Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Allow players to earn the right to set their character's functional attributes any
way they like by completing the game with constrained attributes first. You can
also offer this right explicitly as a cheat feature of the game, so players will know
they're getting an unusual advantage.
Dungeons & Dragons provides one of the most familiar examples of player-adjustable
functional attributes, but many, many games use them. First-person shooters typi-
cally give the player a choice of weapons, and when a player chooses a sniper rifle
over a submachine gun, she is saying something important about her character and
the way she will play the game.
COSMETIC ATTRIBUTES
Cosmetic attributes don't have any effect on the player's ability to perform actions
or overcome challenges; that is, they're not part of the core mechanics of the game.
Cosmetic attributes exist to let the player define himself in the game world, to
bring his own personal style to the avatar. The paint color of a racing car has no
effect on the car's performance characteristics, but the player is apt to enjoy the
game more if he can choose a color that he likes. One cosmetic attribute—shape—
differentiates the tokens in Monopoly .
SHOULD SEX BE A FUNCTIONAL
AT TRIBUTE OR A COSMET IC AT TRIBUTE?
Should the sex of an avatar have an effect on gameplay? Because men generally have
more upper-body strength than women do and women are generally more dexterous
than men are, you may be tempted to build these qualities directly into your core
mechanics: to restrict the strength of female avatars and to restrict the dexterity of
male ones.
However, unless you're making an extremely realistic simulation game, it's better not to
associate bonuses or penalties with one sex or the other. First, although men as a group
are generally stronger than women, it is not true that all men are stronger than all
women. Women who exercise are often stronger than men who don't, and men who play
the piano are usually more dexterous than women who don't. There are always exceptions
and overlaps. Second, video games provide a form of escapism. Players like to imagine
themselves doing things that they can't do in the real world. If you impose real-world
rules on what is meant to be their fantasy experience, you take some of the fun out of it.
It's better to allow the players to construct their avatars to suit their own styles of play
rather than to establish an arbitrary standard connected to gender. Leave gender as a
cosmetic attribute and let the players adjust their functional attributes, such as strength
and dexterity, independently.
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