Play – experience and pleasure second order design

COSC 4126 play - meaning Experience  definitions an event lived through – “I just drove home in the storm - that was quite an experience.” participation that provides practical knowledge – “He has experience with several versions of linux.” apprehension of something through senses or in the mind – “If you spin around fast, you will experience vertigo.”

COSC 4126 play - meaning Experiencing video games – Sutton-Smith, visual scanning – visual perception of screen, parts and whole 2.auditory input – listening for game event sounds and signals 3.motor response – physical manipulation of game controls 4.concentration – focus on play 5.learning patterns – becoming familiar with game structure perception action cognition

COSC 4126 play - meaning Experience he missed… 6.Emotional response to meaning 7.Social interaction with other players

COSC 4126 play - meaning Experience as part of game system  input – from game output  output – to game input  internal decision-making process designing “experience” is second-order design

COSC 4126 play - meaning Core mechanic dominant repeated play activity  examples Donkey Kong – joy stick plus jump button to maneuver Quake – move, aim, fire, manage resources tag – chase and tag, evade baseball – large collection of skills and strategies

COSC 4126 play - meaning Core mechanic of Breakout an Atari 2600 classic  descendant of first video game, pong  move paddle left and right to intercept ball bouncing around the game space  goal: remove bricks by hitting with ball two screens to clear

COSC 4126 play - meaning Core mechanic of Breakout  creation of meaning: breakout physics  side and brick bounces ‘reflect’ intuitively  paddle has five reflecting surfaces to be ‘learned’ skills to acquire tactics to learn  breakout – get ‘above’ bricks early  cleanup – hit final few bricks vertically

COSC 4126 play - meaning Variations on the core mechanic 1.timed play minimize time to clear two screens 2.Breakthru bounce goes through bricks

COSC 4126 play - meaning More variations 3.steering paddle effects ball in flight 4.stick paddle ‘catch’ and release ball from paddle 5.invisible bricks  appear when one is hit 6.(12) combinations of variants

COSC 4126 play - meaning Extensions of Breakout  Atari Super Breakout sequel many levels more than one ball in play descending bricks  Nintendo Alleyway gaps in brick wall – more frequent breakout distinct ‘hit’ sounds during breakout progression of behaviour by level  other variations – complex bricks that take several hits to eliminate

COSC 4126 play - meaning Centipede Complex decision making space invaders style game  core mechanic – move and shoot horizontal + limited vertical movement (20%) ‘single shot’ firing – one shot on screen at once  targets five elements with distinct behaviour objects interact, some threaten shooter feedback loops in population behaviour means decisions are tradeoffs

COSC 4126 play - meaning So why is this fun? Constraint  L.S. Vygotsky, 1976: “Play continually creates demands on the [player] to act against immediate impulse, i.e., to act on the line of most resistance.” pleasure delayed and constrained is pleasure enhanced, S & Z, p

COSC 4126 play - meaning Constraint and...  rules – restrict play, enhance pleasure by inefficiency  free play – rules restrict the space of activity and ‘resist’ play  lusory attitude – self control by acceptanc eof aritificial system  stylized behaviour – dramatic, ritualistic sense of belonging

COSC 4126 play - meaning So why is this fun? Autotelic  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,1991 (Chicks send me highly) games are (mainly) non-utiliatarian games provide their own intrinsic and artificial goals

COSC 4126 play - meaning Types of pleasure, LeBlanc, 1999 examples?  sensation – game as sense-pleasure  fantasy – game as make-believe  narrative – game a drama  challenge – game as obstacle course  fellowship – game as social framework  discovery – game as uncharted territory  expression – game as self-discovery  submission – game as masochism

COSC 4126 play - meaning Types of ‘coginitive arousal’, Apter, 1991 examples?  exposure to arousing stimulation  fiction and narrative – character identification  challenge  exploration  negativism – rule breaking  cognitive synergy – imaginative play  facing danger – risk within magic circle

COSC 4126 play - meaning Others from ‘play’ definition  Callois challenge, risk, mimicry, vertigo  Sutton-Smith concentration, visual scanning, audio, actions, learning patterns

COSC 4126 play - meaning Flow - Csikszentmihalyi