Ludological Psychometrics

Ludological Psychometrics:
What societal and ludological issues arise
when emulating the psychological
dimensions that constitute personality and
social interaction within a video game?
An exercise in creating a video role-playing game
By Jake Hugh Reece Wilson
Student No. 500311755
MArts (Hons) Creative Practice
UXS–4099: Masters Dissertation
Submitted 29th
April 2016

Declaration
‘I hereby declare that this dissertation is my own work in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the MArts (Hons) Creative Practice.’
Signed: …………………………..
Date: 29/04/16
Word count:
Practice-based research (video role-playing game)
~15000 words
Critical analysis
5349 words
Total: 20049 words

Permissions
‘I hereby give permission for my dissertation to be used for teaching purposes in the
School of Creative Studies and Media at Bangor University.’
This paper and constituent software can be used without the author’s consultation by
the aforementioned institution indefinitely for any and all academic purposes.
Signed: ……………………………….
Date: 29/04/2016

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank John Finnegan, my tutor, for advising me through the production of
this work and for enflaming my will for the next era of my life.
I’d like to thank every lecturer I have had in Bangor University since the beginning,
especially those who have helped me hone my writing abilities. I have improved
dramatically since I started and I can only attribute this to the following staff here at
Bangor:
Jamie Sherry; Rebecca Skains; Dyfrig Jones; Huw Powell; Stephanie Marriott; Gerwyn
Owen; John Finnegan; Eben Muse and Professor Nathan Abrams,
To all of you, thanks.
Four years it has been since the beginning; four years of learning, growing and changing.
The road ahead is filled with shadow and uncertainty, but, thanks to the university on the
hill and all those whom spoke within its walls, for I now have a light to call upon. I look to
the future with hope and excitement; boundless opportunities to create that which does not
exist, to create a legacy for the future. Thank you all for the means to carry on and this I
promise:
I will make you proud,
- Jake

Contents
Video Game (Practical Research)........................................................................................0
Part 1: Introduction – aims and objectives ...........................................................................2
Part 2: How can personality be quantified?..........................................................................4
Part 3: Psychometrics in role-playing games........................................................................8
Part 4: Critical analysis of Starstride Chronicles ...............................................................12
Part 5: Conclusion – understanding through deconstruction...............................................18
Bibliography .....................................................................................................................20
Gameography....................................................................................................................25
Appendix A – Treatment of Starstride Chronicles.............................................................26
Appendix B – Personality traits in Starstride Chronicles ...................................................40
Appendix C – Moves in Starstride Chronicles...................................................................49
Appendix D – Data of characters in Starstride Chronicles.................................................57
Appendix E – Final development schedule (last updated 25/02/16) ...................................61
Appendix F – Logo of Starstride Chronicles .....................................................................62
Appendix G – Diagram of the Five Factor model ..............................................................63
Appendix H – Diagrams of conversation damage percentages in Starstride Chronicles .....64
Appendix I – Diagram of the HEXACO model .................................................................69
Appendix J – Diagram of the DISC model ........................................................................70
Appendix K – Diagram of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator.............................................71
Appendix L – Character sprites of Sire and Missy .............................................................72

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STARSTRIDE CHRONICLES
VIDEO GAME (PRACTICAL RESEARCH)
An original game by
Jake Hugh Reece Wilson
with music by
Emma Haf Morgan
Final Version
April 29th
, 2016
© Jake Hugh Reece Wilson
31 Pendre Avenue
RHYL, Denbighshire
LL18 4NH
01745 334578
tryfanllywelyn@live.co.uk
jakehrwilson.blogspot.com

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SEE ENCLOSED DISC AND/OR FLASH DRIVES

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Part 1: Introduction – aims and objectives
Starstride Chronicles is an original video game, created as research for this practice-
based dissertation. The goal of this paper is to determine, though practice and critical analysis,
what ludological and societal issues arise when emulating the conditions of personality and
social interaction within the confines of a video game. In the game I attempt to simulate the
state of human personality through its quantification as a mode of gameplay, which due to the
lack of consensus (Hall and Lindzey, 1970) between psychologists in psychometrically
describing personality (Crowne, 2007), is difficult to define in absolute terms, leaving the
realm of psychometric psychology underrepresented in the medium at large. Through the
practice of game design and creation, issues that may arise from constructing a representation
of the human condition within a video game will be revealed.
A video game was chosen as the main body of research for this paper because games,
like film and prose, use audio and visual modes of relaying information to the audience, but
due to the complex nature of the human condition (Kekes, 2010), the third mode, gameplay
(Kahne, Middaugh and Evans, 2009), could provide the computational core that allows for
emergent behaviour, using coding and computation (Wellenreiter, 2015; 343 - 361) to enable
non-player characters to be procedurally generated to mirror real-life diversity in human
society. However, this complexity poses a problem, for in gameplay, the player must be able
to understand, analyse and overcome each element (Gee, 2005; 5-16; Cogburn and Silcox,
2009), including dealing with NPCs; should personality and social interaction be digitised, it
must done so that it can be understood by the player within through the gameplay itself. Thus,
the ultimate goal of this paper is to ascertain whether or not it is possible to create this system
of personality and for it to be sufficiently understandable through the game’s ludological
components.

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This paper comes in two parts: the software of Starstride Chronicles itself and a
research piece wherein Starstride Chronicles will be analysed and contrasted with comparable
games and psychometric theories. The objectives of this paper are to determine the viability of
creating a system of artificial personality and to determine what issues such a system
introduces with regards to gameplay, narrative and human society. This will be done in
reference to Starstride Chronicles and existing role-playing games, such as Animal Crossing:
New Leaf (2013), Fallout 4 (2015) and Pokémon X (2013). By the conclusion of this
dissertation, methods of emulating both personality and social interaction will be analysed
and any issues relating to psychometric systems in video games will be addressed.

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Part 2: How can personality be quantified?
Linguistically, personality is defined as a set of recognisable characteristics that
distinguish one person as an individual (Engler, 1979), but psychologically, there is
disagreement as to how such characteristics should be categorised (Butcher, 2009). This stems
from the complex nature of the human brain and challenge involved in properly describing it,
(Arendt, 1958) but in order it to be emulated even in the slightest sense, a system of
quantifying personality must be utilised. More than that, a system must be used which can be
both read and understood by both the player and the game’s logic. Computers are not
intelligent – they do not have the ‘common sense’ (Katz, 2012) that enables human beings to
judge characteristics in each other. In order for a machine to understand the variables and
labels that people are ascribed to, they must be quantified into an easily read numerical value.
Therein lies the problem; how should a machine translate a psychological trait or descriptor
into an integer that it can then use in code?
Psychometrics is the measuring of psychological attributes into numerals, usually for
the purposes of psychological diagnosis (Rust and Golombok, 1989). There are various
methods of quantifying psychological dimensions, which range in regard to scope and
purpose, with some more suitable for the medium of gaming than others. One of the most
widely used methods of measuring psychological attributes is the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Indicator (Camara, Nathan and Puente, 2000; 141-154), which is used clinically in
psychopathology to diagnose symptoms of mental disorders (Furnham, 1996; 303-307). It
consists of multiple phases of personality questionnaires that help determine what
psychological symptoms an individual possesses (Butcher and Williams, 2009; 105-135). Due
to the fact that this method has no less than 300 items to judge and requires a medical
psychologist (Ben-Porath, 2012), it is impractical to transliterate such a complex medical

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procedure into a mode of gameplay and even then it is limited in its scope, as it only analyses
psychopathological traits. Though it is clinically the most useful method of gauging and
quantifying personality, it simply was not meant to construct a full picture of a how a person
operates as a social individual.
The Five Factor model (Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion,
Neuroticism) is a series of five broad dimensions used to describe the human social condition
(Costa and Widiger, 1994; Digman, 1990; 417-440). The five factors in question are
physiological elements (see Appendix G) from which all personality traits and disorders can
be broken down into (Norman, 1963; 574-583); they are base construction materials which
constitute the more advanced symptoms and traits that are commonly used in speech.
However, as the data from the Five Factor model is purely descriptive, it is difficult to
quantify and replicate under identical instances with other subjects (Goldberg, 1992; 226-42),
creating a numerical volatility that makes it hard to say with certainly what an individual
numerical value would mean. As such, making clearly defined statements that are empirically
true using the Five Factor model is impossible, as there will always be disagreement as to the
numeral values and boundaries that involve them. However, with this method, it would be
possible to compress a psychological profile into five numerals, making it very easy to
program around.
Similar to the Five Factor model, HEXACO (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality,
Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness) is another series of broad
dimensions used to describe the human social condition (Ashton, Lee, Perugini et al, 2004;
356-366) and is an expanded form of the Five Factor model through the separation of
Neuroticism into Honesty-Humility and Emotionality (see Appendix I). In HEXACO, these
six factors are not elemental components like Five Factor – instead they are constructed from
a selection of facets (Lee and Ashton, 2004; 329-358), which are generated numerals

