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Fun Robin Burke GAM 224
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Outline Fun / Pleasure Meaning Types of Pleasure Flow
Managing Difficulty Meaning Systems of meaning
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Fun Important, but vague concept
What makes the player want to play? What makes the player want to keep playing? Not always the same thing for a given game
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Experience vs Pleasure
what players do (most) to play Fun the pleasurable quality of those experiences
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Example Soccer Perception Analysis Decision Execution
trajectory of ball trajectory of players Analysis negative space Decision points of attack / defense Execution positioning, dribbling, passing, shooting, blocking, tackling
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Where is the fun? Being right (cognitive) Being skillful (sensation)
correctly identifying a weakness and exploiting it Being skillful (sensation) correct physical execution Being competitive (contest) winning individual confrontations winning the game Being collaborative (social) communicating well with team members
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Typologies of pleasure
Fun is a vague concept we want to talk about the pyschological rewards of playing "pleasure" Various ways to analyze these rewards
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LeBlanc Sensation Fantasy Narrative Challenge Fellowship Discovery
the game engages the senses Fantasy the game lets us play make-believe Narrative the game has interesting characters and compelling drama Challenge we can confront and overcome challenges Fellowship we can build relationships with other people Discovery we discover new things and places Expression we express ourselves Submission we follow blindly
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Caillois Agon Alea Mimicry Ilinx competitive struggle chance
make-believe Ilinx physical sensation
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Soccer, revisited Sensation Fantasy Narrative Challenge Fellowship
the feel of the field, the sounds and sights of the players in action Fantasy imagining yourself as Pele, David Beckham or Freddie Adu Narrative the story of the game dramatic moments – the highlight reel Challenge meeting the physical demands of running, blocking and kicking meeting the cognitive demands of offensive and defensive play Fellowship the comradeship of the team Discovery learning new techniques Expression developing a personal style of play Submission the rituals of the game the kickoff, the corner kick, etc.
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Asteroids Sensation Fantasy Narrative Challenge Fellowship Discovery
black and white vector drawings Fantasy imagining yourself commanding a space ship Narrative individual dramatic moments Challenge the demands of maneuvering and clearing asteroids the increasing challenge of higher game levels Fellowship not much Discovery Expression Submission
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Wind Waker Sensation Fantasy Narrative Challenge Fellowship Discovery
cartoony, but beautiful and fantastic imagery realistic natural sounds Fantasy imagining yourself as a young warrior Narrative the unfolding of plot elements leading to the defeat of Gannon Challenge figuring out puzzles defeating enemies Fellowship not much Discovery finding and exploring new locations acquisition of new items and new powers Expression Submission the stylized forms of combat limitation of action
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Thunderstorm Sensation Fantasy Narrative Challenge Fellowship
simple drawings throwing the dice Fantasy not much Narrative increased tension with fewer dice the destruction of houses Challenge Fellowship sharing the game activity Discovery Expression Submission the acceptance of random outcome
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Sources of pleasure Games Video games Because
differ in where the pleasure arises Video games emphasize particular types of challenge cognitive hand-eye coordination emphasize fantasy emphasize narrative Because these capitalize on the advantages of the computer
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The cost of fun Pleasure is not cheap
high-quality graphics and sound creative stories and vivid dialog thoroughly tested and balanced gameplay mechanics lots of territory to discover all expensive Top game titles are expensive to produce because they try to provide pleasure of all types Focused titles emphasize a subset are criticized for the things they leave out cheaper to make require perfect execution Classic engineering trade-off put development effort where the biggest pleasure pay-off lies
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Challenge Most important source of pleasure in video games Reasons
in the post-arcade era Reasons suits the computer's strengths easy to make things faster more intense suits the aesthetics of the audience adolescent males
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Level of Challenge "hide and seek"
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Difficulty Too hard Too easy game can't be enjoyed game is boring
nothing to learn
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Quantifying difficulty
Analytical # of choices complexity of decision branching factor complexity of execution Empirical Playtesting
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Adjusting difficulty change probabilities change opposing force
more accuracy required change opposing force more opponents smarter opponents new option decision-making more complex as long as dominance avoided new opponent / environment more to learn new constraint routine patterns can't be applied
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Pacing "Pace" of the game speed at which new challenges are introduced
= speed at which player must master each in order to succeed
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Arcade games primary challenge difficulty adjustments
speed and accuracy of response "button mashing" difficulty adjustments number of targets response speed required cost of error usually continuous increase of difficulty until impossible
