Gotland University Press 6: Characterising Action Potential in Virtual Game Worlds applied with the Mind Module

EnglishCharacterising Action Potentialin Virtual Game Worlds Applied With the Mind ModuleBecause games set in persistent virtual game worlds (VGWs) have massive numbers of players, these games need methods of characterisation for playable characters (PCs) that differ from the methods used in traditional narrative media. VGWs have a number of particularly interesting qualities.Firstly, VGWs are places where players interact with and create elements carrying narrative potential. Secondly, players add goals, motives and driving forces to the narrative potential of a VGW, which sometimes originate from the ordinary world. Thirdly, the protagonists of the world are real people, and when acting in the world their characterisation is not carried out by an author, but expressed by players characterising their PCs. How they can express themselves in ways that characterise them depends on what they can do, and how they can do it. This characterising action potential (CAP) is determined by the game design of particular VGWs.In this thesis, two main questions are explored. Firstly, how can CAP be designed to support players in expressing consistent characters in VGWs? Secondly, how can VGWs support role-play in their rulesystems? By using iterative design, the author explores the design space of CAP by building a semi-autonomous agent architecture, the Mind Module, which is applied in five experimental game prototypes. In these, the design of CAP and other game features are intertwined with the design of the Mind Module.A thesis submitted in 2009 in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Teesside for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The research programme was carried out at and with the support of Gotland University.Advisors were:Michael Mateas, Department of Computer Science, University of Californa Santa Cruz Paul Van Schaik, School of Social Sciences and Law, University of Teesside Clive Fencott, School of Computing, University of TeessideExaminers at the Viva Voce examination at the University of Teesside in 2010 were:Richard Bartle, Department of Computing and Electronic Systems, Essex University,Alan Hind, School of Computing, University of TeessideThe appendices to this thesis are not included in this print, but are available through the DiVA Academic Archive Online at the following URL:http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hgo:diva-368.