Hubs'n'Homes

Now I lay me down to sleep.

Yesterday I discussed how the inclusion of player building mechanics help to establish a personal bond between players and the game. I wanted to expand upon that today, there is another mechanic that video game developers sometimes utilize in order to establish a layer of immersion between the player and their avatar: Player hubs. Often times these appear as a very ancillary feature to the game that they're coupled to, offering very little in the way of tangible or tactical value. That makes it easy to shrug off the transformative effect that player hubs and homes can have on the cohesion and accessibility of the game world. An effect I intend to highlight.

Player hubs are an important element of world building and storytelling in open-world roleplaying environments. Whenever the player is told to suspend their disbelief and accept that a strange new world exists, there is a small list of qualifiers that typically needs to be met in order to establish that world as feasible. (Of course this is only 'typically' the case. There is no irrefutable guide to perfect world building or storytelling.) The storytellers need to provide a comprehensive society, a grounded perspective and a coherent world space. Player hubs help fulfill the last category and answer that most simple of questions: Where does the protagonist go when they aren't saving the world?

In most mediums this question doesn't need to be asked let alone answered, in fact is doesn't need to be asked in most video games either. But open world role-playing experiences are a different type of beast to any of those other types of stories. A lot of the time, open-world games have the player taking control of a character throughout their daily lives 24/7, allowing the player to feel as though they have become one and the same with their avatar. This is the reason why open-world RPG's tend not to be as perpetually action packed as one might expect from an FPS. Action is still usually guaranteed, but you need to experience the slow moments too in order heighten the disparity when everything goes to heck during the action moments. Player hubs are an expansion upon that philosophy, granting seconds of respite to juxtapose against the hours of strife. 

Just so that we are all on the same page, when I say 'Player Hub' I am referring to a space that the protagonist(s) can return to. A place that serves as some sort of home base. I have no more identifying criteria than that, although I believe what I do have is adequate enough grounds upon which to understand today's focus.  Although, this does mean that there are a lot more examples then I could ever hope to list in a single blog. Therefore, I will instead describe what type of player hub I am referring to and explain the effect it has on the wider game. With that in mind, Let's start with one of the more clever examples of player hubs that I have seen in recent years.

A GUI (Or Graphical user interface) in the context of gaming, is most commonly an overlay on the screen that gives the player useful information about the character and their world; such as how many hitpoints remain and how much ammo they have. This specific use is called a HUD. However, GUI can be also be used to refer to inventory menus and options screens. Obviously, this is an essential part of almost any modern video game; afterall, interactive coherence is a core pillar of game design. However, for years now they have been almost universally identical to one another. Developers usually value functionality over presentation when it comes to these elements and we rarely see something truly unique done with the idea. But Sometimes, there are those developers who go above and beyond and marry essential GUI elements into their player hub in a seamless environment.

One of the best examples I can think of for this would be Fable 3. Early on in that game you are introduced to the world space known as 'Sactuary' that you can enter at any time. Whenever you go into 'Sanctuary', you have a 3d world space that is essentially a traditional RPG menu bought into an interactive setting. You have the room where your outfits are stored, the room your money is displayed along with a transaction log and a map you can use to fast travel. Divinity: Dragon Commander does something similar with 'The Raven'. Whenever you are between tactical turns the player is thrown back to their ship 'The Raven' where they can interact with ambassadors, unlock research, and go learn about crew members. 'The Raven' is essentially another set of menus that you have to click through only these are 3d animated. Then there is the Clocktower in 2014's Thief. Here Garrett can look at all the impressive loot he's stolen, essentially acting as an interactive 'collections' menu.

These 3D spaces all transform traditionally bare bone menus into canonical spaces to explore. This way, when the player is doing what is usually busywork (tidying inventory, planning tech trees and viewing treasures) they are never taken out of the immersion of the world they are meant to be inhabiting. It is a clever way of allowing players the respite of home without having to worry too much about the effect on pacing it might have. The more immersed the audience, the easier it is for the storytellers to build trust with that audience and invest in rapport.

The most traditional use of player hubs in RPG's is in the common player home. Places that the avatar can call their own that they can return to time and time again when the mood takes them. Oftentimes in open-world RPG's, player homes aren't even essential destinations but rather optional undertakings that the player can pursue if they so choose. RPG's like Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls and Fallout,  make great use of player homes as immersion vehicles. Those are both games where the avatar spends all their time in the presence of their player, therefore the player home fills a gap in the world's logic that tugs at the back of your mind. Narratively, the locations are inconsequential and left entirely up to the player to acquire, much like a lot of elements in Bethesda games.

Home spaces like the Highwind from Final Fantasy VII, The SSV Normandy from Mass Effect and the camp from 'Dragon Age: Origins', are essential narrative locations that playable characters all meet at. In party-based RPG's like these, the home hub is a gathering place for all the party to interact. Oftentimes in these games it is rare for the player to have their entire roster in action, so having the chance to interact with them on peaceful ground is a good rapport building mechanism. Players have the chance to unwind in a relatively peaceful area and assume the role of team leader like the game implies that you are.

Finally, there the types of hubs the players visit in Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying games. MMORPG's have player hubs that fulfill vastly different roles than other games, for no other reason then the fact that they are online experiences. It is harder to find a quiet spot for yourself in an MMO and that's not what these kinds of hubs are designed for. In MMO's, these spaces are used for a variety of different purposes both designed and adopted. Sometimes they exist for ease of access between different activities or world spaces and they sometimes they are utilized as meet spots between players. MMO hubs are supposed to serve as a sort of communal lounge, or a clubhouse, where a variety of people meet and interact with each other in a casual space without the stress of min-maxing, monster fighting or mob grinding to interrupt.

Due to their communal nature, MMO Hubs generally take the form of communal areas like the city in Neverwinter or the fleet in The Old Republic. In Neverwinter, the hub space allows for players to meet vendors, quest givers, craftsmen and all manner of useful functions. All of these could potentially be replaced by menu's but, similar to the GUI replacement hubs, the 3d environment is more fun and immersive .The Old Republic's fleet has a more practical role, it serves as the nexus point between all of your adventures. Whilst, yes, the bulk of your travels will be conducted from the player's ship; the fleet is the location from which players will connect with a vast majority of the community events and endgame content. Raids, events and boss-slaying parties are all conducted or built from the decks of the fleet.

Player hubs and homes are one of the small, but appreciated touches that we find in games. They are one of the individual elements that add up to create a believable world for the audience to interact with. That is why we see them represented so often in modern games, especially in RPG's. Video game's are a much more involved venture then movies or books meaning that the creators often have to go that extra mile in order to keep the player attached. Anyone who has given up on a hundred hour RPG knows the struggle to stay interested all too well. Immersion and context are the lynch pin that, when executed well, gives the player the reason to stick around for the long haul. Some may think the presentation of something as universal as a hub seems insignificant to that equation, but you'll often find that small details are all the more meaningful than the large set-pieces when it comes to keeping players happy. Keep your end-of-the-world threats and your eardrum shattering explosions, I just want a place to lay my head.