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Example WarioWare
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Match skills and opportunities
More opportunities than skills player will flounder game becomes overwhelming More skills than opportunities game is limiting player feels confined
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Mastery When the choices and perceptions become "automatic"
non-deliberative Can only happen when skills are fully learned perceptions correctly trained
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Path to mastery = repetition
Basic psychology repetition of skill increases performance But how to manage repetition? major concern in game design
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Repetition Invariant Decomposition Practice Mode
starting level all over Drawback level involves many skills failure in one means need to repeat all Decomposition emphasize new skills as acquired Problem must generate more levels Practice Mode allow player to practice outside of main game
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Flow "The state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it." Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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Flow state Loss of sense of time Intense focus
Responses are fast, continuous and (almost) unconscious Many examples athletes, musicians, surgeons, pilots, soldiers gamers
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Flow games Any well-designed game can induce flow
chess Some games are designed specifically to require continuous, not-too-deliberative action racing games warioware
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Example
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What builds flow? Attention invested in realistic goals
Skills match opportunities for action Skills can be mastered Learning acquisition of skills increased ability to participate shared community / developed commitment
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Flow as a design goal Present the player with realistic goals
Match skills and affordances Teach skills Have those skills increase level of participation Develop the player's commitment
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Realistic goals Goal is realistic if it can be accomplished by the player might require acquisition of new skills Player has to adopt the goal and understand that it is possible Level of challenge
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Conditioning Basic learning system People will be more likely to do X
Pavlov's dog People will be more likely to do X if doing X has been rewarded in the past People will be less likely to do X if doing X has been punished in the past
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Reinforcement in games
Reward positive reinforcement a power-up a cool animation a new move negative reinforcement removal of an obstacle destruction of an enemy Punishment starting over loss of life / health / power-up
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Schedules There must be enough regular rewards to keep player playing
long-term big rewards are theoretically the same but practically a player wants goodies The rewards must be substantial enough and regular enough to make enduring the punishments worthwhile
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Reward types Glory Sustenance Access Facility not game-play related
finishing the game cool cut-scene Sustenance give the player needed resources health packs ammo Access give player access to new spaces / levels keys maps Facility give avatar new abilities new weapon ability to fly
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Meaning
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Meaning review Meaning is created by the interpretation of signifiers in context A game designer creates a new context with new meanings using particular signifiers
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Systems of meaning Individual signifiers System of signifiers
"hand with red circle" means "disabled" System of signifiers whole set of icons for different status conditions When a new icon appears players has to try to understand what it might mean
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Play of meaning The way in which the game invites the player to use its system of signs Activities interpreting signs learning new signs looking for signs sometimes inventing signs
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Assassin The clown nose People fleeing
means "an 'assassin' is out to get somebody" means "I'm metaphorically disguised" means "I'm playing the game" People fleeing means "I'm escaping an in-game threat"
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Play with meaning Sometimes games invite play with meaning
Signs with conventional meaning are subverted dissonance between the conventional meaning and the game's meaning Examples Spin the Bottle a kiss signifies? Grand Theft Auto carjacking signifies?
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Game Metacommunication
(beyond or behind) The communication about the game as opposed to the communication required in order to play How do we know that we are playing constant stream of communicative acts required to keep play going to signal involvement focus of attention readiness of participation game-appropriate demeanor
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World of Warcraft MMORPG The game has in it a wide variety of signs
with in-game meanings Signs types of characters, monsters, NPCs artifacts of all kinds the look of towns, buildings, countryside These have a coherence to them that makes the game comprehensible Players play with these signs they pick names, races, occupations they might choose armor that looks cool regardless of its powers they adopt a certain style of play that has a personal character
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WoW, cont'd Meta-communication Players communicate a lot
through various channels They are trying to send signals about play whether they can be trusted members of a party, for example
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Monday Game Design activity Bring your playing cards
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