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calculated through a questionnaire, which are then used to calculate the main factors. The
introduction of Honesty-Humility is useful in analysing the moral standpoint of a subject’s
personality complex (Ashton and Lee, 2008; 1952-1962), however due to the sub-divisions of
each factor into facets, the system is much more complex than Five Factor and the desired
system used for quantifying personality must be balanced; simple enough to understand but
complex enough emulate the human condition and allow for player agency. In addition, it
could be argued that morality in ludology can more accurately come from an analysis of the
player’s actions, rather than a single volatile integer like in Fallout 3 (2009), as morality is not
a universally homogenous concept across human societies.
The simplest possible method of psychometrics is DISC (Dominance, Inducement,
Submission, Compliance) – a personality model that focuses on the social interactions
between individuals in the workplace (Dollard, Winefield and Winefield, 2003). DISC is, like
HEXACO, a series of factors calculated by facets (see Appendix J), but is limited in its scope
to classifications that rank people as resources in order to predict their interactions with others
in team-based work environments. There are numerous variations of DISC with the number of
facets ranging, but usually there are fifteen (Roberts and Hogan, 2001). Like the Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Indicator, trying to use it to judge the whole personality of an
individual is difficult due to its limited scope. However, DISC in code could be shortened to
merge Submission and Dominance as two ends of the same factor, leaving only three
independent integers, making it very easy to understand in gameplay, however, the usage of
fifteen facets to calculate these three may prove too complicated for the player to keep up
with during regular gameplay. In addition, translating said integers into equally
understandable and accurate personality attributes would be hard due to the small social
environment DISC is meant to quantify.

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An alternate psychometric model is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which
categorises people into sixteen different personalities (McCrae and Costa, 1989; 17-40). In
Myers–Briggs, from four dichotomies across two axes on a table (see Appendix K), with each
box having two data points, a total combination of sixteen possible combinations that
correlate to various personality profiles (Boyle, 1995; 71-74). Myers-Briggs could only ever
provide sixteen different types of characters – not enough to represent the entirety of the
psychological spectrum within the human species, making it a ‘psychological fortune cookie’
(Robert, 2007; 1055-1058), for it does little in the issue of accurately quantifying personality
traits and therefore, is unsuitable for the conditions of this research.
In order to determine whether or not it is feasible to not only implement a system of
personality accurate to current psychometric theory, but also use it in a mode of gameplay, a
method of measurement must be chosen, but before this is done, an examination of previous
comparable games is required to better understand how gameplay and personality is linked
within the medium. In the next chapter, the usage of personality in video games will be
discussed to see how other games have addressed the issue of character personality.

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Part 3: Psychometrics in role-playing games
Video games are a medium are concerned with physical expressions of time and space
(Bogost, 2007), rather than the psychological; there is a voyeuristic aspect to the video role-
playing game (RPG), as to play a video game is, mentally, to travel to a foreign land, one that
promises a narrative separate from the repercussions of reality - a fact of the medium at large
(Apperley, 2006; 6-23; Williams, 2006; 69-87). Due to this fixation with the physical, the
psychological element to games usually comes directly from the input of the player unto the
emulation of physical realm (Rehak, 2009), with the personality of the player character a
combination of the player’s own identity and the rules and states in which the game prescribes
onto the player’s avatar.
However, when an RPG has to emulate a personality through a non-playable character
(NPC), they can fall into one of these three catagories:
 Faux – For characters with minimal interaction with the player, meant to only
participate in limited gameplay activity with the player and are placed in-game
usually for a specific purpose.
 Fixed – For characters that are non-emergent and have more player interaction
than Faux characters and are versatile, often able to participate in several
gameplay activities with the player, such as conversations, combat and
bartering.
 Fluid – For characters that are emergent and usually have the same amount or
more player interaction than Fixed characters. They are created through
procedural generation or random characteristics and can, like Fixed characters,

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participate in several gameplay activities such as conversations, combat and
bartering.
These catagories are based on both the amount of data that can be observed from the
game itself without external data modification and the versatility of the character in question.
For example, in Fallout 4, an NPC raider (Matthew Yang King and Salli Saffioti), with no
unique name, is incapable conversing with the player and instead initiates combat, making
them Faux, whilst the character Codsworth (Stephen Russell) can converse, fight and trade
items, but is always the same on subsequent playthroughs, making him Fixed, whilst settler
NPCs (Misty Lee, Mandy Kaplan and Brandon Keener) within Fallout 4’s settlement system
are emergent and can fight, talk and participate in barter with the player, making them Fluid.
These characters were not created with the intention of emulating reality; instead they each
serve as an object placed within the world to match the needs of the gameplay (Meigs, 2003),
which in Fallout 4 is oriented towards constructing a ludonarratological world to fit the post-
apocalyptic genre (Bould et al, 2009). The raiders are character-wise, less competent than
Codsworth and settlers, since raiders are considered to be ludological obstacles for the player
to remove in order to progress with the narrative. Within the RPG, not all NPCs are created
equally.
There is little need for a game to feature a complete psychometric readout of a
character unless it is directly related to that game’s mode of gameplay. The the lack of
psychometric emulation and the trend for games such as Fallout 4 to feature physiological
emulation through combat and environmental exploration perpetuates a focus of desire
(Lacan, 2004) of the external as a means to experience that which the player cannot in reality
(Yee, Bailenson and Ducheneaut, 2009; 285-312), satisfying the player’s need for self-
actualisation (Maslow, 1943) in modern society. Games that are psychologically based, such

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as Animal Crossing: New Leaf, tend to be ludologically less inclined towards narrative tropes
of the action genre (Kolker, 2008) and more concerned with the social interaction between the
player and NPCs. Animal Crossing: New Leaf uses a simplified model of the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator in order to simulate personality in the game’s villagers in conjunction with
multiplying physiological variety through various animal forms. The characters are Fixed in
their initial programming but display the ability to develop their personalities by remembering
events and actions taken by the player over time, using adaptive personality over the
comprehensive, allowing characters to grow narratologically over time, making them Fluid by
the conclusion of this process. In Tomodachi Life (2013), a similar Myers-Briggs model
game, the input of the player is used to create emulations of people that the player knows in
reality; these Fluid characters, instead of drawing upon a database of possible configurations,
allows the player to extract their own characters onto the game from their real-world
relationships. Through physiological difference and adaptive artificial intelligence, even the
small number of personality profiles outlined in Myers-Briggs can be multiplied into many
times more characters, from the player’s perspective.
Ludological texts in the RPG genre have to keep more information for characters than
others due to a greater emphasis in conversation between NPCs and the player character as a
mode of communication (Lewis, Weber and Bowman, 2008; 515-518). Animal Crossing:
New Leaf and Tomodachi Life demonstrate that in order for a character to emulate social
interaction and personality, they cannot be Faux. Not only that, but in order for them to
emulate reality, they must take into account the vast range of attributes of the human
condition. Socially, individual humans vary in psychology, sex, gender, sexual orientation,
age and many other attributes (Williams, Martins, Consalvo and Ivory, 2009), and so, in order
to translate these into a game, the characters in question would need to be emergent in some
form, and therefore, Fluid.

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In Pokémon X, each individual creature known as a Pokémon is ludologically judged
by six statistics: HP, attack, defence, special attack, special defence and speed. Like
HEXACO, each statistic is judged from multiple facet values. There are individual values for
each statistic which are generated at a Pokémon’s generation or birth, representing genetic
structure, volatile effort values which are gained from super training mode and battling,
representing physical training and experience points which are earned by battling and
catching Pokemon, representing age. Each Pokémon is statistically an individual through this
system of levels, effort values and individual values, making no two ever the same, which in
turn mean that every individual character is unique in their ludological function in battles.
Characters in RPGs range wildly from Faux to Fluid in statistical complexity and are
adapted to best suit the needs of the situation and instance that they exist for. Games are
unique as a medium because the sequence of events that occur do not have to be set and, to
varying degrees, can be emergent. In film, each image and sound plays out in order, never
straying from a set sequence and in prose, text is static and can never change, whilst games
have the capacity for multimedia usage to suit whatever physiological or psychological
instance the text vies to emulate. In the next chapter, Starstride Chronicles will be analysed to
determine what ludological and societal issues arise when a game emulates social interactions
and personality.

