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Meaningful Production
The key to creating emergent player-as-producer play is the same as in other aspects of games. Designing successful play is designing meaningful play, where the game system supports the choices players take by making them discernable to the player and integrating them into the larger system of the game. In the case of games as open culture, the scope of meaningful play extends to include the cultural contexts outside the magic circle of the game. One example of successful open play stems from a particular designed feature of The Sims—the Family Album. According to the game's creators, the Family Album was intended to let players take snapshots of particular moments in their Sims' lives and add the photos to a family album, which they could design and curate. Interestingly enough, the Family Album ended up becoming a tool for the creation of fictive stories that often had nothing to do with actual game events. As originally envisioned, players could take screenshots during play that would record the current state of a game in progress. In this way, the Family Album could document the day-to-day activity of a player's Sims. Yet many players took this basic functionality and transformed it into an alternate form of play, using the feature to craft stories that took on a variety of forms. Sometimes these stories borrow from popular culture (such as the story of a Sim appearing on the television show Big Brother). Other narratives are informed by players' real-life experiences (the story of a struggling alcoholic mother). Still other stories parody the game world itself through meta-Sims narratives (such as the tale of the "KTS" family's war with Maxis, the company that developed The Sims.). The Sims Family Album feature is a wonderful instance of the player-as-producer paradigm, generating play that both reflects and transforms the game world. The Family Album feature facilitates meaningful play on many levels. As a game play recording device, it adds a layer of meaning to the standard play of the game. As in other forms of retelling play (a concept we first introduced in Games as Narrative Play), the play itself is retold and recast for the player, as game choices are given a new context for appreciation. As Sims players creatively explored the possibilities of the Family Album feature, it shifted from a documentary tool to a creative tool. Players quickly began to make adjustments to the way they played the game, in order to compose the exact "shots" they wanted for their storyboard-like narratives. Strategies for successful game play, such as keeping game characters happy, were superceded by strategies for positioning objects and characters in a scene. Because Sims characters move about on their own, it can be quite challenging to compose a multi-char-acter shot.
Excerpts from The Metamora Family: User ID: dnknt98
Magoria, unsure of the words Elanora spoke, began to prepare for the events that were to come.
As darkness arose, and spirits wandered Magoria spoke of the evil deeds that she was ready to carry out. Magoria approched her family and spoke: "This All Hallows Eve, the moon wiil be full and the time has come to complete The Passage of the Dead." Charlie, unsure of what was being spoken, asked, "What is this evil you speak of Magoria?" Charlie, unsure of what was being spoken, asked, "What is this evil you speak of Magoria?" "I know, I know we are going to summon the demon of Guton," Wenticia screamed. Charlie, unsure of what was being spoken, asked, "What is this evil you speak of Magoria?" "Yes that is correct, we shall begin to sacrifice the youth and in return be granted Eternal life." Magoria turned and placed a hand on the grave of Elanora, saying, "This is our family's destiny; we will prevail."
Excerpts from Gingerbread: User ID: GoodHumor 1
Welcome to the home of George and Ginny Gingerbread! After being on the run most of their lives, this couple has just purchased a home that seems to have been made just for them.
A soft blanket of snow covers the ground on this cold day in the month of December. George and Ginny, former college track stars, dream of opening a brand new Gourmet Bakery in Simville. But for now, are looking forward to celebrating Christmas in their new home…that is, if they last that long.
Gingerbread (shown here) and The Metamora Family (previous page) are Sims Family Albums created by players and posted for review at the Sims Exchange, www.thesims.ea.com
Like most fleeing edibles, George and Ginny are tormented by the possibility of becoming someone's next meal. Ginny, longing for some normalcy in her life, is hoping to meet new friends and finally settle down in a neighborhood where she and her husband can relax. George, on the other hand, is consumed with the danger of winding up as part of somebody's holiday buffet. It is with some trepidation that Ginny announces, "George, I have decided to throw a house warming party to get to know our new neighbors." George is not too keen on this idea until he realizes this would be a golden opportunity to scope out potential enemies, you know, those that might find his curly que hairdo just a little too appetizing. Actually, he worries more for Ginny. She tends to be too trusting. Her kind nature has unfortunately gotten the couple in more than a few mixes…er…fixes.The upside to this is that all this "escaping" has kept the two in prime physical condition.
