fun robin burke gam 224. outline fun / pleasure types of pleasure flow managing difficulty meaning...
TRANSCRIPT
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Fun
Robin Burke
GAM 224
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Outline
Fun / PleasureTypes of PleasureFlowManaging Difficulty
MeaningSystems of meaning
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Fun
Important, but vague conceptWhat 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
Experiencewhat players do (most) to play
Funthe pleasurable quality of those
experiences
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Example
Soccer Perception
• 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) 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 conceptwe want to talk about the
pyschological rewards of playing"pleasure"
Various ways to analyze these rewards
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LeBlanc
Sensation 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
Agoncompetitive struggle
Aleachance
Mimicrymake-believe
Ilinxphysical sensation
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Soccer, revisited
Sensation 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 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 not much
Expression not much
Submission not much
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Wind Waker
Sensation 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 not much
Submission the stylized forms of combat limitation of action
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Thunderstorm
Sensation simple drawings throwing the dice
Fantasy not much
Narrative increased tension with fewer dice the destruction of houses
Challenge not much
Fellowship sharing the game activity
Discovery not much
Expression not much
Submission the acceptance of random outcome
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Sources of pleasure
Games 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 gamesin the post-arcade era
Reasonssuits 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 hardgame can't be enjoyed
Too easygame is boringnothing to learn
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Quantifying difficulty
Analytical# of choicescomplexity of decision
• branching factor
complexity of execution Empirical
Playtesting
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Adjusting difficulty
change probabilities 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 gamespeed 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 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 skillsplayer will floundergame becomes overwhelming
More skills than opportunitiesgame is limitingplayer feels confined
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Mastery
When the choices and perceptions become "automatic"non-deliberative
Can only happen whenskills are fully learnedperceptions correctly trained
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Path to mastery = repetition
Basic psychologyrepetition of skill increases
performance But
how to manage repetition?major concern in game design
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Repetition
Invariant 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 flowchess
Some games are designed specifically to require continuous, not-too-deliberative actionracing gameswarioware
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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 skillsincreased ability to participateshared 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 playermight 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 systemPavlov's dog
People will be more likely to do Xif 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 playinglong-term big rewards are theoretically
the same• but practically a player wants goodies
The rewards must be substantial enough and regular enoughto make enduring the punishments
worthwhile
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Reward types
Glory 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 designercreates a new contextwith new meaningsusing particular signifiers
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Systems of meaning
Individual signifiers"hand with red circle" means
"disabled" System of signifiers
whole set of icons for different status conditions
When a new icon appearsplayers 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
Activitiesinterpreting signslearning new signslooking for signssometimes inventing signs
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Assassin
The clown nose means "an 'assassin' is out to get
somebody" means "I'm metaphorically disguised" means "I'm playing the game"
People fleeing means "I'm playing the game" 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
Meta (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-communicationPlayers 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