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Part 4: Critical analysis of Starstride Chronicles
Starstride Chronicles is a science fantasy video role-playing game wherein the player
character (referred to in this paper as Starstrider) is a resident within the rusting settlement of
Socroe City and lives alongside their feisty sister, Kara, and Hirochi, their father and leader.
Whilst on a gathering mission, the city is attacked by Sire, a shapeshifting monster, who eats
Hirochi and inadvertently thrusts Starstrider and Kara across space. In the wake of this
disaster, Starstrider, now awake on the space station, Port Kreuzung, must track down Sire
and find Kara, before she is lost forever (see Appendix A for a full game treatment).
Starstride Chronicles is divided narratologically into two portions: Alpha Episode and
Beta Episode. In Alpha Episode, the player travels around Socroe City, completing manual
tasks and uses a turn-based battle system to physically fight foes, emulating the physiological
voyeurism of traditional RPGs (Jones, 2008). However, in Beta Episode the player must track
Hirochi down on Port Kreuzung by talking to native people, represented through the use of a
turn-based conversation system, which is based much more on psychological concepts, but in
a similar format to the battle system. The battle and conversation systems have been made as
outwardly similar as possible, in that they are turn-based and the player must deplete the
target’s meter to achieve victory, so that they can be compared and contrasted as research
pieces (Menary, 2007; 621-632) , which each representing the physiometric and psychometric
perspectives within the medium of gaming, respectively.
Following preliminary research, it was decided that the Five Factor model of
personality would be used in the game’s representation of the psychological statistics of both
Starstrider and NPCs. This was done because it allows for many personality traits (see
Appendix B for a full list) to be represented through the relationship between said traits and
the characters physiology and psychology (Paunonen and Ashton, 2001; 524-539) through the

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manipulation of numerals values in the game’s conversation system. This, in conjunction with
the addition of moves (see Appendix C), representing actions within social interaction and
type modifiers (see Appendix H), representing the difference between psychological
demographics, allows for different peoples to be represented through the ludological means of
simulated conversation, for each combination of player and NPC statistics will vary the
difficulty of success for both parties.
To emulate physical actions when engaging in social intercourse with a conversable
NPC, the player can perform moves, which each have an assigned typing. To calculate
damage to the target’s will, that typing is judged against the targeted facet of the opposing
person. For example, if the player uses the open-type move ‘Hug’ and has targeted the
opposing individual’s agreeableness, then if that agreeableness statistic is over 5, it does
150% of the standard damage, but if not, it does only 50%. This combination represents that
probability that people with a high agreeableness will be more likely to accept signs of
openness (Buss and Hawley, 2011), and therefore, in conversation, will be less likely to
oppose the Starstrider’s advances. Conversely, if their agreeableness if low, they will see the
open move towards them as inappropriate and will resist in the player’s attempt to converse,
keeping their will high. Each combination of move type, targeted type, player statistics and
NPC statistics is representative of a possible conclusion to a social exchange between two
parties with those approximate values of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion,
agreeableness and neuroticism.
However, the processes that judge the effectiveness of social interactions cannot be
truly accurate to reality, due to the fluidity that Five Factor data has because of the lack of
consensus concerning the boundaries between descriptors of personality (Gregory, 1996;
Hofstee, 1994; 149-162). When does feminine deviate to masculine? Or friendliness fall to
hostility? It is impossible to be precise regarding the relationships between traits and the Five

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Factors when emulating an inherently interpretative system. Therefore, the modifiers and
values expressed within Starstride Chronicles can only ever be indicative of a broad statement
of psychology, in that certain combinations of Five Factor variables and traits within
individuals could result in a greater or lesser success rate in communicating positively.
The world of Starstride Chronicles was made in aid of highlighting the difference
between the psychometric system created and that of the physiological systems of previous
games of the RPG genre. Alpha Episode’s Socroe City is a society that is homogenous and
isolated, focused on survival and physical struggle, whilst in contrast, Beta Episode’s Port
Kreuzung is a massive space station filled with many different types of conversable humans,
mimicking the wide degree of socio-ethnic boundaries that the spectrum of humanity
constitutes (Parcel, 1981). Alpha Episode’s linear, battle-system based objectives and usage
of Faux and Fixed characters is indicative of the traditional RPG born out of the 1970s, when
the video RPG as an attempt to replicate the Dungeons and Dragons (Rogers and Di Vito,
2011) role-playing game, substituting the human guidance of the game-controlling dungeon
master with pre-written AI (Wolf, 2008; Schroeder, 2011), autotomising the game into a
digital format. Conversely, Beta Episode, using procedural generation, non-linear objectives
and Fluid NPCs in an attempt to emulate the reality of social interactions and personality, is a
much more unpredictable experience in both ludological difficulty and scope. The more non-
linear and procedural a game becomes ludologically, the harder it becomes to understand the
next challenge that the game forwards to the player, and can create sharp jumps in the game’s
difficulty, both positively and negatively. In emulating the unpredictable nature of reality of
modern society and the vastly complex human mental state (Poole, Mackworth and Goebel,
1998) the game has sacrificed a sense of challenge fair to the player’s state of level. Whilst to
a degree this may be in keeping with the reality of social intercourse, it is much less satisfying
to player’s ludological needs.

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When partaking in a ludological text, the player subconsciously seeks autonomy from
reality, an expression of their competence or a feeling of relatedness to others (Ryan, Rigby
and Przybylski, 2006; 344-360). Since Starstride Chronicles is a single-player RPG, which
ludologically involves the player starting comparatively weak, accumulating power over time
(Macintosh and Schmeichel, 2004; 85-97), the game inherently targets autonomy and
competence, but in placing the player within a bubble of solitude, Starstride Chronicles loses
a sense of relatedness, which is an important tool used in building relationships between
humans. If a game is made to only be consumed by single player at a time, the challenge of
creating convincing agents of personality is great, though multi-player games could provide
an environment with which individuals could socially interact (Asbell-Clarke et al, 2012; 52-
76) without the need for a replacement system. However, this would hinder player autonomy
and possibly competence, in addition to the social difference between reality and the virtual
world (Juul, 2005), making social interaction not representative of reality, so no matter what
system is use, there will be a sacrifice in the accuracy. In the process of manifesting
personality into a single-player game, player autonomy and competence are not hindered. In
order for the whole personality to be emulated, its accuracy must be compromised, for
digitising the output of the human brain into a computerised form can only ever be built on
the patterns of predictability that can be observed from an external psychological perspective
(Caplan and Torpey, 2001). Predicting the outcome of two individual personalities socially
conversing is extremely difficult, and so quantifying this into Starstride Chronicles creates an
issue of vague psychology; by simplifying psychological concepts into numbers, layers of
meaning are lost into that they represent, if such meaning exists at all.
In the narrative of Starstride Chronicles, many of the people of Port Kreuzung have
animal features and unnatural skin pigments; this was done to visually and ludologically
represent the human conditions of social and ethnic groups in a way that exaggerates their

16
physiological and psychological attributes (Hare, Borgatta and Bales, 1965), using the trope
of ‘aliens’ in the science fiction literary genre (Bould et al, 2009) to make them easily
distinguishable from each other. For example, if the player is a human and talks to one of the
equine people, there will be a natural barrier between each individual in regards to
socialisation, manifesting in the game as the difficulty in succeeding in a conversation with
them. However, to stop the player from reaching an impasse with a portion of the game,
several items were created to allow the player to alter their physiological form. In reality, this
is not possible, but as noted with the representation of personality traits, in order for reality to
become a ludological construct, it must be altered to fit the conventions of the medium.
Humans are biological organisms and are not abject beings of consciousness, for the
brain, and therefore personality, is moulded by the biological and hormonal functions of the
body (Canli, 2006). If hungry or hurt, a person’s mood will change accordingly, as is the case
should they become injured, sick or have irregular bodily functions. Starstride Chronicles is
not coded to simulate the internal biology of the characters in the game, which in turn
drastically reduces its accuracy to reality. The Sims (2001) models such moods in characters
through a series of meters that decrease with time, making the character continually altering
their actions to keep these meters as high as possible. This could have been done in Starstride
Chronicles, forcing the player to eat, sleep and perform activities to refill several mood meters
and in turn, use these meters as modifiers in conversations and even battles, and each NPC
could have their own meters that the player can analyse and use to their advantage in
socialisation. In addition, this system would have allowed NPCs to have patterns of
predictability, so the player could track certain characters down based on their needs. While
Starstride Chronicles represents long-term personality traits, it does not deal in the short-term
volatile attributes that affect regular daily life.

17
The villain of the game, Sire, is a shape-shifting intelligence that eats people and can
assume their form. This villain was made faceless and metamorphic (see Appendix L) to
cognitive distance it from the player and make it the embodiment of anti-social tendencies
within narratology (Brooks, 1984), for Sire is blood-red, shapeless and hostile – he’s the foil
to Starstrider’s conversational nature as seen in Beta Episode. The opposite is Missy, a
brightly-coloured child-size dinosaur made of toy bricks, who aids Starstrider in combating
Sire and is the game’s face of the user interface (Duncan, 2010), as she is physically separate
from the gamespace of typical characters and as she aids the player, she in turn represents
social tendencies, making Sire and Missy are polar opposites of social standing.
Through the design and creation of Starstride Chronicles, I found that while emulating
personality and social interaction within is possible, accuracy is sacrificed in order to keep the
ludological element of gameplay and player agency intact and understandable. There are so
many variables that influence personality and psychology, from our state of mind to
biological functions to external stimuli – all of which cannot be covered adequately by a
single system of psychometrics. In addition, the introduction of Fluid characters within a
ludological text is an agent of unpredictability, making it difficult to plan for every aspect of a
game’s design when, inbetween the game creator and player, the game has to make an
emergent decision on what characters and challenges lie ahead.

