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“There is so much more we could be doing”

The sage and savvy Emily Care Boss being interviewed by Evan Torner on his blog Immersive Gameplay.

Evan Torner: What recent games have you played that you think will create huge ripples in the way we think about, design and play games?

Emily Care Boss: Microscope, by Ben Robbins. This is a game that takes many standard assumptions of a role-playing game (participation primarily via the use of an ongoing character, the presence of a Game Master or facilitator, chronological fiction, solitary world creation) and stands them on their head. In the game, the players share the creation of an over-arching storyline of an epic nature. Some examples are the rise and fall of an empire, the mythic beginnings of human culture, or a bloodthirsty war between interstellar species. Using an egalitarian, round-robin structure, the players create eras and specific events that create a timeline. Scenes are played out within events, in a fashion much like that found in any role-playing game. But the scenes’ purposes are to clarify and define the specifics of the overall sweep of events by answering a specific question about the event, rather than for the purposes of developing the characters or gaining mechanical advantage. It’s a unique storytelling engine that sweeps away blinders of limits we enforce on the medium, which, I hope, will help us better realize the full potential of this form. There is so much more we could be doing. Microscope is a great start.

“There is so much more we could be doing.” I heartily agree. I can’t even imagine all the stuff we don’t know.

    Ben Robbins | July 16th, 2012 | | show comments