Don't Punish Me for Having Fun

George and I had another game design discussion this morning, this one about Warlock: Master of the Arcane. This is a fun strategy game, much like Civilization or the classic Master of Magic game. Granted, this is a computer game, and not a pen-and-paper RPG, but stick with me.

The game play very nicely, with a deep combat, exploration, and building game - with a fun magic and resource game heaped on top. As always, you and the other wizard-civilizations can go to war with each other, and send armies until a victor arises. Unlike Civilization or Master of Magic (or any of the games in the Civ genealogy), Warlock does not punish you for going to war. There is no 'global unhappiness', other civilizations don't pile on the warmonger, and your cities don't slide into unrest once hostilities break out.

I was actually so used to being punished for doing what comes natural in fantasy worlds, that is conquering and building an empire, I was initially hesitant about starting hostilities with anyone else. I was gun-shy, and played an averse game for the first part of my play-through, being careful not to anger anyone, and giving tribute to the other civilizations when threatened. Here Warlock comes along, and tells me, "No, go ahead, the war between sides is expected, your people expect it, and it's all good. It's part of the world. Go ahead and have fun."

Surprise. Shock. Wow. A game that isn't shy or punishes you for having fun. This is a common theme in so many games, where they restrict the natural fun of a game system with rules that limit or impose hefty penalties. The game tells you 'you can do X' and then on the other hand makes it so difficult the promise of the game's premise is lost in a morass penalties and balances restricting the fun.

In pen-and-paper RPGs, you see 'fun punishment' implemented in many ways. The old d6 Star Wars RPG had a 'dark side point' system where if you accumulated enough dark side points, you lost control of your character and became a bad-guy NPC. Wasn't the promise of the game's Jedis the internal fight between light and dark? Why should my character "die" and become a GM-NPC when he or she goes dark-side? Why can't I fight and redeem myself eventually, like Darth Vader?

Don't get me wrong, d6 Star Wars was a great game, and you can see fun punishment type rules in many modern RPGs, computer and traditional. Where these games go wrong is promising an experience (either implied through the genre or explicitly on the game box), and then taking it away via the rules. Good design delivers on 'the promise', and enhances the experience - it lets you live the dream, play the movie, and be the hero.

Anytime you are worrying about 'oh my character will be punished if he or she acts a certain way' - you lose something. Way back in D&D, there was a rule about losing xps or levels if you broke your alignment, which is another good example. If players want their characters to act evil or be good to the point of their own detriment, let them, and reward good play with xp. Let the players have fun, and write the rules to support that.