the terrible alleged culture conducted within the
company that own their precious game. In response, the role-play guild Fence
Macabre organized an in-game protest on the Wyrmrest Accord and Moon Guard
servers against Activision-Blizzard. A large number of players gathered on
Oribos (a game capital and social hub) for a sit-in to voice their
disappointment and show their support for the victims of the company's hostile
culture (Marshall, 2021).
Social phenomena in MMORPGs are common occurrences and
WoW, which has existed for almost twenty years now, certainly had its
fair share of it. With that being said, I looked upon similar social phenomena
that occurred in FFXIV. Paralleling the way I gathered data for my
analysis on Sea of thieves, I explored FFXIV forums and
subreddit and extracted information I believed was relevant for the subject at
hand (see Annex 2: Final Fantasy XIV related posts sampled). What I
found particularly interesting was the events that occurred in a scale that
encompassed a good part of the community. In 2014, the Redditor Pattmyn posted
a story on/rffxiv about his friend, an FFXIV 29-year-old player under
the name of Codex Vahlda, who was passing away due to complications from renal
failure. On the game official forums, players shared the story and organized a
vigil on several servers. Kaes, the player who initiated the thread on the
English forums wrote, «This is happening in Gilgamesh [name of the server]
[...] a memorial for Codex Vahlda, an adventurer who is leaving Eorzea, and the
real world, forever.» Thus, both friends and strangers paid their respect
for the man with light shows made out of their character's skills and
«build» his name on a beach. For those who happened to be on Codex
Vahlda's server, they went in front of his Free Company's house (FFXIV
guild equivalent) and kneeled with prayer. The press video game website
Kotaku relayed the event and shared several pictures of it, coming from
different servers. The article's author, Mike Fahey, commented on the MMORPGs
community, stating, «when a group of peoples is deeply invested in a
virtual world, be it Eorzea, Azeroth [WoW] or Norrath
[Everquest] or wherever, there is a bond there that crossed any and
all real-world lines (Fahey 2014).
In a touching way, MMORPGs communities are indeed no stranger
when it comes to pay respects for those who passed away (in real life) and
FFXIV alone contains many examples.
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More recently, its community paid tribute for Miura Kentaro,
famous author of the Berserk manga, who passed away at 54. He was
considered as one of the greatest mangaka22 as Berserk
greatly influenced numerous works, including within the video game medium.
The Dark Knight job in FFXIV is heavily inspired by Berserk and echoes
its universe with several elements, most notably its great sword and its armors
(Messner 2021), which is well known by the game community. Hundreds of players
thereupon lined up in Ul'dha (one of the game capitals) across different
servers as Dark Knights [Figure 17], their sword stuck in the ground.
Figure 16 - Final Fantasy XIV
screenshot by redditor Renaart. Players as Dark Knights paying tribute for
the late Miura Kentaro.
Though common within MMORPGs and relevant illustrations
regarding social emergence, these large-scale events remain few--thus not
necessarily a faithful representation of players «everyday life»
inside the virtual world. As part of my studies on FFXIV, I decided to
spend a few hours in Limsa Lominsa, one of the game most crowded cities. More
specifically in the Aetheryte plaza known to be many players' favorite place to
spend time in. My purpose was simply to carefully observe players, how they
were passing time here outside of basic game activities (exploration, dungeons,
battles, etc.).
22 An author of manga.
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In the time I spent in this spot, the most noticeable I noted
was that many players did not conduct any particular activities. They were
literally doing «nothing.» But they were not «AFK» (away
from the keyboard), they were idling. As surprising as it can be, idling
appears to be a genuine part of the FFXIV experience. As we mentioned
earlier, players themselves intertwine with environmental narratives, as part
of the MMORPG (synchronous) design. However, they do not do so by simply
«being there»: they enjoy various methods of expression and
performance afforded by the game. They dance, perform particular emotes, roll
different poses to expose their glamour and cosplay, do role-play ... all the
sights and sounds act as a «background noise»--in fact the game
enacts an ambient «brouhaha» whenever numerous players are gathered
together. More than just noises, there are actual musical performances. By
playing the Bard job, one has access to a «performance mode» [Figure
17] which allow to perform virtual instruments (electric guitar,
panpipes, clarinet, cello...). It is thus possible to compose, record, and
share your own music. Hence, music performance is part of idling: while some
players share their performance, others sit by, dance, and enjoy it. During my
observation, a Bard played for about an hour and played various known video
game music. I could recognize «Type A» from Tetris,
«Song of Storms» from The Legend of Zelda series, and
several more I did not know were performed as well. A few other players
gathered around the Bard and cheered him using emotes with glowing sticks. The
Bard player, through their avatar-character, transposed their own musical
references into the virtual world and threw a street performance for anyone to
enjoy.
