Designer Values
Designers play a huge role in determining who actually plays their game. They set different restrictions and enable options depending on their target audience. Taylor wrote about a lot of different qualities that a game can have: its impact on the players and the social environment that arises from them. Giving players the ability to create certain parts of the environment and using it in the game can increase player involvement. It seems as though designers can determine the amount of emergence they would also like their game to have. Of course the designer cannot perfectly predict what some players might do with the given tools, but the designer has a say in whether he or she wants innovative ideas from players to arise from his/ her game. The designer can also determine what kinds of themes to have in the game to instill some values within the game. I never thought about some of these things, but it was interesting to find that limiting the number of times someone can change a name can create a sense of responsibility within the game. At the same time, to create a more realistic feel to the game, a designer should create some freedom for the player. Taylor’s article definitely gave me more ideas on designing multiplayer games. As a designer I would be able to determine what kind of audience I want and what abilities I want them to have. Carefully analyzing this would give me some insight as to what kind of game is best for the target audience. Second Life designers took all these factors into consideration when making the game.
When I read this article I almost thought immediately of Second Life. Second Life offers so much freedom. Players can create a variety of items and objects using modeling and scripting tools. The game makes sure that if a player does not know how to do any of this, he or she can search the internet and find the exact answer. This makes emergence within the game a very common occurrence, with a variety of new and innovative ideas appearing often within the game. As a player in Second Life it is great to see that I can do exactly what the title of the game says: live a Second Life. I can create and use any item I would like and live out dreams. The designer furthered this experience by giving the players hundreds of possibilities with character customization. Putting all these qualities together makes Second Life a social experience that mimics that of the real world while allowing players to fulfill dreams that may have seemed impossible in real life.