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So some of my perspective on
what kinds of things you can

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do in relation to game mechanics
is kind of like

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seeing [INAUDIBLE].

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But it's not the be
all and end all.

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I'm basically showing you my
perspective but it's not the

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only perspective out there.

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I have very little that I feel
qualified to say about things

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like sports.

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Things where we are talking
about athletic competitions.

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Faster, higher, stronger,
that sort of thing.

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But I'm a little bit more
engaged in games where there's

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role-playing.

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Where you're taking on a persona
or at least some sort

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of behavior that
you aren't just

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normally doing in real-life.

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It's not just about how fast you
can run or how skilled you

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are at hitting the ball.

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That sort of thing.

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Let's see, and not every single
live-action game needs

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to necessarily fit within
role-playing sports.

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You've got things like
party games.

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This afternoon we'll have the
lead designer for Dance

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central coming in to do a
little Q & A about Dance

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Central around 4 o'clock,
4:30, in the TV lounge.

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You guys are all welcome
to do that.

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And that's arguably a
live-action game.

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Sure you've got a computer,
you've got a--

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how much is the Kinect?

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$150 piece of equipment
connected to a $250 Xbox

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hooked to a screen that's
probably more than that.

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You've got all this technology,
but in the end,

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what's that game about?

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What's Rock Band about?

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It's about the people who
are in the living room.

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And what is one of the arguments
that [INAUDIBLE], in

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a different chapter in Casual
Revolution, he argues that one

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of the big things that's
happened with gaming is this

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re-introduction of the space
in front of the screen.

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The living room space has
come back into play.

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You haven't lost that with board
games or card games, but

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for electronic games really it
used to be something that

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existed with arcade games.

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You've got these giant
motorcycles or steering wheels

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and stuff like that.

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And you still had it with some
really expensive computer

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games like flight
simulators where

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people buy the joysticks.

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I'm a big train fan, so I've
got a Playstation One train

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controller.

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It's throttle and brakes.

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That's all it is.

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No steering when it
comes to trains.

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It's a lot of fun.

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With arcade games, and of course
[INAUDIBLE], there's

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this whole idea that you're
going to be engaging your

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entire body.

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And you could argue that those
are live-action games.

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And you take the technology
out and what you've got is

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just this human body playing
with all it's constraints,

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beholden to gravity, it can't
move faster than a certain

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speed, it's kind of ungamely,
and it's got

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roughly a certain size.

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Gives you constraints that
you can work with in

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terms of game mechanics.

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One of the things that we did
last year was we had a

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live-action game assignment
in this class.

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And the constraint was you had
to be able to play the

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game in this room.

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Was a newspaper a constant?

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GUEST SPEAKER: No.

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PROFESSOR: That was one huge
decision to use newspaper as a

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constraint.

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But they did things like
blindfold people.

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They were playing around with
the senses on the body so that

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you could hear.

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When one person had unlimited
ammunition, in terms of low

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vaulted newspaper and the
bucket, but couldn't see where

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everybody else was.

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And everybody else could
move around the room

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on sheets of newspaper.

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They had to step on sheets
of newspaper.

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So you could always hear where
they were stepping.

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And the person with the bucket
was trying to pelt the people

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who were stepping
on the ground.

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If you got hit you had to go
out of the magic circle and

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then start coming in.

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The whole idea was to attack
the person who was actually

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throwing all these
newspaper balls.

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We had a little newspaper
hat that you could grab.

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It was pretty awesome,
because what you need

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to play that game?

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You need one set of rules,
and a chair, a recycle

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bin--specifically it
was that bin--

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and newspaper.

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But there were all these
things in play about

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what you can do.

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So OK, your target is going to
be roughly the size of a human

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body, and roughly the weight
of a human body.

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It's going to be able to move at
roughly the same speed of a

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human body.

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And you cannot have multiple
targets in the

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same place at once.

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In fact it's hilarious when you
try, because you've got

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these [INAUDIBLE].

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And because you're playing with
the humans, all five of

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the human senses, usually
just like hearing.

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I don't know that anyone's
made a smell game.

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But you will have the situation
where the people who

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are standing on the newspapers
will try to make noise near

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the other people who are
playing the game.

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So they were drawing attention
away from themselves.

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Sometimes it works.

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Sometimes it doesn't.

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Sometimes it leads to hilarious
collisions --a good

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time was had by all.

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And those kinds of
party games.

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You know, King of the Hill?

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Can anyone think of any other
playground type games that are

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personal favorites?

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AUDIENCE: Freeze tag.

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PROFESSOR: Freeze tag?

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[?

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AUDIENCE: Lava.

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PROFESSOR: What's?

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[?

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AUDIENCE: Lava's where you have
swings and all things you

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can climb on.

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And you're playing generally
on the little pebble-like

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rocky stuff.

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And if you step on the pebble
stuff that's like the lava and

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you get burnt.

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So you have to stay hanging
on the metal part.

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And usually there's someone
who's immune to the lava

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trying to tag you.

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So they can walk over
the lava but they

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can't go in the structure.

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AUDIENCE: Lava monster.

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PROFESSOR: Does the
game ever stop?

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Just out of curiosity?

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AUDIENCE: Yeah, someone becomes
the next lava monster.

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Once you get tagged you switch
roles and keep doing it.

00:07:11.925 --> 00:07:14.748
AUDIENCE: But the thing is,
I never played that on my

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playground.

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I always played in my living
room and throw couch cushions

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on the floor and stuff.

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AUDIENCE: That sounds
really dangerous.

00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:25.210
AUDIENCE: We'd have wheely
chairs and push off and yeah.

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PROFESSOR: I used to
have a water bed.

00:07:25.950 --> 00:07:29.034
So there was some
unpredictability that I could

00:07:29.034 --> 00:07:32.010
have in my bedroom with
my two brothers.

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But they were both bigger than
me so I always lost.

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I mean, you can think of--

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on one hand, these are athletic
games because they do

00:07:45.690 --> 00:07:49.300
test your ability to move
and control your body.

00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:50.990
Which is why they're so popular
around kids who are

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trying to master what their
bodies are capable of.

00:07:55.590 --> 00:08:00.160
But on the other hand, they're
also games of mimicry going

00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:01.748
back to [INAUDIBLE]

00:08:01.748 --> 00:08:03.050
definition.

00:08:03.050 --> 00:08:05.967
Because you're pretending that
it's lava, and pretending that

00:08:05.967 --> 00:08:10.220
you're a person that cares that
it's lava, or a monster

00:08:10.220 --> 00:08:12.160
that's immune to it.

00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:15.730
And these games don't
necessarily--

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they may have some rules
about, OK you

00:08:17.300 --> 00:08:19.440
can tag now we swap.

00:08:19.440 --> 00:08:23.830
I've seen games where sure, I've
technically been tagged

00:08:23.830 --> 00:08:26.945
out of this game but since this
game really has no end

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state that just means
that oh, I lost.

00:08:29.440 --> 00:08:31.180
Now I'm back in the
game again.

00:08:31.180 --> 00:08:35.070
It's like playing a Doom death
match and you die and you're

00:08:35.070 --> 00:08:38.390
just right back in
the game again.

00:08:38.390 --> 00:08:42.490
Let's see, anyone play those--

00:08:42.490 --> 00:08:44.750
what's the name of the football
variant where you

00:08:44.750 --> 00:08:47.296
just have a scarf
attached to you?

00:08:47.296 --> 00:08:48.546
AUDIENCE: Flag football.

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PROFESSOR: For those of you--
everyone knows what it is?

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AUDIENCE: Isn't flag football
where you just have a flag and

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instead of being tackled you?

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PROFESSOR: Yeah, instead
of tackling you

00:09:05.800 --> 00:09:07.050
just grab the flag.

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And that's an abstraction.

00:09:09.190 --> 00:09:11.610
That's an abstraction of
something that you well could

00:09:11.610 --> 00:09:13.452
physically do.

00:09:13.452 --> 00:09:15.380
You could grab this person and
pull them to the ground.

00:09:15.380 --> 00:09:17.430
AUDIENCE: Does touch
football exist?

00:09:17.430 --> 00:09:18.680
AUDIENCE: Yes.

00:09:21.490 --> 00:09:23.230
PROFESSOR: That's a smaller
level of abstraction because

00:09:23.230 --> 00:09:24.860
you can really hit someone
pretty damn

00:09:24.860 --> 00:09:27.496
hard with touch football.

00:09:27.496 --> 00:09:30.710
But it's an abstraction of,
here's this thing that I

00:09:30.710 --> 00:09:32.430
personally, physically,
could do.

00:09:32.430 --> 00:09:33.780
But I'm going to introduce
this level

00:09:33.780 --> 00:09:34.740
of abstraction for--

00:09:34.740 --> 00:09:36.970
I don't know-- safety.

00:09:36.970 --> 00:09:39.320
That's usually the reason.

00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:44.090
And so you've got the human body
and you've got all of its

00:09:44.090 --> 00:09:48.010
values and virtues and
all of its curses.

00:09:48.010 --> 00:09:49.260
You've got issues of safety.

00:09:51.915 --> 00:09:56.080
You don't want people to hurt
each other, but yet human

00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:59.073
beings and their bodies are
extremely capable of hurting

00:09:59.073 --> 00:10:02.450
each other with no added
implement at all.

00:10:02.450 --> 00:10:05.771
Even worse when it gets to a
game and someone's trying to

00:10:05.771 --> 00:10:07.850
win something.

00:10:07.850 --> 00:10:10.860
If you don't have a specific
rule that says you can't punch

00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:14.540
this person, but you have a
game that's very athletic,

00:10:14.540 --> 00:10:15.830
someone's going to try.

00:10:15.830 --> 00:10:21.330
That's why you get these sort of
abstractions to pretend in

00:10:21.330 --> 00:10:23.740
that military form that all
right, I've grabbed

00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:24.650
this thing off you.

00:10:24.650 --> 00:10:26.594
Now you have just been tagged.

00:10:26.594 --> 00:10:31.380
I've effectively tackled
you [INAUDIBLE].

00:10:31.380 --> 00:10:36.170
So, what I'm trying to draw
attention to with these

00:10:36.170 --> 00:10:42.520
examples is that with
live-actions games the thing

00:10:42.520 --> 00:10:47.620
that you have to keep in mind
all the time is at what point

00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:51.110
is the person who's playing
actually the

00:10:51.110 --> 00:10:52.780
character who's playing?

00:10:52.780 --> 00:10:55.150
It's really, really, hard
to tell when it comes to

00:10:55.150 --> 00:10:56.210
live-action games.

00:10:56.210 --> 00:11:00.820
If you are playing in sports
it's the same thing.

00:11:04.010 --> 00:11:09.010
Any given athlete and their
performance in the sport is

00:11:09.010 --> 00:11:09.870
who they are.

00:11:09.870 --> 00:11:11.320
It's the same person.

00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:14.770
If I'm role-playing then the
person that I'm playing is not

00:11:14.770 --> 00:11:15.820
supposed to be the same.

00:11:15.820 --> 00:11:19.360
But there needs to be a whole
bunch of rules that basically

00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:23.680
specify that the character
that I'm playing is not

00:11:23.680 --> 00:11:27.630
actually the person that you're
seeing in front of you.

00:11:27.630 --> 00:11:33.214
For that time, the player is not
the Count of Monte Cristo

00:11:33.214 --> 00:11:34.200
or something like that.

00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:34.520
AUDIENCE: One interesting

00:11:34.520 --> 00:11:36.180
exception to that is wrestling.

00:11:38.990 --> 00:11:41.000
Not wrestling like actual
high-school wrestling, but

00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:42.602
wrestling on TV--

00:11:42.602 --> 00:11:43.360
I don't remember what
it's called.

00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:44.820
Because everybody puts
on a persona.

00:11:44.820 --> 00:11:46.770
They're never the same
person that they are.

00:11:46.770 --> 00:11:49.475
I just thought it was
interesting when you said that

00:11:49.475 --> 00:11:51.460
any sports person, but
that's one exception.

00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:53.590
PROFESSOR: That's true.

00:11:53.590 --> 00:11:56.890
And that creates a lot of
discussion about whether

00:11:56.890 --> 00:11:59.971
wrestling is a sport.

00:11:59.971 --> 00:12:00.840
It's athletic.

00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:01.780
Everyone agrees that
it's athletic.

00:12:01.780 --> 00:12:04.790
But so are trapeze artists
athletic but you wouldn't call

00:12:04.790 --> 00:12:06.040
it a sport.

00:12:08.920 --> 00:12:11.090
And in fact, if I understand
correctly, wrestlers are

00:12:11.090 --> 00:12:15.185
insured as circus performers,
because they have the same

00:12:15.185 --> 00:12:19.320
risks and are playing the same
role as a performance.

00:12:19.320 --> 00:12:21.550
But you're right, that's
one of those things

00:12:21.550 --> 00:12:25.590
where it's a persona.

00:12:25.590 --> 00:12:28.430
The really, really, good
wrestling networks play around

00:12:28.430 --> 00:12:32.140
with what's real
and what's not.

00:12:32.140 --> 00:12:35.430
Yeah sure, these two people
are putting on these

00:12:35.430 --> 00:12:39.060
ridiculous personalities.

00:12:39.060 --> 00:12:42.890
Threatening to kill each other
over the most trivial and

00:12:42.890 --> 00:12:47.550
made-up of the offenses, and
crazy accents, and costumes,

00:12:47.550 --> 00:12:48.200
and everything.

00:12:48.200 --> 00:12:50.650
But when they're bleeding
they're actually bleeding.

00:12:50.650 --> 00:12:55.400
There's no denying and no doubt
they actually get angry

00:12:55.400 --> 00:12:58.980
with each other and people
actually get hurt.

00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:02.040
And playing around with that
line is actually some of the

00:13:02.040 --> 00:13:06.222
appeal that we get in things
like professional wrestling.

00:13:06.222 --> 00:13:09.620
I guess that's what the
terminology that they use.

00:13:09.620 --> 00:13:11.270
It's very different from
something like

00:13:11.270 --> 00:13:12.520
mixed martial arts.

00:13:16.340 --> 00:13:18.080
I don't watch mixed
martial arts.

00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:18.970
AUDIENCE: No, I don't think
so, I'm pretty sure

00:13:18.970 --> 00:13:21.180
it's just flat out.

00:13:21.180 --> 00:13:24.070
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] are very
associated with the person.

00:13:24.070 --> 00:13:26.021
PROFESSOR: So they
are the persona.

00:13:26.021 --> 00:13:27.197
AUDIENCE: They don't have stage
personalities, but they

00:13:27.197 --> 00:13:29.350
do have strong personalities.

00:13:29.350 --> 00:13:31.180
AUDIENCE: That's definitely
a sport.

00:13:31.180 --> 00:13:33.390
I mean, they're actually
fighting.

00:13:33.390 --> 00:13:36.100
PROFESSOR: I mean let's
take a look at

00:13:36.100 --> 00:13:39.790
Muhammad Ali for instance.

00:13:39.790 --> 00:13:42.460
Extremely athletic person but
his personality had a lot to

00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:45.620
do with it as well with how
successful that he was.

00:13:45.620 --> 00:13:50.420
The way that he taunted people
on TV and on cameras before

00:13:50.420 --> 00:13:53.230
the game, so that people would
get all worked up for the

00:13:53.230 --> 00:13:54.880
game, made him a star.

00:13:54.880 --> 00:13:58.420
Sure he was athletic, but
that was part of it.

00:13:58.420 --> 00:14:04.430
So where that line is, and as
designers you get some control

00:14:04.430 --> 00:14:07.715
over that through the rules
that you're writing.

00:14:07.715 --> 00:14:13.040
And there are a couple of
tactics that you can focus on.

00:14:13.040 --> 00:14:17.060
But I want to segue into--

00:14:17.060 --> 00:14:18.120
that's the tension.

00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:20.050
That is one thing that's
pulling your

00:14:20.050 --> 00:14:21.340
design in one direction.

00:14:21.340 --> 00:14:26.260
Which is, how am I going to
figure out what the difference

00:14:26.260 --> 00:14:28.640
between the person who's playing
this game and the

00:14:28.640 --> 00:14:30.290
character that they're playing,
or the role that

00:14:30.290 --> 00:14:33.030
they're playing,
is going to be.

00:14:33.030 --> 00:14:36.830
In your games, for this next
assignment, if you've got

00:14:36.830 --> 00:14:39.750
people playing mental patients
then you've got to figure out

00:14:39.750 --> 00:14:41.600
how you're going to
draw that line.

00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:45.370
You've got to be clear whether
it's the player who's actually

00:14:45.370 --> 00:14:47.080
upset at you or the character
who's actually upset at you.

00:14:50.030 --> 00:14:52.840
But if you draw that line too
broadly, then you've got the

00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:56.310
situation where both be angry
at you [INAUDIBLE].

00:14:56.310 --> 00:14:59.820
Because this is a ridiculous
situation and emotional.

00:14:59.820 --> 00:15:04.570
Pretending to be really
emotional can usually make a

00:15:04.570 --> 00:15:09.340
lot of people react by laughing
just to release the

00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:12.326
tension in space.