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Part 5: Conclusion – understanding through deconstruction
In attempting to digitise the human condition, a greater understanding of it can be
generated, for deconstructing personality and social intercourse means to deconstruct the
nature of our society’s existence. However, because the human brain is an incredibly complex
organ, storing our personality and memories, all that we are, it is difficult to completely
understand, skewing the attempt at deconstruction with uncertain input. The computers that
house video games are simple; one is not equal to the other, thus to emulate personality is to
emulate humanity, which requires understanding of every aspect of our being, which includes
biology, identity, neurology, sociology and psychology. Trying to condense all these
disciplines into one form is extremely difficult without producing discrepancies in these
fields. The existence of the various systems of psychometrics proves that there is no
universally accepted way of quantifying who we are, for how can we assign a number to
something we do not fully understand? RPGs, as a genre of video games that depend upon the
characterisation of NPCs, shirk from fact-based psychometrics, preferring to look upon a
character’s personalities as on a case-by-case basis, as demonstrated through the Faux-Fixed-
Fluid system in previous games of the genre, only handling psychometrics when absolutely
necessary, as, unlike the physiological realm, the psychological rarely melds with the
voyeuristic ludonarratological idiom that perpetuates the genre.
Through this research, I have found that emulating personality can result in
ludological issues should the issue be involved in a mode of gameplay, but even if not used in
this way, emulated personality constructs will not be entirely true to reality due to the
deficiencies of existing psychometric systems and the fact that every individual would
interpret the values therein differently, in much the same way that psychometrics themselves
are interpreted. Even in this game, there is a bias based on my current vision of what each

19
value and trait means, which is not universally accepted in society. This bias of individual
psychological meaning is impossible to remove due to the fact that video games are made by
humans, not machines, and therefore are influenced by their social, political and temporal
views.
There are ways in which this experiment could be improved. The separation of
personality traits into the long-term traits and short-term moods could improve this system’s
accuracy to reality. In addition, biological functions could be added in reference to the human
body, allowing each individual to have physiological values that keep track of the character’s
bodily health and well-being, which could then be correlated to the short-term moods and the
conversation system. Temporal elements will too aid in establishing a character’s history and
past, which moulds every individual in reality in addition to traits and moods; this could be
manifested through a system that emulates relationships between characters. Adaptive
artificial intelligence capable of selecting adequate responses and behaviours would need to
the created as well to accommodate these systems. In the end, in order to emulate a model of
human personality, it must at least be as complex as the original form, the brain, which has
not been accomplished in this paper.
In conclusion, emulating the reality of social intercourse and personality within the
realm of games and virtual environments is extremely difficult and would be a massive
computation undertaking; until a better synergetic system of ludological psychometrics is
discovered, the sheer scale of coding and psychological knowledge required to accurately
emulate this topic is too vast to realistically exist, at least with current technology and
knowledge. It is impossible to say what future endeavours may yield, but through the refining
and expansion of similar ideas and concepts expressed within this paper and game, a greater
understanding of ludological psychometrics may materialise in the future, with the eventuality
being personality concepts that can blur the line between the virtual and the real.

20
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25
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26
Appendix A – Treatment of Starstride Chronicles
Title: Starstride Chronicles
Genre: Science Fantasy Role-playing Game
Software Platform: Windows
Hardware Platform: Tablet, laptop and desktop computers
Description:
Starstride Chronicles is a text-based open-world
science fantasy created by Jake Hugh Reece Wilson in
GML as practical research find out what societal and
ludological issues show when emulating the
psychological aspects of personality within a video
game.
In Starstride Chronicles you start as a denizen of the
scrap-town of Socroe City. One day, your homeland is
ravaged by a mysterious squad of skinless people led by
a monster called Sire. In the after math, you and your
sister, Kara, are sent to Port Kreuzung, and you have
to gather information as to her whereabouts.
(NOTE: In this paper, Starstrider is the name given to
the player character but in-game it is the player’s, so
if the name the player typed in is John, then
Starstrider’s Legacy would become John’s Legacy)
Gameworld Description:
Set in the extremely far future, humanity has long
since colonised the stars, built civilisations, and
lived through millions of generations and hundreds of
different forms. But one by one, the stars are going
out, not to conquest or war, but to the decay of time.
Where once there were galaxies, only flickering pockets
of light remain. The cosmos is old, and so the reign of
life has reached an age of twilight before the heat
death of the universe.
This is where you come in.
You are a mysterious orphan, adopted into the people of
a settlement called Socroe City – a place built out of
the ruins of an ancient vessel that crashed centuries
ago on a rogue planet without a star. It’s a hard life,

27
living within a pocket of heat and air in a tomb of old
metal, but you have a good father, a sister and a
people that depend on you to protect and salvage what
you can from outside the City.
Gameplay Mechanics:
Gameplay is divided between several different modes of
game state, the constituents of which are:
Movement – this is the most common state in which the
game will be in. During movement mode, the player will
read the prose that makes up most of the dialogue,
descriptions and information. The player will have able
to issue movement commands in a turn-based method to
move around the gameworld.
Conversation – when the player encounters a person,
they will enter an event wherein the PC and target NPC
take turns to use moves around the TARGET and ATTACK
systems. The player can target one of the foe’s facets
and use their moves to decrease their will. Certain
combinations of facets, moves and NPCs will work
negatively or positively, and it will be up to the
player to strategise their moves to their full
potential.
Battle – when the player encounters an enemy, they will
enter an event wherein the PC and enemy NPC take turns
to fight around the FOCUS and ATTACK systems. In FOCUS,
the player can choose what part of their stats defence,
offence, speed, critical hit rate or strength of the
attack can be boosted before an attack, strategizing
their plan for a battle, and choose what part of the
enemy (head, torso, arms, legs or weapon) they should
target using the ATTACK system. Different enemies will
have different weaknesses and strengths, and require
certain combinations of FOCUS arts and ATTACK moves in
order to be defeated readily.
Simul.Nav – at any time barring a battle or
conversation the player can open the map screen and see
their location, items, equip weapons and statistics.
Story synopsis:
Alpha Episode (α) – Virulent Intentions:

28
‘In the distant future, Socroe City, a settlement born
out of a crashed starship on the planet Honshu, is the
last known bastion of humanity.
One day, the player wakes up and finds themselves
related to a young girl, Kara and her biological
father, Hirochi. However, when on a supply mission
beyond the walls, a Skinless Behemoth attacks the city
using puppet-like drones of several former Socroese
residents as a vanguard. The player and Kara return,
but in the ensuing fight, they lose Hirochi and the
resident, who are eaten by the Skinless.
Kara, in her grief, runs into the Skinless’ sight when
it imitates Hirochi’s voice. She is consumed by light
when the Skinless strike against her. The player is
struck, too, knocked out, cold. ’
Beta Episode (β) – Mistress of One Disease:
‘The player lands in a spacecraft approaching Port
Kreuzung, a massive space rotating station in orbit
around a small, orange star.
Stunned, they are taken in by Blob Boy, the vessel’s
pilot, and brought before a hearing of the Court of
Kreuzung. During a mind probe, the head of security of
the station, Ji-woo Moon, identifies Hirochi as someone
who has recently come on the station. Blob Boy, curious
of the player, drops charges and lets them search for
their adoptive father.
Delta Episode (δ) – White Cell in Black:
‘After a long trek around the station, the player and
Hirochi meet on a rusted ship tethered to the port.
Hirochi has been taken over by an intelligent
microorganism controlled by a hive mind… the same kind
that the player has been infested with since the
beginning. Missy is the hive mind of the player, whilst
Hirochi, and by extension the Skinless, are controlled
by someone else: Sire.
The two fight until Hirochi momentarily takes back
control over Sire, and, seeing no way back, opens an
airlock, sucking him and Sire out to space. Before the
end, Hirochi tells the player that their adoptive
sister is still alive and was transported to another
world in this sector of space.’

