Skarlath
11-17-2005, 05:49 PM
1125Diplomacy is arguably the most exciting of all the new ideas Sigil Games Online is bringing to our beloved genre: a new form of gameplay that has never before been attempted by online roleplaying games. It heralds an exciting entrance to the third generation of MMORPG's, in which games will appeal to a multitude of tastes in gameplay, not just those players who are combat orientated. With this intriguing sphere shrouded in mystery, I would like to take the chance to put forward the origins of persuasion, in an attempt to help understand what exactly this sphere will encompass and where it's roots lie.
We can be sure that since humans have been able to communicate, we have felt the need to guide and control each other. The range of circumstances in which a human would be required to argue down another human are fairly vast, but can be crudely divided up into the following generalisations:
Personal quarrels – Something like a petty argument between two peasants over whose boots are more sturdy?
Forensic debates - This may be working out who at a dinner party is the murderer, by sifting through information given by various guests.
Bargaining dialogue - Perhaps an individual wishes a price to be lowered on a good they want to purchase, or maybe an army general wants to attain particular conditions regarding the surrender of his forces.
Action-Seeking dialogue - This could involve from convincing a thug to assist in an assassination, or convincing a guard to let you pass through a particular entrance into an area off-limits to civilians.
Educational dialogue - Perhaps an attempt to convince a scholar the world is round.
Most, if not all, of these instances could be comfortably placed into the gameworld of Telon. They are intrinsically human situations that arise where ever communication takes place. However it was in Ancient Greece that scholars began to record, document, and truly explore the world of persuasion and began to look at these various situations.
This study of what become known as rhetoric, which means the study of effictive and persuasive uses of language, was birthed from within the courts of law. A man named Corax and his pupil Tisias are thought to be the first to put their thoughts on rhetoric to paper, and their thoughts were used extensively in improving how trials were debated. Soon after, a group of thinkers named the Sophists, which translates as ‘wise-ist’ or ‘wiseman’ were formed by those who studied and taught philosophy and rhetoric.
The famous philosopher Plato also indulged in the study of rhetoric, as did his student Aristotle. It was from men such as these that the concepts of logical thought were contemplated and penned. Aristotle identified three methods with which successful rhetoric could be conducted:
Ethos – The influence of the speaker
Pathos – Emotional appeals.
Logos – The use of facts and figures, i.e. logic, to reach a conclusion.
1122Later, Roman rhetoricians, such as Cicero and Quintilian, carried on the study of rhetoric, continuing Plato and Aristotle’s works. Quintilian believed that rhetoric could be separated into five stages:
Inventio, Dispositio, Elocutio and Pronuntiatio, Memoria and finally Actio.
In English: Invention or development of the argument, arrangement of the argument for greatest effect, style and presentation of the argument, memory of the argument, and finally the delivery of the argument.
You may well be able to see that these concepts not only seem sensible, but can also be recreated plausibly within a game.
Inventio may be the character’s preparation for the parley, such as the gaining of information.
Dispositio may be the intended course of the dialogue in the form of tactics. This may cover what equipment the character will use to assist them. This could also take the form of decisions made during the parley.
Elocutio and Pronntiatio may be covered within the skills a character possess. Specialisation of tactics would definitely effect the style and presentation of the argument.
Memoria would be in the form of the actual on the spot abilities that a character has at their disposal. The better their memory has prepared them, the more options they will have within the discourse, naturally.
Actio would be the discourse itself, in particular the choices the player makes during it.
Rhetoric was considered to be extremely important in medieval Europe. Rhetoric was one of the subjects incorporated into the Trivium, a three subject syllabus taught to young men. Being adept with words was the mark of a gentleman, as the land still needed those who could settle disputes and keep the peace. As trade became more and more important, the importance of rhetoric also grew. For some time new views on rhetoric were not 1126recorded, but this was changed by Erasmus and his followers.
Though rhetoric takes into account style and presentation of an argument (and therefore body language involved), it tends to relate to the use of logic as a tool over all else. However there are other methods identified that overlap the works of rhetoricians such as Aristotle’s divisions of arguments into Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
The following are methods which may be used to persuade an opponent in any of the previously stated circumstances:
Logical reasoning – The use of appeals using facts and deduction to bring forth a conclusion.
Appeals to faith or morals – Convincing the opponent to do what they are morally obligated.
Storytelling – The use of untruths to convince the opponent of facts, or persuade the opponent of actions.
Seduction – The use of sexual desire to convince the opponent of certain truths of actions.
Blackmail – The use of non-violent threats to force the opponent to a conclusion.
Coercive (threatening) techniques - The use of violent threats to guide or control the will of the opponent.
Deception – The use of taking on a role or persona that is not their own to make the opponent more susceptible to certain ideas.
Mind Control – The use of techniques to place the opponent under control.
The boundaries between these methods are blurred – blackmail and coercive techniques would no doubt both be used by one person in different situations. At the same time, techniques such as mind control, for example hypnosis, do not necessarily work.
It is human nature to attempt to guide the thoughts of others. Throughout history scholars have risen to the challenge to document the nuances of languages and how they might be used to best effect when attempting such control. We have seen the rise and fall of great ideas, adaptations of previous theories, the coining of new ones, and the printing of jazzy paperback books that tell you how you can be more assertive when dealing with your boss.
With the many thoughts and theories about what truly governs how effective someone’s skill at persuasion is, the diplomacy sphere has the potential to be extremely deep and involving. We can only hope that the developers will remain true to what is not only a colossal topic, but one with so many intricacies that it just screams "involving gameplay."
