I like worldbuilding!
I wish the art of improv was more conducive to worldbuilding. The big problem with worldbuilding, in my eyes, is that it is boring to spectate. But there’s a little nugget of entertainment in there, because one of the key tenets of good worldbuilding is the idea of “if this is true, what else is true?” If your elf city is mostly arboreal, then what does their economy/trade/diplomacy look like? If everyone in this family is a nightmare sewer clown from space, then how do they do holidays and family reunions? What we, as improvisers, excel at, is the immediate creation of one if-then. Worldbuilding requires many if-thens to be generated over time, which can be incredibly dull and tedious.
When I was a kid, my parents got me the full suite of Maxis Sim computer games on cd-rom: SimCity, SimCity 2000, SimTower, SimAnt, SimFarm, SimCopter, SimIsle, SimEarth, and probably some others that I’m forgetting. My grandpa had a copy of Civilization 2 that he played fanatically, and I of course followed suit. I had pirated copies of both Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, Railroad Tycoon 2, and a couple Ages of Empires. I even had this game that I can’t remember the name of, where you started out as a small business owner and tried to grow your single storefront into a multinational corporation. I was not good at that particular game because I was 10.
These games fall under the category of simulations, and under a larger umbrella of strategy games, which also includes war games like Risk. The crunchier the better, as long as I have a computer to do all the calculations for me. There’s something that ignites deep within my soul when I can pretend to be a conquering warlord or titan of industry. Especially if there’s a character creator and I can name stuff. Even something as free and open-ended as The Sims will have me staying up til its time to shower and go to work again…
At its core, The Sims is about building a space and then filling the space with stuff and people, and then interacting with said stuff and people in a way that creates a satisfying narrative for yourself. What does that say about those of us who trapped our sims in 1x1 cubes until they peed themselves to death? Best to not investigate too closely.
This particular essay has me grasping at straws for how to relate it to improv, but city builders are some of my favorite things so I’m sticking to it.
I get the same rush of creating a huge open world in both simulation games and at the top of a show. Anything is possible! You can put in cheat codes if you want! You can destroy your whole civilization and start over from scratch! I get the same rush of being thrown for a loop when a giant gila monster crawls out of the river and destroys two of my fire stations, or when a newer improviser says something that I don’t understand on a fundamental level.
I’m trying to imagine how I would relate to improv if I were into first person shooters or mobile app puzzle games or League of Legends. Maybe I might take a more adversarial role with interactions, or maybe I would see the whole thing as a team leadership exercise. Maybe these things aren’t even related. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Do I like city builders because I’m an analytical person, and I apply that same analytical mindset to improv?
No posts