Some time later, I came back to Limsa Lominsa Aetheryte Plaza,
hoping to gather more data regarding my observations. Unexpectedly, I stumbled
upon a mob massed at the center of the plaza. It certainly looked like a party,
with the large number of glowing sticks waving around, and characters dancing
and performing numerous noisy emotes. To my surprise, it happened to be a live
concert, performed by an actual in-game band. The performance lasted for about
an hour, with music from videos games & anime. After the show, i went and
search about the band on the/rffxiv and twitter. I then found out they are
called «Mosh Mosh» and conduct a concert tour [Figure 18] on a
regular basis, set up a grand festival all across the game cities and servers.
They are in fact famous among the community; several posts on/ffxiv stated they
were the reason «They love the XIV community,» and «always a fun
time.» In my view, it properly illustrates the social emergence powered by
feedback Pearce established: the game provides different actions to perform
(emotes, dances, poses, music performances, etc.), whereas players respond by
breathing life with it. They become fixtures of the game world,
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inextricably bound to it. Access to music instrument allowed
Mosh Mosh to be born. They now fashion the game experience of a large number of
players through their concerts. Idling appears now as a genuine game
function.
Figure 17 - Final Fantasy XIV, my
character in the «performance mode» playing electric guitar.
Figure 18 - Picture from twitter user
@CeresCloudsXIV. Final Fantasy XIV, Mosh Mosh live concert performance
at Limsa Lominsa.
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FFXIV let players idle in various ways--mostly
without constant input--to the point that the title is as much the grand epic
fights against monstrous foes (and the acquisition of items) as the lounging in
a city's street before people playing the panpipes. The play is embedded within
the game social dimension. The events I was versed in during my observations
may indeed represent a big part of the players' broad experience. Significant
enough, a redditor under the name of Daddical shared his thoughts over the
game, which certainly highlights the compelling experience regarding the social
dimension:
FFXIV opened my eyes to enjoying the actions of the
people around you [...] During that time I am looking at the crowd he has
gathered and what is that? Only the most badass looking Lala the world has ever
seen. Oh, and what is that? An M.Bison cosplay glamour. Wait are these people
standing around the plaza rolling through different poses to show off their
glamour? What is that emote and where do I get it?! [...] There was so much
player driven, player made, player enjoyed content going on around me. These
people weren't just stopping by Limsa to sell some things and head back off to
their next grind for pre-raid BiS [high-level equipment] or for some super rare
mount. It was just people doing the things they enjoy in the game with other
people who enjoy doing those things.
MMORPGs heavily on their world constructions, their
environment. For players to be immersed in it, it has to display consistency
and coherence, the world must be whole and feels complete. It has to convey a
sense of «worldness» (Pearce 2009, 20). In a context where details of
the whole virtual world environment produce a big part of the narrative
experience, what they do best lies on their capacity, «to give concrete
shape to our memories and imaginings of the story world.» They provide the
means to experience an immersive environment «We can wander through and
interact with» (Jenkins 2004, 7). What I extracted through my
observations, and what Daddical experienced here, reflect such detailed
environment, filled with players that appropriate it and became part of it.
Their inventiveness, like the concert performances, stems from the game
affordances, whereas that same creativity forms its consistency, as well as its
aesthetic.
All in all, we explored but the surface regarding FFXIV
(and MMORPGs in general) social dimension. A lot of additional work would
be required to thoroughly identify the elements which shape the entire social
playground. Nevertheless, the data gathered through participant observations
and research denote the complex nature of the social environment and the scope
of the narratives it generates. Beyond the game itself, players create
interpersonal experiences through the social emergence the world construction
affords.
