Power to the Player

Some time ago, I destructed fear as a noun and discussed how each element plays to building tension in a horror game.  What I didn't touch on too much was the idea of the player's power.  Players are used to empowerment through games, particularly in RPGs.  The player begins with a low level of power, but as they gain levels and abilities, their power grows.  If they need an ego boost, they can head back down to the starting area and utterly destroy those evil rabbits and goblins that threatened them so long ago.

This occurs in most games.  The player starts off with a limited set of abilities, and, as they progress, the player gains more tricks up their sleeves.  Some games, the player has all these tricks to start with, but they must learn how and when to use them.  This skill level is dependent upon the player, but there are tutorials and specific situations to learn these abilities.  Other games have abilities that are unlocked through leveling or some other form of character progression (BIT.TRIP  RUNNER only allows an ability to be used after the point it has been introduced).

This progression empowers the player - and that make them feel good.  It feels good to learn something new, to find that upgrade that unlocks a new area, or just growing in power so they can destroy whatever used to give them trouble.  On that last point, think of that first boss you come across in a game and how much trouble it gave you.  Later on, you see that exact same enemy as a miniboss later on, or even just a regular enemy.  You can't help but love that feeling of "Oh, I remember you."

Even Dark Souls reuses this boss as a later enemy.

Even most horror games follow this trend, albeit on a lower scale.  The Resident Evil series nearly always starts you off with a pistol and limited ammo.  As the player pushes onward, they find the shotgun, but its limited ammo offers it for emergencies only.  The player gets more guns, more ammo, more herbs, and generally more firepower.  I've heard this referred to as "the security-shotgun effect."  The player has a shotgun, their tension is lowered.  They have that big gun for that big problem.

You can clearly see which guns saved for emergencies.

Using Player Power to Invoke Emotion
In the end, player power is something largely controlled by the game.  As such, we can invoke some truly awesome moments.  In Final Fantasy VI, the player begins the game in Magitek Armor, offering some rather extreme abilities.  They also notice that Terra has more abilities than the others, emphasizing that she is special.  The player is taking on small groups of enemies with hardly a bit of challenge.

Bolt Beam is a prime example of the player's power at this point.

 After fighting the first boss, the player is suddenly without that Magitek Armor.  Now, the player has very little power, they're on the run, and they're alone.  The game is completely different now.  The player feels just as weak as Terra is suddenly, so when she falls down a pit and falls unconscious below, the player doesn't feel like Terra is just some loser.  They experienced the drastic change in power - they felt what she felt.  They feel for her, they are concerned for her, and they want to find her and save her once they start playing as Locke.

Alone, outnumbered, and without Magitek Armor, the player's power is gone.

Another example of toying with power comes from Final Fantasy VII's iconic scene where Cloud stands over Aeris, sword drawn as she prays.  At this point in the game, Cloud is being controlled by another force, and the only button available to the player raises his sword higher in preparation to strike Aeris down.  There is no other way to progress.  The player has to strike - they are powerless to stop it.  They have no choice but to press X to watch Aeris die.

You have no idea how difficult it is to find a screenshot of this moment.

In the final moment, as the player admits defeat, Cloud resists, striking the floor near Aeris.  The player feels triumphant for a moment, just before one of the most iconic moments in video game history.  Sephiroth, having failed to kill Aeris using Cloud, takes matters into his own hands.

You have no idea how easy it is to find a screenshot of this moment.

The player's power is suddenly ripped from them just after they taste it once more.  In the end, there was nothing the player could do to save Aeris.  She dies in Cloud's arms, and the player is left knowing that their power, for all it is worth, is nothing when compared to the inevitability of death.

Before I move on, I should bring up an example of giving the player power, since I've only talked about taking it away.  Remember the retaking of the Undercity in World of Warcraft?  The player is given several extreme buffs by Sylvanus and Thrall, making them about 100 times more effective on the battlefield.  This gives the player an awesome feeling - they are a major part of saving one of the bastions of the Horde, fighting alongside two of their mighty leaders.

Oh captain, my captain!

However, I have a personal bone to pick with this scene.  I played a tank, so when Thrall was doing my job, I didn't feel as effective as I should have been.  When I did manage to pull aggro...  It wasn't pretty, we'll leave it at that.  All this power, and I was still just a pawn.  For most everyone else though, they were ready to take on the world.

Using Player Power for Horror Games
Player power is actually a very key piece of horror games.  If the player feels powerful, they will not feel fear.  This is why horror goes hand in hand with survival.  If the player has a limited resource of power, say ammo, then they know that every time they spend that resource, they are losing power.  This is what made the older Resident Evil games so effective - the player had a finite amount of power, and they had to make it last through the entire game.  The tension of the game was largely tied to this limitation of resources.

A rough estimation - notice Tension is inversely proportional to Ammo.

That's largely what's missing in horror games today.  There isn't the survival aspect.  Bullets are plentiful, health can be recovered on a regular basis, and the player only gains power as they stockpile resources.  This is why Hunt the Wumpus is more intense than Dead Space.   You have a single shot in the former, but the latter just hands you ammo and other resources with every monster killed.

If you can go to the store to restock, what's there to be afraid of?

So why has this changed?  Why do we suddenly have Kendo Gun Stores throughout every horror game when it clearly defeats the fear aspect?  Quite simply, it's more fun and easier to design for.  Fun is not the same as fear - it's the difference between going trick-or-treating and going to a haunted house on Halloween.  The former, you will see harmless ghouls and skeletons, but it's light-hearted.  The former will thrill and scare you, getting your blood to pump.  The adrenaline is enjoyable, but not the same as fun.

Why is it easier to design horror games without the survival aspect though?  My friend once played through Resident Evil: CODE Veronica X.  At the very end of the game, he suddenly didn't have enough ammo to defeat the final boss.  His only choices were to try bring a knife to a gun fight or just start over completely.  He determined that the only winning move was not to play.

Screw you guys, I'm going home.

When the enemies themselves provide the resources to kill enemies, you suddenly have a renewable power source, so any amount of tension caused by ammo shortages is completely obliterated.  You just spend ammo to buy more ammo.  It's like the difference between a TCG and Dominion - you have to carefully manage your deck when you play a TCG to ensure you have the resources to last through the game, but you just reshuffle when you're out of cards in Dominion.  Both are fun, but they're not quite the same type of game.

In conclusion, player power is another resource to consider when designing a game, a resource to be manipulated as necessary.  Players with little power are vulnerable emotionally, allowing greater impact if the scene matches.  The player's power level should always match the game's current emotion.  If that emotion is fear, it is appropriate to keep the player from gaining too much power.  If that emotion is dominance, the player should have power overwhelming.  Play with power to achieve the goals you set - just keep in mind what effect it has on the player.