Chapter 1.2 Games and Society

CS Why Do People Play Video Games?

CS Audience and Demographics What good are demographics? Are they always accurate? Recent survey: what stands out?

CS Audience and Demographics: ESRB EC(Early Childhood) E(Everyone) E10+(Everyone 10+) T(Teen) M(Mature) AO(Adults Only) 32 different “Content Descriptors”

CS Audience and Demographics: ESRB 2003 Statistics 57% of games received an E rating 32% of games received a T rating 10% of games received an M rating 1% received an EC rating

CS Audience and Demographics: ESRB 2003 Statistics (2) 70% of best-selling console games were E or T rated 90% of best-selling PC games were E or T rated Buying habits or development habits?

CS Societal Reaction to Games Misleading perception of games as being child’s play Violence in video games drawing parental attention Legal Issues (1992) –Night Trap –Mortal Kombat Led to Senate Hearings (1993)

CS Societal Reaction to Games Legal Issues: Doom (1994) and the 1999 Columbine Massacre –Shooters were known to play Doom –Lawsuits were initiated against the industry, but eventually dropped

CS Societal Reaction to Games Legal Issues: Grand Theft Auto –GTA: Vice City Haitian-American Rights Groups –GTA: San Andreas “Hot Coffee” mod

CS Societal Reaction to Games Games and Youth Violence –Root of All Evil, or Good, Old-Fashioned Fun?

CS Cultural Issues Abuse of stereotypes (Shadow Warrior) Foreign Diplomacy –Germany (The Index – List of banned games) –China, Japan (controversial elements) Cultural Acceptance –Changing standards and thresholds

CS Society Within Games: Online Behavior The Good –Everquest Weddings The Bad –Addictive properties –Online rivalries becoming offline rivalries –Can games contribute to erratic offline behaviors? The Ugly –Disinhibition and deindividuation occur because of perceived anonymity. –Hate crimes

CS Society Within Games Tools –Moderators –Communication tools –Fan sites to discuss gameplay and community outside of the game

CS The Upshot Games are an immature medium

Chapter 2.1 Understanding Fun

CS What is Fun? Dictionary: –Enjoyment, a source of amusement Important to consider underlying reasons “Funativity” – thinking about fun in terms of measurable cause and effect

CS Getting a handle on fun/play … Evolutionary roots popular –Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens But different ways to proceed –Play as basic desire? –Play as “evolutionary advantage”? –Crawford, Salen/Zimmerman, Koster, ….

CS Evolutionary Roots We must look to our distant past –Young mammals play to learn basic survival skills –Games are organized play –Human entertainment is also at its heart about learning how to survive –Mating and social rules also critical to us Education == Entertainment –Fun is about practicing or learning new survival skills in a relatively safe setting

CS Natural Funativity Theory Basic concept is that all fun derives from practicing survival and social skills Key skills relate to early human context, but often in modern guise Three overlapping categories –Physical, Social, and Mental

CS Definition of a Great Game A great game is a series of interesting and meaningful choices made by the player in pursuit of a clear and compelling goal

CS A Series of … Choices in Pursuit of a … Goal Interactivity Games = goals and rules? –Toys vs. games? Interesting and Meaningful Choices –Meaningful choices are perceived by the player as having significant consequences S/Z: meaningful play –Actions to outcomes are “descriptive and integrated”

CS A Series of Choices No choice

CS A Series of Choices Meaningless choices

CS A Series of Choices Infinite choices

CS A Series of Choices Choose wisely

CS Classic Game Structure Convexities –Other terms (e.g., Narrative spine) Fractal nature

CS A Series of Convexities Popular structure Some freedom, implementable

CS The Concept of Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi –“Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience” Flow is a state of exhilaration, deep sense of enjoyment Usually when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile

CS The Flow Channel Start with relatively low level of challenge to match starting skill levels Gradually increase challenge Fast enough to prevent boredom Not so fast as to induce frustration

CS The Flow Channel

CS Difficulty Increase Varies

CS Story and Character Emotional association, strengthen reaction Interactive story different than linear stories –Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck “Do, don’t show” –Don’t make choices for the player –Bring out character through action Gameplay Trumps Story!