Emergent Gameplay - Beating Game Developer at Their Own Game
Industry buzzword typically bore me. They're usually just another gimmick for some sales person to sell a re-hashed sequel as the next shiny "must have" holiday purchase. But every once in a while these terms can define the next evolutionary step in a medium. Emergent gameplay is a buzzword with some meat, it is a core game concept that's been around almost as long as games have. Now, in an age where video games are on every electronic platform known to man, emergent gameplay is finally getting the same focus and attention as the more traditional genres. But wait, it's not even a genre! Or is it?
Simply put, emergent gameplay is a relevant user experience that is not pre-determined or known by the game's creator. Relevant is the keyword here. You can pick up Madden 2010 and pretend your QB is the next spiky-haired protagonist in an upcoming JRPG, but that's not emergent. Emergent is not just imagination, though it takes imagination from its users to actually experience it. No, a truly emergent game absolutely requires imagination, providing the players with a goal but forcing them to forge their own path to that goal. But this creative process has to have a purpose, otherwise it's not what one would classify as a game.
The renewed focus on the emergent games mirrors the trend that is occurring within the greater media scene. With the advent of YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, users have a new appetite for participating in entertainment in a custom way, not just following a script or observing as was the norm in the past. If someone wants to draw an ugly purple gothic skeleton and plaster it in their MySpace page, who is going to stop them? If a gamer wants to glue a plank of a main character's hat, jump on a unicycle and knock an enemy out of a tree to win the level, who are we to tell them no?
The easiest way for me to explain this concept is to use my own experience in developing Scribblenauts, a game that showcases emergent gameplay in a new and unique way. Most games force the user to use their very limited toolset, which the game developers hone down to make the experience as interesting as possible. Open world boast freedom, but this usually amounts to distance and space, not interactions or choice. Some RPGs' flaunts freedom of choice with morality systems, but ultimately these choices are largely black and white.
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