29
After killing Hirochi-Sire on the ship, Ji-woo
refurbishes the vessel and gives it to the player. The
player, with Blob Boy on the pilot’s seat, head out
into space to try and find Kara.
The player searches through dead stars, stations, ships
and planets for a sign of her whereabouts, until, on
the edge of known space, the player finds a planet in
orbit around a white dwarf that is teeming with life,
Khana.
However, a Skinless ship is in orbit.’
Epsilon Episode (ε) – An Oasis of Health:
‘The player and Blob Boy land on a vast savannah and
are immediately captured by the native Centaur people.
Taken to Oola City, capital of the Grasslands, King
Waak demands the player and Blob Boy to stop corrupting
the land. After explaining of the nature of the
Skinless, Waak’s daughter, Alaaya, is dispatched with
the player to investigate the Skinless incursion on the
Grasslands.
After trekking across savannah, forest and mountain,
the three arrive in the Corrupt Canyon – a stretch of
land drained of life, grey and barren. A giant red
tumour, made of the mass of all the former life forms
in the area, morphs into a gargantuan 100-metre
Skinless Colossus.
In order to save the Oola Grasslands, the player, Blob
Boy and Alaaya lure the monstrosity to a volcanic area
and cause it to break the crust of the planet, making
the beast fall into lava and pyroclastic ash.
Having stopped the Colossus from taking over Khana,
Alaaya decides to go with the player to help save the
universe from the Skinless.’
Lamda Episode (λ) – Necrosis of the Heart:
‘The player, after travelling all over the universe,
finds the remains of Socroe City.
The player lands and finds the ship blasted wide open
by the Behemoth’s spaceblast. The settlement has not
been lived in for years and years, leaving Blob Boy to

30
conclude that the player must have jumped through time
and space during the blast. The player makes their way.
However, the player is interrupted when the Rustbuckets
attack, more desperate for parts than ever before.
They successfully cut off the player’s arm… which the
player then uses to beat up the androids and free
themselves, Blob Boy and Alaaya. The fight over, the
player notices that one of the Rustbuckets has a pair
of familiar goggles on their head. When questioned, the
Synthetic explains that a bounty hunter called Nix came
to Socroe a few years ago and gave it to her.
The player then decides to either take the
dysfunctional Synthetics to Port Kreuzung for repairs
or to kill them.
The player leaves Honshu for good with a target clear
in sight.’
Theta Episode (θ) – A Dance of Cellular Decay:
‘The player finds out that Nix is a rarely seen hunter
having only a few sightings on record, and that she is
based on KC-981, a rogue planet on the edge of the
universe.
The player arrives on KC-981 and finds a dead ship in
orbit, well lived in. Nix’s belongings are all over the
place, with the most prominent item being a rusted,
ancient call-sign reading in distanced letters: Socroe.
Using data from Nix’s home, the player lands on a world
known as Rou Si – a jungle world filled with hostile
life forms. After a hard trek across the sweaty jungle,
the player finds a woman, waiting for them.
It’s Kara.
She’s in her thirties and well-equipped as any good
bounty hunter should be. Like the player, she too has a
companion – Mister, who saved her from being absorbed
by Sire. She woke up years before the player on a
distant world but knew, because the player was further
from the blast, than they would take longer to appear.
She developed skills and has been tracking the Skinless
for a while, .
The player and Kara hug, reunited.’

31
Zeta Episode (ζ) – Countdown to Terminus:
‘The player, Kara, Alaaya and Blob Boy go back to Port
Kreuzung and inform the Parliament of the Skinless’
progress in assimilating the universe. Kara gives the
Krezungians a machine she made that can detect whether
or not someone is infected with the Skinless organism.
Ji-woo uses it and find that a tenth of the population
of the station has already been infected.
The leaders of the city decide to corral the Skinless
under the guise of a pandemic quarantine but Sire
realises the deception and every infected person
transforms into monsters and attacks others, spreading
the infection. Doors slam shut and lockdown as a
station-wide emergency is declared.
The player and Kara are charged with stopping the
Skinless from escaping.
After running around the exterior of the station,
halting Sire-forms from getting onto ships, several
Skinless all sublimate into a liquid form and take over
the machinery of the station, opening the doors and
granting Sire full control of all systems.
With little resistance, the Skinless and Sire begin to
devour the station and its inhabitants. The Skinless
begin to drain Kreuzung’s star of energy using the
station’s Dyson Ring and channel that energy into
Sire’s mind.
Hirochi-Sire appears from the chaos and begins to
assimilate the player.’
Omega Episode (Ω) – Terminal Flatline or Lightspeed
Inoculation:
‘Hirochi-Sire and the player battle with their minds
and will. Sire’s cells try to consume the players
whilst the player’s fight back like white blood cells
battling bacteria.
After a gruelling conflict, the player on the verge of
defeat, Sire others them a chance of uniting – becoming
one. Should the player choose to unite, they will
become a Skinless and Missy will disappear. Should they

32
defy Sire, they will be strengthened by Missy and
Hirochi-Sire will die.
If the player united, they will travel across the
station, assimilating everyone with the power of the
sun. If they didn’t, they will travel across the
station cleansing it of all the Skinless.
After the battle is over, the player will fight either
Sire’s true form or Ji-Woo in the control chamber of
the port.
If the player united, the star of Kreuzung will go
supernova, extinguishing the life source for human-
forms and giving Sire complete control of the future of
the human species with Kreuzung’s power at his hands.
If they didn’t, Sire, reduced to the form of Hirochi,
will be placed at the player’s mercy. The player and
Kara, with the strength of Missy and Mister, destroy
Sire and reinstate Hirochi has the hive mind of his
body. A new companion, Missus, emerges from Hirochi
like Missy and Mister.
The game ends with the player, Kara and Hirochi
entering their ship and heading for space, striding the
stars for new life, new places and a new home.’
Character Outline
The Player [Starstrider]
A person who is adopted by the Kimiyama family and,
before being taken over by Sire, is rescued by the
being Missy, leaving them with biological powers.
Can be of varying sex, gender and age.
Kara Kimiyama
Your adoptive sister, daughter of Hirochi Kimiyama,
your father. Sent across time and space after the
attack on Socroe City by the Skinless. When the player
re-encounters her the second time, she is a full-grown
woman with similar powers to the player.
When young she’s plucky and a prankster, when older
she’s serious and loyal [can be recruited].
Hirochi Kimiyama

33
Your adoptive father, Leader of Socroe City. Stoic,
confident and tough, though a little over his head at
times.
Missy
A playful, mischievous being in the form of a toy-brick
dinosaur. She controls the player’s powers through a
symbiotic relationship.
The Skinless
A superorganism that takes over living cells with
imitated replicants, the Skinless is controlled by
Sire, its intelligent overseer. Skinless can change
shape and form, now bound by the biology of whatever
they are imitating.
Sire
A malevolent, greedy intelligence that controls all
Skinless. He wants to unite all life into a single
entity, controlled exclusively by him. He can talk from
the mouths of any assimilated by the Skinless,
including Hirochi.
Brutbox
Chieftain of the Rustbuckets – a group of Synthetic
people that live outside Socroe City.
Blob Boy
A deep-space trucker made of nanorobotic paste and the
first person to find you after the attack on Socroe
City. He’s optimistic and honest, following the player
out of a sense of kinship [can be recruited].
Ji-woo Kun
The tough head of security of Port Kreuzung. Initially
sceptical of the player, she grows to like or hate
based on their actions.
King Waak the Strong
King of the Centaurs of the Oola Grasslands, father of
Alaaya.
Alaaya Ol-Coalheart
A member of the Centaurs from the Oola Grasslands,
daughter of the legendary Coalheart clan, Alaaya is a
warrior. Bred and raised to strike down Oola’s foes,
Alaaya is very cold and distant, jumping at the
opportunity for battle with the invaders of her world.
She wants to find new foes amongst the stars, which
only you can give [can be recruited].

34
Soundtrack Outline
Length of each song: 1-2 minutes
Estimated OST length: 30 minutes
1. Title Theme
Plays during – title screen
“A song saddened by the twilight of the universe – the
end of all things. Few stars remain the in the sky, and
those that are left are dying. The doomsday clock for
life everywhere is ticking down to midnight, but in the
blackness of space, there is a single light that
shines – a hope for the future. But will the player
take that hope, or use it for their own ends? A
sweeping majestic piece that emerges from a despairing
to a hopeful crescendo.”
2. The Stars Are All Gone
Plays during – character creation
“The universe is at the 11th
hour. The player is being
eaten by a virus, but is saved by the dinosaur, Missy.
She gives them life to embark on a journey across space
and time to save the universe from collapse. Inspiring
and awesome to get them pumped for the adventures
ahead.”
3. Socroe City
Plays during – Socroe City overworld (Alpha episode)
“Safety, that’s what Socroe is. A safe haven amidst a
barren world. Built out of scrap and falling apart at
the seams, Socroe City is a well-lived in wreck. There
is an air of sweetness to the metal city, one that
makes the player feel calm, relaxed and emotionally
reinforced. A safe place for the player to get to grips
with Starstride Chronicles’s mechanics.”
4. Wild Wastes
Plays during – Starboard Forest, Grey Garden (Alpha and
Epsilon episodes)
“For when the player leaves Socroe City with Kara. Now
they’re in the frying pan proper. Metal monsters lurk
the wastes outside the City, looking for humans to

