Proposal

Student Name

Clinton Vella

Proposed Dissertation Title

Making a Non-Digital Asynchronous Multiplayer Game Which Keeps Players Together in an Environment Similar to an MMORPG's

Brief Outline of Work

Simon Ludgate (2012)'s article, mentions two types of segregation barriers which hinder people fun: Operational and design barriers.

Operational barriers refer to subscription fees, purchasable content and being placed on different servers from friends. These types of barriers can often be mitigated without affecting the gameplay as changing them would not require design changes to the actual gameplay.

On the other hand design barriers are often consequences which arise from desirable gameplay elements, which makes them harder to tackle. Some common design barriers are levelling systems, stats, quests and progress based access restrictions to certain locations.

As an example, the levelling system is a desired feature which gives players a sense of progression, but large level or stat gaps between players ends up hindering their progression when they play together.

I believe that player experience could be greatly improved if MMORPGs would make an effort to tackle these design barriers by making use of new or different mechanics which do not hinder people fun.

In Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), large numbers of players are able to play in the same game world at the same time, but it is ironic how in a genre with so much potential for social interaction, players often find that they spend a lot of their time playing alone, even when their friends are online at the same time.

Andzej Maczewski (2013) talks about the different types of players, what they want to do, why they find it fun, and how that type of fun is achieved. As opposed to playing alone, when players spend their time playing together, they get to take part in activities which involve communication, co-operation and competition. This happens to be the 'people fun' that as Maczewski explains, it is what motivates socialiser type players to play games.

What I want to achieve through this dissertation is to find ways to get players to play together more freely in MMORPG-like environments without being hindered by the game's mechanics in order to improve the social experience in games of this genre.

My plan is to pinpoint the standard MMORPG mechanics which are causing the aforementioned design barriers and then research and test different mechanics which I could use in their place in order to break the barriers down.

Since I want to test the outcome of different mechanics, I will need to have a game to test on. Ideally I would have a prototype MMORPG, but considering my limited time and resources, it is certainly not a realistic option.

Instead I plan to create or modify a game world to give it a similar environment to that of an MMORPG. To achieve this, I require the following points to be true:

• A reasonable number of players can play in the same game world.
• The game world is persistent, thus progression must be saved.
• Players are able to join the game at different times and are able to take actions without waiting for other players to be playing at the same time.
• Players can also stop their gaming session at any time, without breaking the game.
• Players are still able to progress alone when their friends are not around.

Designing a game from scratch is a lengthy process and it might take away from my time doing testing and iterations, thus it might be better for me to first look into existing games which have economy systems and settings that I can use or build upon to quickly bring my required game world to life.

I researched Alexander Hinkley (2010) 'Types of RPGs. In: Katie Leonard Creating an Online Roleplaying Game', and Alexander Macris (2010) 'How to Host an RPG Session', to find what methods I can use to create this environment. Out of the four methods that were mentioned: Play by Post, Shared Fiction Role Playing, Live Action Role Playing and Table Top RPG, I felt that the latter makes the most sense.

Gathering people for some time around a table is a viable solution for me as the university's game design labs are a reasonably good place to hold regular sessions. However I will put less focus on the role playing and more on the economy and player progression.

Having decided on the preferred way to host the game, I will next need to focus on creating a non digital multiplayer RPG that will allow players to play through it over a few sessions. This would allow me to gather regular feedback and use it to iterate new prototypes.

As part of the design, I will look into:

• Building and balancing economies
• Researching existing multiplayer RPG games with economies
• Meaningful choices and pacing
• Efficiently storing and handling data in the place of a server
• Other design techniques that relate to the creation of this game

Once the game world up and running I will next need to focus on gathering play testers in order to get feedback which I can use to iterate mechanics which are not giving me the results I desire.

Rationale for the Project

By undergoing this dissertation I hope to gain the experience and skills which are commonly required when looking for a game designer job. The skills I am mainly aiming to focus on are:

• Coming up with new features / mechanics.
• Creating a detailed design document for the initial prototype.
• Iterative design and prototyping.
• Testing and analysis of game-play in order to make improvements
• Balancing and Pacing.
• Building a good economy for the game.
• Learning how to make good use of a spreadsheet application similar to Microsoft excel.

Certain companies may be interested in the topic as MMORPG design is still reasonably new and there is a lot of potential to be creative with the genre. Being different than what exists in the market is often the selling point for games of this genre.

My aim is to explore different mechanics that could be used in the MMORPG genre in the hope of improving upon people fun. Many game development companies seem to believe that the only method which works is to copy the existing 'formula' which nearly every game in this genre follows so closely.

I wish to see this genre broaden its boundaries and explore new options, and undergoing this dissertation would be one step forward in that direction.

Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Text #1

Simon Ludgate. (2012). Tearing Down Barriers: How to Bring MMO Players Together. Available: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/135077/tearing_down_barriers_how_to_.php?page=1. Last accessed 01/11/2014.

Summary: Talks about the cause of barriers stopping players from playing together in MMORPGs and mentions a few suggestions as to how these barriers can be dealt with.

Annotated Text #2

Andrzej Marczewski. (2013). Gamification User Types and the 4 Keys 2 Fun. Available: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/AndrzejMarczewski/20130610/193985/Gamification_User_Types_and_the_4_Keys_2_Fun.php. Last accessed 30th Oct 2014.

