DICE 2016: Competency

The discussion between Todd Howard and Pete Holmes this year at DICE was interesting for the most part, but a juicy reminder about how people interact with story is embedded right at 3:02:53 (in case the link isn't taking you directly to that spot).

Todd and Pete discuss how people like to experience jokes and the "comeback" element of storytelling. Pete points out a joke's setup and punchline need a distinct amount of time between them in order to have the maximum effect, and the same is true of the payoff of a story. Pete explains how people don't want the home team of a given sport to dominate -- people want to see the team they're rooting for come back from the precipice of disaster, a near loss, and grasp victory from the jaws of defeat. It's an important lesson to keep in mind when pacing the journey of your characters. No one wants to be perfect. They want to overcome imperfection.

Brandon Sanderson talks about the three knobs you can adjust on a character to change how they are perceived by an audience. Sympathy, Proactivity, and Competency. If your characters are too competent, if that knob is turned up too high, the player never has to overcome adversity. If there is no adversity to overcome, the conflict is meaningless.