Although, as Pearce note, emergence «occurs over
time,» social emergence is therefore «the outcome of prolonged and
repeated interaction with a persistent networked virtual world
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through a persistent identity» (ibid, 186). To enable the
enactment of social activities such as described above, players obviously have
to familiarize themselves both with the game world, its rules, affordances, and
with the character they embody. For MMORPGs, it starts with a common
background, a story in which the player progress along their
avatar-character.
Hero for the history books: player character living the
story...
In like manner of open-world games such as The Elder
Scrolls V: Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077 we discussed in previous
sections, MMORPGs both afford the player freedom to navigate the world and push
them into a built-in storyline that provides a more or less linear progression,
a begin and an «end.» The player explores the game world following a
narrative arc that serves as the game's overall background; it builds the
cosmogony and fashion the referenced universe (Wuyckens 2018). Among the most
popular MMORPGs, the main storyline that revolves around the «chosen
one» trope is predominant--de facto, the heroic fantasy. WoW, FF XIV,
but also Guild Wars 2 (ArenaNet 2012), Lost Ark (tripod
studio 2019) or The Elder Scrolls Online (Zenimax Online Studios 2014)
all position--to various degrees-- the player as a unique hero, adventurer,
someone chosen by destiny, who appears as the only one up to the task ahead.
The premise usually changes depending on the avatar conception; the player
choses a race, class, tribe, that dictate the starting point of the adventure
until it connects to the grand story. That particular exposition not only it
easily exposes the player to the story, but it also makes them and their avatar
a central part of it.
Yet the story as a whole is not enacted solely through a main
plotline: it forms through a multitude of quests that each contributed to the
global narratives. Through their experiment, Emmett Tomai et al. determined
that quests, as stories, «combine computationally friendly constraints and
in-game metaknowledge with open-ended narrative» while demonstrating
«how many versions of the stories can be told» (Tomai et al. 2014).
In other words, they strengthen the player's comprehension of the game world
and reinforce their implication in it. By enabling their character to gain
experience, learn new skills and obtain better equipment, those quests
interlock the character's powerfulness with the narratives. The player's path
of progression widens itself as their character becomes more potent. The more
level they have, the more there are new areas, quests and NPCs to interact
with. The main storyline thus guides the player, while giving them a larger
navigable space. The narratives values stem from their decisions
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regarding their course of actions, the quests they accomplish,
their character's evolution and their interactions with other players. Here
again, it reflects Cayatte's dual narratives, with the player-author who
fashions their narratives within a «framed experience that defines the
game's processes» (Cayatte 2018, my translation). That is also what
Wuyckens refers as the first and second narrativity: the game main narrative
arc works as «a frozen storyline» which places the player inside a
grand story so that they may progress in the game along their character
(Wuyckens 2018).
Moreover, as we already determined, MMORPGs are network play
environments set in persistent worlds: by design, they are scalable. The evolve
over time, through updates on a regular basis, but also through the community's
actions. The main storyline conclusion is not an end, but a gateway to further
possible plotlines: strictly speaking, the game itself has no end. Marti notes
that these games induce the player to set up his own goal outside of a
centralized story:
In these evolving games the player is encouraged, as mush by
their position as by the elements implemented, to involve themselves in a plot
they get to drive rather than to be immersed in a plot produced by another [the
designers], while they comply with the environment technical limitations. These
are games that, at various degrees, make the player assume the role of an
author within the game: the very purpose of the game is to develop a story, not
to play one (Marti 2014, 11, my translation).
Indeed, MMORPGs tend be split in two parts: the storyline or
the narrative arc under which the player and their character progress, and the
aftermath, what players refers to «endgame.» The endgame comprises
every kind of activity that can be performed once the main quests are completed
and usually, when the character reaches the highest level. From side quests, to
powerful foes to beat, as well as specific areas to explore and even better
items for the character to obtain, the endgame offers the player numerous goals
they can set for themselves. For the designers, it often represents a
milestone: it is supposed to keep players engage with the game as long as
possible. Lots of MMORPGs players have their appreciation of the game almost
entirely determined by this aspect--which will be further examined in the
following section.
