Comments on: Agency Theory Talk (WPI) http://www.jeffongames.com/2008/12/agency-theory-talk-wpi/ This is Jeff. This is Jeff On Games. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:30:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Philip Hanson http://www.jeffongames.com/2008/12/agency-theory-talk-wpi/comment-page-1/#comment-31009 Philip Hanson Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:34:40 +0000 http://www.jeffongames.com/?p=162#comment-31009 I enjoyed the talk. You brought up some interesting points that I'd kind of considered before subconsciously, but never articulated in the kind of detail you've gone into here. Have you seen the book "Quests" by Jeff Howard? I read it last week after your talk, and the ideas about quest design echoed some of your points. The main idea is that quests in RPGs and adventure games need to feel meaningful to the player. Most of the book is about designing quests and has a surprisingly narrow view of what a good quest is, but I thought it was an interesting read. Would you say that agency theory means developers are more constrained in their design? That is, the developers have to rein themselves in so that the players can have more fun? I enjoyed the talk. You brought up some interesting points that I’d kind of considered before subconsciously, but never articulated in the kind of detail you’ve gone into here.

Have you seen the book “Quests” by Jeff Howard? I read it last week after your talk, and the ideas about quest design echoed some of your points. The main idea is that quests in RPGs and adventure games need to feel meaningful to the player. Most of the book is about designing quests and has a surprisingly narrow view of what a good quest is, but I thought it was an interesting read.

Would you say that agency theory means developers are more constrained in their design? That is, the developers have to rein themselves in so that the players can have more fun?

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