35
carve up, and with all the rubble around, they could
pop up at any moment. Danger, anticipation and dread
before an inevitable battle; this place is not a safe
place to be.”
5. Battle!
Plays during – battle during an ordinary random
encounter
“The player is in combat with a foe! Plays during
common battles. Lively, upbeat and exciting to fuel the
player through the battle.”
6. Peace! / Relationship Builder
Plays during – conversation with an NPC
“A non-combat computer character wants to talk to you!
For the relationship mode, wherein the player engages
with an NPC in a peaceful alternate to a battle. Should
be calm, a little bit jumpy and light-hearted to fit
with the friendly nature of this mode of play. Probably
the most mellow song in the game!”
7. Massive Battle!
Plays during – story-related battles and Socroe City
attack (Alpha episode)
“Grave danger is all around the player. The player is
in a hostile environment with an enemy of great
strength! Plays during the attack on Socroe City and
boss battles. Elements of the previous theme (5.
Battle), can be used here. The player should feel fear,
awe and apprehension; everything that could go wrong,
has.”
8. Port Kreuzung
Plays during – Port Kreuzung overworld (Beta episode
and onwards)
“The player has arrived in a giant new world. A
massive, ancient space station built around the only
burning star in existence. Magnificent and shining,
Port Kreuzung is at the height of technological
advancement. Home to millions of people of all species,
this is the last, best hope for everyone, everywhere to
live a full life at the end of the universe. Grand,

36
epic (good place for a more orchestral approach,
perhaps) and inspiring.”
9. Blob Boy’s Theme
Plays during – conversations with Blob Boy
“Blob Boy is a young man made of nanites – tiny
machines. He was abandoned as a child in Port Kreuzung
and has been homeless ever since. If the player wants
to, they can take him on their ship as a crew member.
He’s l0yal to the player like a dog and wants nothing
more than to please the player and their friends.
Innocent, with a tinge of sadness from his unknown
past, BB is one of the few people who will be at your
side no matter the situation.”
10. Exploring the Stars
Plays during – player ship overworld (Delta episode and
onwards)
“The player is on their ship, wandering space for new
worlds and new opportunities. Dark, lonely and
isolated, they, and their crew, are at the frontier of
known space, searching for an unnameable something, be
it life, resources or adventure. Slow yet grand, this
music plays when the player is between worlds on the
map screen.”
11. Oola Grasslands
Plays during – Oola Grasslands overworld (Epsilon
episode and onwards)
“A world of an endless savannah under a white sun, home
to various tribal peoples, most of whom morphologically
diverged from humans long ago, including a town of tiny
Feline merchants, a mighty Centaur kingdom and a
mountain range inhabited by Dragons. This is the single
largest region of the gameworld and the music should
signify grandness and the many opportunities for
adventure in the Oola Grasslands.”
12. Alaaya’s Theme
Plays during – conversations with Alaaya
“Alaaya Coalheart, daughter of King Waak, is a
brilliant centaur warrior hailing from the Oola

37
Grasslands. After she and the player cleanse her world
of the Skinless, the player can take her aboard their
ship as a crew member. She is a calculated killer,
trained from birth to fight for her people. She has
lived distanced from others for so long, and as a
member of the player’s crew, she will take some time to
open up. Hard and brazen with a wild flair to her
personality, Alaaya is a powerful soldier who’s
indivisible from the battlefield’s call. As she
prefers players who are somewhat roguish, warn the
player that she is dangerous and not exactly kind. ”
13. Skinless Planet
Plays during – Rou Si Jungle overworld (Lamda episode
and onwards)
“A world infested with Skinless, so much so that the
surface is a puerile crimson from space. They are using
it as their base of operations in the Local Worlds, and
the player must land on it to track Kara down. Awfully
humid, alien and hot, the planet is uncomforting and
foreboding, with monsters all around – a dangerous and
gruelling challenge for the player.”
14. Kara’s Future Self Theme
Plays during – conversations with Kara Future Self
“Kara’s future self is a human woman whose body has
been modified by the Skinless. Her skin is red and
looks burnt, and she has a robotic right arm and left
leg. She’s a gentle soul who had her family (the
player) taken from her when the Skinless captured her
and she desperately wants to reunite with them. She’s a
firm mother-hen character who enjoys caring for those
in need and is old enough to impart knowledge when
needed. As she prefers good-hearted players, her music
should be sweet and comforting.”
15. Lush World
Plays during – exploration of a life-filled world
(Delta episode and onwards)
“The player has landed on a world perfect for life and
if exploring the surface. This is a place of safety and
plenty – there is nothing to worry about here.
Calmness, serenity and soothing, this plays on safe

38
worlds filled with life and items for the player to
stock up on.”
16. Lonely World
Plays during – exploration of a dead world (Delta
episode and onwards)
“The player has discovered a world without life, lonely
in the black of space. Though there is no-one here,
there are resources, allowing you to carry on
exploring. Slow, empty, perhaps with elements from (10.
Exploring the Stars), this song represents the vastness
of space.”
17. Emotion
Plays during – various emotional moments of sorrow in
story
“Something terrible has happened. This music plays
during moments of tragedy and despair – like death
scenes and certain dialogue segments. A sad, sweeping
piano piece to hit home during emotional points in the
story.”
18. Missy’s Theme
Plays during – conversations with Missy (Alpha episode
and onwards)
“Missy is a being that follows the player throughout
their journey. She can manipulation the player’s cells
to her own end, often helping the player with their
goals. She is a bit of a prankster, though, and likes
to get her way. She means well, though, and has the
demeanour of a ten-year-old kid. She is the
intelligence that saved the player from being eaten by
Sire.”
19. Final Battle!
Plays during – battle for Port Kreuzung (Zeta episode)
“The final battle against Sire. Sire is the man
responsible for the attack on Socroe City and tries to
invade Kreuzung. Made from the compressed flesh of an
entire species long since dead, he looks like he came
straight from hell. Shining red with blood, yielding a
morning star and shield, he is all that stands in the
way of the player and the fate of the universe.

39
Grandiose, orchestral and massive, the music should
dwarf 5. Battle! and 7. Massive Battle.”
20. All For One (Evil End Theme)
Plays during – ‘unify’ end scene (Omega episode)
“(Dark remake of 1. Title Theme) The player has joined
with Sire and has condemned the human species to a life
of servitude under his control. He/she has forsaken all
life in the universe for their own selfish end. Dark,
foreboding and melancholic – a reflection of a haunted
past and of a ghostly figure.”
21. One For All (Good End Theme)
Plays during – ‘defy’ end scene (Omega episode)
“(Heroic remake of 1. Title Theme). The player has kill
Sire and saved Port Kreuzung from falling to the
Skinless advance. The universe will end one day, but
thanks to the player, it is not today. A sweeping,
heroic piece that screams victory and hope for all
peoples.”

40
Appendix B – Personality traits in Starstride Chronicles
Here is a segmented list of personality traits that are
present in Starstride Chronicles, along with their
perspective actions within conversations. The lists
cover positive, ambiguous and negative traits.
POSITIVE TRAITS
1. Adaptable = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases as conversation persists
2. Admirable = No bonus
3. Androgynous = No bonus
4. Aspiring = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's level of conscientiousness
5. Athletic = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's musculature
6. Calm = No bonus
7. Caring = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's openness is lower than the
user's openness
8. Charming = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's extraversion is lower than
the user's extraversion
9. Cheerful = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's agreeableness is lower than
the user's agreeableness
10. Clever = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's neuroticism is lower than the
user's neuroticism
11. Compassionate = Provides a bonus to will damage
that favours those of the fairer disposition
12. Confident = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's conscientiousness is lower
than the user's conscientiousness
13. Courageous = Provides a static bonus to will damage
14. Courteous = Provides a static bonus to will damage

41
15. Creative = Has a 50/50 chance of providing a
randomised bonus to will damage
16. Cultured = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's openness
17. Debonair = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
18. Dignified = Provides a bonus to will damage based
on the user's conscientiousness
19. Dramatic = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's neuroticism
20. Educated = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
21. Elegant = Provides a bonus to will damage that
user's extraversion
22. Energetic = Provides a bonus to will damage that
than the user's extraversion
23. Feminine = No bonus
24. Firm = Provides a bonus to will damage that
the user's conscientiousness
25. Forgiving = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's will is higher than the
user's will
26. Freethinking = Provides a bonus to will damage that
the user's openness
27. Friendly = Provides a static bonus to will damage
28. Fun-loving = Provides a bonus to will damage that
user's agreeableness
29. Generous = No bonus
30. Gentle = No bonus

42
31. Honest = Provides a bonus to will damage that
user's conscientiousness
32. Humble = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's extraversion is higher than
33. Humorous = Provides a bonus to will damage that
user's agreeableness
34. Incorruptible= Provides a bonus to will damage that
favours those of the stronger disposition
35. Independent = Provides a bonus to will damage that
36. Intelligent = Provides a bonus to will damage that
user's neuroticism
37. Kind = Provides a bonus to will damage that favours
those of the neutral disposition
38. Leaderly = No bonus
39. Logical = Provides a bonus to will damage that
user's conscientiousness
40. Loyal = No bonus
41. Masculine = No bonus
42. Mature = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's conscientiousness that increases if the
target's age is lower than the user's age
43. Modest = Provides a bonus to will damage that
44. Passionate = Provides a bonus to will damage that
45. Patient = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's conscientiousness is higher
than the user's conscientiousness

