Factions

Specific social networks where membership is defined by what actions are favored, disfavored, and required.

A Faction is a group that has members, criterion on membership, and accepted and disallowed behaviors. Different kinds of groups, such as a family, a gang, an army, are all examples of Factions.

Examples

Morrowind and Oblivion in the Elder Scroll Series provide many different types of Factions for players to join. Each requires certain tasks and requirements to be fulfill for membership, and having this provides access to various tools and the possibility of advancement through completing additional goals.

Players' characters in World of Warcraft can have different relations to the many Factions that exists in games. Their standings are measure by the reputation value they have to each specific Faction, and this can be affected through completing quests and killing monsters. Some rivaling factions are react diametrically different to some actions, so for example killing a pirate of the Bloodsail Buccaneers may result in a lower reputation among them while increasing ones reputation among the goblins of the Steamwheedle Cartel. However, players cannot join Factions - this is instead handled through guilds which consists solely of players.

Using the pattern

Membership in Factions can be considered from three perspectives: what is required to join, what is required to continue being a member, and what is required to advance within their organizations.

Typically a few of the members in Factions act as the Social Gatekeepers which determine who can join. The requirements that need to be fulfilled to satisfy these Social Gatekeepers can range from having the right set of Attributes, possessing the right set of Tools, completing Quests, or a combination of these. Joining Factions may be Mandatory Goals due to Narration Structures but can also be Optional Goals which in the latter case Player-Planned Character Development. If there are several Factions which can be joined, an additional design choice is if one can only be member of one of these (creating a Selectable Set of Goals) or if multiple memberships are possible.

Being, or not being, a player or human (which does not need to be the same thing due to the possibility of AI Players) is another possible requirement for be allowed to join Factions. World of Warcraft is an example of a game using this differentiation, called the organization consisting only of NPCs for Factions while those consisting only of players for guilds. In contrast, the Single-Player Game Oblivion in the Elder Scroll Series has Factions consisting of NPCs which can be joined by the player. It can be easy to ensure that the rules of Factions are maintained, i.e. that in relation to these rules Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences, if there is at least one Algorithmic Agent in the Factions while those Factions that only contain human players run under Self-Facilitated Rules and may motivate the presence of Game Masters. Of course, Factions can play important roles in games without players being members of them. The most obvious case is as Enemies to provide Conflict with many opponent but can also be used for NPCsto control accessibility of Quests and modification of prices during Trading.

Since membership is the result of completing a goal, it is typically that the membership is associated with some type of Rewards. The possibility to gain New Abilities or Improved Abilities is common as this type of Reward, either in the form of training or through purchasable Tools. Another possibility is the opportunity to recruit Companions.

For each Faction used in a game, there need to be a set of Social Norms define which regulate what is actions are acceptable to the members of that Faction. For Factions to have identities of their own, unacceptable behaviors by members typically need to have Penalties, i.e. Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences; in some cases the consequence can be that of becoming a Outcast. In addition, the membership in Factions imply Loyalty, either as a Predefined Goal or as an Committed Goal (in the latter case, the memberships needs to have some benefits). While Loyalty can be disregarded through inaction, giving players the possibility of Betrayal provides an active option and can lead to them not only becoming Outcasts but also Traitors. Somewhat less destructive, Internal Rivalry can be used to provide more Challenging Gameplay, and can be regulated by the Social Norms.

Diegetic Aspects

Depending on the level of diegesis in the game, Factions can consist of players or their Characters (and NPCs).

Narrative Aspects

Factions can function as important components in Narration Structures. For hostile Factions they allow Conflicts that contain more than one person on each side, and thereby avoid the resolution of the Conflict as soon as an Elimination goal of a Enemy is achieved. For neutral or friendly Factions the Character Development of NPCs can instead be an important part of the story told. The use of Internal Rivalry makes it possible to have Enemies within players' own Factions to force the use of other means than Combat to complete Overcome goals.

For all types of Factions the Quests associated with them can easily form Goal Hierarchies explained by the developing storyline.

Consequences

Many times making the joining of a Faction is a Reward in that it can provide access to information, training, and trading of specific Tools. By doing so, becoming a member of a Faction can the requirement to complete a Gain Information, Gain Competence, or Gain Ownership goal, but more likely it will be a Supporting Goal to one of these goals since it may be part of an Hierarchy of Goals or require Trading. When players have had the chance of choosing whether to join Factions or not, the different goals provided in this fashion support Player-Planned Character Development.

Faction introduces simple social constructs that can be used to introduce social interaction to gameplay. While joining Factions may require befriending with or making favors to Social Gatekeepers, keeping ones status may require the Continuous Goal of Social Maintenance and advancement may support Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses through use of Hierarchy of Goals.

Given that Factions typically have Penalties for breaking Social Norms, and advancements within Factions may provoke Internal Rivalry, the use of Factions in games typically has the consequence of Actions Have Diegetically Social Consequences. These consequences imply that players have to choose between complying to an Enforced Agent Behavior, that can include both a Limited Set of Actions as well as requiring actions at certain times, or placing themselves in Risk/Reward situations through by doing actions that are not acceptable by Faction rules.

For Multiplayer Games, Factions offers a natural reason for Social Interaction since they create Alliances and Social Organizations. While the latter may still occur with AI Players and thereby also in Single-Player Games, Social Interaction is less likely since it would require that a player considers an Algorithmic Agent as a social individual.

Given that Factions can make goals, Rewards, and Penalties apply to all members, the pattern often provides Mutual Goals, Shared Penalties, and Shared Rewards to players.

History

An updated version of the pattern Faction, first introduced in Lankoski 2010.