00:15:12.326 --> 00:15:16.380
In fact, that happened when
Dion was role-playing with

00:15:16.380 --> 00:15:17.160
Caesar, right?

00:15:17.160 --> 00:15:19.225
Sure, they were laughing.

00:15:19.225 --> 00:15:21.320
They were trying to level that
and take it as seriously as

00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:25.640
possible, and everybody else in
the room was cracking up.

00:15:25.640 --> 00:15:26.800
To release that tension.

00:15:26.800 --> 00:15:29.850
And sometimes that's
OK playing games.

00:15:29.850 --> 00:15:31.160
In fact, sometimes that's
great for the game.

00:15:31.160 --> 00:15:33.630
And sometimes that's
detrimental.

00:15:33.630 --> 00:15:35.270
Depends on what you're
playing for.

00:15:35.270 --> 00:15:38.580
But you have to understand
that is something that's

00:15:38.580 --> 00:15:42.155
pulling the overall design, why
do rules exist, and why

00:15:42.155 --> 00:15:44.870
your game mechanics exist, and
why your game mechanic is

00:15:44.870 --> 00:15:46.040
pretending a certain way.

00:15:46.040 --> 00:15:47.347
That's one of the tensions
that's pulling it

00:15:47.347 --> 00:15:50.760
in a certain direction.

00:15:50.760 --> 00:15:52.570
And in reality, that's actually

00:15:52.570 --> 00:15:53.600
two different tensions.

00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:57.900
Because in one sense, they're
trying to make an experience

00:15:57.900 --> 00:16:02.020
as aversive, as feeling
like you're

00:16:02.020 --> 00:16:04.450
actually doing it as possible.

00:16:04.450 --> 00:16:07.240
And on the other hand, you
don't want to make it so

00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:09.670
associated with who you are,
and what you're actually

00:16:09.670 --> 00:16:12.120
doing, that people start
to think, oh wow.

00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:16.120
This person, this player,
is actually mad at me.

00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:18.170
Or, this player could actually
hit me at this point.

00:16:18.170 --> 00:16:21.050
While as, no the character
[INAUDIBLE].

00:16:24.350 --> 00:16:28.300
I call that verisimilitude.

00:16:28.300 --> 00:16:32.540
These are just words that I
picked up from dictionaries.

00:16:32.540 --> 00:16:33.950
This one, you were in
my masters thesis.

00:16:37.180 --> 00:16:44.470
Verisimilitude is basically a
tension when you're designing

00:16:44.470 --> 00:16:45.830
a game mechanic.

00:16:45.830 --> 00:16:48.200
And that tension is telling
you, I want to make this

00:16:48.200 --> 00:16:52.930
experience as immersive and as
true to life as possible.

00:16:52.930 --> 00:16:57.635
And the opposite of that is
what I call dissociation.

00:16:57.635 --> 00:16:58.580
Which is really hard
to pronounce.

00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:01.390
It's not like I just
call it separation.

00:17:01.390 --> 00:17:04.910
But, how do you draw that line
between who I am and who my

00:17:04.910 --> 00:17:06.230
character is?

00:17:06.230 --> 00:17:09.640
And I'll give you a couple
of examples just to

00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:10.890
get inside this now.

00:17:16.290 --> 00:17:18.670
Who doesn't know what
a live-action

00:17:18.670 --> 00:17:19.750
role-playing game is?

00:17:19.750 --> 00:17:21.819
Or doesn't have a
good clear idea?

00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:25.849
OK.

00:17:25.849 --> 00:17:29.856
So maybe, a little bit of
background just so that I can

00:17:29.856 --> 00:17:31.106
use the examples.

00:17:32.950 --> 00:17:36.310
Do you folks know how a
table-top role-playing game

00:17:36.310 --> 00:17:37.560
generally works?

00:17:39.880 --> 00:17:40.150
OK.

00:17:40.150 --> 00:17:42.200
So, start from scratch.

00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:45.450
Imagine improv theatre.

00:17:45.450 --> 00:17:49.100
Imagine you have an environment
where you have a

00:17:49.100 --> 00:17:52.030
bunch of people who
want to enact some

00:17:52.030 --> 00:17:55.620
sort of scene together.

00:17:55.620 --> 00:17:58.010
In theatre, a scene is usually
something like five minutes,

00:17:58.010 --> 00:18:00.020
maybe half an hour.

00:18:00.020 --> 00:18:02.855
In a live-action role-playing
game, that's more like an hour

00:18:02.855 --> 00:18:07.300
to 10 days to 30 days long.

00:18:07.300 --> 00:18:10.150
A much longer period of time.

00:18:10.150 --> 00:18:11.850
But the motivation
is the same.

00:18:11.850 --> 00:18:16.440
We're in this space to enact
some sort of shared reality,

00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:20.300
shared creative reality,
together.

00:18:20.300 --> 00:18:22.900
In a role-playing game
that's done by the

00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:25.560
usual addition of rules.

00:18:25.560 --> 00:18:28.850
And usually some sort of world
setting and some sort of

00:18:28.850 --> 00:18:30.370
character description.

00:18:30.370 --> 00:18:34.170
And how these things are told
to you could be as simple as

00:18:34.170 --> 00:18:36.980
the game master walks up to
each person and explains

00:18:36.980 --> 00:18:39.440
what's going on.

00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:47.750
You are all cats in an alley-way
and some of you are

00:18:47.750 --> 00:18:48.620
hungry and looking for food.

00:18:48.620 --> 00:18:51.560
Some of you are on top of the
pecking order and make sure

00:18:51.560 --> 00:18:53.610
you get all of the food.

00:18:53.610 --> 00:18:54.750
Here's how you eat food.

00:18:54.750 --> 00:18:56.390
Here's how you move
food around.

00:18:56.390 --> 00:18:57.810
Go.

00:18:57.810 --> 00:19:00.730
That sort of thing.

00:19:00.730 --> 00:19:03.700
A game master could just do it
at that level, and you've got

00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:04.720
a live-action role-playing
game.

00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:06.486
There's usually some sort of end
condition or at least some

00:19:06.486 --> 00:19:08.738
sort of time limit to tell
you when the game's over.

00:19:11.390 --> 00:19:14.400
When you get a little bit more
detailed, and when you start

00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:17.235
mixing and matching it with the
conventions of other kind

00:19:17.235 --> 00:19:19.560
of role-playing games--
computer and table-top

00:19:19.560 --> 00:19:21.000
role-playing games--

00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:24.310
you have things like character
sheets where you're given your

00:19:24.310 --> 00:19:26.860
information on a piece of paper,
or you create your

00:19:26.860 --> 00:19:29.650
information on a
piece of paper.

00:19:29.650 --> 00:19:31.850
And that information is
information that's only

00:19:31.850 --> 00:19:35.280
available to you and
the game master.

00:19:35.280 --> 00:19:36.700
A secret information for all
intents and purposes.

00:19:40.790 --> 00:19:43.640
You will use different means
to convey chunks of the

00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:45.630
information to the rest
of the world.

00:19:45.630 --> 00:19:51.050
Like I'm actually not
female, but I'm

00:19:51.050 --> 00:19:52.540
playing a female character.

00:19:52.540 --> 00:19:54.930
So maybe I'll wear a badge
or something that has

00:19:54.930 --> 00:19:56.290
my gender on it.

00:19:56.290 --> 00:20:01.860
And that tells the rest of the
world treat me like a female.

00:20:01.860 --> 00:20:04.290
That's one example.

00:20:04.290 --> 00:20:08.510
I may actually be psychic, but
the rest of the world can't

00:20:08.510 --> 00:20:09.560
necessarily see that.

00:20:09.560 --> 00:20:11.300
Except for maybe other
psychic people.

00:20:11.300 --> 00:20:14.500
So maybe I'll have a little
Greek symbol or something--

00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:16.410
not Psi, that would
be too obvious--

00:20:20.380 --> 00:20:23.820
or maybe my badge is just a
different color or something.

00:20:23.820 --> 00:20:26.070
And people who are not psychic
have no idea what that means.

00:20:26.070 --> 00:20:28.200
And people who are playing other
psychic characters now

00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:30.200
see, [INAUDIBLE] has
a red badge.

00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:31.450
I am sensing psychically.

00:20:35.300 --> 00:20:37.960
And then there are other game
mechanics that I can do with

00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:38.590
that person.

00:20:38.590 --> 00:20:40.497
Actually all the psychic people
know each other's cell

00:20:40.497 --> 00:20:43.290
phone numbers or something and
can talk to each other.

00:20:43.290 --> 00:20:45.140
That's an example.

00:20:45.140 --> 00:20:46.410
AUDIENCE: That's awesome.

00:20:46.410 --> 00:20:47.945
PROFESSOR: That would be
to your advantage.

00:20:53.830 --> 00:20:59.914
So the connection with improv
theatre is actually stronger

00:20:59.914 --> 00:21:01.610
than a lot of people may
generally assume.

00:21:01.610 --> 00:21:05.550
Because a lot of people think
of live-action role-playing

00:21:05.550 --> 00:21:07.630
games and they focus on
the games part of it.

00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:11.800
And they think of it as a RPG
in the computer sense.

00:21:11.800 --> 00:21:16.300
So your role is your character
in the sense of, I have my

00:21:16.300 --> 00:21:19.146
character's stats, my
character's abilities, a lot

00:21:19.146 --> 00:21:21.860
of these steps and abilities
don't necessarily need to be

00:21:21.860 --> 00:21:22.430
written down.

00:21:22.430 --> 00:21:24.730
Because, again, you're dealing
with a human body.

00:21:24.730 --> 00:21:28.114
So, how strong is
my character?

00:21:28.114 --> 00:21:28.598
I don't know.

00:21:28.598 --> 00:21:30.730
How strong are you?

00:21:30.730 --> 00:21:32.930
How long a sword do I have?

00:21:32.930 --> 00:21:36.030
Well, how long is that piece
of foam over there?

00:21:36.030 --> 00:21:39.195
That's your sword now.

00:21:39.195 --> 00:21:40.445
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

00:21:42.288 --> 00:21:43.350
I played a character that
was supposed to

00:21:43.350 --> 00:21:44.180
be very, very, strong.

00:21:44.180 --> 00:21:45.490
And I am not very,
very, strong.

00:21:45.490 --> 00:21:50.902
But I had a disclaimer badge
and the that it manifested

00:21:50.902 --> 00:21:52.255
itself in game play was that at
some point they challenged

00:21:52.255 --> 00:21:54.346
someone to an arm-wrestling
duel.

00:21:54.346 --> 00:21:55.830
And they made sure--

00:21:55.830 --> 00:21:57.730
they looked at my stat
and saw, oh I

00:21:57.730 --> 00:21:58.605
know what this means.

00:21:58.605 --> 00:22:00.173
And so even though they were
about twice my size they

00:22:00.173 --> 00:22:02.354
pretended to lose.

00:22:02.354 --> 00:22:03.604
It was very entertaining.

00:22:06.130 --> 00:22:08.450
PROFESSOR: So the spectrum
of on one hand

00:22:08.450 --> 00:22:10.720
there are these games.

00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:15.840
The type of games that Jeremy
describes allows you to play

00:22:15.840 --> 00:22:18.200
things that are physically
very different from you.

00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:19.820
And then there are
some live-action

00:22:19.820 --> 00:22:20.520
role-playing games--

00:22:20.520 --> 00:22:22.520
AUDIENCE: Where it's just
how strong you are.

00:22:22.520 --> 00:22:24.110
PROFESSOR: --Yeah, it's just
how strong you are.

00:22:24.110 --> 00:22:26.260
A lot of those are
like [INAUDIBLE]

00:22:26.260 --> 00:22:33.591
LARPs, where people will dress
up in actual armor that

00:22:33.591 --> 00:22:34.210
they've decided to make out
of leather or duct tape.

00:22:34.210 --> 00:22:38.620
And they will swing around
swords instead of foam padded.

00:22:38.620 --> 00:22:41.010
They'll go out to a
forest somewhere--

00:22:41.010 --> 00:22:43.950
typically in New England--

00:22:43.950 --> 00:22:47.550
and spend two days, three
days, in the middle of a

00:22:47.550 --> 00:22:51.490
forest sleeping in a cabin
somewhere and pretending to

00:22:51.490 --> 00:22:53.000
fantasy adventure it.

00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:55.470
And every once in awhile there
will be GM controlled

00:22:55.470 --> 00:22:57.170
volunteers who will be wearing
[INAUDIBLE] masks.

00:23:01.360 --> 00:23:03.800
That's on the other spectrum.

00:23:03.800 --> 00:23:05.330
It's a spectrum.

00:23:05.330 --> 00:23:09.855
It's not like the [INAUDIBLE]

00:23:09.855 --> 00:23:15.280
LARPs where you run around with
sticks and are Assassins

00:23:15.280 --> 00:23:20.626
Guild type LARPs where most of
your abilities are governed by

00:23:20.626 --> 00:23:22.110
numbers and stats.

00:23:22.110 --> 00:23:23.340
Kind of this spectrum.

00:23:23.340 --> 00:23:26.880
You can think of assassin guild
type thing as being very

00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:29.780
much inspired by what you could
do on a computer or what

00:23:29.780 --> 00:23:31.860
you could do on a
table-top LARP.

00:23:31.860 --> 00:23:34.190
Because on a table-top LARP, how
strong your character is

00:23:34.190 --> 00:23:36.440
has nothing to do with how
strong the player is.

00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:39.805
It's what [INAUDIBLE].

00:23:39.805 --> 00:23:42.942
AUDIENCE: Playing a game just
recently, I found out that in

00:23:42.942 --> 00:23:46.332
New England there are basically
LARPs which get done

00:23:46.332 --> 00:23:49.710
with rifles.

00:23:49.710 --> 00:23:52.560
AUDIENCE: They're
military level.

00:23:52.560 --> 00:23:54.620
AUDIENCE: But they're
not paintball.

00:23:54.620 --> 00:23:56.114
So you shoot people.

00:23:56.114 --> 00:23:56.612
AUDIENCE: With plastic
pellets?

00:23:56.612 --> 00:23:59.110
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

00:23:59.110 --> 00:24:01.410
Yeah, air-soft is what
they call them.

00:24:01.410 --> 00:24:05.310
And so one team will dress up as
US soldiers, and the other

00:24:05.310 --> 00:24:06.990
ones are like middle-eastern
soldiers.

00:24:10.548 --> 00:24:12.010
It's elaborate and slightly
distasteful.

00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.368
You can go and look
at their website.

00:24:16.368 --> 00:24:18.997
I think it's the New England
Airsoft Association or

00:24:18.997 --> 00:24:19.714
something like that.

00:24:19.714 --> 00:24:24.810
And they have excerpts of
a video cam of these.

00:24:24.810 --> 00:24:28.876
And there's negotiation
between the two sides

00:24:28.876 --> 00:24:29.650
and what have you.

00:24:29.650 --> 00:24:33.610
They actually take on the roles
of the insurgents or the

00:24:33.610 --> 00:24:35.095
[INAUDIBLE].

00:24:35.095 --> 00:24:37.075
Sometimes they're just
shooting each other.

00:24:37.075 --> 00:24:39.330
Other times they're trying to
find out who in the town who

00:24:39.330 --> 00:24:42.040
is the bad guy.

00:24:42.040 --> 00:24:43.200
PROFESSOR: Sometimes it
gets more elaborate.

00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:46.690
And some of us are actually
going to be [INAUDIBLE] and

00:24:46.690 --> 00:24:49.550
some of us are actually going to
be combatants and you have

00:24:49.550 --> 00:24:52.250
to figure out who's who.

00:24:52.250 --> 00:24:53.710
That one will be really,
really, interesting

00:24:53.710 --> 00:24:54.960
[INAUDIBLE] for IEDs.

00:24:58.180 --> 00:25:02.610
That's something that annoys
me about games that involve

00:25:02.610 --> 00:25:04.640
Middle Eastern combatants.

00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.680
Is that, they don't have
rules for IEDs.

00:25:06.680 --> 00:25:10.260
And that's the primary form of
contact in those states.

00:25:14.720 --> 00:25:16.770
That's to the point.

00:25:16.770 --> 00:25:20.910
Military exercises a lot of them
are basically live-action

00:25:20.910 --> 00:25:22.360
role-playing games.

00:25:22.360 --> 00:25:25.830
All the way from I'm actually
running around with a gun full

00:25:25.830 --> 00:25:29.940
of blanks or shooting pellets or
shooting a laser beam that

00:25:29.940 --> 00:25:33.910
is going to register on some
other soldier's gear.

00:25:33.910 --> 00:25:35.666
AUDIENCE: We call
them war games.

00:25:35.666 --> 00:25:36.831
PROFESSOR: We call them--

00:25:36.831 --> 00:25:38.081
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

00:25:40.268 --> 00:25:41.518
PROFESSOR: --Yes, that's
a good thing.

00:25:44.010 --> 00:25:45.670
Then you also have the other
end of military simulations

00:25:45.670 --> 00:25:48.400
where it's just a bunch
of people in a room

00:25:48.400 --> 00:25:50.190
looking at a screen.

