Creation Through Destruction: Artifacts of Worldbuilding in Experiential Legacy Games

Abstract

This work draws connections between physically, emotionally, and spiritually powerful media: storytelling, rituals, and games. All three utilize worldbuilding to have a profound impact on our lives and our games. By tracing their entangled evolution over time, it becomes clear that legacy games are one of their more recent forms. Legacy games employ many of the mechanisms of liberation and transformation rituals, setting them apart from similar genres. Legacy games began with a forward-looking goal to subvert the assumptions of traditional games, but many of the recent games labeled “legacy” have strayed from this original ethos. This work returns to the vanguard “legacy game” definition and employs iterative design research to push the boundaries of the game design space. To create meaningful, playful social interactions, the game iterations explore the power of various practices in their mechanics: fire, funeral rites, ancestral connections, generational knowledge, community-building, and more. The unique mechanism of “creation through destruction” emerged as the central tenet of memorable, meaningful legacy games.