Framed Freedom
Having a perceived richness in possible choices without feeling tension from having too many of them, or having to prioritize between them.
Games often try to present players with a freedom regarding the actions possible in order for them to feel that they have meaningful choices. At the same time the games want to direct the activities gamers are having by interacting with them. Framed Freedom emerges when game design balanced these two aspects so players have a clear sense of what they can do but still feel unrestricted.
Contents
Examples
The Sims series and "tycoon" games such as Zoo Tycoon series gives Framed Freedom to players by providing a simulation of a certain environment (a household in a city and a zoo respectively) and letting players choose their own goals within that context. This also goes for simulation games such as SimAnt, the SimCity series, and SimEarth.
The possibility of building ones own complexes in Minecraft and Slaves to Armok II: Dwarf Fortress is a form of Framed Freedom since they are restricted by the resources and tools players have gotten accesses to.
e.g. lack of money in Zoo Tycoon or lack of ores in Minecraft
Europa Universalis 3 or not having GAME ITEMS such as animals "unlocked" in Zoo Tycoon or FarmVille
Using the pattern
Creative Control is a core component of creative Framed Freedom. One common pattern used in combination with Creative Control is Construction or patterns closely related to it, e.g. Crafting, Game Element Insertion, or Landscaping. However, for Framed Freedom to exist the Creative Control cannot allow too many different types of actions, and typically this also requires that the actions are explicitly presented to the players in some way. Limited Resources and Limited Set of Actions are natural way of supporting this and leads Framed Freedom to often have Resource Management.
The freedom aspect of Framed Freedom is often provided by offering Sandbox Gameplay or Player Defined Goals. Cheat Codes is a way of letting players choose to have more freedom if they do not feel there is enough in a game, or lets players have Framed Freedom when they wish in games that otherwise do not support the pattern clearly.
FRAMED FREEDOM saves the players from being overwhelmed with choices. By doing so it enables players to set up reasonable goals in order to provide Satisfaction and VALUE OF EFFORT, and saves them from feeling too much accountability for their own experience, which incidentally, is central to the pottering component of Accountability. The framing can be achieved from LIMITED RESOURCES () and the necessary RESOURCE MANAGEMENT this spawns, but also through AGENT NEEDS. It is often common to frame the activity through limiting the options of how one can interaction with parts of the GAME WORLDS, e.g.
having inaccessible areas of the world in. The main source of freedom in the games studied came from players having the CREATIVE CONTROL to set up PLAYER DECIDED GOALS, often regarding the CONSTRUCTION activities of GAME ELEMENT INSERTION, LANDSCAPING, and CRAFTING. Somewhat paradoxically these goals provide a kind of framing as well, since having a favorite animal one wants to use in Zoo Tycoon or a planned house in The Sims 3 limits what other actions make sense in the game. It does however support an Emotional Flux regarding activities; players can select goals fitting their mood and wanted experience. While the games typically open up for more freedom as gameplay progresses, the presence in several of the cases of modes for SANDBOX GAMEPLAY and CHEAT CODES show how players can be give themselves more freedom if this is wanted.
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Framed Freedom often requires players to engage Resource Management but without associating too much Tension with it. This makes games having the pattern an likely source for supporting Pottering activities.
Relations
Can Instantiate
Resource Management, Pottering
Can Modulate
Can Be Instantiated By
Cheat Codes, Player Defined Goals, Sandbox Gameplay
Creative Control together with Construction, Crafting, Game Element Insertion or Landscaping
Can Be Modulated By
Limited Resources, Limited Set of Actions
Possible Closure Effects
Potentially Conflicting With
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
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Acknowledgements
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