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 Features
The Theory of Parallel Game Universes: A Paradigm Shift in Multiplayer Gaming and Game Accessibility
 The Four Fundamental Laws of Parallel Game Universes
Parallel Game Universes are governed by the following 4 fundamental laws:
Law #1: A PGU should always adapt itself (i.e., its user interface, content and rules) to best serve the needs and preferences of the active player and the characteristics of the current context of use.
The“context of use” entails the type of the game (e.g., action, puzzle, RPG) and its particular characteristics (e.g., cooperative, competitive, content, rules), the deployed technologies (hardware and software), the physical environment (e.g., indoors, outdoors, home, office), as well as its condition (e.g., lighting, noise, space).
There are three possible ways for a PGU to adapt:
- Pre-game accessibility adaptation: Before the game starts, the player creates a personal profile stating individual interaction preferences and requirements, as well as information about the current context of use that cannot be automatically inferred by the system, so that when the game starts, adequate means for enabling accessible interaction are provided. This type of adaptation is of paramount importance for achieving a minimum level of accessibility, since for example there is no way for a game to infer that the player is blind, or that she is located in an outdoor environment with bright ambient lighting.
- Pre-game player profiling: In order to achieve game balance (see section 5 above), beyond ensuring a basic level of accessibility, it is also required that game attributes such as difficulty, speed, layout, content, etc. are adapted to the current player. The easiest way to do this is to directly ask the player (or a peer, e.g., teacher, relative, friend) to subjectively select what she considers to be “adequate” values for these attributes. A more challenging, and promising, approach is to use an interactive profiling application (e.g., like a mini-game) that first tests and assesses the player’s abilities that are required by the game, and then automatically generates the required attribute values.
- In-game player monitoring and dynamic adaptation: The player’s actions are monitored during gameplay, and related inferences are made. These inferences are subsequently used to dynamically adjust the gameplay to better match the player’s skills.
Law #2: Each distinct PGU is ruled by its own laws. Any game element, no matter if user- or computer-controlled, that enters the PGU must conform to these laws.
Law #3: Regarding any two PGUs (A and B) a game element can be in one of the following states: private, shared, or, monitored.
- Private: The element exists in just one of the PGUs and can not affect or be perceived in other PGUs; e.g., a set of protective shields may be present only in universe A, while their existence is unknown to universe B.
- Shared: The element exists in (at least) two PGUs. In this case, Law#2 should be applied for rendering the element in each universe. Thus, for example, an element generically known as “vicious alien” may be rendered as an ugly, ferocious, monster in universe A, and as a funny, goofball, cartoon character in universe B. Players can also concurrently exist in more than one PGUs (e.g., through split screens or multiple projections). In this case, these alternative PGUs must be mutually “compatible” and accessible to the specific player. If, for any reason, a shared element is destroyed in a PGU, then it must be automatically destroyed in the other. This state is characterized by a principle that is also referred to as “loose consistency”.
- Monitored: The element exists in and can affect only one of the universes, but can also be perceived in the other, but without any effect. For example, in universe A, a blind player hears very loud and clear the sound of the single alien she is competing against, but in the distance she can hear the sounds of a battle where another player is fighting in universe B against a horde of aliens.
Law #4: The state of any interactive element can dynamically change at anytime (by its own will or by force), as well as the PGU it is located in.
Thus, for example, if a player has destroyed all the aliens in her PGU, she can lend a helping hand to a player in another PGU by asking to send over some more aliens. In this case, the “transferred” aliens can either move or be shared between the two universes. Of course, the same action could also be initiated by the aliens. Thus, if some aliens are having a hard time in a PGU, they may decide to ask for reinforcements from other PGUs, but only if this does not break Law #1. Furthermore, a player may also decide to leave one PGU for another, for several reasons, including escaping from an inevitable fatal situation, or playing the game from a different perspective when stuck in order to find an alternative solution.
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