games in cultural evolution a theoretical exercise and

games cognition

29 MAJ 2012

Games in cultural evolution

-a theoretical exercise and discourse analysis

ANDREAS LIEBEROTH DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY AND BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES

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MINDlab @ CENTRE OF FUNCTIONALLY INTEGRATIVE NEUROSCIENCE

AARHUS UNIVERSITY

APPLIED GAMES

Frames, structure, motivation

ANDREAS LIEBEROTH

DEPT OF PSYCHOLOGY AND BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCES

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› Applied games

› Memory models

› Attraction and engagement

Co-founder:

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”Kingdom’s Survival”

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”The Chosen”

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On my mind today…

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- The parasite-idea

- Games in cultural evolution

- The evo-discourse on games

-The future of games as

psychological laboratories

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The paraside idea

› Emerging from one or more ”proper domains” › Often posited as universal and evolved

› Effectively transmitted and/or frequently emerging in cultural evolution › Immediate adaptivity insufficient to explain transmission

› May achieve more stable optimum forms in mind or practice

› Can be(come) adaptive

› Individual fitness

› Cultural evolution

› Biological evolution 6

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The host-parasite relationship

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Why games? Why now?

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Casual gaming

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Applied games and gamification

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› Addiction

› Violence

› Priorities

› Cognitive changes

› Moral/religious decrees - vestiges of gambling-fear

The menace-discourse

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Games as near-universal › 1959 Database survey*: 82/100 cultures › Games of chance › Games of physical skill › Strategy games

› Race games

› War games

› Games of position

› Mancala games

› Calculation games

› #borderline cases like combat-sports, lawn games, riddling, divination, guessing games, varieties of children’s play etc. *Cross-cultural survey files, exctract in Roberts et al., 1959

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http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/ect/nativegames.htm




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Ashtapada (race game with

dice), India, 200 AD

Shaturanga

(chesslike 4-player

wargame with dice)

India, 400 AD

Senet (race game – oldest

archaological find),

Egypt, 3500 BC,

Mehen Egypt, 3000 BC,

Figurative chess pieces (walrus tusk, popular exports)

Scandinavia 12-13th Century AD

Royal Game of Ur Mesopotamia,

2560 BC

Shatranj (predecessor to chess –

v. Sanskrit Shaturanga)

Persia, 600 AD

Dice?, Backgammon Burnt City, Iran, 3000 BC

Pachisi (ludolike race game

In Mahabharatha epic),

India, 500 BC

Go Mentioned in Zhouhan

China, 400 BC

Liubo China, 400 BC

Tablut (Lapp Tafl-variant, discovered in

1732 by Swedish travellers. Likely

a chess-family off-shoot)

Burmese chess

Siamese chess

Sho-gi Quite changed

Chinese chess

Mancala 6-700 AD,

often claimed to be

much older

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A cultural evolution view?

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…

… (1912, 42)

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Proper domain 1: Play

› Neural correlates well known – even in decorticated rats!

› Levels of advancement in rodents

› Fairness and turn-taking

› Deprivation has multiple decremental effects

› Immediate and deleyed benefits › training,

› Emotional fine-tuning

› social assessment/manipulations

› Behavior for its own sake

› Development through life (e.g. G. H. Mead)

› Development through culture (e.g. E. B. Tylor, J. Huizinga)

› Benefit and curse in # cultural incarnations 17

APPLIED GAMES


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Proper domain 2: Motivated activity 2 dimensions of collative variables in (western) games

› Competence [PROCESS] intrinsic motivation

› Autonomy [CONTENT] [FRAMING] immersion › Relatedness [VEHICLE] [FEEDBACK] etc. sustained

engagement 18

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The past-midway-conclusion: Games and religion have some culturally adaptive elements in common Religion is more puzzling, if games are intrinsically motivating and pleasant, and easily map on to evolved play behaviors.

