I had an idea after watching The Escapists Extra Credits episode on non combat gaming about one way I found interesting.
The story for the example is a murder mystery, but could be applied to just about anything. I just happen to know tropes and conventions for noir mysteries more than, say, Roman Empire Senate debate or what have you.
You start by selecting a character. I managed to think of three that would provide different enough experiences - a cop, the dead guys friend who is more hood gang type, and dead guy's girlfriend/wife/sister. You would have to go around the city and talk to people about what they know, what was seen to find the truth.
The mechanics are where I'm most interested, though. All conversations would boil down to one of three types of response: THREAT, BRIBE, or EMPATHY. Everyone you interact with would have stats for each, as well as a stat for Trust, and which character you choose would have different bonuses. EX: if playing as a cop, you would have higher Intimidation, but have a harder time getting information from any thug type character, whereas the woman would have less intimidation, but builds empathy faster.
Then there's lying. Any rime you respond, you can Lie or Bluff, which can get more information, but you can get caught, and the persons TRUST meter would decrease.
EX: an EMPATHY lie could be something like feigning interest in an old ladies cat, because she might then be willing to tell you that she saw a person when she Mr. Bonkers out, but can backfire if she feels you're patronizing her, or the woman, who would have better interactions with some men and women, could fake interest in a guy, and try to get info over dinner. Oversell it, and he might expect sex without any pertinant info to give. Bluffing a BRIBE would be like dressing in seemingly better clothes, that look fancier, and would work against less knowledgable people, but would lower the trust of actually rich people.
A simpler way to put it would be THREAT would flaunt your power, Bluff THREAT would exaggerate that power. Power Not being strictly physical.
EMPATHY would show interest, Bluff EMPATHY would show interest in something not related to the murder.
BRIBE would offer something in return, Bluff BRIBE would imply a greater return for their information.
Each characters TRUST level is affecting by mostly random checks against your statements. They'll call you out, and if you were truthful, TRUST increases. If you were lying, it goes down. If you covered your lies, or responded certain ways, trust would also increase. Certain character combinations build TRUST faster or slower. Cop talking to thug, slower trust, cop talking to upper-middle class, faster trust. Sister/girlfriend talking with biker, some would have less trust, others more nuetral, because some people are more sexist/mysogistic. And so on.
Another part of interacting is how you say what you say. You can say THREAT, EMPATHY, or BRIBE statements in four ways: Angry/Energetic, Blunt/Flat, Subtle, or Sarcastic/Ironic.
Angry/Energetic would be full of enthusiasm, and can provide the most return, but highest fail rate, because someone might be put off by excessiveness.
Subtle would make you motives less obvious, so it will work more often, but if the person starts to notice you're doing it, their TRUST would decrease, even if it was always the truth.
Blunt/Flat is just that, just plain asking them for the information.
Sarcastic/Ironic would be clever wordplay and have potentially more humor to it. I actaully haven't fleshed this out as much.
And finally, speed of response. How quickly a response it input affects how much control of the conversation the person thinks he has. Too fast too often, they feel pressured and it can seem agressive, or the flip side, makes the player character look anxious, and they feel in control. Too slow a response and they may question your sincerity, causing more TRUST checks.
The same basic system could be used for combat purposes as well, with the equivelant of a THREAT response choice being a very forward agressive attack, whereas EMPATHY could be avoiding the enemies attack. Fights would occur, seeing as you would be talking to all manner of people, from cops to neighbors to biker gang memebers, and not everyone will like the questions you ask or even just not like you. I think if THREAT got to high, TRUST got too low, and the char is set up to be more physical, it would trigger a fight, but I don't really know.
Oh, and the actual method of input is inspired by the Mass Effect ring system. The left stik would be THREAT, BRIBE, EMPATHY, right stick would be Agressive, Blunt, Subtle, Sarcastic, holding one of the triggers would make it a Bluff. It would always say those, unlike ME having key words and phrases about what the said line would be, which I feel can lead to less certainty on how Sheperd will react. Leave it at the basic THREAT, etc. and you'll always know the type of response at least.
I can't really hope to be able to make this, unfortunately, since it would need a bunch of experts in language and sociology, and a slew of writing staff, a lot of man hours to write and record the many different conversation permutations, an actually good story, and that's before you even get to the engine and programming.
So, if anyone ever strikes it rich, decides to make a video game, and likes this, I am totally willing to give up any claim to this. I would rather see this in a game than it wallow away in my head because of legal issues. I get that forum posts aren't exactly the hieght of legal athority, but still. Use it if you want, no strings attached.
Way tl;dr version - murder mystery wrapped around sociological experiment of speech and trust and how they are affected by societal classes using game system not based on violence that is free for the taking. Also, go watch Extra Credits, it's great.
