Player interaction with the characters in a game has not seen many radical steps forward over the years. We’ve had change to be sure, having gone from simple text, to cut-scenes, to rigid voice-acted responses, and finally to a semblance of actual conversation via dialogue systems employed by Mass Effect or Dragon Age. Indeed we have seen steps forward in how character interactions are portrayed, but have we seen any development for the the player’s role in such interaction? Not really. Aside from non-functioning games such as Hey You, Pikachu!, the player’s role in character interaction has remained more or less constant. We have always been observers, either simply watching a conversation play out or quietly directing the flow from our position in the shadows of the game world. It’s not we who are interacting with the character on screen, but what we’re controlling; be it fully realized character or simple avatar. We may get around it by role-playing our characters and such, but the fact always remains.  Perhaps it’s time for that to change; time for the player to take a step away from our role as puppet-master.
Continue reading Bot Colony: A Glimpse of the Future? →