Control

The more immersed a player is, the less the virtual world can dictate to them. In particular, it can’t treat their characters as if they weren’t people.

If my character waves and the feedback is, “You wave enthusiastically,” that takes control away from me. I didn’t “wave enthusiastically;” what I did was “wave.” Virtual worlds should not presume to control my character for me.

The only exception is if I give my consent. If my character consumes alcohol, I’m explicitly relinquishing some degree of control. Loss of control is a well-understood property of alcohol. Therefore, if my character suddenly staggers off involuntarily in some direction after consuming a bottle of port, I’ve consented.

There is an implied consent to submit to environmental effects, but only in moderation. Your character may sneeze from dust, laugh when tickled, catch a bad cough—all these are acceptable if done infrequently, and help sustain the impression that the virtual world works like the real one. It’s just about okay to let characters faint if they spend too long near a powerful heat source. It’s not okay to have a mind-control spell go off that makes them attack their friends.

There’s a gray area covering the situation where players try to do something really stupid. If a newbie runs up to a cliff edge and doesn’t stop, what should the virtual world do? Let them continue running and fall to their doom? Or put some self-awareness into their character and have them pull up? If a newbie wants to attack a dragon alone, should the virtual world let them or should it point out they stand only a one in 20 billion chance of winning?

The best (albeit still not ideal) solution is to allow players to set a safety switch. If they decide at character-creation time to be prudent, then an attempt to jump off a cliff would be blocked (“You don’t think this would be prudent”). A reckless character would make the jump; a paranoid character wouldn’t drink an unlabeled potion. Later, the player could change their safety setting if it started getting in the way of play.

Another example of taking control from players is giving them goals they don’t have. This most often happens in training programs for newbies, where designers are trying to teach new players the ropes. New characters aren’t necessarily new players, so there should always be a way to decline a quest. “The first thing you need is a weapon. There is a shop….” No, the first thing I need is a teleport ring from a guy who owes me one, so I can meet my buddies up on the mountain where we’re tracking werebears.