STORYTELLING - A Game Design Vocabulary - page 179

whether to be embodied in a game as someone who looks a bit like you, or an idealized version
of yourself, or completely different. In some games, choices about appearance or gender of the
main character have an impact on a game's systems. In others, the plot and state of the game
are relatively unaffected. Still, the experience that emerges from watching an avatar die may be
very different if that avatar looks exactly like you!
The Mass Effect series intersperses sections of exploring and shooting with moments where
your character (Commander Shepard) converses with others, and the player frequently has
to make choices about what to say. Some are reflective choices, while others drastically alter
the course of the game's story, result in the death of major characters, or alter your character's
attributes. The game's most significant and widely discussed reflective choice, however, may be
the choice of the main character's gender, which the player makes as the game begins. Notably,
the rest of the choices in the game aren't affected by the player's choice of gender. The char-
acter says exactly the same lines, simply voiced by a different actor. The experience of playing
a female Shepard has been described by many players as being distinct and novel, however—
perhaps because she has the same choices to react in all the same ways to the epic situations
and conversations as her male counterpart would.
Emotional Resonance
Diner Dash (2004), another game developed at Gamelab and designed by Nick Fortugno,
revolves around keeping customers happy. The busy waitress/manager of a restaurant, the
main character, has to juggle seating customers, taking orders, delivering food, and handling
customers' bills. The longer customers wait, the more impatient and upset they get, which is
represented by a change in facial expression. In a study on Diner Dash players, game researcher
Nicole Lazzaro found that this simple representation of emotion was effective in changing the
feel of the game. Players experienced emotions of their own when the way they played resulted
in happy characters or frustrated ones, because as human beings, we naturally respond to the
feelings of others. Even a cartoon representation of an angry, impatient person will make us
respond differently than an abstract timer.
Miss Management (2007) was a game that Nick and I collaborated on as a follow-up to Diner
Dash ; part of our goal was to further explore the intersection of character-driven emotion,
stories in games, and the emergent story of systems. In Miss Management , the player directs
several unique, authored characters—all coworkers in a busy office. Each character gets
stressed out while completing work assignments, and each has her own likes and dislikes. One
might want to microwave a snack to relieve stress, while another becomes even more stressed
out by the smell of food (see Figure 7.14). It's up to the player to juggle these conflicting needs
and complete a series of tasks in each level of the game that relate to those needs: make sure
that Timothy spends a certain amount of time snacking, but don't let Tara get stressed out, and
complete ten work assignments while you're at it!