Then again, I believe Marti's observations regarding the
game's plot needs to be slightly nuanced. Here, I thus seek to broaden the
observation further. If MMORPGs certainly seek to provide a large virtual space
for players to experience their own adventure, they use their evolutive nature
for narrative purposes as well. These games often intend to further deepen
their lore; they use their never-ending longevity to tell longer stories and
immerse players in it--an
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approach we could compare to TV Shows seasons. Though it can
be regarded as a special case among MMORPGs, FF XIV surely illustrates
how the genre can recount a tale that extends through several years, blending
together closed and opened narratives.
The setting of the game falls into a rather classic heroic
fantasy inherited by the Final Fantasy series from which it is the
fourteenth main installment--the cult JRPG franchise was in fact originally
inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. The story takes place in Eorzea,
within the world of Hydaelyn. We assume the role of the Warrior of Light, a
being chosen by Hydaelyn, the mother crystal of the world (that carries the
same name). Our overall progression goes through a specific series of quests
untitled «Main Scenario Quests.» It comprises all the plots that are
directly bound to the main storyline. Our journey begins in one of the three
grand city-states, Limsa Lominsa, Gridania or Ul'dah, depending on the class we
first chose for our avatar. We start with very simple quests meant to introduce
this new world, the people that live in it and the difficulties they are
facing. Thus, the first plots are rather down to earth and quite centered on
our understanding of our surroundings, the exploration of various areas and
meeting important characters. Before anything, we are an adventurer. Then
again, these minor quests are meant to converge towards the bigger picture. The
more we progress within the game, the more we are immersed in a story beyond
us: the stakes become higher, the enemies more dangerous, our objectives more
«extraordinary.» Little by little, we are acknowledged as the Warrior
of Light, the central piece of the story meant to «save the world.»
From mere bandits to make flee, we take our journey on the moon where we
confront a godlike entity.
Wuyckens notes that the whole story of MMORPGs is as much the
result of multiple plots dispatch on the numerous quests and events as the
transmedia storytelling. Websites, stores or videos are used by designers to
extend the depth of the game's lore (Wuyckens 2018). Announcement trailers
always give a glimpse at game's themes, expectation over the story and details
of it. Outside of their obvious commercial role, MMORPGs trailers effectively
expose what to expect going forward. Blizzard Entertainment is very well known
for its grandiose cinematic trailers for each WoW expansion, that
display the game world in a gorgeous and epic way, whereas the theme and tone
of the expansion are set. For Nicolas Ojeda et al., the «narrative nature
of the animatics makes them a key element in the strategic construction of the
WoW semantic universe.» The player's experience is imbued with
meaning beforehand; it «contextualize and personalize» their
adventure, the stories they will construct (Ojeda et al. 2019). Through its
cinematic trailer, FFXIV presents a sense of continuity: the main
character (the player) is represented by a male Hyur (FF XIV human
equivalent)--the community calls
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it «Meteor survivor» or «Meteor»--whereas
he projects parts of the events that will be enacted. Plus, each expansion
trailer highlights one of the game's jobs (class) through this character, both
to present the new ones and to demonstrate the character's acquired abilities
along the story. The trailer of Shadowbringers23, FFXIV
third expansion, even shows «Meteor» switching jobs at will for
the first time, definitely putting the prime gameplay system 24 of
the game canonically in the story.
The trailers also serve to underline MMORPGs conceptualization
of storytelling: they segment the narratives that shape the whole story through
their expansions and updates. Director and producer of the game, Yoshida Naoki,
explains in the video The Creation of Final Fantasy XIV:
Shadowbringers--Episode One: Telling a Tale how they set up the various
storytelling elements within what feels like an episodic game:
Typically, with a title that's a standalone25
release, there's a philosophical message we want to share with our players. But
with Final Fantasy XIV, we're constantly updating, refining and moving forward
with what we deliver to our players. It sorts of feel like a TV series--so if
asked if there was something we wanted to say with Shadowbringers, if we look
at our current story as the Hydaelyn and Zodiark arc, we are reaching the
climax of that particular narrative now. We had different mysteries and
elements that were unclear up to this point; but for Shadowbringers I told my
team they can go for it and reveal about 80% of everything related to this
story arc.
