What is Player Agency?

Player Agency is the reasoning behind why one particular rule or game mechanic is better than another and can be defined by this criteria:

  1. The player has control over their own character's decisions.
  2. Those decisions have consequences within the game world.
  3. The player has enough information to anticipate what those consequences might be before making them.

It is a basic but fundamental design ideology that needs to be considered during development with consideration of the players needs and the essential experience. It describes the ability of a player to interact meaningfully with the game world. It is more complex than simple action/feedback interactivity, and refers more to knowing actions taken by the player that result in significant changes within the world.

Without agency in a game, players become pawns used to tell someone else's story, and many people find it frustrating to be objectified this way. Giving the player choice and influence over the games story and environment allows them to connect on a deeper level with the game and feel as though they are providing some value to the experience.

What is Player Agency? - University XP

Player agency varies across video game genres. A game that has real time events and surprises the player at random instances would (such as strategy games) would not be able to provide much agency as the player would not be able to plan ahead for the future of the game (how the environment or characters would be influenced). Likewise action and adventure games with a set narrative does not provide opportunities for the player to make a personal influence to the experience. In comparison, role-playing games such as D&D provide plenty of opportunities for players to make their mark and personalise their gameplay, meaning that it has great player agency, similar to other genres of games like turn-based strategies or games that include interactive narrative.

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This diagram illustrates how player agency varies across video game genres.

Micro refers to the specific control a user has over game units. Macro refers to higher level strategic game considerations.

It measures the ability of the player to make their own decisions to guide the storyline against the level of control a user has over the game units.

How Can I Create Agency?

Some ways that I can include player agency in my game design: