I’m an expert at connecting players through storytelling.

I design game narratives to connect players to a world and its culture. Intimate details get a player emotionally invested enough that they need to come back, share it with their friends, and maybe even buy a plush toy.

My secret is equipping players to make the story happen and turning a game into an anthology of first person experiences. As a folklore student I learned the importance of the narrator. When people tell the story of themselves, they tell you who they are and what they want.

When I started designing larps, I brought the notion that everyone is their own narrator and my job was to provide them a world in which they could build their own folklore. Players interwove their own stories, building a world they were all personally invested in, building a diverse community of people who played make believe only a few times a year.

As I transitioned to teaching, I brought this respect to my students. Each student brings their own ideas, stories, strengths, and reservations. As I listen to them, their stories intersect and grow into one another’s. Eventually, I wanted to learn intimacy design so I could make it safer for my students and collaborators to tell more personal stories.

Maybe you’re trying to make your players feel native to your open world RPG’s setting or making your MMORPG into a real community. Maybe you want your story to be spicier but it feels vulnerable and weird. Maybe you’ve built a world rich in details and lore but your players still can’t figure out how to play within it. Maybe you have a question I haven’t even thought of! I would love to devise a solution with you.