Each expansion enacts a storyline that is intertwined with the
narrative arc that encompasses the whole game. Like TV series episodes that
narratively respond to each other, expansions bring multitudes of plotlines
which expand the lore and incorporate themselves among the story. They
narratively feed the player with the new elements they bring to the table. At
the same time, they create further expectations for the next updates or
expansions to come. For many players, expansions stand as a good enough reason
to come back to the game after a hiatus, and delve into new adventures with
their avatar. Even regarding the main story, the game is designed to be in
constant evolution.
Similar to a classic RPG, FF XIV recount a tale in
which our avatar-character takes the main stage. However, as we stated before,
an MMORPG is synchronous: players share the same
23 Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Full Trailer.
https://youtu.be/4tyuIh12_HU
24 In MMORPGs, each character has one class
attributed at the beginning. However, In Final Fantasy XIV the
player's character is able to learn every class and jobs of the game,
regardless of the one it started with. Then, it is able to switch from one to
another at will by equipping the corresponding weapon.
25 Here, standalone refers to video games that
functions independently from any other game, should it belong to the same
franchise or not. The term is to be opposed to «expansion» or
«DLC» that suggest the possession of a «base» game.
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game simultaneously, they live in the same world. Thus, the
main storyline that serves as the backbone for the whole game's cosmogony is
not meant to be altered; conversely to typical RPG where the player is
presented with choices to make in order to take the plots in the wished
direction, MMORPGs constraint them (plot-wise) in a unique path. Towards the
story, the player appears more a protagonist than an author. Nevertheless, the
game seeks to tell a tale for which they feel like it is their own. For
instance, FF XIV frequently affords dialogue options [Figure 19]
incidental to the plot proceedings. Regardless of the line chosen, the sequence
of events remains unaffected; it only slightly alters NPCs following line or
reaction. The purpose here is for us to pick the dialogue that befits the most
of our character. This illusion of choices is part of narrative design tools
that aim to make the player feel involved in the plot--their ability to
interact is inconsequential, but them being part of the story would be
genuine.
Figure 19 - Final Fantasy XIV,
example of dialogue tree occurring during quests.
As far as the Main Scenario quests series is concerned, the
agency we get as a player is therefore limited. Not on the rhythm of
progression--we can attend to other activities between each quest--but on the
nature of our adventure: whatever we do, we are the Warrior of Light. As we
stated in the section «Player's agency: to interact or not,» this
lack of agency is intended by the designers who wish to better handle the
storytelling. Hence, the title regularly resorts to cutscenes to set our
actions in a significant narrative frame. Interaction gives way to immersion.
It is also a means to echoes the various elements introduced by the trailers
for instance;
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cutscenes and other «non-playable» situation can
unveil the origin of specific events initially described in extra ludic and
transmedia elements (Marti 2014, 6). Adding the episodic format characterized
by the expansion, and the cinematic trailer that exposes the game continuity,
the immersion is therefore based on the diegesis and the narrative elements
unknown to the player.
In contrast with Marti's statement, we drive a plot, a full
story arc even, produced and tie together by the designers. We embody our
avatar-character and assume the role of the hero in a story where the low
interactivity allows stronger emotional effect (Fregonese 2017, 105),
attachment and empathy towards the characters, as well as a deep involvement
for what is at stakes (the world). Above all, FF XIV wants to
establish the player as the hero of its world. For this reason, it portrays our
character as such through its staging, thus frames the act of play around the
story. Notably, the fourth expansion, Endwalker, staged the main
characters in a final scene, with our own in the center. The said scene served
as the game end credits and significantly enough, our character is attributed
in it [Figure 20] It is a final acknowledgment of our status in the
game's story, as well as a narrative contextualization for the further
adventure we might undertake.
Figure 20 - Final Fantasy XIV, my
character appearing in the game's end credits.
MMORPGs, including FFXIV, then purposely provide a
narrative basis for the player, while also allowing imaginative input. It comes
back the inherent dual narratives of the open-world design, for which the game
world becomes «a generator of stories in the same fashion as
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pen and paper RPGs,» which attract many players
«with different profiles who can develop their own storyline, and pursue
the goals» they can set for themselves at any moment (Fregonese 2017,
121). In essence, the narrative arc lays the main background for emergence,
notably taking place within the endgame.
