THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER shaping player behaviour through design KUA September 25, 2003 Jonas Heide Smith Center for Computer Games Research Copenhagen (ITU)

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER PRESENTATION Jonas Heide Smith  PhD student at DiAC (from September 2003)  Working on social dynamics in multiplayer games  How can designers ensure constructive behavior without limiting the fun?  What can game designers teach makers of work-oriented multi-user software?  Theoretical inspiration: Social game theory, political science, social psychology, communication theory 

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER PRESENTATION How? Why?  By applying communication theory and sociology to the design of games ...and by gathering empirical data in a systematic form  In order to tackle the problems of grief players and low social bandwidth  …and facilitate communication between academic fields “… some game players go out of their way to ruin the gaming experience for other players by killing them repeatedly, ’stealing’ their monster kills, and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Camelot has several built-in methods for discouraging this behavior.“ - FAQ of Dark Age of Camelot (Mythic, 2000+)

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER ARCHITECTURE A good metaphor  Even minor structural choices matter  Aesthetics place us in a frame of mind or context. Our interpretation of the situation guides our expectations and actions.

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER ARCHITECTURE Blind spots  Doesn’t cover perceptions of perceptions  Doesn’t cover “algorithms” of reward and punishment

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER INCENTIVES : something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action  Systems, by their design, reward and punish  Two approaches to social order  The Neutral Third Party Approach (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau)  The Responsibility Through Positive Sum Approach (A. Smith, E-Bay)

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER THE MODEL STRUCTURAL LEVEL AESTHETIC LEVEL Works with: Design affordances and constraints Issue: What can I do? Studied by: Sociologist, architects INCENTIVE LEVEL Works with: Metaphors, style and conventions Issue: What is the proper frame of mind? Studied by: Social psychologists, architects Works with: Reward and punishment Issue: What’s in it for me? Studied by: Economists, political scientists, biologists

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER EXAMPLE: STRUCTURAL Diablo (Blizzard, 1996)  Player character data on client harddisk

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER EXAMPLE: AESTHETIC Neverwinter Nights (Bioware, 2001)  Out of character hints put gamers in a system frame of mind

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER EXAMPLE: AESTHETIC Freedom Fighters (IO Interactive, 2003)  Russian choir score connects to patriotic movies such as Air Force One and The Hunt for Red October.mov.mov /.mp3.mp3

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER EXAMPLE: INCENTIVES The Zone and E-bay  Reputation is stored by the system  Bad behavior has negative consequences – the selfish act nicely

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER A REAL ISSUE  Gamers themselves see a problem  Many cheaters would prefer not to have been able to cheat (89% in Diablo)

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER A REAL ISSUE

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER CHALLENGES What needs to be done?  Research into experiences with managing grief players  Conducting game-based experiments along the lines of experimental economics  Measuring the effects of aesthetics on behavior

THE BENEVOLENT PUPPETEER RECOMMENDED READING  Axelrod, Robert (1984). The Evolution of Co-operation. London: Penguin Books.  Donath, Judith S. (1999). Identity and deception in the virtual community. In: Kollock, Peter & Smith, Marc (eds.) (1999). Communities in Cyberspace. New York: Routledge.  Morningstar, Chip & Farmer, Randall F. (1990). The Lessons of Lucasfilm’s Habitat.  Ostrom, Elinor (1990). Governing the Commons – The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  Smith, Jonas Heide (2002). The Architectures of Trust – Supporting Cooperation in the Computer-Supported Community. MA Thesis, The University of Copenhagen. 