No matter how each of us may feel about playing with a focus on the art of rhetoric rather than slashing up monsters, I think we can all agree that it is innovations such as diplomacy that makes the third generation of MMORPGs an exciting time indeed.
We can be sure that since humans have been able to communicate, we have felt the need to guide and control each other. The range of circumstances in which a human would be required to argue down another human are fairly vast, but can be crudely divided up into the following generalisations:
Personal quarrels – Something like a petty argument between two peasants over whose boots are more sturdy?
Forensic debates - This may be working out who at a dinner party is the murderer, by sifting through information given by various guests.
Bargaining dialogue - Perhaps an individual wishes a price to be lowered on a good they want to purchase, or maybe an army general wants to attain particular conditions regarding the surrender of his forces.
Action-Seeking dialogue - This could involve from convincing a thug to assist in an assassination, or convincing a guard to let you pass through a particular entrance into an area off-limits to civilians.
Educational dialogue - Perhaps an attempt to convince a scholar the world is round.
Most, if not all, of these instances could be comfortably placed into the gameworld of Telon. They are intrinsically human situations that arise where ever communication takes place. However it was in Ancient Greece that scholars began to record, document, and truly explore the world of persuasion and began to look at these various situations.
This study of what become known as rhetoric, which means the study of effictive and persuasive uses of language, was birthed from within the courts of law. A man named Corax and his pupil Tisias are thought to be the first to put their thoughts on rhetoric to paper, and their thoughts were used extensively in improving how trials were debated. Soon after, a group of thinkers named the Sophists, which translates as ‘wise-ist’ or ‘wiseman’ were formed by those who studied and taught philosophy and rhetoric.
The famous philosopher Plato also indulged in the study of rhetoric, as did his student Aristotle. It was from men such as these that the concepts of logical thought were contemplated and penned. Aristotle identified three methods with which successful rhetoric could be conducted:
Ethos – The influence of the speaker
Pathos – Emotional appeals.
Logos – The use of facts and figures, i.e. logic, to reach a conclusion.
1122Later, Roman rhetoricians, such as Cicero and Quintilian, carried on the study of rhetoric, continuing Plato and Aristotle’s works. Quintilian believed that rhetoric could be separated into five stages:
Inventio, Dispositio, Elocutio and Pronuntiatio, Memoria and finally Actio.
In English: Invention or development of the argument, arrangement of the argument for greatest effect, style and presentation of the argument, memory of the argument, and finally the delivery of the argument.
You may well be able to see that these concepts not only seem sensible, but can also be recreated plausibly within a game.
Inventio may be the character’s preparation for the parley, such as the gaining of information.
Dispositio may be the intended course of the dialogue in the form of tactics. This may cover what equipment the character will use to assist them. This could also take the form of decisions made during the parley.
Elocutio and Pronntiatio may be covered within the skills a character possess. Specialisation of tactics would definitely effect the style and presentation of the argument.
Memoria would be in the form of the actual on the spot abilities that a character has at their disposal. The better their memory has prepared them, the more options they will have within the discourse, naturally.
Actio would be the discourse itself, in particular the choices the player makes during it.
Rhetoric was considered to be extremely important in medieval Europe. Rhetoric was one of the subjects incorporated into the Trivium, a three subject syllabus taught to young men. Being adept with words was the mark of a gentleman, as the land still needed those who could settle disputes and keep the peace. As trade became more and more important, the importance of rhetoric also grew. For some time new views on rhetoric were not 1126recorded, but this was changed by Erasmus and his followers.
Though rhetoric takes into account style and presentation of an argument (and therefore body language involved), it tends to relate to the use of logic as a tool over all else. However there are other methods identified that overlap the works of rhetoricians such as Aristotle’s divisions of arguments into Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
The following are methods which may be used to persuade an opponent in any of the previously stated circumstances:
Logical reasoning – The use of appeals using facts and deduction to bring forth a conclusion.
Appeals to faith or morals – Convincing the opponent to do what they are morally obligated.
Storytelling – The use of untruths to convince the opponent of facts, or persuade the opponent of actions.
Seduction – The use of sexual desire to convince the opponent of certain truths of actions.
Blackmail – The use of non-violent threats to force the opponent to a conclusion.
Coercive (threatening) techniques - The use of violent threats to guide or control the will of the opponent.
Deception – The use of taking on a role or persona that is not their own to make the opponent more susceptible to certain ideas.
Mind Control – The use of techniques to place the opponent under control.
The boundaries between these methods are blurred – blackmail and coercive techniques would no doubt both be used by one person in different situations. At the same time, techniques such as mind control, for example hypnosis, do not necessarily work.
It is human nature to attempt to guide the thoughts of others. Throughout history scholars have risen to the challenge to document the nuances of languages and how they might be used to best effect when attempting such control. We have seen the rise and fall of great ideas, adaptations of previous theories, the coining of new ones, and the printing of jazzy paperback books that tell you how you can be more assertive when dealing with your boss.
With the many thoughts and theories about what truly governs how effective someone’s skill at persuasion is, the diplomacy sphere has the potential to be extremely deep and involving. We can only hope that the developers will remain true to what is not only a colossal topic, but one with so many intricacies that it just screams "involving gameplay."
No matter how each of us may feel about playing with a focus on the art of rhetoric rather than slashing up monsters, I think we can all agree that it is innovations such as diplomacy that makes the third generation of MMORPGs an exciting time indeed.