... then redefining the tale: author of the endgame
and builder of the community
Generally, MMORPGs offer high-level contents in the form of
grand battle against very powerful foes. Historically, WoW is known
for its large-scale raids with up to 25 players attending to the task (for a
time, it could go up to 40). Raiding activities is an important and complex
part for the game. A lot of players only aim at this type of content, thriving
for the challenge it procures, and the source of excitement it becomes when
victory is achieved--as well as the powerful pieces of equipment and various
artefacts they can obtain in it. As the most difficult activities to perform,
raids require a lot of investment from the players, which in return gain in
excitement whenever the goal is reached. Indeed, raiders (players who
participate to raids) need considerable preparation for their endeavor; their
characters must be at the current max level, of course, but must also possess
finely tuned equipment. They also have to ready a supply of consumables (foods,
potions and elixirs) that enhance the character's statistics for a limited
time. All of which can require more or less intense farming26.
Overall, raids also demand players to be efficient at applying complex
strategies, which entails a good level of communication with their
teammates--usually, there is a raid leader that performs «call-outs»
for each step of a fight, facilitating the strategic exercise for the whole
group.
Bonnie Nardi learned herself to be a «raider» to
better comprehend what they are playing for. She notes that this preparation
and dedication were generally perceived as a genuine «work» by the
raiders, in an «energized and positively valued» sense (Nardi 2010,
99). She then summarizes the play at a high level as a «freely chosen
activity while at the same time opening the potential for work-like
results» (ibid, 101). Surely, raids here extend the experience beyond the
simple act of play; it involves as much individual as collective efforts,
communities' experiences that create bounds while players' commitment deploys
self-performative
26 Farming or «grinding» in video games
refers to «the act of performing repetitive tasks to achieve a desired
outcome» («grinding (video games)» 2007). Usually, the goal is
to obtain specific resources, loot or piece of equipment. It can also designate
the repetition of tasks that aim at gaining level for the character.
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development. Moreover, I argue that this high-level form of
play entails its own form of narratives, whose scope encompasses the players
and the game, both inside and outside the game world boundaries. As it is, I
believe these narratives fall within the third narrativity suggested by
Wuyckens. Although the endgame authoring does not emancipate from the narrative
duality--which is the case of role-play as Wuyckens demonstrated (Wuyckens
2018)--it is thoroughly enacted through the community aspect. Plus, since the
high-level play involves a whole strategy facet, it could be considered part of
the «metagame.»
To begin with, nowadays, raids and other similar content in
MMORPGs have an esport27 side to it. When a new raid, or a new raid
difficulty, is implemented in WoW, it quickly turns into a race
between the strongest guilds to see who will beat it first. It usually takes
days, even weeks before one of them gets the «first clear» and the
moment it happens, it is a great source of recognition from the whole
community, but also from the designers. As an illustration, for the last raid
difficulty from WoW's expansion Shadowlands, «Sepulcher of First
ones» on mythic difficulty, it took 18 days for the guild named Echo to
«win the race» (Harris 2022). Blizzard Entertainment then immediately
shared the news on Twitter, stating that the guild was the champion of the
«RWF» (Race to World First)28. The acknowledgment itself
represents the only reward for being «the first,» yet it is seen as a
genuine competition watched at every step by a good part of the community. But
outside of the competitive side--which affects only a limited range of
players--high difficulty content represents a «game after the game,»
a distinguished experience from the one initially offered.
FF XIV certainly does not break with this inherent
MMORPG aspect: the title provides what is called «Extreme Trials» and
«Savage Raids.» When a new challenging content of the sort comes up,
players can spend hours, if not days establishing strategies from the ground
up. Then, they share their solutions to other players--mostly through YouTube
guide video--that in turn apply a given strategy and learn through their own
«trial and error» phase until they manage to emerge victorious.