…George insists that he and Ginny sleep in the guest room on the first floor. This way he will be ready for anything that might pop up…a burglary, a fire, a gingernapping…whatever. He worries about Ginny because he loves her so. George has a bad feeling about this Newbie character and plans to keep one frosted eye on him.
…A roaring fire seems to calm George, taking him back to his roots. He wishes that just once, he and Ginny could exist in a world free of gingerbread groupies. With Ginny asleep upstairs, George consumes cup after cup of Expresso in an effort to stay awake as long as possible…just in case. He is aware that Joy Holiday is lurking outside the window, in cahoots with Bob, of course. George already informed Joy that he and Ginny have no desire to be storefront props for her stupid Bakery. These humans!!! But George is playing it cool. He does not want Joy to know he is on to her. He's not worried, though. She'll get hers too.
With escalating paranoia, George aims his new telescope in the direction of the Newbie home. And just as he suspected, Bob is having some sort of kitchen table meeting with one of Simville's senior citizens, Joy Holiday. "OK," sighs George, "That makes Joy suspect #4. Geez, you can't trust anyone these days."
George notices Bob Newbie spending way too much time at the house with Ginny. And just the other day, he noticed Bob hand Ginny a slip of paper. What was THAT all about? And, to make matters worse, George is not imagining that Frankie still wants to claim the gingerbread home as his own, preferably not including its present inhabitants. George decides surveillance cameras, alarms, and telescopes alone won't due. Extra precautions are needed. He heads over to the shed out back…
The Family Album feature also generated a new context, just outside the game, where players could create and share meaning online. Family Album photos became ways to trade play strategies, game experiences, and (most commonly) to create original stories. The out-of-game web context supported the creation of these meanings, and the community of players became a rich social context where the story albums could be appreciated and shared. The Family Album feature was the result of deliberate design decisions on the part of The Sims' creators. Its simple functionality was then taken up by players and used in delightfully unexpected ways. Moreover, other player-as-producer aspects of The Sims, such as players' ability to create new character models, worked in concert with the Family Album to multiply meaningful play. For example, player-artists created Sims that looked like Star Wars characters. These characters were distributed online by community managers and could be used to play a Star Wars themed version of The Sims. But the characters could also be used by player-storytellers in conjunction with the Family Album feature to tell stories set in the Star Wars universe. All of this open play was possible because the game was designed as a system open to manipulation, encouraging players to produce new forms of culture as part of their play. What is it about games, particularly digital games that make them such fertile ground for player participation? One answer is that games are intrinsically systemic, and systems can be designed to be open. As we know from earlier chapters, systems are composed of interrelated elements with specific attributes and relationships, situated within an environment. Within a system, there are multiple opportunities for intervention on the part of the player. In an open game system like The Sims, a player might change the attributes of an object in the system, designing a skin for a character, or change one of the system's elements by designing a new object and adding it to the game world, such as putting a player-created toaster in a Sim's kitchen. This new element might then change the relationship between elements in the system: the toaster transforms what Sim characters can do in the kitchen. A player might also intervene on the level of the game's environment, by making a fan site that distributes game objects or by creating a Sims Family Album. In every case, the system of the game accommodates the changes by absorbing them and transforming itself accordingly. Player-as-producer artifacts not only reflect the meanings and values of the games from which they arise, but also contribute to the meaning and value of the cultural contexts in which the games exist. Some forms of player production move from inside the game outward (inside > out), such as when the Family Album is used to extract a retelling story out of game play. Other forms can move from outside the game inward (outside > in), such as when a player-generated character model is downloaded for use in the game. In both cases, the permeability of the magic circle feeds innovation, resulting in rich systems of cultural production and new forms of creative expression.
