Seven Deadly Sins of Game Design

Over on RPGnet there has been a great discussion on game design from a meta perspective. It started as a list of things that a prospective indie/small-press game designer should avoid if they want to write a passable game. Like most threads, the first few ideas were solid; then later ideas started to waver between sheer brilliance and rubbish. But one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Like many threads, it also degenerates into trash talk for a while before getting focused again.

I made the comment:

“And that's why a listing like this one is really good.

Once you know where the lines are drawn in the sand, that's when you know where to cross them and the effects to worry about when you do cross them.

A lot of inexperienced designers don’t know the traps and they don’t understand why their games are falling into them.

Occasionally they'll hit upon a stroke of genius, but more often than not the resultant output will be utter crap.”

So, for posterity, here’s the complete listing so far.

1. Creating a game that is “D&D but better”

2. Using my own campaign background as the game background

3. Overdeveloping creation myths

4. Allowing players to be anything, be anyone!

5. Designing without premise, theme or focus

6. Developing a game with lack of a fruitful void

7. Designing with assumptions about what games “should be like”

8. Forgetting that you are designing a social activity

9. Holding onto your darlings too hard.

10. Lack of blind playtesting

11. Writing a set of rules when a supplement would have sufficed

12. Being different just to be different

13. Forgetting the Human factor

14. Deep customisation…how much detail is too much?

15. Assuming the way you play is how others will play, building something that works great only if done the way you would do it, but falls apart if done with even minor change.

16. Being different for the sake of being different, in the belief that it makes the game "better"

17. Writing a RPG that is too closely based on a book/Film/comic, that only works when you've immersed yourself in the source material.

18. Writing something that has a wonderful setting, but there's nothing for player characters to do.

19. Writing something that requires several separate, pricey books before you can even start to play - and I mean beyond a player's book and a GM's book.

20. Failing to be aware of the common traps and pitfalls of game design!

By the time you’re reading this, there might be more traps to avoid on the thread. But at this stage I’m starting to see that a lot of the traps are doubling up, or simply being reworded from new perspectives. So I’m going to limit the variety of traps and consolidate them into groups. Let’s call them, the Seven Deadly Sins of game design.

1. Lack of Focus (Traps 4, 5 with a touch of 18)

2. Not Designing the Actual Play (Traps 6, 8, 9 with a touch of 13 and 19)

3. Not designing for others (Traps 2, 7, 9, 10, 15 with a touch of 13)

4. Excessive Detail (Traps 3, 14, 19 with a touch of 17)

5. Trying to Improve on the Successful (Traps 1, 12 with a touch of 11)

6. Not doing your research (Traps 15, 20 with a touch of 16)

7. Overdoing it (Traps 3, 11 with a touch of 5)

I've shuffled the traps around a few times to fit in with the traditional seven deadly sins, but so far nothing much has proven successful. Some of the traps that I've seen really kill a game just don;t fit into the nice patterns I keep trying to generate. Maybe I'll look at the Buddhist precepts, or just end up writing a list of 10 commandments for game design.

It's interesting that the issues I was internalising a few days ago on the blog (about gaming success and failure) have been echoed in other parts of the design community. I still stand by my comment that these traps can be used by a good game developer as long as they know them, consider them like a map to a minefield. Sometimes you want to get close to the mines so that you can draw your enemies in, or simply perform amazing stunts with your ideas.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hmm, though even some of your 7 seem to be repeating (4 and 7 specifically).

To go to a list more directly inspired by the Seven Deadlies:

1. Pride
Your 2 and 3. Designing the game for yourself and not for others' play experience.

2. Gluttony
Your 4 and 7. Doing too much instead of enough.

3. Envy
Trying to be "D&D but better," for example. Or in general "that other successful game, but DONE RIGHT!" Jealous game design is sadly common.

4. Sloth
Not being different enough. I'm surprised to not see one of the sins being "doing something boring that's been done before" as that's more common than the rest of these put together.

5. Lust

6. Greed

Lust, greed, and gluttony are somewhat hard to differentiate especially when there's not food or sex involved. I'll have to think on that.

7. Wrath

Designing as a grudge-filled "response" to something; picking fights with games, designers, players, GMs, or movements in your margin notes like a gangster rapper. "GMs suck, therefore this game gets rid of them!"
Vulpinoid said…
That's very similar to the way I ended up trying to align the traps with the 7 sins.

And you've raised a good point that even I've doubled up on certain aspects.

But, special thanks for the "Wrath" ideas. I wasn't sure how to link that in as a game design sin, but you've covered something I hadn't even thought of...."grudge design".

For the Lust, Greed and Gluttony trio, I was thinking of splitting them along these basic lines...

Lust = Trying to capitalise on the next best thing, drawing on licensed properties to get some extra cash/kudos/exposure, but without realising the actual concepts that are drawing people into that property.

Greed = The supplement treadmill...churning out new stuff for the same old setting when it;s already tired and people have moved on.

Gluttony = Doing too much.

All in all, I think this could be a useful tool for new designers. I'll have to put it up on my site once it's all been sorted out.
Unknown said…
I'll give it a shot.

Avarice: 1. Lack of Focus - I can combine all the elements I want. I don't need to worry about consequences.

Pride: 2. Not Designing the Actual Play - I don't need to worry about that; I know what I'm doing.

Wrath: 3. Not designing for others - Everyone else is playing wrong!

Gluttony: 4. Excessive Detail - I can have it all. It's all fantastic!

Envy: 5. Trying to Improve on the Successful - Their game is so successful. I bet if I do it better, my game will be more successful!

Sloth: 6. Not doing your research - Eh, how hard can it be to make a good game?

Lust: 7. Overdoing it - I want it to have this! And this! And this, oh god yes, this!
Siskoid said…
I think Hannah cracked it.

I was going to attempt to view the Sins through how they were determined by medieval Christian cosmologists, i.e. as perversions of one's love for God (pride is Love turned inward, Wrath is reversed Love, Gluttony is deviated Love, etc.) but her scheme works.

Interesting post as always, Vulpinoid.
Vulpinoid said…
I agree that Hannahseems to have consolidated the design traps into a nice scheme and I'll probably be stealing/adopting it when I write up the sins formally.
Unknown said…
Hey, I make generators; fitting things into categories is what I do all day! Plus I'm a sucker for the seven deadly sins. I could probably match any random assortment of seven things to them if I tried hard enough.
Telas said…
Not to intentionally snark on this, but I would add something to the effect of "trying to follow everyone else's rules of game design, these included".
Vulpinoid said…
Telas, I won't take that as a snark. In fact I'll agree with it 100%.

If you're going to create something, don't let someone else impact on your creative freedom. But be aware of what has come before and why it has succeeded or failed.

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