Having max level character at my disposal, I went and try myself in these
challenging content FFXIV has to offer--at least what I could have
access to. Interesting enough, the community established their own means of
communicating a specific
27 eSport (or e-sport) stands for «electronic
sports.» It is a form of competition involving multiplayer video games,
typically played by professional gamers and watched by spectators. Based on
Dictionary.com, s.v,
«Esport,» accessed April 25, 2022.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/esports
28 World of Warcraft (@Warcraft). «It is done!
EchoGuild is your RWF Sepulcher of the First Ones champion!" Twitter, March 26,
2022.
https://twitter.com/Warcraft/status/1507842691400351749?s=20&t=dSpA321GV1R
s6aQiagG w
104
strategy, by using macro commands. Before a high-level battle,
the group leader usually generates a minimalist representation of the encounter
proceedings [Figure 21] using the chat box. Each player is given a position
depending of its role (M for melee, R for range, etc.), with simple indications
as to where they have to go according to the specific mechanics. It is a way to
easily get everyone on the same page regarding the overall strategy.
Figure 21 - Final Fantasy XIV, strategy
and positions for a raid set up through a text macro post in the chat box.
In essence, overcoming these challenges is the result of a
large community effort: each player, or group of players, shares their insight
regarding a given strategy, try it, refine it, create variants, and share it
again. Tactics usually change over time as players try new ways to handle an
encounter. The aforementioned macro represents an independent creation among
several others, which depict a specific way to handle the various mechanics. It
is an entire implicit process build by the community micromanagement, for which
the game designers have no direct implication, which then would fall within the
metagame.
The metagame reflect a kind of emergent gameplay, as it refers
to rules and elements outlining the game design. It is an alternative play
generated by the player extended practice of the game or unexpected material
factors (Boluk and Lemieux 2017, 4). It is a design actualization enacted by
the player, whereas «metagame» slightly differs in meaning from one
game to another--the applied definition thus is «decided» by a game
community. Concerning MMORPGs, it usually refers to the rules combination and
gameplay features the community fashions from players' empirical observation
(strategies, characters' build, group formation...) that extend beyond the
initial rules («Metagame» 2013). The various strategies players come
up for high-level content, the way they are shared and enhanced would indeed be
considered as part of the metagame. Of course, tactics designing by the
community remain expected; in itself it may not be «meta» in the
proper sense of the term, since it does not supplant the game rules. Likewise,
the developers intend the fights to generate some specific response from the
105
players--the mechanics are meant to be a bit familiar (such as
an attack marker you instantly know must be avoided). The metagame here would
refer more to the community micromanagement in optimizing the strategy overall
efficiency (specific positions, the use of the characters or the focus on
specific classes). Players also regularly break the holy trinity29
and establish unorthodox group combinations, «not supposed to work.»
The developers cannot foresee these elements; it is but unique response from
players to a set of game mechanics.
The «work-like» preparation, the learning of a
complex strategy and the desire to surpass yourself, all embedded within a
community effort, forge a powerful unique experience. It took me a few days
before I could achieve victory over one of the current high-level fights, and
it was indeed a great moment of satisfaction. I had to enhance my character's
gear, fetch a specific type of food, before watching video guide that explains
the fight step by step. I then trained with some of my friends that went back
to the game for the occasion. It sure was intensive at first: almost any
mistake would lead to a snowball effect of many other misfortunes, whereas the
numerous mechanics were arduous to keep track of. The training was a constant
refining of our capacity to apply the given strategy until we knew the fight by
heart. Once we managed to defeat the «big bad guy,» we could say we
were relieved to finally be done with the fight, but also overcome with joy
knowing we were now «powerful» enough to make it bite the dust as
much as we wanted.
This whole process towards the completion of a challenging
objective is without a doubt a strong way to fashion one's experience.
Strategy, planning, optimizing, cooperating, many factors come into play
regarding the overcoming of this type of challenge. Most of all, it is a dive
into the community space; we learn the community and partake in its
development. As Juul note, communication and elaboration of a strategy in
pursuit of a goal «is an important incentive to build community.»
Even more so, «Being part of a community will make you a better
player» (Juul 2005, 91). The act of play is incorporated within the
community continuity, with each individual performance and refinement of the
repertoire, forging the play experience of «all.» From a narrative
standpoint, the connection to a group it entails enacts a sequence of events
that forms a personal story, culminating in victory over a heavy challenge. In
fact, the FFXIV subreddit is filled with posts in which players tell
the story of how they manage to conquer raids and trials (see Annex 2:
Final Fantasy XIV related posts sampled). For instance,
29 The «holy trinity» is a term used to
describe a classic MMORPGs configuration regarding the combat system, which
display three distinct roles for players to assume: tank, healer, and damage
dealer. Battles thus revolve around their synergy. «Breaking» the
holy trinity therefore means neglecting one (or two) roles, usually to enact a
tougher challenge.