00:25:50.190 --> 00:25:54.350
Or not even a screen, a white
board with a world map on it,

00:25:54.350 --> 00:25:59.140
and they're moving forces around
like a table player.

00:25:59.140 --> 00:26:02.330
But those are still considered
live-action action things,

00:26:02.330 --> 00:26:06.030
because every person in the room
is representing someone

00:26:06.030 --> 00:26:08.100
in the chain of command that
would normally be in a war

00:26:08.100 --> 00:26:09.915
room attack.

00:26:09.915 --> 00:26:11.895
I am the commander.

00:26:11.895 --> 00:26:14.170
You are the lieutenant, or
something like that, and I'm

00:26:14.170 --> 00:26:19.930
going to say, get me the status
of Washington D.C. Has

00:26:19.930 --> 00:26:22.330
it been nuked yet?

00:26:22.330 --> 00:26:25.871
And the lieutenant says we have
three missiles coming in

00:26:25.871 --> 00:26:28.230
based on some look up.

00:26:28.230 --> 00:26:31.030
The term for that is typically
called creep [INAUDIBLE],

00:26:31.030 --> 00:26:35.820
especially when it's
real people playing

00:26:35.820 --> 00:26:37.980
against real people.

00:26:37.980 --> 00:26:41.910
It's two or more player game
where not everyone is

00:26:41.910 --> 00:26:43.050
one the same side.

00:26:43.050 --> 00:26:46.940
If it's just on one side then
just the war game terminology

00:26:46.940 --> 00:26:49.790
tends to be more a catch all.

00:26:49.790 --> 00:26:53.350
But when you have two players on
each side, and are playing

00:26:53.350 --> 00:26:55.620
through these things,
how results get

00:26:55.620 --> 00:27:00.470
resolved also can vary.

00:27:00.470 --> 00:27:03.090
There are obviously digital and

00:27:03.090 --> 00:27:04.980
mathematical ways to compute.

00:27:04.980 --> 00:27:12.930
OK, I've given an order to fire
a missile at Singapore.

00:27:12.930 --> 00:27:17.620
And it's going to take two
hours for it to land.

00:27:17.620 --> 00:27:20.310
And there's a percentage
that it might land.

00:27:20.310 --> 00:27:20.900
You could do it.

00:27:20.900 --> 00:27:22.280
You could do that way.

00:27:22.280 --> 00:27:25.670
But traditionally, what's
actually been done is that you

00:27:25.670 --> 00:27:27.750
say this is what I'm
going to do.

00:27:27.750 --> 00:27:30.325
And someone far more experienced
than you, usually

00:27:30.325 --> 00:27:33.760
your instructor or one of
several instructors, takes

00:27:33.760 --> 00:27:38.320
that information, goes into
another room, and talks to the

00:27:38.320 --> 00:27:41.390
people who are actually doing
the same thing with your

00:27:41.390 --> 00:27:42.660
opposing team.

00:27:42.660 --> 00:27:45.540
And they're just saying,
OK in this event

00:27:45.540 --> 00:27:46.630
what's going to happen?

00:27:46.630 --> 00:27:50.090
And then they go back to
each team and they

00:27:50.090 --> 00:27:53.260
report, missile missed.

00:27:53.260 --> 00:27:54.600
Or, your troops engaged.

00:27:54.600 --> 00:27:58.980
You found your opponent's troops
at this location and

00:27:58.980 --> 00:28:00.850
you've lost 50% of
your troops.

00:28:00.850 --> 00:28:01.180
That sort of thing.

00:28:01.180 --> 00:28:04.860
And that's the traditional
[INAUDIBLE].

00:28:04.860 --> 00:28:05.980
The nice thing about that is
that takes advantage of the

00:28:05.980 --> 00:28:09.280
fact that not just the players
but everybody is a live-action

00:28:09.280 --> 00:28:10.550
human being.

00:28:10.550 --> 00:28:12.610
Because you have flexibility.

00:28:12.610 --> 00:28:17.280
You can do ridiculous things
that programmers or game

00:28:17.280 --> 00:28:21.820
designers may not necessarily
have assumed were possible,

00:28:21.820 --> 00:28:24.830
but happen to make sense
in the heat of

00:28:24.830 --> 00:28:26.170
that particular game.

00:28:26.170 --> 00:28:28.420
And you have real people
deciding, this is

00:28:28.420 --> 00:28:29.350
what's going to happen.

00:28:29.350 --> 00:28:33.760
So we'll make up a
logical solution.

00:28:33.760 --> 00:28:35.780
In the military, that's why you
want people who are really

00:28:35.780 --> 00:28:37.590
experienced.

00:28:37.590 --> 00:28:40.595
In a non-military live-action
role-playing game, like the

00:28:40.595 --> 00:28:45.400
kind that's played around MIT,
people will still do that.

00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:51.000
So I'm in a game where I have
a steampunk setting.

00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:56.620
And I don't have all the
equipment I need to build this

00:28:56.620 --> 00:28:59.800
machine of death that I'm
supposed to be completing.

00:28:59.800 --> 00:29:03.860
But I could take apart some
of the other machines

00:29:03.860 --> 00:29:05.130
that are in the world.

00:29:05.130 --> 00:29:07.050
And then the game master
says, wait a minute.

00:29:07.050 --> 00:29:08.510
We've got to put rules
about that.

00:29:08.510 --> 00:29:10.480
Or, we don't want to start
anyone taking apart

00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:11.130
[INAUDIBLE].

00:29:11.130 --> 00:29:13.780
But it makes perfect sense
in this world.

00:29:13.780 --> 00:29:17.100
So, OK, it's going to take you
two hours and you have to be

00:29:17.100 --> 00:29:17.390
in this room.

00:29:17.390 --> 00:29:19.880
But after that, you'll have
the parts you need.

00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:24.422
The other side of live-action
role-playing is that often the

00:29:24.422 --> 00:29:26.470
people who are controlling the
game of live-action say that

00:29:26.470 --> 00:29:28.360
wasn't fair.

00:29:28.360 --> 00:29:33.720
And again, they can improvise
along with the players.

00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:37.210
So you have that bit
of flexibility.

00:29:37.210 --> 00:29:40.580
You're limited by how
experienced most people are.

00:29:40.580 --> 00:29:44.260
People who don't tend to be
terribly experienced tend to

00:29:44.260 --> 00:29:49.154
make rash decisions that
end up hurting the

00:29:49.154 --> 00:29:50.580
playability of the game.

00:29:50.580 --> 00:29:51.450
Sometimes they get lucky.

00:29:51.450 --> 00:29:53.640
Sometimes they don't.

00:29:53.640 --> 00:30:01.462
Let me see, one example early
on when I was making

00:30:01.462 --> 00:30:05.920
live-action role-playing
games, was I had a game

00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:12.240
mechanic where if one of the
police officers in this sort

00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:17.730
of detective scenario wanted to
do a background check they

00:30:17.730 --> 00:30:19.840
could ask the game master.

00:30:19.840 --> 00:30:21.380
Some amount of time--

00:30:21.380 --> 00:30:21.990
actually it was fairly
instant.

00:30:21.990 --> 00:30:24.660
Because the very molded
kind of system.

00:30:24.660 --> 00:30:26.880
The assumption was that they
will find a computer and

00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:28.070
they'll look it up.

00:30:28.070 --> 00:30:30.370
And we'll give them
information.

00:30:30.370 --> 00:30:32.740
And that led to two problems
was that, first of all what

00:30:32.740 --> 00:30:35.740
happens if I'm not physically
in the same location as the

00:30:35.740 --> 00:30:37.050
person who wants the
information?

00:30:37.050 --> 00:30:38.980
And this is weird to think
of a computer with

00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:40.538
legs walking around.

00:30:40.538 --> 00:30:43.870
It sounds very science
fiction.

00:30:43.870 --> 00:30:47.200
And on the other hand, it means
that I needed to have

00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:50.266
all the information about
everybody at my

00:30:50.266 --> 00:30:53.080
finger tips at all times.

00:30:53.080 --> 00:30:55.110
Which often wasn't true.

00:30:55.110 --> 00:30:57.500
So someone would come in, I
need the information about

00:30:57.500 --> 00:30:58.670
this character.

00:30:58.670 --> 00:31:00.090
I'm performing a look up.

00:31:00.090 --> 00:31:03.488
And it's like, I'll get back
to you in two hours.

00:31:03.488 --> 00:31:07.057
Because I don't have the
information here with me I'm

00:31:07.057 --> 00:31:09.470
going to look it up and I'll
give it to you later.

00:31:09.470 --> 00:31:11.456
Now I don't make that mistake
anymore, but that was the kind

00:31:11.456 --> 00:31:15.330
of mistake I made when
I was a [INAUDIBLE].

00:31:15.330 --> 00:31:18.440
Because I hadn't really thought
about what that would

00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:20.720
require from me as
a game master.

00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:24.510
Now that's a different
tension.

00:31:24.510 --> 00:31:26.310
I am actually going to read
a chunk of this--

00:31:31.570 --> 00:31:32.820
[INAUDIBLE].

00:31:35.450 --> 00:31:38.360
I talked about dissociation
or separation.

00:31:43.700 --> 00:31:47.150
And what I'm talking about with
that mistake that I made

00:31:47.150 --> 00:31:50.000
is just plain old feasibility.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:53.415
Something that you probably have
already run into it with

00:31:53.415 --> 00:31:54.390
the games that you've
designed.

00:31:54.390 --> 00:31:55.640
AUDIENCE: Yeah.

00:31:59.270 --> 00:32:00.880
PROFESSOR: And many of the games
that you've designed

00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:03.440
[INAUDIBLE] could have thought
of as just plane of scope.

00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:06.410
It's like, how big
is this game?

00:32:06.410 --> 00:32:08.550
How long is it going
to take us to put

00:32:08.550 --> 00:32:10.962
all these bits together?

00:32:10.962 --> 00:32:12.212
[INAUDIBLE].

00:32:16.490 --> 00:32:18.480
Can we order these
bits in time?

00:32:18.480 --> 00:32:20.130
And are they going to
be delivered in

00:32:20.130 --> 00:32:21.380
time for the class?

00:32:21.380 --> 00:32:25.130
I know multiple teams
had this problem.

00:32:25.130 --> 00:32:26.380
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

00:32:33.850 --> 00:32:35.030
PROFESSOR: Let me see if
I can combine some

00:32:35.030 --> 00:32:38.430
of these ideas together.

00:32:38.430 --> 00:32:43.200
One thing that the Assassin
Guild likes to have are people

00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:46.010
who have locked memories.

00:32:46.010 --> 00:32:50.830
They know something, but they
don't know that they know it.

00:32:50.830 --> 00:32:52.990
Little memory packets, little
pieces of paper that they

00:32:52.990 --> 00:32:54.850
printed out and folded
up and stapled.

00:32:57.435 --> 00:33:02.980
Takes you about 20 seconds
to make one of those.

00:33:02.980 --> 00:33:06.090
Now imagine a game that
has maybe 60 people.

00:33:06.090 --> 00:33:11.020
And each person maybe has five
locked memories because the

00:33:11.020 --> 00:33:13.670
GM's really love the idea.

00:33:13.670 --> 00:33:17.200
And 5 times 3 is

00:33:17.200 --> 00:33:19.100
AUDIENCE: That's only
about an hour.

00:33:19.100 --> 00:33:20.070
Only about an hour.

00:33:20.070 --> 00:33:20.860
PROFESSOR: Only about an hour.

00:33:20.860 --> 00:33:23.530
Does it ever only actually
take an hour to actually

00:33:23.530 --> 00:33:24.330
produce that?

00:33:24.330 --> 00:33:31.860
You get staple cuts and you
have to write them all.

00:33:31.860 --> 00:33:34.652
AUDIENCE: It's a little less
than two hours actually.

00:33:34.652 --> 00:33:35.740
AUDIENCE: No way.

00:33:35.740 --> 00:33:38.454
AUDIENCE: 20 seconds
per 60 people.

00:33:38.454 --> 00:33:41.260
AUDIENCE: But it's not
20 seconds each.

00:33:41.260 --> 00:33:43.110
PROFESSOR: And then what happens
is that oh, wow, we

00:33:43.110 --> 00:33:47.610
have 300 pieces of paper all
of which are now folded and

00:33:47.610 --> 00:33:49.470
almost indistinguishable
from each other.

00:33:49.470 --> 00:33:51.138
And we've got to figure
out who gets which.

00:33:53.770 --> 00:33:57.910
And these are the concerns.

00:33:57.910 --> 00:34:00.850
That's a feasibility issue.

00:34:00.850 --> 00:34:04.660
Doing something like that for
one or two players is

00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:05.790
extremely feasible.

00:34:05.790 --> 00:34:09.780
It takes almost no time
for the game master.

00:34:09.780 --> 00:34:12.820
Doing that for your entire
player base, if you have a 60

00:34:12.820 --> 00:34:17.239
person game, on the large scale
becomes the majority of

00:34:17.239 --> 00:34:19.280
your prep time.

00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:21.880
Suddenly you're setting
aside a whole day just

00:34:21.880 --> 00:34:22.679
to deal with that.

00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:26.272
And a game's only three days
long or something like that.

00:34:26.272 --> 00:34:27.522
With that level of effort.

00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:32.420
Things to preserve the
game master's sanity.

00:34:36.670 --> 00:34:42.070
The MIT janitorial staff,
facility staff, are pretty

00:34:42.070 --> 00:34:45.090
ruthless when it comes to
picking up stuff that has

00:34:45.090 --> 00:34:46.320
fallen on the floor.

00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:49.480
So say that's a really important
piece of paper that

00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:53.060
you've taped up on the wall
somewhere's here at MIT.

00:34:53.060 --> 00:34:56.120
And there's information that
this is the place that your

00:34:56.120 --> 00:34:57.390
players are looking for.

00:34:57.390 --> 00:34:59.410
They've combed all of
campus and they need

00:34:59.410 --> 00:35:00.750
to find this location.

00:35:00.750 --> 00:35:03.622
And that tape that you
used just wasn't that

00:35:03.622 --> 00:35:05.450
strong and it fell.

00:35:05.450 --> 00:35:07.530
And the janitorial staff
just picks it up

00:35:07.530 --> 00:35:08.830
and throws it away.

00:35:08.830 --> 00:35:10.560
Now what happens to your game?

00:35:10.560 --> 00:35:14.210
Can your game even end?

00:35:14.210 --> 00:35:16.360
Are you just going to have a
whole bunch of really tired

00:35:16.360 --> 00:35:22.010
players chasing you down
as the game master?

00:35:22.010 --> 00:35:27.260
So the way that you resolve
this can be built into the

00:35:27.260 --> 00:35:28.510
game mechanics.

00:35:28.510 --> 00:35:30.315
You can build things like
multiple redundancy.

00:35:30.315 --> 00:35:35.120
Like in addition to a sign there
will usually be this

00:35:35.120 --> 00:35:37.460
other thing in this same area.

00:35:37.460 --> 00:35:39.730
If you find one and you don't
find the other, it means

00:35:39.730 --> 00:35:41.910
something has dropped off.

00:35:41.910 --> 00:35:43.910
Involve the game master and the
game master will go and

00:35:43.910 --> 00:35:45.448
fix it at some point in
time in the future.

00:35:48.680 --> 00:35:52.131
If you have a game that has no
secret locations, and you have

00:35:52.131 --> 00:35:55.172
a game that's campus wide, you
could just give people a map

00:35:55.172 --> 00:35:57.280
of all the information.

00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:00.430
Sure, you still want stuff on
the wall because it's neat to

00:36:00.430 --> 00:36:03.080
be able to walk into a classroom
like this and say,

00:36:03.080 --> 00:36:04.350
oh mortuary.

00:36:04.350 --> 00:36:05.860
That's where I am.

00:36:05.860 --> 00:36:10.004
And then suddenly reminded, oh
maybe I should be role-playing

00:36:10.004 --> 00:36:12.890
back then and that
sort of thing.

00:36:12.890 --> 00:36:17.800
But it's sort of like walking
through a space and you have a

00:36:17.800 --> 00:36:19.510
map that told you you're
in a mortuary.

00:36:19.510 --> 00:36:20.740
But you weren't looking at your
space, so you just walked

00:36:20.740 --> 00:36:23.270
through the space in entry
to the classroom.

00:36:23.270 --> 00:36:27.010
Yes, I am going to do my
tutoring in this room.

00:36:27.010 --> 00:36:30.790
It's a morgue, why are
you doing tutoring?

00:36:30.790 --> 00:36:33.830
So it's neat to be able to
have those things to give

00:36:33.830 --> 00:36:36.730
players information about what's
going on in the space.

00:36:36.730 --> 00:36:40.630
And to help them make believe,
help them imagine what they

00:36:40.630 --> 00:36:41.630
could possibly do
in the space.

00:36:41.630 --> 00:36:43.530
Maybe even give them clues about
what they need to be

00:36:43.530 --> 00:36:45.710
doing in order to advance
their goals.

00:36:45.710 --> 00:36:50.450
But then you also want to be
able to have backup plans for

00:36:50.450 --> 00:36:51.860
when those things fail.

00:36:51.860 --> 00:36:53.860
That's part of feasibility.

