Last post about GTA3, honest. But a recent mini-article at Gamasutra.com caught my eye, not least because its title included the 'e' word. From a session at GDC Europe, called Systemic Level Design for Emergent Gameplay, led by Harvey Smith of Ion Storm Austin. Harvey outlined a basic form of emergent behaviour in more complex games - essentially, players discovering/creating ways of playing not foreseen by game designer.
"The sense of possibility that players talk about when they play Grand Theft Auto 3 -- or any game that tries to make a really in-depth environment where the world is not just full of one-to-one interactions that were prescripted -- is a very powerful thing. It's empowering to the player. The gameplay itself becomes largely about exploring the possibility space. So yeah, we think it's pretty innovative. As game worlds get more complex, keeping this angle going will mean that every game experience will be richer and richer."
Conversations from GDC Europe: Bill Fulton, Zeno Colaco, Harvey Smith, at Gamasutra.com.
It's a short piece at the end of a longer series of interviews, and Gamasutra might require registration (free), but interesting. Particularly interesting parallels with other forms of emergence.
[also a link in the above article to a Microsoft .doc entitled User-centered Games Design - looks worth a read]