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one user described her struggle over finding a group for raid
content, because of her mutism (since players rely on vocal communications):
I was ready to give up, until I found a static with a group of
people whom I enjoyed with and accepted me as who I am. We were able to do
ultimate and finally clear it! It was really an amazing feeling and I felt like
I wanted to scream even though I wasn't able to.
I really am unable to express how huge of a milestone this was
for me, I am super happy with myself and my static who helped me get this far
into hardcore content. I really love each and every one of them and I hope we
will be able to continue raiding together until we clear all ultimates!
The personal development enacted by one's insertion into a
community establish a different sense of play; players personal play experience
is shaped by this community, and influenced their personal stories. The
narratives stem from the interaction with game, but even more so with its
community. Players no longer build «individual plots,» but plots
structured within the story of the community (Marti 2014, 11).
In this context, players perceive the community as a vital
part of their experience. Communication with it becomes an inherent component
of their storytelling, whereas they display the need to share their personal
experience and actively engage in «community narratives.» For
example, another redditor wrote, «I wanted to share my own experiences as
a female raider to hopefully inspire others! [...] We started UwU [High-level
content] as a completely fresh group and I was so glad that we all worked
amazingly together.» Similarly, one post emphasizes the appreciation for
the FFXIV community with the bond they created with
«strangers»: «It took ALL DAMN DAY, but finally got my first
clear of floor 200 In PotD with a group of strangers turned friends!»
Others simply wish to share their pride and satisfaction, «After 3 long
months, our group cleared UCOB! If you guys see this post, I love all of
y'all.» Or underline their personal growth regarding the endgame «I
know this isn't especially impressive but it's a first for me, cleared the 2
extremes while they were still relevant and I'm super happy.» All of their
personal experience intertwines within the community space. These posts
indicate how individuals establish a whole story through their personal endgame
achievements and the events that led them so far. Being an active audience and
engage others' game experience then forms the game narratives at both an
individual and community level.
All in all, the endgame we investigated here only emphasizes a
piece of what player may do to fashion their personal experience. As a matter
of fact, high-level content like raids tends to appeal but a minor portion of
the game population. The difficult challenge they represent is one thing, but
it can be argued the endgame may be a matter of one's own
107
perspective: to some, getting the best gear, riding blazing
dogs through the skies or killing the most powerful monsters does not
necessarily represent the type of experience they are looking for. In the time
I spent in FFXIV, it was not rare to see players designate the glamour
(fashion) system as the «true endgame.» The fashion aspect of the
game greatly appeals to a myriad of them. There is not only a lot to dig into,
with all the piece of clothing and gear to try, the possible combinations, but
it is also a way to enact the self-representation through their avatar and
strengthen their attachment for it.
Although I did not explore much of this game aspect, it
represents an important element for numerous players and certainly would be
worth investigated in further studies. The glamour system is no less than an
elaborate customization of the character, and to many, it is a way to
appropriate the avatar. Moreover, this is something they can experiment and
share within the community--it even gave birth to the community website
«Eorzea Collection» which greatly expand one's dressing perspective.
Through a deep personalization of their avatar, players are able to connect
further with it. Their creativity allows to tell a story about their character;
for lots of FFXIV players, this is a way to stand as unique Warrior of
Light (Arter 2021), to fashion their own narrative journey.
Altogether, players' approach to the «game after the
game» may be the main component that excites their imagination. It
indicates their wish to belong--one way or another--to a grand story that
encompasses the game and its community, working along others to forge their
narrative journey. In short, a third narrativity interlocked in the
«dialogue» between the player and the game. As Jesper Juul puts it,
«Games project fictional worlds through a variety of different means, but
the fictional worlds are imagined by the player, and the player fills in any
gaps in the fictional world» (Juul 2005, 121). In an MMORPG such as
FFXIV, the gaps may very well designate every personal event players
undergo with their avatar-character, as well as the world they structure
through the whole social dimension of the game.
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