00:36:53.860 --> 00:36:56.310
You don't want the game to break
halfway just because

00:36:56.310 --> 00:37:01.280
janitorial staff came through or
the wind blew or something

00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:02.744
and now your game sucks.

00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:08.210
That's another type
of information.

00:37:12.340 --> 00:37:15.730
And that's not entirely unlike
the information that we've

00:37:15.730 --> 00:37:20.190
discussed in this class back
earlier this semester.

00:37:20.190 --> 00:37:26.370
But with live-action games,
especially live-action games

00:37:26.370 --> 00:37:28.435
that don't have any kind of
turn based thing, they're

00:37:28.435 --> 00:37:32.790
happening in real time and
they're moving in real-time.

00:37:32.790 --> 00:37:36.880
Information overload on the
player becomes something that

00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:39.007
you have to be very careful of
when you're designing your

00:37:39.007 --> 00:37:39.510
game mechanic.

00:37:39.510 --> 00:37:44.390
How much is someone expected
to know at any given time?

00:37:44.390 --> 00:37:46.380
This is going to be very
applicable for any of the

00:37:46.380 --> 00:37:49.370
games that you design for
the third assignment.

00:37:49.370 --> 00:37:52.760
If you decide to do a
live-action game, think about

00:37:52.760 --> 00:37:54.720
here's somebody who's moving
around in a space.

00:37:54.720 --> 00:37:59.010
Maybe it's a hospital or it may
be the doctor's office.

00:37:59.010 --> 00:38:05.010
And this person is trying
to remember X numbers of

00:38:05.010 --> 00:38:07.880
statistics about their
character.

00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:15.550
How agitated I am, the number
that determines how many drugs

00:38:15.550 --> 00:38:21.090
are part of me right now,
and that sort of thing.

00:38:21.090 --> 00:38:22.630
You've got these stats.

00:38:22.630 --> 00:38:26.330
And once again, too high, then
what happens is you've got a

00:38:26.330 --> 00:38:28.640
character that's standing there
trying to do all the

00:38:28.640 --> 00:38:31.630
math in their head and
not role-playing.

00:38:31.630 --> 00:38:33.270
If they're role-playing
anything, they're role-playing

00:38:33.270 --> 00:38:36.160
a mathematician or a [INAUDIBLE]
in their minds.

00:38:36.160 --> 00:38:40.435
And you're losing the immersion,
you're losing the

00:38:40.435 --> 00:38:43.300
[INAUDIBLE] to be I'm supposed
to be an angry person.

00:38:43.300 --> 00:38:44.910
But I'm standing here
trying to do math

00:38:44.910 --> 00:38:48.310
about how angry I am.

00:38:48.310 --> 00:38:51.720
And you've got attention
of information and very

00:38:51.720 --> 00:38:52.970
[INAUDIBLE].

00:38:54.470 --> 00:38:57.940
There are times when you
actually want that though.

00:38:57.940 --> 00:39:00.350
There are ways to take
that and turn

00:39:00.350 --> 00:39:01.600
it into your advantage.

00:39:05.720 --> 00:39:08.290
In particular, when the
thing that you want

00:39:08.290 --> 00:39:09.550
people to be doing--

00:39:09.550 --> 00:39:12.930
the kind of activity that you
want people to engage in--

00:39:12.930 --> 00:39:14.940
are the things that players
would generally be

00:39:14.940 --> 00:39:16.350
uncomfortable doing
with each other.

00:39:16.350 --> 00:39:19.360
Physical violence would be
a good example of that.

00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:23.800
I want to be able to hurt this
other character, but I don't

00:39:23.800 --> 00:39:25.950
want to hurt this
other player.

00:39:25.950 --> 00:39:30.120
So what are the things that I
can do to bridge that gap?

00:39:30.120 --> 00:39:32.310
AUDIENCE: Insult his mother.

00:39:32.310 --> 00:39:35.170
PROFESSOR: Verbally, sure, there
are ways to do that.

00:39:35.170 --> 00:39:39.160
But you might need rules or at
least some guidance from the

00:39:39.160 --> 00:39:42.280
GM to say, take that
seriously.

00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:46.040
Because that can very easily
drift into the realm of, yeah

00:39:46.040 --> 00:39:47.290
that's just a joke.

00:39:49.490 --> 00:39:50.630
AUDIENCE: Rock, paper,
scissors?

00:39:50.630 --> 00:39:52.550
PROFESSOR: Rock, paper,
scissors?

00:39:52.550 --> 00:39:56.670
That could be a mechanic for
a fist fight, for instance.

00:39:56.670 --> 00:39:57.990
Or [INAUDIBLE]

00:39:57.990 --> 00:40:00.070
that you start see them
avoiding that.

00:40:00.070 --> 00:40:01.890
AUDIENCE: Nerf guns.

00:40:01.890 --> 00:40:02.650
PROFESSOR: Nerf guns?

00:40:02.650 --> 00:40:04.965
Things that shoot little
pieces of plastic.

00:40:08.640 --> 00:40:11.015
But odds and evens.

00:40:11.015 --> 00:40:12.512
AUDIENCE: How about tokens
like in [INAUDIBLE].

00:40:12.512 --> 00:40:13.380
PROFESSOR: Say what?

00:40:13.380 --> 00:40:16.680
AUDIENCE: Health tokens
like in [INAUDIBLE].

00:40:16.680 --> 00:40:17.930
PROFESSOR: Give me
some more detail.

00:40:20.260 --> 00:40:23.300
AUDIENCE: Like if someone was a
certain number of flags, and

00:40:23.300 --> 00:40:25.160
so you hurt them
by taking one.

00:40:25.160 --> 00:40:26.260
PROFESSOR: So the player
might have

00:40:26.260 --> 00:40:27.855
multiple flags for instance.

00:40:27.855 --> 00:40:29.900
OK, gets them angry.

00:40:29.900 --> 00:40:31.150
It's like health bar
almost, actually.

00:40:36.620 --> 00:40:37.870
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

00:40:43.370 --> 00:40:46.470
PROFESSOR: So dice rolling is
under the general term like

00:40:46.470 --> 00:40:49.530
things randomizing numbers.

00:40:49.530 --> 00:40:52.750
In fact, rock, paper, scissors,
is randomizing

00:40:52.750 --> 00:40:53.340
things almost.

00:40:53.340 --> 00:40:57.040
And then you have toy
weapons, right?

00:40:57.040 --> 00:41:01.120
Probably not so relevant
for the game violence.

00:41:01.120 --> 00:41:05.330
But you could imagine setting up
a room full of foam things

00:41:05.330 --> 00:41:09.240
which you will be quite happy
to throw at each other.

00:41:09.240 --> 00:41:13.620
You know that this cylinder of
foam, of pipe-insulating

00:41:13.620 --> 00:41:17.260
material, is not going to hurt
anyone when you throw it.

00:41:17.260 --> 00:41:20.000
Which makes it more likely that
I'm going to pick it up

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:21.950
and throw it at someone.

00:41:21.950 --> 00:41:24.835
Clearly it's something that's
designed for me to throw that

00:41:24.835 --> 00:41:26.670
the GMs put there.

00:41:26.670 --> 00:41:29.560
And if you want your players to
be engaging in that kind of

00:41:29.560 --> 00:41:31.700
activity that's technically--

00:41:31.700 --> 00:41:33.090
you could have put a
real bottle there.

00:41:33.090 --> 00:41:37.640
You could have put a real mug
or computer or something.

00:41:37.640 --> 00:41:39.540
That's the reason why you as
the GM could have, but they

00:41:39.540 --> 00:41:43.610
are deliberately designing to
put something fake there to

00:41:43.610 --> 00:41:47.040
clue the player into maybe
there's something I can do

00:41:47.040 --> 00:41:49.220
with that I wouldn't necessarily
want to do if it

00:41:49.220 --> 00:41:50.774
was the real thing.

00:41:50.774 --> 00:41:53.264
I wouldn't want to throw a real
bottle at somebody, but I

00:41:53.264 --> 00:41:56.760
would easily throw a foam
bottle at somebody.

00:41:56.760 --> 00:42:03.600
Same thing for Nerf guns, dart
guns, this guns, it's like you

00:42:03.600 --> 00:42:06.320
put something with a trigger
in somebody's hands that's

00:42:06.320 --> 00:42:09.670
going to launch a little cheap
piece of plastic at someone?

00:42:09.670 --> 00:42:12.160
They're itching for a chance
to use it, really.

00:42:15.740 --> 00:42:19.840
Let's see, what else?

00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:21.060
Dice are difficult.

00:42:21.060 --> 00:42:23.240
The problem with dice is you
need a flat surface to roll

00:42:23.240 --> 00:42:26.304
them on, and you might
not have that.

00:42:26.304 --> 00:42:27.554
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].

00:42:31.520 --> 00:42:34.350
PROFESSOR: Still a little bit
risky, because they could end

00:42:34.350 --> 00:42:35.230
up going all over the floor.

00:42:35.230 --> 00:42:37.725
AUDIENCE: Another thing that
I've seen people do is some

00:42:37.725 --> 00:42:40.220
kind of [INAUDIBLE]
style thing.

00:42:40.220 --> 00:42:44.461
Where essentially they have
[INAUDIBLE] or something, you

00:42:44.461 --> 00:42:45.709
might have created them.

00:42:45.709 --> 00:42:48.810
You can beat a challenge by
giving one to the other player

00:42:48.810 --> 00:42:51.021
that you're fighting with.

00:42:51.021 --> 00:42:52.271
And then [INAUDIBLE].

00:42:55.310 --> 00:42:56.898
PROFESSOR: So it's like the
amount of energy you've got.

00:42:56.898 --> 00:42:58.850
AUDIENCE: Yeah, it's like the
amount of energy you've got.

00:42:58.850 --> 00:43:03.040
And also, if you discard them or
give them to another player

00:43:03.040 --> 00:43:07.960
then it's the difference between
these things are just

00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:12.236
gone and they circulate
around.

00:43:12.236 --> 00:43:12.728
PROFESSOR: [INAUDIBLE].

00:43:12.728 --> 00:43:16.418
AUDIENCE: Yeah, so if there's
the circulation thing than you

00:43:16.418 --> 00:43:18.140
can get whooped a few times.

00:43:18.140 --> 00:43:19.616
But after being whooped then
suddenly you get a chance to

00:43:19.616 --> 00:43:21.092
whoop back.

00:43:21.092 --> 00:43:25.028
And then it becomes
less [INAUDIBLE].

00:43:25.028 --> 00:43:26.012
PROFESSOR: That was
interesting.

00:43:26.012 --> 00:43:29.456
This is the good part that I
want to talk about which is

00:43:29.456 --> 00:43:31.460
[INAUDIBLE].

00:43:31.460 --> 00:43:34.570
A topic that you guys are
already very familiar with.

00:43:34.570 --> 00:43:39.580
But, at what point do your
game mechanics--

00:43:39.580 --> 00:43:42.270
are you designing your game
mechanics not necessarily to

00:43:42.270 --> 00:43:46.260
enhance the realism or to
encourage certain behaviors or

00:43:46.260 --> 00:43:48.790
to give the player enough
information about what they're

00:43:48.790 --> 00:43:51.110
allowed to do or what they
should be doing?

00:43:51.110 --> 00:43:53.880
And you're just going into the
realm of how do I make this

00:43:53.880 --> 00:43:56.410
competitively interesting?

00:43:56.410 --> 00:43:59.080
Real fights, if you get
a bunch of blows,

00:43:59.080 --> 00:44:00.330
you do not get stronger.

00:44:03.190 --> 00:44:07.825
Well, if you're Bruce
[? Bannon ?] maybe.

00:44:07.825 --> 00:44:14.510
But from a competitive point of
view, or from a traditional

00:44:14.510 --> 00:44:17.860
game play point of view, that
sounds like a great idea.

00:44:17.860 --> 00:44:24.730
That gets you back into the
game, whereas any very

00:44:24.730 --> 00:44:27.481
realistic fight mechanic is
really probably going to be a

00:44:27.481 --> 00:44:28.690
positive feedback mechanic.

00:44:28.690 --> 00:44:30.270
You win, you keep winning.

00:44:33.920 --> 00:44:40.340
You can think of these five
different things as--its not

00:44:40.340 --> 00:44:43.280
like game balance, but these are
decisions that you have to

00:44:43.280 --> 00:44:46.785
make either as an individual
designer or as a team about

00:44:46.785 --> 00:44:50.010
what any given mechanic in
your game is trying to

00:44:50.010 --> 00:44:50.720
accomplish.

00:44:50.720 --> 00:44:52.585
It's rarely mutually
exclusive.

00:44:52.585 --> 00:44:55.310
It's usually trying to involve
multiple one of these things.

00:44:55.310 --> 00:44:58.230
You don't want to fall down on
any of these, especially not

00:44:58.230 --> 00:44:59.400
feasibility.

00:44:59.400 --> 00:45:01.330
It's like, yes this is the
perfect game mechanic!

00:45:01.330 --> 00:45:05.540
And we had two years to be able
to put together all the

00:45:05.540 --> 00:45:07.930
things that we had.

00:45:07.930 --> 00:45:09.790
And for the games that
have failed to run

00:45:09.790 --> 00:45:12.280
because of that idea.

00:45:12.280 --> 00:45:14.925
Especially live-action games
that have a hidden computer

00:45:14.925 --> 00:45:19.100
component, especially if
they're designed by MIT

00:45:19.100 --> 00:45:22.460
students, rapidly designed into
a software engineering

00:45:22.460 --> 00:45:25.680
project that never finishes.

00:45:25.680 --> 00:45:28.070
The game kind of disappears and
it's all about this damn

00:45:28.070 --> 00:45:31.890
website that would have solved
everything else.

00:45:31.890 --> 00:45:33.750
It's completely realistic
because of the hacking

00:45:33.750 --> 00:45:36.100
mechanic that actually happens
on the computer.

00:45:36.100 --> 00:45:39.800
And the skills scale to your
ability as a character which

00:45:39.800 --> 00:45:41.900
the computer already knows,
and you don't have to

00:45:41.900 --> 00:45:45.120
remember, so you can
feel really neat.

00:45:45.120 --> 00:45:48.420
And it's competitive because
you know what the opponents

00:45:48.420 --> 00:45:51.493
are doing, but not everything
they're doing, and it's going

00:45:51.493 --> 00:45:53.734
to take us five years
to write this code.

00:45:53.734 --> 00:45:55.198
The game's never going
to happen.

00:45:58.920 --> 00:46:02.160
Let's see, let me think about an
example just to sort of put

00:46:02.160 --> 00:46:05.820
some ideas in your head.

00:46:05.820 --> 00:46:08.650
Back to the idea of things
that players might be

00:46:08.650 --> 00:46:11.060
uncomfortable doing
with each other.

00:46:11.060 --> 00:46:14.600
Seduction is one of those
things that's--

00:46:14.600 --> 00:46:18.160
if you don't have a game
mechanic for it, it never

00:46:18.160 --> 00:46:21.380
happens in the way that
you want it to

00:46:21.380 --> 00:46:23.530
that helps the game.

00:46:23.530 --> 00:46:26.540
If it happens, it's happening
between the players and that

00:46:26.540 --> 00:46:29.080
causes all kinds of problems.

00:46:29.080 --> 00:46:32.180
So you come up with a rule, come
up with a game mechanic,

00:46:32.180 --> 00:46:34.660
that feels nothing like
real-life seduction.

00:46:34.660 --> 00:46:37.827
We're going to play a game of
blackjack now, if I win you're

00:46:37.827 --> 00:46:38.935
now in love with me.

00:46:38.935 --> 00:46:42.690
And it's like, that's not how
seduction actually works, but

00:46:42.690 --> 00:46:44.910
it actually makes it easier
for players to

00:46:44.910 --> 00:46:47.630
say, I can do that.

00:46:47.630 --> 00:46:48.440
I can play a game
of blackjack.

00:46:48.440 --> 00:46:49.690
There's no social
awkwardness in

00:46:49.690 --> 00:46:50.400
playing a game of blackjack.

00:46:50.400 --> 00:46:54.460
AUDIENCE: You can associate that
with, I win this game so

00:46:54.460 --> 00:46:57.281
I slipped inside your glass a
love potion so now you're in

00:46:57.281 --> 00:46:58.109
love with me.

00:46:58.109 --> 00:46:59.359
Something like that.

00:47:02.036 --> 00:47:04.260
PROFESSOR: But see, in that
particular case you're

00:47:04.260 --> 00:47:10.360
describing an action that people
might be more actually

00:47:10.360 --> 00:47:13.820
willing to do through some
sort of simple mechanic.

00:47:13.820 --> 00:47:15.800
Like OK, instead of love potion
we're going to mechanic

00:47:15.800 --> 00:47:18.100
that enables you to something.

00:47:18.100 --> 00:47:20.220
I'm going to actually
give you a file.

00:47:20.220 --> 00:47:24.010
And if you drink something in
the tea, like maple syrup,

00:47:24.010 --> 00:47:24.870
talk to the GM.

00:47:24.870 --> 00:47:30.540
Because you probably just
drank some magic potion.