43
46. Patriotic = Provides a bonus to will damage if the
target and user are of the same species
47. Peaceful = Provides a bonus to will damage that
48. Persuasive = Provides a static bonus to will damage
49. Playful = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
50. Popular = Provides a bonus to will damage that
51. Rational = No bonus
52. Reflective = Provides a bonus to will damage based
on the user's conscientiousness
53. Romantic = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's extraversion if the user is over 21
54. Selfless = Provides a static bonus to will damage
55. Sensitive = Provides a bonus to will damage based
on the user's neuroticism
56. Serious = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
57. Sexy = Provides a bonus to will damage based on the
user's extraversion if the user is over 21
58. Sociable = Provides a large bonus to will damage
based on the user's extraversion
59. Sweet = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
60. Tolerant = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's openness

44
AMBIGUOUS TRAITS
61. Aggressive = Provides a bonus to will damage based
on the user's offence
62. Ambitious = No bonus
63. Competitive = No bonus
64. Conservative = Provides a bonus to will damage
based on the user's defence
65. Cute = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the user is below the age of 16
66. Deceptive = Provides a bonus to will damage that
user's neuroticism
67. Emotional = Provides a bonus to will damage that
than the user's neuroticism
68. Frugal = No bonus
69. Glamorous = Provides a static bonus to will damage
70. Intense = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's speed
71. Irreligious = No bonus
72. Maternal = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's agreeableness if the user's age is higher
than the target's age
73. Mystical = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the target's openness
74. Paternal = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's agreeableness if the user's age is higher
than the target's age
75. Predictable = No bonus
76. Proud = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the target's conscientiousness
77. Pure = No bonus

45
78. Quiet = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the target's extraversion
79. Religious = No bonus
80. Sensual = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the target's openness
81. Solitary = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the target's neuroticism
82. Stubborn = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's power
83. Soft = No bonus
84. Tough = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's critical hit rate

46
NEGATIVE TRAITS
85. Abrupt = Provides a small static bonus to will
damage
86. Argumentative = Provides a bonus to will damage
based on the user's neuroticism
87. Arrogant = Provides a static bonus to will damage
88. Brutal = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's extraversion multiplied by the user's power
89. Careless = Provides a negative bonus to will damage
90. Cautious = Provides a negative bonus to will damage
based on the user's agreeableness
91. Childish = Provides a bonus to will damage that
decreases with the user's age
92. Clumsy = Provides a negative bonus to will damage
that is multiplied by the user's conscientiousness
93. Cold = Provides a large bonus to will damage based
on the user's openness multiplied by the user's offence
94. Crazy = Provides a bonus to will damage that is
totally wild and unpredictable
95. Cruel = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the user's extraversion subtracted by the target's
extraversion
96. Cynical = Provides a significant bonus to will
damage
97. Delicate = Provides a small negative bonus to will
damage
98. Devious = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
99. Dull = Has a 2/3 chance of providing a small bonus
to will damage
100. Fanatical = Provides a large bonus to will damage
based on the user's agreeableness subtracted by the
target's neuroticism

47
101. Foolish = Provides a large negative bonus to will
damage
102. Forgetful = Provides a negative bonus to will
damage that can range from small to very large
103. Frightening = Provides a large bonus to will
damage based on the target's agreeableness
104. Greedy = Provides a static bonus to will damage
105. Grim = Has a 50/50 chance of providing a small
bonus to will damage
106. Hateful = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the target's neuroticism
107. Hostile = Provides a bonus to will damage based
on the target's openness
108. Ignorant = Provides a bonus to will damage based
on the target's conscientiousness
109. Lazy = Provides a bonus to will damage based on
the target's extraversion
110. Malicious = Has a 2/3 chance of providing a
significant bonus to will damage
111. Miserable = Has a 50/50 of providing a bonus to
will damage based on the user's neuroticism
112. Naïve = Provides a small negative bonus to will
damage
113. Nihilistic = Provides a bonus to will damage based
on the user's neuroticism
114. Obnoxious = Provides a static bonus to will damage
115. Paranoid = Has a 50/50 chance of providing a bonus
to will damage
116. Passive = No bonus
117. Perverted = Provides a bonus to will damage that
increases if the target's gender and user's gender are
different if the user is over 21
118. Prejudiced = Has a 50/50 chance of providing a
large bonus to will damage if the user's species is
different than the target's species

48
119. Quirky = Provides a static bonus to will damage
120. Repressed = Provides a bonus to will damage based
on the user's extraversion
121. Sadistic = Has a 3/4 chance of providing a bonus
to will damage
122. Selfish = Has a 2/3 chance of providing a bonus to
will damage based on the user's neuroticism
123. Shallow = Has a 2/3 chance of providing a bonus to
will damage based on the user's agreeableness
124. Shy = Has a 2/3 chance of providing a bonus to
will damage based on the user's openness
125. Silly = Has a 2/3 chance of providing a bonus to
will damage
126. Slow = Has a 2/3 chance of providing a bonus to
will damage based on the user's conscientiousness
127. Stupid = Provides a negative bonus to will damage
128. Submissive = Provides a negative bonus to will
damage
129. Superficial = Provides a small negative bonus to
will damage
130. Superstitious = Provides a unstable bonus to will
damage that could be either negative or positive
131. Thievish = No bonus
132. Timid = Provides a static negative bonus to will
damage
133. Vulnerable = Provides a large negative bonus to
will damage
134. Weak = Provides a very large negative bonus to
will damage
135. Willful = Provides a very large static negative
bonus to will damage

49
Appendix C – Moves in Starstride Chronicles
Here is a list of moves that are present in Starstride
Chronicles, along with their perspective attributes and game
data.
1. "Hug"
Power = 30
Accuracy (%) = 70
Type = Open
Power Points = 3
Description = "Grips the target in a friendly and loving hug."
2. "Charm"
Power = 20
Accuracy (%) = 80
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 5
Description = "Charms the target and smitten them towards the
user."
3. "Focus"
Power = 5
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Conscious
Power Points = 15
Description = "Brings the user's mind into a sharp focus."
4. "Concentrate"
Power = 10
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 25
Description = "The user cuts off their negative thoughts and
concentrates on the conversation."
5. "Moan"
Power = 15
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Neurotic
Power Points = 10
Description = "The user moans at the target, annoying them
greatly."

50
6. "Nag"
Power = 10
Accuracy (%) = 95
Type = Neurotic
Power Points = 15
Description = "Gripes at the target for some minor reason,
annoying them."
7. "Kiss"
Power = 50
Accuracy (%) = 50
Type = Open
Power Points = 3
Description = "The user quickly pecks at the target with a
gentle, sweet kiss."
8. "Compliment"
Power = 30
Accuracy (%) = 70
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 10
Description = "Praises the target, loosening their will to
argue with the user."
9. "Captivate"
Power = 10
Accuracy (%) = 95
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 15
Description = "Instils the target with a tale that intrigues
and captivates them."
10. "Psych Up"
Power = 30
Accuracy (%) = 75
Type = Conscious
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user self-excites themselves into a
conversational fury."
11. "Quip"
Power = --
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 40
Description = "Anticipates the target's move and retaliates
with the remark. Strength varies randomly."

51
12. "Greet"
Power = 10
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Open
Power Points = 25
Description = "Welcomes the target with open arms. Later in
conversation, the user will restate their welcome."
13. "Flirt"
Power = 25 + Player’s Extraversion
Accuracy (%) = 80
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 10
Description = "Using the user's sexual charm, the target is
hit with a teasing remark. Stronger depending on user's
extraversion."
14. "Smile"
Power = 10
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Open
Power Points = 25
Description = "The user smiles warmly towards the target."
15. "Frown"
Power = 10
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Neurotic
Power Points = 25
Description = "The user frowns darkly towards the target."
16. "Acceptance"
Power = 20
Accuracy (%) = 95
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 15
Description = "The user channels their inner calmness and
pushes that through to the target."
17. "Calm Down"
Power = 5
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 40
Description = "The user calms their mind with deep breaths."

52
18. "Rile Up"
Power = 5
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Neurotic
Power Points = 40
Description = "The user agitates themselves through malicious
thoughts."
19. "Confess"
Power = 15
Accuracy (%) = 95
Type = Conscious
Power Points = 35
Description = "The user apologises to the target."
20. "Cry"
Power = 30
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user cries, making the target feel guilty."
21. "Laugh"
Power = 20 + Player’s Openness
Accuracy (%) = 95
Type = Open
Power Points = 15
Description = "Laughs at one of the target's remarks.
Increases in strength with openness."
22. "Shout!"
Power = 5 x Player’s Mouth Level
Accuracy (%)= 90
Type = Neurotic
Power Points = 5
Description = "Shouts at the target very, very loudly. The
better the mouth, the louder the shout"
23. "CloseContact"
Power = 5 x Player’s Hand Level
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Open
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user warmly contacts the target, subtly
calming them down. The better the hands, the more power this
move has."

