Fun Robin Burke GAM 224

Outline Fun / Pleasure Meaning Types of Pleasure Flow Managing Difficulty Meaning Systems of meaning

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

Experience vs Pleasure what players do (most) to play Fun the pleasurable quality of those experiences

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

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

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

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

Caillois Agon Alea Mimicry Ilinx competitive struggle chance make-believe Ilinx physical sensation

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Level of Challenge "hide and seek"

Difficulty Too hard Too easy game can't be enjoyed game is boring nothing to learn

Quantifying difficulty Analytical # of choices complexity of decision branching factor complexity of execution Empirical Playtesting

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

Pacing "Pace" of the game speed at which new challenges are introduced = speed at which player must master each in order to succeed

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

Example WarioWare

Match skills and opportunities More opportunities than skills player will flounder game becomes overwhelming More skills than opportunities game is limiting player feels confined

Mastery When the choices and perceptions become "automatic" non-deliberative Can only happen when skills are fully learned perceptions correctly trained

Path to mastery = repetition Basic psychology repetition of skill increases performance But how to manage repetition? major concern in game design

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

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

Flow state Loss of sense of time Intense focus Responses are fast, continuous and (almost) unconscious Many examples athletes, musicians, surgeons, pilots, soldiers gamers

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

Example

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meaning

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

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

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

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"

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?

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

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

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

Monday Game Design activity Bring your playing cards