00:47:30.540 --> 00:47:32.740
But if the goal is, all
right we're playing

00:47:32.740 --> 00:47:33.870
a film noire game.

00:47:33.870 --> 00:47:38.330
And you're supposed to be
engaging in constant witty

00:47:38.330 --> 00:47:43.460
banter, laden with sexual
innuendo, a lot of people have

00:47:43.460 --> 00:47:46.570
a lot of difficulty with that.

00:47:46.570 --> 00:47:48.120
Sometimes it works.

00:47:48.120 --> 00:47:50.970
I made it work in some games.

00:47:50.970 --> 00:47:54.750
But it makes it a lot easier if
the success or failure in

00:47:54.750 --> 00:48:00.020
that is not going to be
bottlenecked by whether the

00:48:00.020 --> 00:48:03.210
players feel comfortable
doing it.

00:48:03.210 --> 00:48:06.030
So creating a game mechanic that
actually feels a little

00:48:06.030 --> 00:48:12.060
bit less than what activity
you're trying to represent may

00:48:12.060 --> 00:48:14.790
make it easier for people to
engage in the activity.

00:48:14.790 --> 00:48:16.680
Same thing goes in combat,
playing rock, paper, scissors,

00:48:16.680 --> 00:48:18.890
feels nothing like
an actual fight.

00:48:18.890 --> 00:48:21.110
But people will be much more
willing to play rock, paper,

00:48:21.110 --> 00:48:23.170
scissors with each other than
to punch each other.

00:48:23.170 --> 00:48:28.040
So come up a rule, give them a
little plastic gun, give them

00:48:28.040 --> 00:48:30.914
something to make it easier,
and they'll be willing to

00:48:30.914 --> 00:48:34.000
engage in that activity
more often.

00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:36.817
Violence in the rule will
probably be the thing that

00:48:36.817 --> 00:48:38.067
comes up a lot in
this setting.

00:48:44.730 --> 00:48:51.208
So, let me see what else
we can get into.

00:48:51.208 --> 00:48:54.620
It's about 2 o'clock.

00:48:54.620 --> 00:48:59.050
How many folks here have played
some variant of Mafia

00:48:59.050 --> 00:49:04.050
or Werewolf or?

00:49:04.050 --> 00:49:06.770
Who's played Mafia
in particular?

00:49:06.770 --> 00:49:08.470
OK, who's played Werewolf?

00:49:12.960 --> 00:49:15.815
So those are live-action
games too.

00:49:15.815 --> 00:49:18.630
And those are live-action games
that specifically don't

00:49:18.630 --> 00:49:23.860
try to draw too sharp a division
between who you are

00:49:23.860 --> 00:49:25.350
and who your player is.

00:49:25.350 --> 00:49:30.625
You are given a role, a card,
that basically says whether

00:49:30.625 --> 00:49:34.960
you're Mafia or whether you're
a villager I think.

00:49:34.960 --> 00:49:36.290
AUDIENCE: Civilian.

00:49:36.290 --> 00:49:40.250
PROFESSOR: And the whole idea
is that everybody who's--

00:49:40.250 --> 00:49:43.690
that's a character sheet that
gives you private, secret,

00:49:43.690 --> 00:49:46.840
information about the role that
you're supposed to play.

00:49:46.840 --> 00:49:53.010
But in my opinion, these
particular games-- and we're

00:49:53.010 --> 00:49:54.940
going to play some variants
of them--

00:49:58.400 --> 00:50:02.020
what you are told by the
cards is only what

00:50:02.020 --> 00:50:03.720
you're allowed to do.

00:50:03.720 --> 00:50:08.520
What actually gives you the role
is what you decide to do.

00:50:08.520 --> 00:50:13.140
I play Mafia and I'm going to
say, Patrick needs to die.

00:50:13.140 --> 00:50:19.179
And other people in the room
agree with me, and Patrick's

00:50:19.179 --> 00:50:20.610
character gets taken
out of the game.

00:50:20.610 --> 00:50:23.800
That decision is the decision
that made me Mafia.

00:50:23.800 --> 00:50:26.540
And that decision is the
decision that other people are

00:50:26.540 --> 00:50:33.650
trying to catch, because they
are trying to find a person

00:50:33.650 --> 00:50:36.090
who's actually responsible for
various acts when everybody's

00:50:36.090 --> 00:50:37.560
eyes are closed.

00:50:37.560 --> 00:50:42.290
The general model for these
games is there are cycles.

00:50:42.290 --> 00:50:45.120
For Werewolf it's a day and
night cycle, and for Mafia

00:50:45.120 --> 00:50:46.560
it's also day and night.

00:50:46.560 --> 00:50:51.090
But the idea is that during the
night everybody who's not

00:50:51.090 --> 00:50:54.270
Mafia gets to have
their eyes open.

00:50:54.270 --> 00:50:56.180
Everybody who is Mafia--

00:50:56.180 --> 00:50:58.280
everybody who's not Mafia
keeps their eyes closed.

00:50:58.280 --> 00:51:01.080
Everyone who is Mafia keeps
their eyes open.

00:51:01.080 --> 00:51:05.550
And people who are Mafia can
communicate through some GM

00:51:05.550 --> 00:51:09.090
mediator, some game master
mediated way, to specify the

00:51:09.090 --> 00:51:11.650
player to be taken out of
the game at this point.

00:51:11.650 --> 00:51:12.950
It's usually a point.

00:51:15.710 --> 00:51:18.400
I see things with blinks.

00:51:18.400 --> 00:51:20.770
Because as the GM moves around
sometimes that gives you

00:51:20.770 --> 00:51:22.460
clues, because you can hear.

00:51:22.460 --> 00:51:25.110
Even with your eyes closed you
can hear where the GM is.

00:51:29.410 --> 00:51:32.180
And then that's like
the night cycle.

00:51:32.180 --> 00:51:36.985
And during the day cycle
everyone opens their eyes and

00:51:36.985 --> 00:51:39.940
whoever's been taken out of
the game informs you.

00:51:39.940 --> 00:51:43.670
And everyone knows and everybody
starts discussing

00:51:43.670 --> 00:51:46.160
and accusing each other of
being responsible for it.

00:51:46.160 --> 00:51:49.132
And the whole point of the game
is for the villagers to

00:51:49.132 --> 00:51:51.380
identify who all the Mafia is
before everyone finishes.

00:51:58.380 --> 00:52:01.210
It's a live-action game that
doesn't have a lot of action.

00:52:01.210 --> 00:52:03.570
I would say, it's one action.

00:52:03.570 --> 00:52:04.910
There's closing your
eyes, opening your

00:52:04.910 --> 00:52:07.990
eyes, and there's pointing.

00:52:07.990 --> 00:52:10.330
There are variants where

00:52:10.330 --> 00:52:13.590
sometimes there is a Godfather.

00:52:13.590 --> 00:52:16.430
AUDIENCE: I've seen websites
with whole lists of different

00:52:16.430 --> 00:52:18.000
roles that are just
ridiculous.

00:52:18.000 --> 00:52:21.640
Like there's grave keeper,
there's necromancers.

00:52:21.640 --> 00:52:23.170
PROFESSOR: There's people
who can bring characters

00:52:23.170 --> 00:52:24.480
back from the dead.

00:52:24.480 --> 00:52:26.730
There are people who
can basically do

00:52:26.730 --> 00:52:28.170
a background check.

00:52:28.170 --> 00:52:28.910
I think that's--

00:52:28.910 --> 00:52:30.260
AUDIENCE: Oh, that's
right you told us.

00:52:30.260 --> 00:52:31.510
PROFESSOR: -- angels and cops.

00:52:34.810 --> 00:52:38.470
And you go from two cycles to
three cycles per round.

00:52:38.470 --> 00:52:39.802
Four cycles per round where
different people

00:52:39.802 --> 00:52:41.290
have their eyes open.

00:52:41.290 --> 00:52:46.620
And you get different bits of
information about what the

00:52:46.620 --> 00:52:49.090
world state is like.

00:52:49.090 --> 00:52:53.830
The fact that killing somebody
is pointing at them, that's a

00:52:53.830 --> 00:52:55.260
dissociation mechanic right?

00:52:55.260 --> 00:52:57.365
It's not like you're actually
being asked to engage in

00:52:57.365 --> 00:52:59.378
physical combat.

00:52:59.378 --> 00:53:01.745
Even though the fiction of
the game is that you're

00:53:01.745 --> 00:53:03.200
assassinating this person in
the middle of the night.

00:53:06.640 --> 00:53:10.435
The verisimilitude, and
competition, will largely come

00:53:10.435 --> 00:53:12.870
down to the discussion phase.

00:53:12.870 --> 00:53:17.970
They are trying to put players
in an environment where you've

00:53:17.970 --> 00:53:22.660
got a paranoid of villagers, a
paranoid town, and they're all

00:53:22.660 --> 00:53:27.390
mutually accusing each other.

00:53:27.390 --> 00:53:34.240
And both the act of trying to
not be accused, and trying to

00:53:34.240 --> 00:53:40.210
deduce who is the right person
to accuse, is a compelling

00:53:40.210 --> 00:53:41.730
competitive experience.

00:53:41.730 --> 00:53:45.360
That's what all these games
are really about.

00:53:45.360 --> 00:53:48.820
So all the emphasis, all the
time of the game frankly, is

00:53:48.820 --> 00:53:52.520
devoted to that phase when
everyone sits down and

00:53:52.520 --> 00:53:56.820
discusses with each other
who could be the Mafia.

00:53:56.820 --> 00:54:01.126
You want to walk us through
one of the variants maybe?

00:54:01.126 --> 00:54:03.260
GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah, do you
want to actually play it?

00:54:03.260 --> 00:54:05.640
Or just describe it?

00:54:05.640 --> 00:54:09.540
PROFESSOR: We have 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,

00:54:09.540 --> 00:54:11.890
10, 11, 12, 13, 14.

00:54:11.890 --> 00:54:14.050
We could have two groups
or one big group.

00:54:14.050 --> 00:54:15.690
GUEST SPEAKER: One big group
may take awhile.

00:54:18.424 --> 00:54:22.220
PROFESSOR: Let's do two
groups but how many

00:54:22.220 --> 00:54:23.840
different rule variants?

00:54:23.840 --> 00:54:25.740
GUEST SPEAKER: I only found one
that I thought was really

00:54:25.740 --> 00:54:28.192
interesting, although we can
certainly-- even the Wikipedia

00:54:28.192 --> 00:54:30.210
page has a million variants.

00:54:30.210 --> 00:54:32.620
AUDIENCE: The one I normally
would play would be one where

00:54:32.620 --> 00:54:34.950
there's mafia and
there's cops.

00:54:34.950 --> 00:54:36.490
There might be a medic.

00:54:36.490 --> 00:54:40.718
AUDIENCE: Inspector, angel,
and prostitute.

00:54:40.718 --> 00:54:42.160
AUDIENCE: What's the prostitute
do again?

00:54:42.160 --> 00:54:42.656
AUDIENCE: If you sleep
with the mafia

00:54:42.656 --> 00:54:43.420
they don't kill anybody.

00:54:43.420 --> 00:54:46.070
If you sleep with an inspector
they get incorrect

00:54:46.070 --> 00:54:46.560
information.

00:54:46.560 --> 00:54:48.770
If you sleep with a nurse
they don't heal.

00:54:54.570 --> 00:54:56.370
PROFESSOR: This is it's very
important to make sure you

00:54:56.370 --> 00:54:57.980
know what rules that
you're playing with

00:54:57.980 --> 00:55:00.500
before the game starts.

00:55:00.500 --> 00:55:04.220
So walk us through the roles,
and then what we'll do is

00:55:04.220 --> 00:55:06.450
we'll break this into
two groups.

00:55:06.450 --> 00:55:13.030
And we'll have two groups play
separately and that's probably

00:55:13.030 --> 00:55:16.800
the end of the class activity.

00:55:16.800 --> 00:55:20.760
GUEST SPEAKER: I had found a
variant called Thing, which is

00:55:20.760 --> 00:55:23.200
based on the John
Carpenter movie.

00:55:23.200 --> 00:55:25.440
Which is interesting because it
takes out one of the roles.

00:55:25.440 --> 00:55:30.260
The idea is one person is the
shape shifting thing, and at

00:55:30.260 --> 00:55:33.300
night they infect someone else
and that person becomes a

00:55:33.300 --> 00:55:34.980
thing as well.

00:55:34.980 --> 00:55:37.860
So they're not knocked
out, out right.

00:55:37.860 --> 00:55:40.930
And then during the day the
group votes and decides on one

00:55:40.930 --> 00:55:42.580
person to test.

00:55:42.580 --> 00:55:45.720
And if they test a thing that
person is killed and they get

00:55:45.720 --> 00:55:47.020
to test another one.

00:55:47.020 --> 00:55:49.410
And the idea is that the things
are trying to outnumber

00:55:49.410 --> 00:55:51.810
the people.

00:55:51.810 --> 00:55:53.540
Which is interesting because
it takes away

00:55:53.540 --> 00:55:56.840
that inspector role.

00:55:56.840 --> 00:56:00.552
AUDIENCE: Do you know who
gets thinged in the

00:56:00.552 --> 00:56:02.120
middle of the night?

00:56:02.120 --> 00:56:03.520
GUEST SPEAKER: So, I was
thinking about this.

00:56:03.520 --> 00:56:07.140
What you would need is for the
person who is the thing to

00:56:07.140 --> 00:56:08.810
indicate to the moderator.

00:56:08.810 --> 00:56:12.460
And then maybe the moderator
could tap them or something.

00:56:12.460 --> 00:56:14.526
AUDIENCE: Ok, so if you're a
thing you know you're a thing.

00:56:14.526 --> 00:56:16.770
GUEST SPEAKER: Yeah.

00:56:16.770 --> 00:56:19.020
The things are spreading
as opposed to just--

00:56:19.020 --> 00:56:21.060
AUDIENCE: And then if there's
two things, do they both just

00:56:21.060 --> 00:56:22.290
agree on another?

00:56:22.290 --> 00:56:22.530
On a third?

00:56:22.530 --> 00:56:23.460
GUEST SPEAKER: Presumably.

00:56:23.460 --> 00:56:27.360
So this is really interesting
because apparently this is

00:56:27.360 --> 00:56:30.210
played at a conference for
science fiction writers.

00:56:30.210 --> 00:56:34.155
So there's little snippets of it
on the web about the rules

00:56:34.155 --> 00:56:35.590
from different blogs
and stuff.

00:56:35.590 --> 00:56:37.510
And it's not as interesting, but
of course the problem is

00:56:37.510 --> 00:56:39.810
how do you Google
for mafia thing?

00:56:44.590 --> 00:56:47.370
It's not interesting to me, and
then it seems like there's

00:56:47.370 --> 00:56:48.620
[INAUDIBLE].

00:56:52.020 --> 00:56:55.100
PROFESSOR: So it might be fine
actually to have two groups

00:56:55.100 --> 00:56:58.296
figure out how to play that game
just from the description

00:56:58.296 --> 00:56:59.940
that you've just been given.

00:56:59.940 --> 00:57:01.490
I think [INAUDIBLE]

00:57:01.490 --> 00:57:02.872
there's going to be enough
people who've played

00:57:02.872 --> 00:57:05.100
traditional Mafia to
know how it works.

00:57:05.100 --> 00:57:09.580
And then we'll just reconvene at
the end of it and see what

00:57:09.580 --> 00:57:12.330
each version people
came up with.

00:57:12.330 --> 00:57:15.670
What were the similarities and
what were the differences.

00:57:15.670 --> 00:57:18.160
Again, that's the flexibility
of doing a live-action game

00:57:18.160 --> 00:57:19.670
when the people who are actually
coming up the the

00:57:19.670 --> 00:57:23.070
rules are actually in the same
room as the players, or are

00:57:23.070 --> 00:57:24.595
the players themselves.

00:57:24.595 --> 00:57:26.250
You get to make stuff
up on the fly as

00:57:26.250 --> 00:57:27.500
long as everyone agrees.

00:57:29.870 --> 00:57:31.530
So let's give it a shot.

00:57:31.530 --> 00:57:36.516
While Jason is sorting out, any
questions about the stuff?

00:57:42.578 --> 00:57:45.554
AUDIENCE: The two biggest
challenges that I've come

00:57:45.554 --> 00:57:52.810
across in the block mechanics
have to do with surgical

00:57:52.810 --> 00:57:57.610
challenges and intellectual
skill.

00:57:57.610 --> 00:58:00.076
So let's go intellectual.

00:58:00.076 --> 00:58:02.580
It's easy to play a character
that's stupider than you.

00:58:02.580 --> 00:58:04.710
It's really hard to play
a character that's

00:58:04.710 --> 00:58:05.820
smarter than you.

00:58:05.820 --> 00:58:08.390
In particular, it's really
hard to play a character

00:58:08.390 --> 00:58:11.980
that's smarter than you if you
don't have a GM around all the

00:58:11.980 --> 00:58:15.770
time to tell you, stop.

00:58:18.686 --> 00:58:21.225
So, if you have any ideas about
how to deal with that.

