Interactive Emotions… the sound of it can suggest ideas ranging from intoxicating interests to perverse actions (yes I’m talking about the new SNK Witch-hunting game). However recently, I’ve taken a stab at defining different forms of interactive emotions. With films we general call it visual emotions, something we can see with our eyes, but in a passive state. With games, interactive emotions is what the player feels, its not something we’re fed but something we find.
Three types interactive emotion that I define:
Time-based emotions-
I define a time based interactive emotion as ones that are determined by the passing of time. If an emotion were supposed to be trigger two minutes into the event, after 119 seconds some for of change in game is supposed to take place. Whatever this change is, it’s utilized to trigger an emotion as the player traverses the gameplay hitting the 2 minute time limit. An example of this would be Ghost Recon Advance Warfighter. In the second map, the point of the game when the American Embassy building blows up, your goal is to bunker into a corner and protect the Mexican president. From there a major gun battle ensues, basically trapping you into the corner as you fend off waves and waves of militias. Just as you start to feel the wall crumbling around you, the screen gradual turns monotone and hopeless musictrack comes on. This is what I call time based interactive emotion, at a certain moment determined by the passing time, GRAW will start changing the color of the screen, playing a specific soundtrack all intended to engage the player in feelings of hopeless, and despair.
Environment-based emotions-
I define an environment based emotion as ones determined by not only the game environment but also NPCs, basically every element the player interacts with. The idea of an environment based emotion has to do with an event or change triggered by the environment the player engages in. As the player traverses through the game environment, specific events happen as the player reaches a certain area all intended to evoke an emotion in the player, could be fear, could be nostalgia, could be love. The greatest example of this would be Half-Life 2. Half-Life and Half-Life 2 are built from this form of interactive emotion. There are numerous examples but the one that stands out the most resides in the beginning stages of Half-Life 2. Playing as Gordan Freeman, moving through abandoned buildings trying to find a way to escape the heavily policed area, the player is guided to a building where many people are hiding out. As the player comes across the NPCs they then proceed to tell the player directly to keep moving and run. Then as the player continues moving along the corridors of the building to the stairs, a group of masked men run up the stairs coming at you creating a sense of heightened urgency to run. This is what I call environment based emotion, an event such as the masked men running at you the moment you are in proximity of the stairs, created by the environment, designed to heighten your sense of urgency.
Now how is this different from GRAW’s time-based emotion. The difference lies in the determining factor and the replayability. Time determines GRAWS intended emotion, and if you were to replay the same level, at the 7 minute mark you can expect the screen to change colors. In Half-Life, the environment determines the emotion, and if you were to replay the same level, as soon as the player reaches within distance of the staircase, you can expect the masked men to come after you. But both of these techniques have flaws. Both of these emotions depreciates in value as you replay the level, losing despair and urgency as you play it for the fifth or sixth time.
Action-based emotions-
I define an action-based emotion as ones determined by the input of the player; I consider this the holy grail of all interactive emotions. An action-based emotion happens when a player performs a specific input to the game whether it be firing a shotgun, opening doors, or swinging a sword. When the input is received by the game, a specific change appears and triggers an emotion in the player. The best example of this would be Shadow of the Colossus, as the game progresses, the player encounters huge colossi the player will eventually to bring down. The moment the emotion is triggered happens when the player succeeds in engaging and climbing on the colossus. At that specific moment determined by the specific action of climbing on to a colossus, a specific music track will broadcast evoking emotions that can range from heroism and sacrifice. In this example, the emotion of heroism or sacrifice is forever linked to the action of engaging and climbing the colossus.
What make this the holy grail of interactive emotion? Again the determining factor and replayability. By tying emotions and feelings of heroism and sacrifice to the specific act of climbing onto a colossus, Shadow of the Colossus succeeds in allowing the player to determine their emotions reflected by their inputs, eliminating the anticipation of exterior factors beyond their own action. No time limit to anticipate, no environment event to anticipation, just the input of the player. All this opens up the possibility of reliving the same emotion all with the push of a button, translated to the climbing of the collosus, translating to heroism and sacrifice.
In conclusion, I have too much time on hand and I’m a Shadow of the Colossus fanboy. Now I will go buy a hundred dollar figurine.
