Assignment 6: Emergance in an Emergant World
As Salen and Zimmerman point out, almost all games are complex and emergent. But what happens when a game allows the players to create their own content, make their own rules, and overall become designers themselves? What arises is emergence in an emergent game, which is the case in Second Life (SL). Not only is the game emergent in its surface qualities, such as character design, but while playing the game, the player encounters user created content to play a game in a game.
When I first started playing SL, I find myself reminiscing on my first time playing Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). As Pearce points out in her article, the new MMORPG genre is a completely new style of gameplay designed to have local “win” conditions (such as defeating an enemy or gaining a level) but no definitive end scenario: no screen pops up after playing for so long and says “Congratulations! You beat the game!” Instead, the player simply “lives” in the game world and continuously develops their character over an extended period of time. When I first logged into SWG (my first MMORPG), I was lost and confused because, even though I had read the manual, I had no clue what to do because I had no set objective in the beginning. Instead, as the game progressed, I set my own objectives based on what I wanted to do and how I wanted to play the game. I found myself in an identical situation upon my arrival into SL.
This new genre of MMORPG takes the concept of complexity and emergence presented by Salen and Zimmerman to a new dimension. Because of the interaction of, at times, thousands of individuals in a game space, the system almost seems chaotic because the pieces seem to interact randomly and have no bearing on each other. But when the game play is analyzed, there is definite complexity to the game, but it has great depth. First, let me define complexity in the same manner as Salen and Zimmerman to say that complexity is hard to characterize but can be roughly defined as the interactions of different elements in an unpredictable manner but not in a random manner. The concept of emergence rises from this complexity. Emergence is “a simple set of rules applied to a limited set of objects in a system [which] leads to unpredictable results.” (Salen and Zimmerman, 158) Basically, it means that the sum of the parts doesn’t equal the whole. In MMORPGs, the emergence becomes very complex as you have the players interacting with the world in unpredictable ways but also interacting with each other in unpredictable ways.
Relating to SL, the emergence is quite frankly amazing. For example, identity is a very powerful thing in every aspect of human life, both in game and in real life. When a person creates a character in MMORPGs, they are showing the other players a representation of how they want to be portrayed to the rest of the community. Appearance often has nothing to do with game mechanics, except maybe the choice of male or female, but it is still an intricate part of the game. In SL, the player’s appearance can be altered drastically at any time and seems to be encouraged by the developers. Developing this sense of identity is an interesting by product of the rules and is a perfect example of emergence. Give a simple set of options, the player choices a multitude of features for their character that no one could have predicted. For example, aside from simply predicting how one person will choose to look by itself, what about the addition of user content to create completely new identity possibilities? In SL, there are several set ups you can use to create unique personalities. An easy example is “furries:” these are people who dress their avatar to look like humanoid representations of animals, such as foxes. (example) This mechanic is not specifically coded by the game designers, but it is a dynamic, unpredictable result that emerges from the ability to modify the appearance of your character.
But what about when the users can alter more than their appearance? What happens if the user can create game play elements and even new worlds in the game? This is exactly the case in SL, and I believe that it is an example of an emergent system creating emergence. In essence, it is a perpetual cycle.
In SL, the rules are relatively simple: users can create content given a simple toolbox and their imagination. However, the results are truly astounding. Just walking around briefly in the game, I found other simple games that are themselves emergent, such as Mai Jong. After exploring around, complete worlds were built in the game, such as the Pot Healer’s game where you try to go around and restore a sacred pot while exploring a Myst-like island. The possibilities presented are quite innovative, such as an airship that takes the player around to different parts of the island. Once again, this was not coded by the game designers but is instead an emergent product of the game.
In relation to Ondrejka’s concept of a Metaverse, is this principle of emergence in an emergent environment a prerequisite, or is it simply a by product of the vision? The Metaverse is basically the concept of a massive online community that is real to the users and is a copy of the real world only fantasized into whatever the user wants by creating the content of the world. SL is the closest game now to the concept of the Metaverse. This definition leads to emergence, but does the content of the game, because it is created in the game and thus a part of it, respresent emergence in and emergent world, is it simply emergence? If there is no over arching theme to the world and no choice other than player created content, then it is simply emergence. But, as in SL, if there is an overarching backbone to the game/world, then emergence in an emergent world is a necessary prerequisite.
While this whole posting seems abstract, the concept of emergence and complexity are abstract to begin with. SL represents a great leap forward in the concept of emergence in a game. By having a set game world, emergence is natural; however, by adding the ability for users to create most any content, emergence evolves from an already emergent world. This concept is unique, but I believe that it will become more prevalent as games evolve and become more complex, especially in the online world.