The more I play World of Warcraft and the more videos I watch on the topic, the more I realize the design of the games and the worlds are no different from the designs of theme parks. I thought about what new games and old are doing to attract players, what players can do while they stay in their world, and what the relationship between the designer and player is like. Funny enough, as soon as I thought of theme parks and MMOs, I remembered I watched a youtube video not too long ago about the design of MMOs as theme parks.
It turns out this video is over a year old now. I didn’t quite think of this video when I began this post, but it certainly captures important elements of online world design. The author describes differences in game design attitudes when shaping the worlds and how players interact with them. Some designers build set experiences like rides in a theme park, some designers build sandboxes in which players choose to create their experiences. There’s a lot more risk and instability when it comes to designing sandbox games. It is that difference which sparks the divide between online worlds being mostly set experiences, as set experiences are easier to design and forecast.
We know set experiences are easier to design because we see them so commonly in the gaming genre. Very few games give players a majority of the tools and let players build the majority of experiences. By nature, creating numerous possibilities takes numerous tools, and the most fun possibilities are the surprising ones, which are difficult to design or manage.
Bringing this idea back to the real world, entertainment in large spaces can be seen as sandboxes or theme parks, and should more heavily lean into their own identities. Music gatherings become music festivals, social gatherings become bars and clubs, etc.
I’m not exactly sure what the closest parallels are, which can be commercialized or organized, for sandbox entertainment. The closest I can currently think of are fairs, markets, or holidays in general. But I do know that theme park rides, cinema, and festivals deeply parallel online experiences we enjoy at home, but in public mass settings.
There are a couple of internet to reality based gatherings, such as anime conventions or gaming tournaments. In these micro-environments, people can hold different identities and status compared to their normal lives. It is this very essence which prompts this post, the essence of further identity and engagement that videos games and virtual worlds accomplish, but few real world events do.
The best real world example of identity and subculture contextualized in an event is a sporting event. Fans of one team sit opposite of fans of the opposing team, cheering for their respective teams on a field. As successful as sporting entertainment is, it is a passive hobby which the user best enjoys live, a tiny timing window in the grand scheme of things. What if there were virtual words or real world places for fans to gather and interact? Well, there are. There are fantasy leagues, there are sports bars, there are stadiums and merchandise. But it still differs drastically from a gaming experience.
Fans can separate themselves from others with knowledge and time investment or with rare or expensive collections. How can that be reflected in reality? When a character in an RPG enters a dungeon, it is similar to a person in a theme park going on a ride. The dungeon never changes, as does the ride. But in RPGs, the character entering the dungeon is different (hopefully) each time. While it is true a man can never step into the same river twice, how can fans see or feel a feedback system which responds to their participation in real life?
It’s easy to think of merchandising options or NFT wallets or some marker to identify our super fan and to grant some kind of exclusive access. This type of thinking is too basic, relying on cosmetics or video game features to override reality. We can point to current examples like court side seats, ticket availability in general, limited whatever. There are numerous ways for our fan to invest into the game, but so far the only feedback I’ve been able to list is seating or merchandise availability. Maybe that is the best feedback a fan can receive. A better view and something to take home.
Dungeons get easier the more geared and experienced a player or the group is. The rewards from the dungeon are static, but the experience becomes smoother, and the joy comes from within. Now, most players stop doing a dungeon once they have received a particular piece of loot they have been looking for, waiting for random chance to go in their favor. Still, the fun of the dungeon comes from a sense of progress internally, as the player builds themselves up against a set experience.
Is there a theme park or an environment, where shared-world users can slowly increase their agency and status, independent of the real world? Am I just describing high school?
Writing, Design, Poetry 