Hypothetical Game Case Study: Return to the Terrellens

Let's go back to our game where you're defending the Terrellens against the American military.

Earlier I had asked, what if the American military wants the Mitro3 for a very good reason: to stop an entirely different alien enemy who is heading for Earth?

So let's say you join forces first with the Terrellens, and later with the Americans, for now you're seeing more of the big picture. That is, at first you want to stop the U.S. military from destroying their sacred sites for Mitro3. And then, seeing more of the big picture and the threat to Earth, you side with the Americans to get that Mitro3. You can now see the issue equally from both sides. This is Multiple Viewpoints and it's a First-Person Deepening Technique.

Getting Even Fancier with This Technique

Could we explore, in the game, the subjects of loyalty and betrayal the way Shakespeare explored love in A Midsummer's Night Dream?

Sure we can. We start with the dilemma mentioned earlier: Should your loyalty be to the Americans, or to the Terrellens?

Also, we could, within the game, echo those same complex issues on a smaller scale. For instance, what if Shane, one of your military friends in the game, asked you to keep a secret that he's addicted to senn, a serious drug. He's afraid if you tell his superiors, he'll be expelled from his military unit.

But, to save Shane, you're forced to betray him and rat him out. As a result, he is expelled from the military, but his life is saved. Depending on how we want the game to play out, he might or might not mature to the point where he sees that you were helping him.

In exposing Shane's addiction, were you being a loyal friend, or were you betraying him?

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By the way, when you have a subplot (like the question of what way you can best be loyal to Shane) that echoes the main plot (choosing your loyalties among the Terrellens and the U.S. military), this is a Plot Deepening Technique.

If, during the game, we see still more facets of loyalty and betrayal in a way that makes us wrestle with these issues then, by the end, we will have become deeper in the process.

Another Way of Using Different Ways of Using Multiple Viewpoints to Create First-Person Deepening

This little section has just scratched the surface of what can be done by using Multiple Viewpoints. Another way to move a player through multiple and sometimes even conflicting viewpoints can be done by empathizing with several NPCs, all who have their own differing viewpoint of a subject, event, person, or plan.