Modeling game master-based story facilitation in multi-player role-playing games

Inherent in all forms of interactive storytelling is the problem of reconciling freedom of the user with requirements for pre-authored plot. In non-digital RolePlaying Games (RPGs), Game Masters (GMs) constantly encounter and solve this problem, facilitating collaborative, interactive storytelling in real-time. In this study, the various theories of GM operations are combined with experiences from a three-year project on storytelling and player interactions in multi-player RPGs; to present a model of the cognitive process of GM operations in RPGs. 1. Game Masters in Role-Playing Games Inherent in all forms of interactive storytelling (Crawford 1983) is the problem of reconciling the freedom of the user to impact the unfolding story and the requirement for a preauthored plot that has enough detail and coherence to be programmable (Louchart and Aylett 2003). A potential solution to this problem is to control the interactive narrative via synthetic characters or autonomous agents (Bradshaw 1997; Hayes-Roth 1998) that interact with the human users who also enact specific characters within the framework of the story or experience. Both the pre-authored, plot-directed approach and the approach focusing on autonomous agents present challenges in ensuring that the behavioral consistency and believability of the fictional characters is not violated, and in presenting a coherent, interesting narrative structure (Mateas and Stern 2000). There are various solutions to these inherent problems of producing interactive storytelling software, e.g. letting autonomous agents be influenced by an overall dramatic structure (Louchart and Aylett 2007). The potential solution presented here is offered by perhaps the purest example of emergent, character-based collaborative storytelling systems currently in existence, that of multi-player, non-digital, Role-Playing Games (RPGs) (Edwards 2001; Fine 2002; Peinado and Gervas 2004; Young 2005; Tychsen 2006). While incredibly varied in form and format, RPGs should not be viewed as a sandbox situation, where characters are placed within the confines of a fictional world and story then happens. RPGs generally feature a function here termed Game Masters (GMs) (Combs 2004; Young 2005), which play a central role as story facilitators (Aylett et al. 2008). GMs manage the overall plot of the game story, autonomous agents in the form of non-player characters (NPCs) and the input and actions of the players and the fictional characters they control (agents from the system perspective). For clarity, all of these features of RPG play are referred to as “story”. While it remains debated whether games can feature stories in the classical narrative sense, this discussion is not of interest to the current study. The GM, in other words, acts as an interactive storytelling engine. Understanding how the GM operates at high levels and in detail, is therefore an obvious source of knowledge for how to design digital storytelling systems. RPGs are however complex games, and the operations of the GM varies from RPG to RPG, and is far from wellunderstood at either the higher level of operations or in the detail. The general principles of GM functionality have been discussed within the hobbyist community for decades and within the research world to an increasing degree over the past ten years, however with a focus on play functions such as the description of the fictional environment, maintenance of dramatic tension through play, and levels of authorial control, not the actual conceptual process of story evolution through the game process (Edwards 2001; Fine 2002; Peinado and Gervas 2004; Bockman and Hutchison 2005; Tychsen 2006). For example, that there are different approaches to how GMs manage storytelling is a welldebated subject, and the relative strengths and weaknesses of these approaches known (Young 2005). However, the cognitive processes and detailed mechanics of how GMs operate have not been mapped in any detail, and this is what is needed in order to identify GM operations and transfer principles into the context of digital interactive drama. The model of GM operations presented here is based on experiments and existing literature on RPGs (e.g. Young 2005), which was utilized to provide parts of the model (notably regarding the process of authorial control), and verify some of the conclusions derived from the analysis. Due to space constrains a formal state-of-the-art is not included, but is integrated in the main text a , as well as the experimental material. Substantial parts of the data material have been analyzed for other purposes and published (e.g. Tychsen al. 2008). These analyses were integrated in the considerations for the model where applicable. The dataset for the development of this model was comprised of: • Audiovisual recording of 10 multi-player table-top RPG sessions and additional recordings of game sessions conducted in two different digital RPG formats, comprising a total of over 150 hours of gameplay. Emphasis is here on the table-top dataset. • Multiple surveys provided to participants covering different aspects of the gaming experience, their relation with the characters, etc. • Transcriptions of verbal communication. • Post-game group semi-structured interviews with openended questions allowing for participant deliberation and discussion, and individual interviews of participants, similarly semi-structured. Due to space constraints, the empirical process is not described in detail here. This, and associated methodologies, are described in more detail in (Tychsen et al. 2008). In brief, the game sessions were run in a laboratory-based setup, which had been modified to conform to the typical play context of RPGs. Audio-visual recording was hidden behind one-way mirrors. Sessions lasted between three to seven hours, depending on the group. The same game module was utilized in all the non-digital sessions, two different modules utilized in the digital sessions with and without GM control respectively. This permits cross-game session correlation and comparison. The approach to data analysis was explorative, e.g. searching for places where the game story deviated from that described in the game module, and investigating at which levels of abstraction that these changes occurred; as well as variations between recorded game sessions. It was not attempted to make specific counts of e.g. these variations, but rather extrapolate general principles of GM operation. This approach was selected in order to acquire a broad model about how GMs operate, as opposed to e.g. a specific analysis of GM action-response patterns which would create a model specific for a particular aspect of GM operation rather than a top-down model. Furthermore, in an attempt to avoid bias towards a specific approach to digital interactive storytelling, the model does not lean on a specific interactive storytelling system or AI-model for autonomous agents, but builds directly on RPG theory and the experimental material. The model presented is based on a summary of current information, and is not intended as the final word on how GMs operate cognitively: The model forms a hypothesis of GM operations – further analysis will be required to reach a more accurate model.