00:58:21.225 --> 00:58:26.306
The other one is, I'm creating
social conflicts.

00:58:26.306 --> 00:58:29.810
Like, this is harder than any
role-playing game because it

00:58:29.810 --> 00:58:33.120
feels like if you want to be
able to persuade a character

00:58:33.120 --> 00:58:35.768
or something you just want to
persuade them because you're

00:58:35.768 --> 00:58:37.640
role-playing right?

00:58:37.640 --> 00:58:39.960
But you're supposed to be
playing a character who is

00:58:39.960 --> 00:58:41.990
more persuasive than you.

00:58:41.990 --> 00:58:44.870
But it feels really cheap.

00:58:44.870 --> 00:58:46.620
If you can just sort of.

00:58:46.620 --> 00:58:49.480
PROFESSOR: You believe me now!

00:58:49.480 --> 00:58:53.190
AUDIENCE: It also ties into
another area that frequently

00:58:53.190 --> 00:58:55.635
pops up in LARP's and
role-playing games in general

00:58:55.635 --> 00:58:58.210
which is use of metagame
knowledge.

00:58:58.210 --> 00:59:03.030
So frequently if you've been
persuaded to do something then

00:59:03.030 --> 00:59:07.400
you've come across players using
their metagame knowledge

00:59:07.400 --> 00:59:09.420
that they don't want to do the
thing that they're being

00:59:09.420 --> 00:59:11.720
mechanically forced to do.

00:59:11.720 --> 00:59:15.100
And they're trying to find
loopholes constantly.

00:59:15.100 --> 00:59:20.490
I don't know if you can really
force people to abandon their

00:59:20.490 --> 00:59:21.960
metagame knowledge
mechanically?

00:59:21.960 --> 00:59:24.410
But I don't know.

00:59:24.410 --> 00:59:28.090
PROFESSOR: I have some examples
on how the Assassin's

00:59:28.090 --> 00:59:32.690
Guild in particular has
dealt with that.

00:59:32.690 --> 00:59:36.580
And in some ways it's cheating,
because we're not

00:59:36.580 --> 00:59:39.370
going to try to do some
of those things.

00:59:39.370 --> 00:59:41.650
In particular, let's
take persuasion for

00:59:41.650 --> 00:59:43.450
one of those things.

00:59:43.450 --> 00:59:47.020
The problem with persuasion is
that whatever mechanic you

00:59:47.020 --> 00:59:51.110
come to, other than what you
see is what you get--

00:59:51.110 --> 00:59:52.360
[INAUDIBLE]--

00:59:56.750 --> 00:59:59.900
any other mechanic that you come
up with runs that risk of

00:59:59.900 --> 01:00:01.640
the, wait a minute this
is not what I really,

01:00:01.640 --> 01:00:03.460
really, want to do.

01:00:03.460 --> 01:00:07.190
So the Assassin's Guild
has replaced that with

01:00:07.190 --> 01:00:07.810
brainwashing.

01:00:07.810 --> 01:00:12.790
Which is the whole idea of,
you're not being persuaded.

01:00:12.790 --> 01:00:16.870
You goals are being forcibly
changed, but now you have

01:00:16.870 --> 01:00:18.470
other goals.

01:00:18.470 --> 01:00:19.720
And that's the big difference.

01:00:23.390 --> 01:00:26.300
Your old goals are no longer
your win conditions.

01:00:26.300 --> 01:00:29.160
Your new goals are now
your win conditions.

01:00:29.160 --> 01:00:33.247
You can still win the game by
obeying your new goals.

01:00:33.247 --> 01:00:35.430
AUDIENCE: That's cool.

01:00:35.430 --> 01:00:37.144
PROFESSOR: The brainwashing
mechanism.

01:00:37.144 --> 01:00:39.154
AUDIENCE: So you've aligned the
interests of the player

01:00:39.154 --> 01:00:41.410
with the interest of
the character.

01:00:41.410 --> 01:00:46.680
PROFESSOR:You want to go with
your new goals now because--

01:00:46.680 --> 01:00:50.110
how this came up, typically in
the Assassin's Guild, the

01:00:50.110 --> 01:00:51.940
Assassin's Guild actually
grew out from

01:00:51.940 --> 01:00:53.250
circle of death games.

01:00:53.250 --> 01:00:54.950
Which is, getting to know you.

01:00:54.950 --> 01:00:57.175
I have the name of somebody, and
I need to shoot them with

01:00:57.175 --> 01:00:58.430
this water gun.

01:00:58.430 --> 01:00:59.950
Who is this person again?

01:00:59.950 --> 01:01:00.450
I don't know.

01:01:00.450 --> 01:01:01.230
I'm a freshman.

01:01:01.230 --> 01:01:02.010
I haven't met everyone
on campus.

01:01:02.010 --> 01:01:03.180
I'm going to figure out
who this person is.

01:01:03.180 --> 01:01:05.560
That's where those
games came from.

01:01:05.560 --> 01:01:07.440
The Assassin's Guild kind
of grew up from that.

01:01:07.440 --> 01:01:09.200
Then it became teams.

01:01:09.200 --> 01:01:14.190
And brainwashing was basically
the set of game mechanics that

01:01:14.190 --> 01:01:16.140
was used for recruiting
people to your team.

01:01:16.140 --> 01:01:19.010
So it's like, all right
everyone's got one target.

01:01:19.010 --> 01:01:22.490
But there are a few people out
there who's job is destroying

01:01:22.490 --> 01:01:25.730
everybody on this opposing
faction.

01:01:25.730 --> 01:01:27.820
And there's only one person
in that opposing

01:01:27.820 --> 01:01:28.430
faction right now.

01:01:28.430 --> 01:01:29.060
There's only one of me.

01:01:29.060 --> 01:01:31.750
But I have this brainwashing
mechanic that recruits more

01:01:31.750 --> 01:01:32.320
and more people.

01:01:32.320 --> 01:01:35.810
So what you thought was one,
I'm just against another

01:01:35.810 --> 01:01:40.500
individual, becomes my group
is against that group.

01:01:40.500 --> 01:01:42.160
And it feels pretty
awesome, actually.

01:01:42.160 --> 01:01:43.820
Because what it actually
feels--

01:01:43.820 --> 01:01:48.620
it's a weird game mechanic way
of making your character have

01:01:48.620 --> 01:01:50.960
some sort of development
in the game.

01:01:50.960 --> 01:01:53.960
If you think about a
role-playing game, character

01:01:53.960 --> 01:01:57.210
development means your goals
now change somehow.

01:01:57.210 --> 01:02:01.340
But it's really difficult to
give players a means of doing

01:02:01.340 --> 01:02:02.840
that themselves.

01:02:02.840 --> 01:02:04.270
Brainwashing was one of the
few ways that seems to

01:02:04.270 --> 01:02:05.570
actually have worked.

01:02:05.570 --> 01:02:08.780
I'm actively going to knock out
this character, put this

01:02:08.780 --> 01:02:12.130
blinky helmet on them for five
seconds, and if nobody catches

01:02:12.130 --> 01:02:14.570
me in this process I give
them new goals.

01:02:14.570 --> 01:02:17.260
And the person who's
[INAUDIBLE], dude this is way

01:02:17.260 --> 01:02:19.074
more exciting than anything
[INAUDIBLE].

01:02:21.790 --> 01:02:25.770
And you also avoid the metagame
problem of loyalty.

01:02:25.770 --> 01:02:28.370
It's like, I got this
information from this other

01:02:28.370 --> 01:02:30.720
group but I've been brainwashed
and I don't want

01:02:30.720 --> 01:02:32.090
to tell you.

01:02:32.090 --> 01:02:33.250
It's like, no you want to tell
me now because it'll actually

01:02:33.250 --> 01:02:34.500
help you win.

01:02:36.260 --> 01:02:42.320
But metagaming in all
kinds of live-action

01:02:42.320 --> 01:02:43.740
games is a big thing.

01:02:43.740 --> 01:02:47.850
You know things about the player
or you know things

01:02:47.850 --> 01:02:49.506
about the game state
that you're not

01:02:49.506 --> 01:02:51.260
really supposed to know.

01:02:51.260 --> 01:02:54.096
If a person is supposed to be
able to teleport from one end

01:02:54.096 --> 01:02:56.610
of campus to the other end of
campus, the character may be

01:02:56.610 --> 01:02:57.810
able to do that.

01:02:57.810 --> 01:03:00.286
But the damn player's got to
walk all the way in between.

01:03:00.286 --> 01:03:03.100
And you have to drive the player
halfway to the, I now

01:03:03.100 --> 01:03:05.980
know that player is probably
on this side of campus.

01:03:05.980 --> 01:03:08.298
Even though your character
really had no idea how

01:03:08.298 --> 01:03:09.480
to deal with that.

01:03:09.480 --> 01:03:12.345
That's just one of those--

01:03:12.345 --> 01:03:16.880
there are ways to design game
mechanics to avoid those

01:03:16.880 --> 01:03:17.560
situations.

01:03:17.560 --> 01:03:21.630
But in many, many, live-action
role playing there is a honor

01:03:21.630 --> 01:03:24.710
system that really
has to kick in.

01:03:24.710 --> 01:03:26.580
The nice thing about it is that
if everyone decides to go

01:03:26.580 --> 01:03:29.280
by the honor system, and agrees
that this honor system

01:03:29.280 --> 01:03:32.750
is necessary for the world to
be reinforced, it actually

01:03:32.750 --> 01:03:35.586
helps reinforce that mutual
illusion that

01:03:35.586 --> 01:03:38.500
this world is real.

01:03:38.500 --> 01:03:40.940
By saying, I know that I'm not
supposed to know those things.

01:03:40.940 --> 01:03:48.330
But I am going to play this game
as hard as I can in a way

01:03:48.330 --> 01:03:50.000
that's [INAUDIBLE].

01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:52.590
Actually reinforces the world
for everybody else.

01:03:52.590 --> 01:03:53.915
It's the same for
improv theatre.

01:03:56.454 --> 01:04:00.850
Anyone here involved in improv
theatre or improv comedy?

01:04:00.850 --> 01:04:03.100
So, you know yes, and?

01:04:03.100 --> 01:04:04.130
AUDIENCE: Sure.

01:04:04.130 --> 01:04:07.370
PROFESSOR: What would be the
concept behind that?

01:04:07.370 --> 01:04:10.010
AUDIENCE: Yes, and, is an idea
where if you give someone an

01:04:10.010 --> 01:04:13.580
offer they'll take your offer.

01:04:13.580 --> 01:04:18.220
So if I say, man we're
all out of tomatoes.

01:04:18.220 --> 01:04:22.700
Someone will say, yes and the
big tomato cook-off is

01:04:22.700 --> 01:04:24.880
tomorrow or something
like this.

01:04:24.880 --> 01:04:26.350
PROFESSOR: You cannot contradict
what was said.

01:04:26.350 --> 01:04:28.410
AUDIENCE: Not only do you not
contradict, you always add

01:04:28.410 --> 01:04:28.930
information.

01:04:28.930 --> 01:04:30.943
Every line, at least at the
beginning of the scene, should

01:04:30.943 --> 01:04:32.552
be adding information
to the scene.

01:04:32.552 --> 01:04:35.300
And then after a few lines you
have a very, very, elaborate

01:04:35.300 --> 01:04:37.950
set up that's kind
of ridiculous.

01:04:37.950 --> 01:04:40.070
PROFESSOR: But, mutually
shared?

01:04:40.070 --> 01:04:41.760
AUDIENCE: Exactly.

01:04:41.760 --> 01:04:44.220
PROFESSOR: So, in that
same situation.

01:04:44.220 --> 01:04:47.570
Metagaming is one of those
things that's actively working

01:04:47.570 --> 01:04:49.340
to destroy the reality
of your world.

01:04:49.340 --> 01:04:54.740
And if all the players agree to
try their damn hardest to

01:04:54.740 --> 01:04:57.160
not let it interfere with
the world [INAUDIBLE].

01:04:57.160 --> 01:05:02.040
The illusion in a way that it
strengthens the scene for

01:05:02.040 --> 01:05:04.838
improv theatre.

01:05:04.838 --> 01:05:07.900
PROFESSOR: Hold on, just one
sec, the other concern that

01:05:07.900 --> 01:05:11.630
you had before persuasion
issue which was?

01:05:11.630 --> 01:05:17.042
AUDIENCE: Characters who, in
particular this comes up a lot

01:05:17.042 --> 01:05:19.994
in this [INAUDIBLE] type
situations or what have you,

01:05:19.994 --> 01:05:22.990
where you have somebody's who
either a super genius.

01:05:22.990 --> 01:05:25.140
AUDIENCE: Oh, so someone who's
better than you at something.

01:05:25.140 --> 01:05:28.020
AUDIENCE: Much better
than you.

01:05:28.020 --> 01:05:30.900
How do you mechanic that?

01:05:33.920 --> 01:05:36.600
PROFESSOR: The best way that you
can do that is to cast the

01:05:36.600 --> 01:05:37.530
right person.

01:05:37.530 --> 01:05:44.000
But what I have generally found
is that old role-playing

01:05:44.000 --> 01:05:47.510
game chestnut of separating
intelligence from wisdom makes

01:05:47.510 --> 01:05:48.970
it a little bit easier.

01:05:48.970 --> 01:05:51.034
There's intelligence, which is
the ability to think on the

01:05:51.034 --> 01:05:52.550
feet, and there's wisdom
which is how much you

01:05:52.550 --> 01:05:54.790
know about the world.

01:05:54.790 --> 01:06:00.990
And you as the game master
designing a game can figure

01:06:00.990 --> 01:06:03.995
out, when I say someone's really
smart, what do I mean?

01:06:03.995 --> 01:06:05.090
Intelligence or wisdom?

01:06:05.090 --> 01:06:08.410
It helps you a little bit on
thinking how I can use game

01:06:08.410 --> 01:06:11.940
mechanics or game writing
to fix that problem.

01:06:11.940 --> 01:06:15.360
So if it's intelligence it's
just like, oh I have the

01:06:15.360 --> 01:06:18.190
ability to do stuff that
other people can't do

01:06:18.190 --> 01:06:20.010
because I'm so smart.

01:06:20.010 --> 01:06:24.740
And you can literally just give
them abilities to act on

01:06:24.740 --> 01:06:28.440
things that other people
do not have.

01:06:28.440 --> 01:06:31.730
I'm able to build a telephone
out of this Coke because I'm a

01:06:31.730 --> 01:06:34.900
professor of Gilligan's
Island.

01:06:34.900 --> 01:06:36.330
I'm smart.

01:06:36.330 --> 01:06:37.920
It doesn't mean I have to
act terribly smart.

01:06:37.920 --> 01:06:40.083
I'm capable of doing things
that other people can't

01:06:40.083 --> 01:06:42.060
because I've been told
specifically

01:06:42.060 --> 01:06:43.330
I have these abilities.

01:06:43.330 --> 01:06:44.860
But that's the intelligence
side of it.

01:06:44.860 --> 01:06:46.120
The wisdom side of it is
a little bit harder.

01:06:46.120 --> 01:06:48.410
Which is basically, you
dump a whole bunch of

01:06:48.410 --> 01:06:50.100
information on somebody.

01:06:50.100 --> 01:06:53.600
And you hope that they are
capable of making associations

01:06:53.600 --> 01:06:56.580
between what's happening in
game and what they read.

01:06:56.580 --> 01:06:57.830
That's a lot harder.

01:06:57.830 --> 01:07:02.890
It is a problem, but I find that
by separating those two

01:07:02.890 --> 01:07:06.635
it makes it an easier problem.

01:07:06.635 --> 01:07:08.132
Patrick?

01:07:08.132 --> 01:07:10.770
AUDIENCE: Yeah, this is a bit
of a noobish question.

01:07:10.770 --> 01:07:12.640
Are LARPs usually played
in real time?

01:07:12.640 --> 01:07:15.860
PROFESSOR: Typically, they have
rules about when to hit

01:07:15.860 --> 01:07:16.910
the pause button.

01:07:16.910 --> 01:07:20.800
Basically at MIT those are
usually enacted when safety

01:07:20.800 --> 01:07:21.780
becomes an issue.

01:07:21.780 --> 01:07:25.170
People are running too fast.

01:07:25.170 --> 01:07:27.650
Somebody just fell down and you
want to be able to stop

01:07:27.650 --> 01:07:30.710
everyone from running, and
so they shout halt.

01:07:33.295 --> 01:07:37.000
Typically they're happening in
real time because it's really

01:07:37.000 --> 01:07:41.980
hard to do turn based stuff that
doesn't quickly feel like

01:07:41.980 --> 01:07:42.390
a board game.

01:07:42.390 --> 01:07:44.199
AUDIENCE: I mean like, when you
say someone would want to

01:07:44.199 --> 01:07:46.260
do a background check and you'd
say I don't know, come

01:07:46.260 --> 01:07:47.010
back in two hours.

01:07:47.010 --> 01:07:49.080
You'd literally wait
two hours?

01:07:49.080 --> 01:07:52.000
PROFESSOR: So, yeah,
often that really

01:07:52.000 --> 01:07:52.990
means just two hours.

