Design persuasif de jeu de rôle de table : introduction et validation d'une approche argumentative au design de jeu
We often refer to the ‘experience’ as the reason for playing a game. As such, it is an important component of the game designer’s work since they must support the player in reaching the experience proposed by the game. Unfortunately, at present, no known design approach helps the designer act on this experience in a voluntary and concrete way. By focusing on the philosophy of action, which allows us to link experience to action and then to reasoning, we went in search of an approach that would allow us to influence the desires, knowledge and beliefs of the player, in order to act directly on his reasoning. Following the path of persuasive design, already drawn by other authors in the field, we opted for an approach based on the Treaty on argumentation. This approach was first built on the translation of the main concepts of the argumentation. Then, by focusing on research through design literature, we put this approach to the test, through the creation of a tabletop role-playing game and the deployment of user playtests. The design and tests allowed us to collect — through a logbook, direct observation of participants, and focus groups — data to refine the theoretical model of the approach. The experiment revealed that a persuasive design would indeed influence the desires, knowledge and beliefs of the players, but that the discussion goes beyond the causal link of game mechanics to the intended experience. Indeed, the designer can use several rhetorical tools through the attributes of the game to lead the player to its development. Nevertheless, these tools are only stepping-stones used to bring the player through several stages and behaviors. This thesis will specifically discuss persuasive design as it is applied to the design of a role-playing game, and may, in the future, grow into a research program that targets persuasive design in a broader sense.
Argumentation Game design Persuasive design Rhetoric Role-playing games Research through design