world state

English

Alternative forms

• worldstate

Noun

world state (plural world states)

1. (video games) The state of a gameworld at a given time, comprising all player locations, object states, narrative variables, etc.
   • 2013 December, Sam Smith, “Dragon Age: Inqusition”, in Play, page 43:

     The game will come up with a default world state and give you a description about what’s been going on.

   • 2017, Tyler Paulley, "The Official Rulebook for Choice in Video Games: An Examination of Choice in Modern Narrative Games", thesis submitted to Bellarmine University, page 12:

     Players can edit their decisions from previous games they have played to affect the world state in the newest game in the series: Dragon Age: Inquisition.

   • 2018, John Drake, "Planning For Non-Player Characters By Learning From Demonstration", dissertation submitted to the University of Pennsylvania, page 10:

     Skyrim presents players with a variety of actions that they can perform to change the game’s world state.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:world state.