01:07:52.990 --> 01:07:55.530
And that's an interesting thing
of that it's real time

01:07:55.530 --> 01:07:58.000
but it's kind of a time delay
at the same time.

01:07:58.000 --> 01:08:03.060
So as a game master you can
build in game mechanics that

01:08:03.060 --> 01:08:06.740
take advantage of real time
delays to be able to give you

01:08:06.740 --> 01:08:09.920
as game master some
time to breathe.

01:08:09.920 --> 01:08:11.900
Typically they're happening
in real time.

01:08:11.900 --> 01:08:16.609
I wrote a game where the clock
stopped somewhere between

01:08:16.609 --> 01:08:19.590
midnight and 8:00 AM.

01:08:19.590 --> 01:08:22.965
The game world literally froze,
well not literally

01:08:22.965 --> 01:08:24.215
figuratively froze, as well.

01:08:28.170 --> 01:08:32.630
And one minute after 8:00 the
clock would practically, in

01:08:32.630 --> 01:08:37.604
game terms, have moved one
minute even though there were

01:08:37.604 --> 01:08:39.020
eight intervening hours in
between so that people could

01:08:39.020 --> 01:08:40.270
go and take a break.

01:08:42.990 --> 01:08:45.220
Which would be great
for an Army of

01:08:45.220 --> 01:08:47.460
Darkness type of scenario.

01:08:47.460 --> 01:08:48.710
[INAUDIBLE].

01:08:50.439 --> 01:08:52.770
But those three films as opposed
to it all happened

01:08:52.770 --> 01:08:56.439
within 48 hours.

01:08:56.439 --> 01:08:58.040
So Andrew?

01:08:58.040 --> 01:08:59.200
[INAUDIBLE].

01:08:59.200 --> 01:09:00.510
AUDIENCE: So I guess
two things, one

01:09:00.510 --> 01:09:02.120
is in terms of wisdom.

01:09:02.120 --> 01:09:04.198
Could you possibly have little
note cards that are flipped

01:09:04.198 --> 01:09:04.694
over everywhere?

01:09:04.694 --> 01:09:06.678
And then the wisdom person, the
person with high wisdom,

01:09:06.678 --> 01:09:09.700
could read about information
in there?

01:09:09.700 --> 01:09:13.248
PROFESSOR: You could certainly
have taken advantage of a

01:09:13.248 --> 01:09:14.020
piece of paper taped on
the wall just put

01:09:14.020 --> 01:09:15.270
in the back, right?

01:09:16.800 --> 01:09:18.936
Some people can arguably be able
to read off the back of

01:09:18.936 --> 01:09:20.569
the paper, some people aren't.

01:09:20.569 --> 01:09:23.960
Which will be a little bit
easier than trying to keep it

01:09:23.960 --> 01:09:25.740
all in your head at once.

01:09:25.740 --> 01:09:27.990
You can also give very limited
wisdom, like the whole psychic

01:09:27.990 --> 01:09:30.050
example, right?

01:09:30.050 --> 01:09:32.240
I am sensitive in some way.

01:09:32.240 --> 01:09:35.850
I can tell when certain
things are cursed.

01:09:35.850 --> 01:09:39.920
By giving them clues on printed
pieces of paper that

01:09:39.920 --> 01:09:42.569
nobody else knows how
to interpret.

01:09:42.569 --> 01:09:47.249
I see there is a number
associated with each one of

01:09:47.249 --> 01:09:47.410
these rooms.

01:09:47.410 --> 01:09:49.580
That number happens
to be even.

01:09:49.580 --> 01:09:53.029
This is not a place that any
sane person would want to be.

01:09:53.029 --> 01:09:55.374
And there are people who have
the wisdom to tell that and

01:09:55.374 --> 01:09:58.240
there are some people
who don't.

01:09:58.240 --> 01:10:01.000
That's another way to put those
environmental clues.

01:10:06.010 --> 01:10:12.510
Particularly in MIT, hiding
clues in plain sight, and

01:10:12.510 --> 01:10:14.220
every single way that
you can possibly do

01:10:14.220 --> 01:10:17.720
that, is really exploited.

01:10:17.720 --> 01:10:20.080
So the numbers for instance.

01:10:20.080 --> 01:10:24.130
I've seen games where
everyone has five

01:10:24.130 --> 01:10:24.875
digits on their badge.

01:10:24.875 --> 01:10:28.120
And every single one of those
digits means something.

01:10:28.120 --> 01:10:33.805
If you happen to have the
ability to interpret them, but

01:10:33.805 --> 01:10:36.910
each one of the digits means
something different.

01:10:36.910 --> 01:10:40.736
So that's an example.

01:10:40.736 --> 01:10:42.220
AUDIENCE: And just
really quickly.

01:10:42.220 --> 01:10:44.130
In terms of space, how much
space do Assassin's Guild

01:10:44.130 --> 01:10:47.320
games take?

01:10:47.320 --> 01:10:49.210
PROFESSOR: MIT Assassin's Guild
has the advantage of the

01:10:49.210 --> 01:10:50.210
MIT campus.

01:10:50.210 --> 01:10:56.152
So it can go anywhere from main
campus mounted by Mass

01:10:56.152 --> 01:11:02.600
Ave. and Main Street,
to all over campus.

01:11:02.600 --> 01:11:04.740
But players hate that.

01:11:04.740 --> 01:11:06.060
Players hate walking
all over campus.

01:11:06.060 --> 01:11:07.680
It kills their feet.

01:11:07.680 --> 01:11:12.770
So often it just turns out to
be the few rooms that they

01:11:12.770 --> 01:11:15.820
could get room reservations for,
the MIT campus activities

01:11:15.820 --> 01:11:18.770
complex, and the sort of general
vicinity around there.

01:11:18.770 --> 01:11:21.520
Outdoors is really not used
much, because MIT Assassin's

01:11:21.520 --> 01:11:24.270
Guild loves shooting little
plastic things at each other.

01:11:24.270 --> 01:11:25.630
And when the wind blows
that just sucks.

01:11:28.908 --> 01:11:29.884
Jeremy?

01:11:29.884 --> 01:11:33.450
AUDIENCE: Do those eight
story [INAUDIBLE]

01:11:33.450 --> 01:11:37.135
games that have gone way
horribly, fallen apart.

01:11:37.135 --> 01:11:39.576
PROFESSOR: Oh, absolutely.

01:11:39.576 --> 01:11:41.986
How much time have we got?

01:11:41.986 --> 01:11:44.560
AUDIENCE: Can you highlight
what are the mistakes that

01:11:44.560 --> 01:11:45.966
have made--

01:11:45.966 --> 01:11:48.310
everyone who's doing these,
especially on my team, they're

01:11:48.310 --> 01:11:48.880
all smart people.

01:11:48.880 --> 01:11:50.980
And they're written
by smart people.

01:11:50.980 --> 01:11:53.435
So what hazard mistakes do smart
people still make that

01:11:53.435 --> 01:11:55.190
results in these games
falling apart?

01:11:55.190 --> 01:11:57.350
Or bad things happen?

01:11:57.350 --> 01:11:59.020
PROFESSOR: Well, the most common
thing that happens is

01:11:59.020 --> 01:12:03.760
not even an issue of how smart
the game writers were but how

01:12:03.760 --> 01:12:05.033
much experience they've
had in seeing

01:12:05.033 --> 01:12:08.345
things go horribly wrong.

01:12:08.345 --> 01:12:09.570
AUDIENCE: Right, which
is why I'm asking.

01:12:09.570 --> 01:12:12.180
PROFESSOR: Just like this class
has given you experience

01:12:12.180 --> 01:12:15.420
making games, you've seen how
some projects can go wrong.

01:12:15.420 --> 01:12:20.030
A lot of it is just system
dynamics, right?

01:12:20.030 --> 01:12:21.490
I put together a
bunch of rules.

01:12:21.490 --> 01:12:24.540
I didn't expect those rules
to interact in that way.

01:12:24.540 --> 01:12:28.090
But because a live-action game
is difficult to run multiple

01:12:28.090 --> 01:12:31.460
times, the first
time you see--

01:12:31.460 --> 01:12:33.020
AUDIENCE: How do you play
a live-action game

01:12:33.020 --> 01:12:35.040
that lasts to a month?

01:12:35.040 --> 01:12:36.090
PROFESSOR: That actually came
up in the forums I believe.

01:12:36.090 --> 01:12:38.950
Somebody was asking
about this.

01:12:38.950 --> 01:12:41.650
You can at best to a test--

01:12:41.650 --> 01:12:42.870
AUDIENCE: Give them mechanics?

01:12:42.870 --> 01:12:44.280
PROFESSOR: --You can play the
sort of game mechanics.

01:12:44.280 --> 01:12:46.860
Write down the stripped down
version which takes out all of

01:12:46.860 --> 01:12:50.030
the plot motivations and
just has the combat.

01:12:50.030 --> 01:12:51.150
This is how combat plays.

01:12:51.150 --> 01:12:53.160
I did that for a Matrix
game once.

01:12:53.160 --> 01:12:55.280
And it's like, I'm writing
a game of a Matrix.

01:12:55.280 --> 01:12:58.860
Combat is really freaking
important.

01:12:58.860 --> 01:13:02.960
So I just made an entire game
where all it was, you want to

01:13:02.960 --> 01:13:05.030
go in and get this thing
and get out.

01:13:05.030 --> 01:13:06.110
That was the whole rule.

01:13:06.110 --> 01:13:08.880
And here's your three pages
of contact notes.

01:13:08.880 --> 01:13:10.170
And people were like holy shit,

01:13:10.170 --> 01:13:11.420
this is a lot to remember.

01:13:13.770 --> 01:13:16.950
And that showed me the
problems that I had.

01:13:16.950 --> 01:13:20.420
Unfortunately, it wasn't so
catastrophic that I would use

01:13:20.420 --> 01:13:22.284
it as a catastrophic
game example.

01:13:22.284 --> 01:13:24.100
AUDIENCE: Tell us about
a catastrophic.

01:13:24.100 --> 01:13:27.250
PROFESSOR: Catastrophic
game examples.

01:13:27.250 --> 01:13:27.610
OK.

01:13:27.610 --> 01:13:29.090
AUDIENCE: Tell us someone
tripped and hurt themselves.

01:13:29.090 --> 01:13:29.890
[INAUDIBLE].

01:13:29.890 --> 01:13:35.117
PROFESSOR: No, that's not what
you're looking for I

01:13:35.117 --> 01:13:35.710
understand.

01:13:35.710 --> 01:13:43.580
It was a game where everyone
was playing undead.

01:13:43.580 --> 01:13:44.950
I think they were vampires.

01:13:44.950 --> 01:13:49.810
So they could get knocked down
if they got shot, and they

01:13:49.810 --> 01:13:51.420
would get up again
in five minutes

01:13:51.420 --> 01:13:52.260
because they were immortal.

01:13:52.260 --> 01:13:54.247
Unless they got staked
or something they

01:13:54.247 --> 01:13:55.980
would get up again.

01:13:55.980 --> 01:13:58.530
Unfortunately, there were a lot
of vampires in the game.

01:13:58.530 --> 01:14:01.790
Often many of them were
in different factions.

01:14:01.790 --> 01:14:04.940
So they were going after
each other with guns.

01:14:04.940 --> 01:14:08.350
So when two people who were
obviously against each other

01:14:08.350 --> 01:14:11.830
shot each other, fell over,
they would get up in five

01:14:11.830 --> 01:14:13.456
minutes and shoot each
other again.

01:14:16.860 --> 01:14:23.035
Repeatedly begging for someone
to show up and do something to

01:14:23.035 --> 01:14:25.060
break this deadlock.

01:14:25.060 --> 01:14:26.910
And that's one of those things
where it's like game

01:14:26.910 --> 01:14:28.553
mechanically you know
what's supposed to

01:14:28.553 --> 01:14:29.910
happen, and it sucks.

01:14:34.180 --> 01:14:35.140
So that's one example.

01:14:35.140 --> 01:14:36.560
AUDIENCE: Do we have to
wait five minutes?

01:14:36.560 --> 01:14:39.960
Can we just continue to
shoot each other?

01:14:39.960 --> 01:14:42.944
PROFESSOR: But the issue is,
again, these games are

01:14:42.944 --> 01:14:43.590
happening in real time.

01:14:43.590 --> 01:14:46.635
So the five minute rule is there
possibly for a reason.

01:14:49.320 --> 01:14:52.320
While you are down for five
minutes those five minutes

01:14:52.320 --> 01:14:54.870
become very valuable for someone
who wants you down for

01:14:54.870 --> 01:14:56.120
those five minutes.

01:14:57.940 --> 01:14:58.300
You can kill me.

01:14:58.300 --> 01:14:59.240
I can kill you.

01:14:59.240 --> 01:15:01.250
But both of us can knock each
other down for five minutes.

01:15:01.250 --> 01:15:02.920
And that's a great
delaying tactic.

01:15:02.920 --> 01:15:05.640
And I can send one of my friends
and do something that

01:15:05.640 --> 01:15:08.640
I don't want you interfering
with.

01:15:08.640 --> 01:15:10.120
And if that's the case
then that's great.

01:15:10.120 --> 01:15:12.220
But often it was just, oh
crap there's no way

01:15:12.220 --> 01:15:13.572
to break the deadlock.

01:15:13.572 --> 01:15:15.620
AUDIENCE: You'd figure the
limiting factor would be

01:15:15.620 --> 01:15:17.280
ammunition though.

01:15:17.280 --> 01:15:19.070
PROFESSOR: I think that game
actually let you pick up your

01:15:19.070 --> 01:15:20.320
ammunition all you want.

01:15:23.260 --> 01:15:25.960
Because it can be a really
annoying limitation to run out

01:15:25.960 --> 01:15:26.990
of ammunition.

01:15:26.990 --> 01:15:29.315
Especially if you are playing
with the little rubber dart

01:15:29.315 --> 01:15:31.970
guns because carrying
a whole pile of

01:15:31.970 --> 01:15:32.550
them is really annoying.

01:15:32.550 --> 01:15:37.090
So if the rule is, I get to pick
them up, then you have

01:15:37.090 --> 01:15:39.176
the allusion of having a lot of
ammunition without having

01:15:39.176 --> 01:15:43.160
to carry a lot of ammunition.

01:15:43.160 --> 01:15:45.290
So that's one example of
a catastrophic failure.

01:15:45.290 --> 01:15:48.720
There's a really funny quote
regarding brainwashing

01:15:48.720 --> 01:15:55.160
actually, which is
where were you?

01:15:55.160 --> 01:15:56.830
I was not being brainwashed.

01:15:56.830 --> 01:15:58.440
Who were you with?

01:15:58.440 --> 01:16:01.625
Not with the people who
were brainwashing me.

01:16:01.625 --> 01:16:04.200
Back to the problem with
the persuasion, right?

01:16:04.200 --> 01:16:07.900
It's like, I want to tell you
something because my goals

01:16:07.900 --> 01:16:10.950
haven't changed far enough
to want to align

01:16:10.950 --> 01:16:12.240
me to my new goals.

01:16:12.240 --> 01:16:14.190
So I'm going to do everything
that I can without

01:16:14.190 --> 01:16:15.160
breaking the rules.

01:16:15.160 --> 01:16:17.590
I'm not allowed to tell you that
I was being brainwashed.

01:16:17.590 --> 01:16:19.236
So I can say that I wasn't
being brainwashed.

01:16:23.470 --> 01:16:24.720
Other catastrophic?

01:16:26.800 --> 01:16:29.132
How long do you think the thing
will take probably?

01:16:29.132 --> 01:16:30.545
GUEST SPEAKER: I don't know.

01:16:30.545 --> 01:16:33.371
Probably about as long
as a game of Mafia.

01:16:33.371 --> 01:16:35.740
PROFESSOR: OK, so like
half an hour?

01:16:35.740 --> 01:16:37.010
GUEST SPEAKER: Depends
on the people.

01:16:37.010 --> 01:16:41.040
AUDIENCE: If you put a time
limit on discussions then,

01:16:41.040 --> 01:16:42.960
because I've played in the past
where it's lasted hours.

01:16:42.960 --> 01:16:45.530
Because there's no cap and
people just went into these

01:16:45.530 --> 01:16:48.160
long discussions in
between rounds.

01:16:48.160 --> 01:16:50.730
So if you put a cap like OK,
it's going to be this long a

01:16:50.730 --> 01:16:52.270
discussion and then we're going
to kill someone off.

01:16:55.250 --> 01:16:57.540
PROFESSOR: Let's see, I
had wanted to read.

01:16:57.540 --> 01:16:58.830
AUDIENCE: Played online Mafia?

01:16:58.830 --> 01:17:01.535
It's a totally different
experience.

01:17:01.535 --> 01:17:02.990
PROFESSOR: Chat involved
or something?

01:17:02.990 --> 01:17:04.240
AUDIENCE: Forums usually.

01:17:09.300 --> 01:17:11.250
So basically, when you can look
at the history of what

01:17:11.250 --> 01:17:12.975
people have said and who they've
accused and what order

01:17:12.975 --> 01:17:15.350
they did it in, it completely
changes how

01:17:15.350 --> 01:17:17.730
Mafia turns out, right?

