Building connections via games

Online experience in Mario Cart is a perfect example against proceduralism. Because though games with NPCs and games with real players have the same rules and mechanics, the multiplayer experience gives me much more challenge, fun, and excitement. Besides the unpredictability from playing against real humans, which makes the game more fun to play, I think an inherent emotional need is also satisfied through the social interaction with other players. I enjoy bumping into other players, collaborating with the 2nd place player to pull the 1st place down, or taking revenge on who just hit me with a shell. These episodes spontaneously arise from players’ interactions rather than the meticulous design of Nintendo. What the creator does is similar to create a sandbox that provides a platform for us players to explore.

One interesting design of this sandbox, for Mario Cart specifically, is the interface in online mode. Before each match starts, players will be put inside the room and can interact with each other via avatar models. Once the match starts, players can read each other's names and nationalities from above their heads. It makes me smile to see players from across the world to be in the same game, which makes me feel a connection with the larger world. All these interface designs make me aware of the fact that I am playing against real people. This demonstrates game as a media has the potential for creating social connections without direct talks or seeing each other via microphones or cameras. Interfaces, mechanics, or visuals, these elements of games can all be used to create this connection. In fact, Journey, a game whose online component lets two players collaborate in a journey to the top of a mountain, can build a strong interdependent relationship between two players, even though the only way to communicate is via making chimes.

Hence, just as Miguel Sicart argues, there is more to procedures/designers’ intentions inside game experience. The play spontaneously arising from a group of players transcends the limit of game systems, which gives game as a media the power to connect people and collectively build a positive experience.