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The evo-discourse in games

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The ”multiple yummy causes” evolution-discourse in games

› ”We are playing with powerful forces here – some of the oldest and most primal

circuitry in our brains. We have a responsibility to consider what behaviors we’re

encouraging, who benefits if we’re succesful and what’s at stake if our games

create adverse results.” (2011)

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› Why targets work…

Targets seem to activate a primal desire within us … The presence of anything that stands out is enough to trigger that impulse … Concentration and commitment to an objective are quite beneficial traits for a hunter gatherer. … A sales targent isn’t a buffalo, but it puts food on the table. (2011: 114)

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Why xxx works… (Dignan 2011)

› Competition: ”survival of the fittest” ”any chance to prove ourselves as skilled should be taken”

› Chance: ”Our learning circuitry…”

› Time pressure: neurotransmitters (the science isn’t clear cut)

› Scarcity ”as hunter gatherers we innately understand the value of building up a collection”

› Novelty: ”our brains prioritize and reward novelty” (monism/homunculus)

› Social pressure: ”survival is more likely” ”brain has evolved to interact”

› Currency: ”In a culture of specialized trades a system of exchange becomes a requirement”

› Renewal (e.g. lives): ”A basic principle of life”

› Data ”our natural learning mechanism…”

› Progress ”[in evo] it’s advantageous to be addicted to progress - we never rest on our laurels.”

› Points: ”have a magical effect on the brain”

› Sensation ”arouse our brains – releasing adrenaline and other neurotransmitters”

› Recognition ”our brains release dopamine and endorphins, signalling reward”

› Status: ”Part of our wiring as tribal animals…”

(Puzzles, Levels, Teamwork, Forced decisions other arguments fitting Dignan’s model)

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an example:

evolved for

the movies?

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Finishing up…

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The new scientifically correct consumer-culture

› The supremacy of the body

› Master and slave to your brain

› ”You are your brain”

› Consuming neuroculture › Psychopharma

› Self-help

› Brain-training

› Get your SPECT horoscope here!

› User-friendly EEG

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Games as psychological and cultural laboratories

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Memes today…

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[YOUR THOUGHTS HERE]

[email protected]

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Does the parasite argument work convincingly outside critical anti-fuctionalist discourse? easy argument for anything? good argument for universal cultural complexes in general? Better for games than the ”multiple-yummy-cause” evolutionary discourse?

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Critically applied neuroscience

› We’re still learning about the brain – the ”third brain”

› A lot of myths are going around

› There’s good work to be done and stories to be told

› If we don’t, somebody else will!

[A critical discipline has] additional entailments and layers of meaning as well. It

involves a relational, historical worldview and metaphysics that questions a number

of common sense understandings. [It envisions research as]a long struggle to

illuminate [its area], challenge commonplace theories and their political

implications, and change theoretical practice in the preocess” (Lave 2011: 10)

› The ”hybrid”-stance

› Information both ways

› Looking for answers and questions in both the labs and

practice-arenas

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Foregone conclusions If the parasite argument for games… 1.) …doesn’t work Routes of critique of CSR

Unique features of religon

2.) …works convincingly easy argument for anything

good argument for universal cultural complexes in general

3.) Too many differeneces in the domains?

4.) Discoursive processes at play as well

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Magic gordian knots for fun and profit…?

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Anecdotal overlaps

› Cheater detection / rules (and chance)

as priviledged cog. domain

› Difficult to see clear dividing line

games/play superstition/religion

› May be adaptive, but did not come into

existence/take hold for that reason(?)

› Can be exploited, but seems to appear

and self-configure almost by itself

› Memory, death, supernatural, etc. Very

differnet

› Activity-memes – very contagious with

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Memes today…

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› Rammesætte (frame) folks forventninger, etablere et (delt) fokus

› Strukturere folks handlinger, oplevelser, og informationstilgang

› Motivere fremdrift med valg, udfordringer, målstreger, overraskelser, mm.

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› Praksis: Systermer af aktivitet i menneskers

arbejde, livsverden og udviking - f.eks. social

udveksling, konflikt, læring, møder, med-

skabelse, leg, etc…

Derfor: Den praksis/aktivitet man adresserer, er nødt til at

informere eller passe til spildesignet

Hvad jeg synes spil gør godt…

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Så hvordan passer spil ind i bevægelse?

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Sensorer kvantificerer biologi og adfærd

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Motivation: Self-determination theory Player Experience Need Satisfaction (PENS)

› Competence

› Autonomy

› Relatedness

› Belønninger = feedback

› Vedholdenhed øget CAR

Intrinsic motivation

Sustained engagement

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Find balancen

› Og tænk det ind i folks liv, når der er tale om casual games!

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Game-design or packaging?

Exogenous game-content Endogenous game-content

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Kan indfange nogle borderline cases

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frequent

flyer miles

Freedom fighter

(LA, 2011)

Traffic

Conway’s

game of life

some open

ended sims

leaderboards

games in cultural evolution a theoretical exercise and

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