"Can enjoyment in a game come from giving the player freedom instead of a linear experience set out by a designer?"

Dissertation time!

I am currently trying to get my head in a place where I can begin researching (properly, with references) and writing my dissertation, and thus far I do have a very loose subject matter and some ‘chapter’ titles I want to cover – but to get myself in the mood for talking about a very specific subject, I thought it would be healthy to try and talk about what I want to get across here.

My dissertation is looking at the creativity that can come from freedom within a game – be it trying to distort the physics in a simple puzzle game, or organising trips across the land instead of slaying demons in your favourite MMO.

(Sidenote: If you are like me, You would instead play ‘Smash Bros’ and ‘Mario Kart’ and use the characters as toys, giving them little voices and such, instead of racing and fighting!)

In the same way that children can create all manner of games from something as simple as a few chalk lines or a ball and some jumpers – can such a thing be accomplished in game? And if it can, should it be designed, or should it be left to the end user to look at what they are given and say “I want to drive around following the rules of the road – instead of mugging hookers and squishing old ladies.”

The players creativity can come from simply projecting their own narrative onto a game – and often this can be distorted when that cube you’ve named ‘Cindy’ and asked to marry you is ordered into the furnace by an unfriendly voice from above.

The way I am currently looking at it is that it shouldn’t be tampered with – users, especially in groups, will always have their own ideas of how to play. Cheating, not cheating, agreeing on certain rules or simply competing in something as trivial as ‘Who can climb the highest.’

Design can adapt to include such elements, and perhaps incorporate tools to simplify such activities, or perhaps create a tool create new possibilities, but without letting people play the game, you don’t know quite how people will take to a particular mechanic, object or environment and make it their own.