01:17:17.730 --> 01:17:20.362
Because all of a sudden, people
start going, back in

01:17:20.362 --> 01:17:23.890
the history and compiling
statistics [INAUDIBLE].

01:17:23.890 --> 01:17:26.445
And who said what and then who
must be on their side if

01:17:26.445 --> 01:17:28.030
that's the case.

01:17:28.030 --> 01:17:30.755
But there's this kind of meta
knowledge that you can use

01:17:30.755 --> 01:17:37.030
with this if you are Mafia
because you can tell

01:17:37.030 --> 01:17:38.280
[INAUDIBLE].

01:17:41.085 --> 01:17:43.770
We were able to communicate
at the Mafia privately.

01:17:46.910 --> 01:17:49.267
That meant we could for instance
do things like, make

01:17:49.267 --> 01:17:52.440
sure we were never the first
people to accuse anyone.

01:17:52.440 --> 01:17:54.490
So that's a Mafia truth,
never do that.

01:17:54.490 --> 01:17:57.415
Because it immediately makes you
look suspicious later on

01:17:57.415 --> 01:18:01.320
if somebody turns out
to be the Mafia.

01:18:01.320 --> 01:18:04.280
There's no way that you can be
the first person who accuses.

01:18:04.280 --> 01:18:07.070
But bandwagoning somebody who's
not in the Mafia is

01:18:07.070 --> 01:18:08.940
always great.

01:18:08.940 --> 01:18:13.040
So you can coordinate to do the
sort of thing to try and

01:18:13.040 --> 01:18:15.090
defeat the statistical
analysis that

01:18:15.090 --> 01:18:16.740
somebody else is doing.

01:18:16.740 --> 01:18:17.530
PROFESSOR: You've
got this whole

01:18:17.530 --> 01:18:18.970
shadow governance theory.

01:18:18.970 --> 01:18:23.670
AUDIENCE: That's a great
[INAUDIBLE] tactic to try and

01:18:23.670 --> 01:18:26.575
get you away from my team
is to actually accuse

01:18:26.575 --> 01:18:28.020
someone on your team.

01:18:28.020 --> 01:18:33.180
And hope that they don't
actually vote them off.

01:18:33.180 --> 01:18:36.825
I've definitely been in a game
where we purposely killed off

01:18:36.825 --> 01:18:39.180
one of the people on our
team just so that

01:18:39.180 --> 01:18:42.580
we wouldn't be accused.

01:18:42.580 --> 01:18:46.860
Oh, he cannot be on Mafia
because he killed off a Mafia.

01:18:46.860 --> 01:18:50.620
OK, and then we end up winning
because no one

01:18:50.620 --> 01:18:52.190
figured that out.

01:18:52.190 --> 01:18:55.080
PROFESSOR: I mean, that's one
of the best things about all

01:18:55.080 --> 01:18:58.480
kinds of live-action games is
that it almost encourages

01:18:58.480 --> 01:19:00.980
people to look for
these slightly

01:19:00.980 --> 01:19:02.594
out of the box illusions.

01:19:02.594 --> 01:19:05.029
These sort of emergent I'm not
really going to expect that

01:19:05.029 --> 01:19:06.330
but it still fits within
the rules.

01:19:06.330 --> 01:19:08.420
Because we are dealing with real
people for the most part

01:19:08.420 --> 01:19:11.098
and you're not limited to the
cards you're allowed to play

01:19:11.098 --> 01:19:13.014
or the turns you're
allowed to take.

01:19:13.014 --> 01:19:14.264
So taking advantage of that.

01:19:17.330 --> 01:19:21.520
I have one more disaster
story.

01:19:21.520 --> 01:19:24.520
AUDIENCE: I want to hear it.

01:19:24.520 --> 01:19:26.150
PROFESSOR: I'll limit
it to just one for

01:19:26.150 --> 01:19:27.400
the people who don't.

01:19:29.430 --> 01:19:31.360
This was a game where
there was a

01:19:31.360 --> 01:19:33.940
virus that was spreading.

01:19:33.940 --> 01:19:36.940
People who are in Assassin's
Guild might have

01:19:36.940 --> 01:19:38.460
already heard this one.

01:19:38.460 --> 01:19:43.140
The whole basic idea is that
there was a explosive

01:19:43.140 --> 01:19:44.850
nano-virus.

01:19:44.850 --> 01:19:48.515
People who got infected after a
certain amount of time would

01:19:48.515 --> 01:19:52.120
explode and anybody in
the room with them

01:19:52.120 --> 01:19:54.880
would now be infected.

01:19:54.880 --> 01:19:57.354
Of course this was a game--

01:19:57.354 --> 01:19:59.540
a game set in science fiction
kind of thing--

01:19:59.540 --> 01:20:02.430
and we've got doctors
who are capable.

01:20:02.430 --> 01:20:06.830
Who have mechanics to be
able to research cures.

01:20:06.830 --> 01:20:08.570
However when the doctor happened
to be one of the

01:20:08.570 --> 01:20:14.760
first people to die, what
rapidly happens is that what

01:20:14.760 --> 01:20:18.545
should have been a one night
game turned out to be a one

01:20:18.545 --> 01:20:19.795
hour game and everybody
exploded.

01:20:27.690 --> 01:20:29.800
I guess that might come
down to feasibility.

01:20:29.800 --> 01:20:33.530
But you can think about it as
you need a certain amount of

01:20:33.530 --> 01:20:36.800
redundancy when you're designing
any game, but

01:20:36.800 --> 01:20:38.400
particularly live-actions
games.

01:20:38.400 --> 01:20:41.050
Because shit happens.

01:20:41.050 --> 01:20:43.920
And you've got to expect
that to happen.

01:20:43.920 --> 01:20:46.100
There's always this fear about,
oh I put in too many

01:20:46.100 --> 01:20:47.900
resources into this game and the
players are going to find

01:20:47.900 --> 01:20:48.950
it too easy.

01:20:48.950 --> 01:20:52.000
And more often than not, yeah,
there's some players that that

01:20:52.000 --> 01:20:53.830
are going to say we breezed
through that.

01:20:53.830 --> 01:20:57.125
But, rarely do people get
terribly upset in a

01:20:57.125 --> 01:20:59.900
live-action game when something
is really too easy.

01:20:59.900 --> 01:21:03.798
They get really upset when it
comes to the end and it seems

01:21:03.798 --> 01:21:05.470
to be impossible.

01:21:05.470 --> 01:21:11.410
Oh, so the GMs only made it
possible for one person to fix

01:21:11.410 --> 01:21:12.070
this problem?

01:21:12.070 --> 01:21:15.330
And they didn't think about that
person just dying in the

01:21:15.330 --> 01:21:17.440
beginning of the game?

01:21:17.440 --> 01:21:20.730
So that was another example.

01:21:20.730 --> 01:21:22.240
That [INAUDIBLE], I'm sorry.

01:21:22.240 --> 01:21:25.476
I feel really bad about bringing
up examples from my

01:21:25.476 --> 01:21:29.016
games, but I don't know which
ones are the ones that I

01:21:29.016 --> 01:21:29.650
genuinely--

01:21:29.650 --> 01:21:32.530
Oh, I do have one more.

01:21:32.530 --> 01:21:34.380
So, this was after The
Sims came out.

01:21:34.380 --> 01:21:38.960
And people should really
be worried about that.

01:21:38.960 --> 01:21:40.860
I thought having a bladder stat
would be a really good

01:21:40.860 --> 01:21:42.110
idea for a game.

01:21:45.520 --> 01:21:47.033
This was a game that
was set in a train

01:21:47.033 --> 01:21:47.490
that was steam pumped.

01:21:47.490 --> 01:21:49.120
So tea was the game.

01:21:49.120 --> 01:21:50.990
Tea was in fact the
combat drug.

01:21:50.990 --> 01:21:54.520
If you drank tea, your combat
status would increase but so

01:21:54.520 --> 01:21:56.770
would your bladder stat.

01:21:56.770 --> 01:21:59.670
Once your bladder stat was
passed a certain point all

01:21:59.670 --> 01:22:02.730
your combat stats went down and
you really had to go to

01:22:02.730 --> 01:22:04.470
the restroom.

01:22:04.470 --> 01:22:08.200
Which was really interesting,
most people just

01:22:08.200 --> 01:22:10.970
reviled that game.

01:22:10.970 --> 01:22:14.800
Because there was one more
number they had to hit that

01:22:14.800 --> 01:22:19.490
was stupid annoying and really
didn't do terribly much for

01:22:19.490 --> 01:22:21.120
the immersion of the game.

01:22:21.120 --> 01:22:24.100
I was thinking, it's a game
about travelling on the train.

01:22:24.100 --> 01:22:25.360
So you use the restroom
all the time.

01:22:25.360 --> 01:22:26.905
That's the only thing I do
when I'm travelling.

01:22:26.905 --> 01:22:29.490
I use the restroom.

01:22:29.490 --> 01:22:30.740
[INAUDIBLE].

01:22:33.870 --> 01:22:35.600
But that led to some interesting
emergent

01:22:35.600 --> 01:22:36.740
situations.

01:22:36.740 --> 01:22:39.380
Because when this train gets
attacked, and everybody needs

01:22:39.380 --> 01:22:42.350
to find a safe place to hide,
what they all do is they head

01:22:42.350 --> 01:22:46.690
into the washroom, barricade
it, and drink tea until all

01:22:46.690 --> 01:22:50.595
their combat stats go out the
roof and then win the fight.

01:22:50.595 --> 01:22:53.020
Because they were right there
in the restroom they could

01:22:53.020 --> 01:22:54.960
afford to do that.

01:22:54.960 --> 01:22:56.210
It was hilarious.

01:22:59.325 --> 01:23:03.750
AUDIENCE: Some of these people
come up with exploits.

01:23:03.750 --> 01:23:05.270
PROFESSOR: They may hate the
rules, but once they

01:23:05.270 --> 01:23:07.080
understand how the systems work
they're going to come up

01:23:07.080 --> 01:23:09.270
with ways to use it to
their advantage.

01:23:09.270 --> 01:23:12.622
And that can be some of the
most enjoyable moments.

01:23:12.622 --> 01:23:15.274
AUDIENCE: I saw a squirrel
this past weekend, and he

01:23:15.274 --> 01:23:20.942
figured out if he stood under a
bird feeding thing up in the

01:23:20.942 --> 01:23:24.562
tree it could just get free food
because when the birds

01:23:24.562 --> 01:23:26.724
ate it once every two to three
minutes they would drop a

01:23:26.724 --> 01:23:27.556
grain inevitably.

01:23:27.556 --> 01:23:32.047
And there was this really fat
squirrel just sitting there.

01:23:32.047 --> 01:23:36.890
He spent the entire day sitting
right [INAUDIBLE].

01:23:36.890 --> 01:23:38.852
So it's like it's so natural
to try and find exploits of

01:23:38.852 --> 01:23:40.820
everything and work it
to your advantage.

01:23:40.820 --> 01:23:41.920
PROFESSOR: There is a moral--

01:23:41.920 --> 01:23:43.113
AUDIENCE: It doesn't work
for [INAUDIBLE] but

01:23:43.113 --> 01:23:44.310
you still do it anyway.

01:23:44.310 --> 01:23:46.140
PROFESSOR: There is
a moral to that.

01:23:46.140 --> 01:23:49.620
Is that the live-action games,
especially if you're playing

01:23:49.620 --> 01:23:53.090
in the live-action game
community, there is whatever

01:23:53.090 --> 01:23:56.776
you write down as a rule we put
it up on the wall and they

01:23:56.776 --> 01:23:58.270
put it on a piece of paper.

01:23:58.270 --> 01:23:59.880
Someone's going to
try to do it.

01:23:59.880 --> 01:24:04.904
And you have to think of, I'm
going to put in a rule that's

01:24:04.904 --> 01:24:08.324
so ridiculous that people are
not going to want to try and

01:24:08.324 --> 01:24:10.980
do it because it's going to
hurt them or something.

01:24:10.980 --> 01:24:14.098
Like jump on this spot
100 times and you

01:24:14.098 --> 01:24:14.930
will unlock this door.

01:24:14.930 --> 01:24:18.220
Or you could find someone with
lock picking, and you'll just

01:24:18.220 --> 01:24:19.196
assume that person's
going to find

01:24:19.196 --> 01:24:20.490
someone with lock picking.

01:24:20.490 --> 01:24:22.980
No, someone's going to jump on
the spot 100 times and they're

01:24:22.980 --> 01:24:25.160
going to hate you for
it because you

01:24:25.160 --> 01:24:26.300
put the rule in there.

01:24:26.300 --> 01:24:32.530
So try not to hurt your players,
would be the moral,

01:24:32.530 --> 01:24:34.115
because they will do what
you tell them to do.

01:24:34.115 --> 01:24:37.680
AUDIENCE: Do you guys sign
disclosure forms?

01:24:37.680 --> 01:24:39.116
PROFESSOR: All right, that's
a [INAUDIBLE].

01:24:42.246 --> 01:24:44.947
GUEST SPEAKER: Before we go,
I want to just clarify this

01:24:44.947 --> 01:24:46.420
version of the investigation
mechanic.

01:24:46.420 --> 01:24:52.390
So, the group of scientists
gets to test two people.

01:24:52.390 --> 01:24:56.430
If you catch the thing then
they're dead and out.

01:24:56.430 --> 01:24:58.600
If you catch them on the second
time-- this is what

01:24:58.600 --> 01:25:00.690
I've read-- if you catch them
on second guess you get

01:25:00.690 --> 01:25:03.030
another guess.

01:25:03.030 --> 01:25:04.764
I'm not sure if that
means you can have

01:25:04.764 --> 01:25:06.210
infinite guesses or not.

01:25:06.210 --> 01:25:07.180
So that's something to
play around with.

01:25:07.180 --> 01:25:09.180
AUDIENCE: If you test the wrong
person who's not the

01:25:09.180 --> 01:25:09.780
thing they don't die?

01:25:09.780 --> 01:25:12.660
GUEST SPEAKER: No.

01:25:12.660 --> 01:25:14.122
AUDIENCE: So I test someone the
first time, they're the

01:25:14.122 --> 01:25:15.430
thing, then they're out.

01:25:15.430 --> 01:25:17.384
But I test someone the second
time, regardless of whether or

01:25:17.384 --> 01:25:19.170
not I tested a thing
the first time.

01:25:19.170 --> 01:25:19.990
GUEST SPEAKER: Yes.

01:25:19.990 --> 01:25:22.370
So you always get at
least two guesses.

01:25:22.370 --> 01:25:23.420
AUDIENCE: But if you test
someone on the second

01:25:23.420 --> 01:25:25.206
one they don't die?

01:25:25.206 --> 01:25:26.870
GUEST SPEAKER: If they're
the thing they're dead.

01:25:26.870 --> 01:25:27.830
AUDIENCE: The thing dies.

01:25:27.830 --> 01:25:29.680
If you test someone on the first
time and they're the

01:25:29.680 --> 01:25:31.210
thing you don't get
an extra guess?

01:25:31.210 --> 01:25:32.025
AUDIENCE: Well, not
necessarily.

01:25:32.025 --> 01:25:33.320
GUEST SPEAKER: You get two.

01:25:33.320 --> 01:25:35.420
AUDIENCE: You always get two.

01:25:35.420 --> 01:25:37.720
AUDIENCE: So if you guess
any time [INAUDIBLE]

01:25:40.770 --> 01:25:42.425
but if you guess a thing
and then not a

01:25:42.425 --> 01:25:43.560
thing you get a player.

01:25:43.560 --> 01:25:44.090
AUDIENCE: I think you
can catch the

01:25:44.090 --> 01:25:45.366
thing really quickly.

01:25:45.366 --> 01:25:47.245
AUDIENCE: I think you can
catch the thing without

01:25:47.245 --> 01:25:50.575
actually doing anything sort of
like making a system where

01:25:50.575 --> 01:25:52.350
you automatically
catch the thing.

01:25:52.350 --> 01:25:56.200
You're getting two guesses so
in the ratio of randomly

01:25:56.200 --> 01:25:56.960
guessing you'll--

01:25:56.960 --> 01:25:59.490
GUEST SPEAKER: And you can
certainly change it right?

01:25:59.490 --> 01:26:00.750
This is just what I've found.

01:26:00.750 --> 01:26:02.710
And it seemed like an
interesting thing, the whole

01:26:02.710 --> 01:26:04.160
point of the part was.

01:26:04.160 --> 01:26:05.660
AUDIENCE: Which thing
do you start with?

01:26:05.660 --> 01:26:07.020
AUDIENCE: No, you're
not [INAUDIBLE].

01:26:07.020 --> 01:26:10.060
Because as I recall you would
infect someone first.

01:26:10.060 --> 01:26:11.984
AUDIENCE: Because you're going
to have two unprescribed.

01:26:14.940 --> 01:26:18.720
AUDIENCE: This seems really
like biased towards

01:26:18.720 --> 01:26:20.330
non-infected.

01:26:20.330 --> 01:26:21.580
AUDIENCE: Well we'll find out.