53
24. "I Spy"
Power = 5 x Player’s Eye Level
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Conscious
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user observes the target and makes a
remark. The better the eyes, the more astute the remark."
25. "Smell"
Power = 5 x Player’s Nose Level
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user smells the target. The better the
nose, the more sincere the compliment."
26. "Eavesdrop"
Power = 5 x Player’s Ear Level
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user listens carefully and makes a witty
remark. The better the ears, the more power this move has."
27. “Vast Mind"
Power = 20 x Player’s Conscientiousness
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Conscious
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user expands their ambition towards the
target. Increases in strength with conscientiousness."
28. "Cheer On"
Power = 20 x Player’s Extraversion
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user compliments and boosts the target's
morale. Increases in strength with extraversion."
29. "Love"
Power = 20 x Player’s Agreeableness
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user expresses their love towards the
target. Increases in strength with agreeableness."

54
30. "Negativity"
Power = 20 x Player’s Neuroticism
Accuracy (%) = 90
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 5
Description = "The user shares their negative thoughts with
the target. Increases in strength with neuroticism."
31. "Heartpour"
Power = Player’s Openness + Conscientiousness + Extraversion +
Agreeableness + Neuroticism
Accuracy (%)= 100
Type = No Type
Power Points = 3
Description = "The user combines all their psychological
traits and ushers them unto the target."
32. "Heartbreak"
Power = 50
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = No Type
Power Points = 3
Description = "The user devastates the target with revelation
and newfound thought."
33. "Joke"
Power = 15
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Open
Power Points = 30
Description = "The user tells the target a joke."
34. "Ready"
Power = 15
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Conscious
Power Points = 30
Description = "The user focuses their mind."
35. "Lookatme!"
Power = 15
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 30
Description = "The user gets the target's attention."

55
36. "Sympathy"
Power = 15
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 30
Description = "The user expresses their pity to the target."
37. "Irritate"
Power = 15
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Neurotic
Power Points = 30
Description = "The user irritates the target."
38. "Creativity"
Power = 25
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Open
Power Points = 20
Description = "The user expresses a newly thought concept to
the target, making them awestruck."
39. "Order"
Power = 25
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Conscious
Power Points = 20
Description = "The user expresses their internal schedule to
the target, confusing them."
40. "Empathy"
Power = 25
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 20
Description = "The user sees through to the target's heart and
touches them emotionally."
41. "Kind Heart"
Power = 25
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 20
Description = "The user softens up and expresses fellowship
towards the target."

56
42. "Sad Heart"
Power = 25
Accuracy (%) = 100
Type = Neurotic
Power Points = 20
Description = "The user breaks in front of the target, tearing
up on their shoulder."
43. "Open Up"
Power = 35
Accuracy (%) = 80
Type = Open
Power Points = 10
Description = "The user opens up to the target's words."
44. "Perfection"
Power = 35
Accuracy (%) = 80
Type = Conscious
Power Points = 10
Description = "The user uses their perfectionism to wow the
target."
45. "Jubilee"
Power = 35
Accuracy (%) = 80
Type = Extravert
Power Points = 10
Description = "The user makes the target happy with a great
big cheer."
46. "At Ease"
Power = 35
Accuracy (%) = 80
Type = Agreeable
Power Points = 10
Description = "The user entices the target into easing up on
their defences."
47. "Moodswing"
Power = 35
Accuracy (%) = 80
Type = Neurotic
Power Points = 10
Description = "The user rapidly changes in mood, disturbing
the target."

57
Appendix D – Data of characters in Starstride Chronicles
Characters in Starstride Chronicles are split
internally into three different catagories (note that
data in-game is stored via integers which are then
correlated to strings, so for clarity, this written
data uses those strings in place of integers):
FAUX – Characters not intended to participate in
conversations, only battles. Examples include the
Rustbuckets in Starboard Forest.
Example data:
Name = Dying Rustbucket
Health = 100
Will = 100
Fatigue = 0
Species = Rustbucket
Sex = Male
Age = 57
Offence = 9
Defence = 7
Speed = 7
Critical Hit Rate = 8
Power = 10
FIXED – Characters that have their statistics pre-set
for the purposes of this research. Fixed characters
constitute all of those in Alpha Episode’s Socroe City.
Example data:
Name = Shinkuku Oka
Health = 100
Will = 100
Fatigue = 57
Is Female? = True
Is Male? = False
Is Male [2]? = False
Age = 67
Gender = Female
Openness = 3
Conscientiousness = 9
Extraversion = 7
Agreeableness = 5
Neuroticism = 7

58
Offence = 9
Defence = 7
Speed = 7
Critical Hit Rate = 8
Power = 10
Height = 172 centimetres
Weight = 65 kilograms
Muscles = 36/100
Head = Human
Torso = Human
Left arm = Human
Right arm = Human
Upper Left Arm = Null
Upper Right Arm = Null
Hands = Human
Feet = Human
Legs = Human
Left Hand = Human
Right Hand = Human
Left Foot = Human
Right Foot = Human
Head = Human
Mouth = Human
Eyes = Human
Ears = Human
Nose = Human
Teeth = Human
Skin Type = Skin
Personality = Kind
Tail = Null
Eye Colour = Hazel
Hair Colour = Black
Skin Colour = Tan
Clothing = Raggy Clothes
Hair Variety = 2 (out of 5)
Trait 1 = Friendly
Trait 2 = Null
Trait 3 = Null
FLUID – Characters that are procedurally generated from
a variety of assets. Data-wise, fluid characters are
identical to the player, save for the absence of moves
(see Appendix C). Fluid characters constitute the
majority of those in Beta Episode’s Port Kreuzung.
Example data:

59
Name = John + Smith
Health = 100
Will = 100
Fatigue = Value between 0 and 50
Is Female? = Either True or False
Is Male? = Either True or False
Is Male [2]? = Either True or False
Age = Value between 8 and 120[for organic people] or
240[for artificial people]
Gender = Either Male, Female or Neither
Openness = Value between 0 and 10
Conscientiousness = Value between 0 and 10
Extraversion = Value between 0 and 10
Agreeableness = Value between 0 and 10
Neuroticism = Value between 0 and 10
Offence = Value between 0 and 10
Defence = Value between 0 and 10
Speed = Value between 0 and 10
Critical Hit Rate = Value between 0 and 10
Power = Value between 0 and 10
Height = Value between 80 and 280 centimetres
Weight = Value between 30 and 120 kilograms
Muscles = Value between 0 and 100
Head = One out of any species
Torso = One out of any species
Left arm = One out of any species
Right arm = One out of any species
Upper Left Arm = One out of any species
Upper Right Arm = One out of any species
Hands = One out of any species
Feet = One out of any species
Legs = One out of any species
Left Hand = One out of any species
Right Hand = One out of any species
Left Foot = One out of any species
Right Foot = One out of any species
Head = One out of any species
Mouth = One out of any species
Eyes = One out of any species
Ears = One out of any species
Nose = One out of any species
Teeth = One out of any species
Skin Type = Either Skin, Fur, Silicone, Hair, Chitin,
Scales, Membrane or Metallic Skin
Personality = Either Kind, Neutral or Bad
Tail = One out of any species

60
Eye Colour = One out of the eye colours
Hair Colour = One out of the hair colours
Skin Colour = One out of the skin colours
Clothing = One out of the clothing options
Hair Variety = One out of the five hair styles
Trait 1 = One trait from Appendix B
Trait 2 = If allowed two, one trait from Appendix B
Trait 3 = If allowed three, one trait from Appendix B

61
Appendix E – Final development schedule (last updated 25/02/16)
Production timeframe: October 2015 – April 2016
Due Date Objective Importance Status
31/10/15 Complete executable
mainframe and UI
HIGH Done
31/11/15 Implement method of
personality categorisation
for character data
HIGH Done
31/12/15 Create character and
world graphical
components
MEDIUM Done
30/12/15 Finish all scripting for
Socroe City (World 1)
HIGH Done
15/1/15 Complete character
generation program for
NPCs
MEDIUM Done
22/2/15 Create player symbol
creator
LOW Cancelled due to
change in narrative
31/2/15 Finish scripting for Port
Kreuzung (World 2)
HIGH Done
15/03/16 Finish minimal level of
additional content
LOW Done
Entirety of
04/16
Bug testing, edits and
extra content – month of
reflective review
N/A Complete

62
Appendix F – Logo of Starstride Chronicles
Present logo (as of April 2016):
English
Welsh (literally translated as Star-Journey Chronicles)

63
Appendix G – Diagram of the Five Factor model
Green indicates a high value, whereas red indicates a low value

64
Appendix H – Diagrams of conversation damage percentages in Starstride Chronicles

69
Appendix I – Diagram of the HEXACO model

70
Appendix J – Diagram of the DISC model

71
Appendix K – Diagram of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator

72
Appendix L – Character sprites of Sire and Missy
Sire:
Skinless Behemoth textbox sprites
Skinless People textbox sprites
Missy:
Textbox sprites

73
Full sprites (view from front)
Full sprites (view from right side)

Ludological Psychometrics

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