Thematic Actions

Mechanisms are units of play that have widely varying sizes. A mechanism may be a piece of an action or may be a way of describing the entire flow of a game. For instance, 'engine building' is descriptive of how a game is structured; you can't determine if an unfamiliar game is an engine builder by looking at only one action. For this reason, I often talk about actions instead of mechanisms. Actions are more uniform in length and usually involve the player doing a single thing. When working on theming a game, thematic actions are an easier place to start than thematic mechanisms. Many mechanisms—deck building, drafting, etc.—are difficult to tie into a theme. You can match the experiences/emotions of the theme with those mechanisms to create a more unified experience, but in this post I'm going to be looking at types actions so that we can better understand how theme presents at a gameplay level. I have identified five types of actions in board games: mechanical, associated, metaphoric, simulative, and literal. 

Mechanical actions are the unthemed actions of a game. Almost every game will have some of these. Examples include drawing a card or scoring a victory point. In a themed game, these actions are necessary to the function of play but should recede to the background as much as possible. 

Associated actions reinforce the logic of the theme but do not relate mechanically or experientially to the theme. In other words, associated actions are labeled thematically and that's where the theme ends. Let's imagine a game with actions themed around kicking a ball into a goal. An action that moves a cube to indicate whether or not you have kicked yet would be an associated action. The action is associated with the theme (kicking) but only very tangentially. Just like mechanical actions, some associated actions may be necessary for the function of play. 

The next three action types fall under the umbrella of evocative actions. They evoke the theme of the game. Thematic experiences rely largely on evocative actions. However, you have options in how you choose to evoke your theme. 

Metaphoric actions evoke similar experiences, emotions, or idioms as the theme. This category of action (and this whole system as a result) was inspired by Geoff Engelstein discussing how he views theme as presenting as a metaphor in gameplay. In our ball kicking game, rolling a die and succeeding in scoring a goal on a high number would be a metaphoric action. The experience of a successful role mimics the experience of a successful kick, but does not simulate physical kicking. Metaphoric actions may act as emotional simulations. They can also use idioms, such as our correlation of high rolls with success. 

Simulative actions simulate physical aspects of the theme. There are many types of simulations, but for our purposes simulative actions mimic real world physical events. The action does not (or not just) mirror the emotions of the theme, but the physical action imagined by the theme. Flicking a disc onto a circle simulates kicking a ball in a way that rolling a die does not (unless you are rolling the die toward a goal). There are going to be cases where you could argue either way over what is simulative and what is metaphoric (or even how I define the difference), and that's fine. These categories are to help expand our understanding of what theme is and how is presents in gameplay. 

Literal actions are an actual performance of the theme by the players. Literal actions are one step beyond simulative. A literal action would be kicking a ball. In MonsDRAWsity, players are police sketch artists thematically. In the game they literally produce sketches based on descriptions provided by a 'witness.' If the theme of a game were to be 'playing a game' then all mechanical actions would be literal actions. 

Most games have a mixture of action types. I think the most important distinction is understanding the difference between associated actions and the evocative action umbrella. A game that is mostly made up of associated actions will feel themeless to players. A well-knitted theme should have a healthy dose of evocative actions. Evocative actions can do a lot of the heavy-lifting of world building from the inside out. 

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