Summary: Has information on the different types of players, the different types of fun that motivates those players to play games and the methods through which games can provide their players with specific types of fun.

Annotated Text #3

Alexander Hinkley. (2010). Types of RPGs. In: Katie Leonard Creating an Online Roleplaying Game. Lulu.com. 3-9.

Summary: Has detailed information on several different methods of hosting a multiplayer role playing game which I could use in the place of an actual MMORPG.

Annotated Text #4

Alexander Macris. (2010). How to Host an RPG Session. Available: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/tabletop/checkfortraps/8278-How-to-Host-an-RPG-Session. Last accessed 12th Oct 2014.

Summary: Talks about another method for hosting a multiplayer role playing game and gives several tips that may be useful when hosting one.

Annotated Text #5

Bogost, Ian. "Asynchronous multiplay: Futures for casual multiplayer experience." Other Players 6.8 (2004).

Summary: Explains in detail the definition of asynchronous multiplay in games and what they require to work.

Annotated Text #6

E. Adams & J Dormans.,(2012) Game Mechanics, Advanced Game Design. Chpt 4 Internal Economy (New Riders)

&

E.Adams., (2010) Fundamentals of Game Design (2^nd edition) Chpt 10 Core Mechanics: The Internal Economy pg 300-308 (New Riders)

Summary: Explains the several elements of internal economies, and how they relate together in order to make a working game economy.

Annotated Text #7

M.Leblanc (2006) ‘Tools For Creating Dramatic Game Dynamics’ in K.Salen & E.Zimmerman (eds) The Game Design Reader : A Rules Of Play Anthology (MIT : Cambridge)

Summary: Talks about what can add dramatic game-play and how it makes the game more interesting.

Annotated Text #8

Brenda Braithwaite & Ian Schreiber (2008) ‘Elements of Chance’ & ‘Elements of Strategic Skill’ (chap 5 & 6) in Challenges For Games Designers (Charles River Media)

Summary: Explains the effect of designing chance and skill based gameplay. Also suggests some methods of how either can be added to games.

Annotated Text #9

Marcos Venturelli (2009) Space of Possibility and Pacing in Casual Game Design – A PopCap Case Study VIII Brazilian Symposium on Games and Digital Entertainment

Summary: Talks about the importance of pacing, and how it is used to keep people neither bored nor frustrated: the state of flow.

Annotated Text #10

http://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/level-16-game-balance/

Summary: Has information on balance in asymmetric multiplayer games and suggests several techniques which can be used when balancing a game.

Project Timeline and Milestone Deliverables

2014 - 2015	Year Long
22 - 26 Sept	Induction
29 Sept - 3 Oct	Week 1	Start the blog & gather ideas
6 - 10 Oct	Week 2	Decide on a topic to focus on & break down a list of what needs to be done to achieve it.
13 - 17 Oct	Week 3	Research if anyone has ever tried replicating an MMORPG atmosphere for testing without coding an actual MMORPG.
20 - 14 Oct	Week 4	Do a search for game designer jobs and find which skills are commonly required, then find which of these skills fit into the proposed topic in order to choose the marking criteria.
27 - 31 Oct	Week 5	Decide on the title of my proposal, along with the marking criteria & create a timeline until the first prototype
3 - 7 Nov	Week 6	FRIDAY 7TH NOVEMBER 4:00 PM FINAL SUBMISSION FOR PROJECT PROPOSAL
10 - 14 Nov	Week 7	Research player progression and related mechanics. Research the different types of fun in games.
17 - 21 Nov	Week 8	Research pacing and meaningful choices in games.
24 - 28 Nov	Week 9	Research game economies and balancing.
1 - 5 Dec	Week 10	Research typical mechanics & player grouping in MMORPGs.
8 - 12 Dec	Week 11	Research dramatic gameplay & chance in games.
15 - 19 Dec	Week 12	Research existing game mechanics, economy systems and background 'story' settings that I could build upon.
22 - 26 Dec	Christmas
29 Dec - 2 Jan
5 - 9 Jan
12 - 16 Jan	Exams	Create a design document detailing the initial design of the game.
19 - 23 Jan	Week 13	DISSERTATION SEMINAR PROJECT PRESENTATIONS DATES TIMES TBC
26 - 30 Jan	Week 14	Look into spreadsheet software that can be used as the game's database, and create a spreadsheet which can handle data management for the game.
2 - 6 Feb	Week 15	Gather play testers and test the first prototype. Collect feedback along the way.
9 - 13 Feb	Week 16	Start working on the first iterations.
16 - 20 Feb	Week 17
23 - 27 Feb	Week 18
2 - 6 Mar	Week 19
9 - 13 Mar	Week 20
16 - 20 Mar	Week 21
23 - 27 Mar	Week 22
30 Mar - 3 Apr	Easter
6 - 10 Apr
13 - 17 Apr
20 - 24 Apr	Week 23
27 Apr - 1 May	Week 24
4 - 8 May		FRIDAY 8TH MAY 4:00PM FINAL SUBMISSION OF DISSERTATION ARTEFACT AND BLOG