Hypothetical Game Case Study: Our Post-Apocalyptic Gunslinger

Going back to the example from the last chapter, again take the role of a gunslinger in the post-Apocalyptic world.

In the game, a guy named Kovar sells you weapons. Your feelings about him are complex because:

1. Sometimes he cheats you.

2. He almost steals the heart of the woman you like.

3. While he doesn't get her, he does land the heart of a well-known hottie who never falls for anyone.

4. He risks his life to save you, and even takes a bullet for you.

5. You find out that he has suffered incredible tragedies in his life; his own wife and son were murdered by the same enemy you're going after.

It's likely that you'll have Layer Cakes toward him a variety of layers of feeling. If you're a guy, you might simultaneously:

1. Feel annoyed at him for swindling you.

2. Be angry that he's making a play for the woman you like.

3. Grudgingly admire him for winning the heart of a woman everyone thinks is untouchable or perhaps be a bit jealous.

4. Appreciate him and like him for the risks he takes in saving your life.

5. Feel sorry for him for the tragedies of his past.

Remember, you may feel these different emotions sequentially (feeling different emotions at different points in the game), or, at any given moment when you're with him, you might feel several of them at the same time.

The reason to do this in a game is to emulate life itself. This book is about creating complex states of emotional immersion in a game, and Player Toward NPC Relationship Deepening is a useful type of Emotioneering.