Deeply immersive role play in Skyrim

Application of the Hierarchical Theory of Needs in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 

The Elder Scrolls is one of the most iconic IPs in role-playing single-player games. No one expected it to be so hot and vibrant, and even a few years later it still has a decent online rate. It has almost no shackles to the identity of players: the legend of Skyrim is not as the epic of Link saving Zelda, not the story of romance and hardship of the Gwynbleidd, but a legend of the player himself. Bethesda's designers have applied the hierarchy of needs theory well, using a rigorous progression to guide the player's emotional engagement.

About the first step, except for the first layer of physical needs, as a role-playing game with the player himself as the protagonist, the survival and security needs of the player need to be considered by game designers: How to balance the urgency of the protagonist being threatened in the game world and the pleasure of player getting his basic needs met by playing? It's a difficult balance. An excellent example is that in The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, the protagonist starts as a wrongfully accused prisoner. From the beginning, player's most basic needs, survival and safety, are not guaranteed which make players feel uneasy, But this game uses a wonderful tutorial to let players understand the basic operation while getting the thrill of basic needs being met: the final boss dragon Alduin destroys the village and breaks off execution so that the player's survival threat is temporarily resolved while implies protagonist’s self-fulfillment. Then swiftly comes the second and subsequent threats which are also tutorials. After guiding the player through basic actions of acquiring loot and fighting, the player arrives at the end of a hole, a narrow, glowing gap through which the player begins his journey. As Alduin's roar moves away, a vibrant, green wilderness scene appears before the player, telling him: you are safe for now. This allows him to become more immersed in the world filled with dangers but with a safe haven he can makes on his own, creating a sense of belonging and making the role-playing more immersive. Furthermore, transition to the intermediate stage of the hierarchy of needs.

The next step is to analyze how the social and esteem needs are manifested. Bethesda stands on the shoulders of giants of excellent western-style RPG games, developed the Karma system that greatly enhances immersion and a camp system that is the best in its class. The Karma system means that many of the small effects that players have on the world are affecting the daily lives of NPCs in the world. The style of equipment, racial appearance, way of speaking to inhabitants are included. For example, you kill an NPC, then you will see his mother searching in the streets for her son and his children becoming an orphan wandering in the city in your later journey. These designs make NPCs seem to live in Skyrim and enhance players' sense of belonging to the world. In the camp system, the sense of love and belonging usually comes from joining a camp and meeting many vivid NPCs with help of the Karma system, then the needs of esteem come from the positive feedback of player's rising status among these forces, as well as protagonist's rising fame in the journey of saving the world and completing various side commissions which are reflected in conversations of NPCs, in the chants of bards and in-game textual records. In details of this system, you choose one camp of the Empire or the Storm from start, and under the influence of these two major forces thereafter the Brotherhood, Winterhold, Dawnguard, Vampire, Werewolf, and so on are intricately intertwined. The positive feedback of the player's increasing status and respect in the world makes it feel more immersed.

Finally talking about the needs of self-fulfillment. Outside of the main storyline, players can act as the protagonist in the vast open-world through the exploration of continuous growth. Furthermore, outside of the game itself, thanks to the easy-to-edit game engine, players can create interesting modifications with their own hands to meet the needs of self-fulfillment in the real world. The Elder Scrolls undoubtedly demonstrates the flexibility of the modding tools. Two of the mods that impress me deeply is a story about history and another is about time loops. The first author seems to have taken inspiration from the crumbling dwarven ruins, he created a big map filled with speculations about the history of dwarves in Skyrim. The second one named The Forgotten City was published independently learned the essence of the Karma system I think. I have to admit that these fan-made stories are amazing.

The story of Dragonborn ends, but the protagonist, or rather the player's story outside Skyrim, never ends. I wish I could create games that systematically fulfill players' hierarchical needs and bring them joy.