In an attempt to transition out of hiatus, I will be posting the scripts of my Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment. I don't plan to edit them, so there may be some differences between the audio and written versions. Take the audio as the correct version.
Raising the Stakes
Welcome to Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, an in depth look at the other aspects of game design, the segment that looks at some of the theory of board game design that goes beyond what typically gets covered when we learn how to design games. My name is Sarah Shipp and today I want to talk about strengthening your theme’s hook by raising the emotional stakes.
A thematic hook is a brief summary of your theme stated in a way that will grab players attention. Games can have many different types of hooks, but thematic hooks are often overlooked by designers while being a straightforward way to increase your game’s appeal. You don’t need to add expensive components or extensive play testing to improve your thematic hook.
When theme is discussed among designers, the idea that some themes are inherently boring often comes up. I strongly disagree with the idea that any theme is universally boring. In these discussions, Wingspan is regularly used as an example of a theme that no one would have expected could have the large appeal it ended up having. But clearly, that means that Wingspan does not have a boring theme, but rather an overlooked or perhaps unexpectedly successful theme. In my opinion, PowerGrid has the most boring theme among widely played hobby games, but given how highly rated the game is, I doubt my opinion is universal.
I say all this to say that improving thematic hooks does not necessarily mean finding inherently universally interesting subjects for games. Rather, improving thematic hooks can involve subtler changes to your existing theme. The purpose of a hook is to catch interest, to make players care. And the way to make someone care about the story your theme is telling is to raise the emotional stakes.
Raising emotional stakes in acting is a concept that encourages actors to be more open, vulnerable, or invested in a scene. Emotional stakes make the dilemmas present in a theme feel more personal and accessible to a player. Something as simple as player character portraits can give the player something to identify with and latch on to emotionally.
However, to really raise the stakes involves adding conflict within your theme. Even subtle forms of conflict, such as a time limit, gives the story of the theme a sense of urgency. And raising the stakes in your thematic hooks means that the stakes need to be global to all players, not faction specific.
For instance, “the nations are fighting for control of the source of all magic” provides the thematic reason behind a hypothetical skirmish game. However, if we wanted to raise the stakes, we might say “the nations are fighting for control the source of all magic—but if that source is destroyed in the process it could destroy the world”. Now we have presented players with a tension between controlling something precious and the possibility of unintentionally destroying it in the process.
I should add that if you raise the stakes of your thematic hook considerably, you will want your gameplay to reflect the promise of your hook. So, if we promise the dramatic tension of trying to control magic without destroying it, the possibility of destroying it should be present in the game. However, I’d argue that most games can strengthen their thematic hooks to some degree without the need for mechanical changes.
On the other hand, it’s very likely that you will find that when you start raising the thematic stakes of your game that you will want to make mechanical changes because you will be the one hooked by a more interesting theme. With that in mind, I’d like to look at some of the strongest approaches you can take to raising emotional stakes.
The simplest way to raise emotional stakes is with a sense of urgency. A time limit will lend urgency to your theme. Most games are structured around limiting time or turns to a certain extent, so adding a level of thematic urgency is often not difficult.
In ep 14 I discussed how theming failure can create emotional stakes in a game. Adding urgency to possible failure raises the emotional stakes. You can raise them further by identifying an entity that is in opposition to the player’s thematic goals. Opposing forces add urgency but also potential consequences. The opposed forces could be political factions, competitive colleagues, or even natural phenomena. Opposition to goals adds an urgency that isn’t time based. If a player feels they have forces amassing against them and are running out of time, the prospect of failure becomes weightier.
Consequences of failure have a stronger emotional resonance if there is something particular the player can identify with. A single player character or a strong group identity is easier to latch onto than a group of adventurers whose members may be disposable over the course of the game. For example, the factions in Dune. This sense of identity can be present in your thematic hook in some cases, such as nations going to war. It should definitely be present in a longer thematic description.
No theme is boring if you present it in an engaging way. Adding urgency, opposition, consequences, and a strong player identity will raise the emotional stakes of a theme. Raising the stakes makes for a stronger thematic hook, making your game more memorable and engaging. And it doesn’t cost anything to add.
For more ways of thinking beyond mechanisms, you can visit my blog at shipp board games dot blog spot dot com or catch future episodes of thinking beyond mechanisms on ludology.
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