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.
Social Distance
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 what I think is the most important difference between board games and video games: the social distance.
The differences between board games and video games strongly remind me of the relationship between theatre and movies. While there are many genres of movies and plays, generally speaking movies have a bias toward action. Even sedate conversations in movies will have a sense of motion with dynamic camera shots switching between actors. Theatre on the other hand has a bias toward emotion. A character’s interior life is almost always prioritized over action scenes. It is a common practice in theatre to describe action that is happening just off stage.
My favorite example is the end of Macbeth when Macduff kills Macbeth onstage, exits with Macbeth’s body, then reenters the stage holding Macbeth’s severed head. It’s a completely unnecessary implication about action that happened just offstage, when Shakespeare could have either kept the body onstage or gestured to it offstage.
Obviously, movies shifted away from theatre conventions in large part due to the technological capabilities available to moviemakers. Movies can simply do more with not only special effects but locations and camera angles and editing than can’t be replicated on the stage.
But I would argue that the shift also occurred because movies are markedly worse at what theatre is good at. Showing the interior life of a character is much more powerful when you are physically in the same room as the actor portraying the character. The emotional feedback loop between an actor and a live audience is fundamentally different that the emotional buzz of seeing a movie in a movie theatre.
I am reminded of an acting exercise that illustrated how humans interact in different contexts. Two actors stand across the room from each other and improvise an argument. The instructor stops them and moves them progressively closer together. Turns out, most people have a hard time yelling at full volume when within a few feet of other people. Perceived physical distance shapes our emotional response. I think this physical distance between more than one person which affects interactions is a form of social distance.
According to Wikipedia, social distance “is the measure of nearness or intimacy that an individual or group feels towards another individual or group in a social network or the level of trust one group has for another and the extent of perceived likeness of beliefs.” Social distance affects what we consider social norms and the amount of sympathy we feel for others. In recent years there have been discussions around the ways social media increases and decreases social distance between groups. However, I doubt it is controversial to say that physical interaction decreases social distance between individuals.
The social distance in video games is like when the two actors feel free to scream from opposite sides of a room. Video games do leverage microphones and text chat and character emotes to decrease the perceived social distance as much as possible. However, even when playing in the same space, the attention budget of video games serves to increase social distance. Video games have screens and audio and controls that take attention away from the other players.
Clearly, the social distance of a board game is typically very close. Players are in the same physical space. But board games can also leverage close social distance. Negotiation, bluffing, and trading are common board game mechanisms. Social pressure is commonly found in board games, both thru formal mechanisms and also informal player dynamics. It’s just plain easier to pressure someone to trade with you when you are in the same room.
The most unique aspect of games as whole is that everyone playing can be a component in the game. Different types of games require different aspects from players. Sports require whole body physicality. Video games frequently require quick reflexes. Tabletop games leverage, among other things, the social aspect of our nature.
I feel like we often talk about player psychology as something to be designed around. But I think we need to see players’ brains as a design resource. We can intentionally incorporate play dynamics once we understand what they are. But we cannot stop simply with how mechanisms affect players on an individual basis. We need to consider how players affect each other. Incorporating social dynamics is yet another way we can think beyond mechanisms.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment