May 19, 2010

Why games?  Sixty-eight percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.  How old do you think the average gamer is?

Digital games  Average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.  Average age of the most frequent game buyer is 39 years old.

Digital Games  Sixty-three percent of parents believe that games are a positive part of their children’s lives.  Eighty-four percent of all games sold in 2008 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+.  How many gamers do you think are women?

Digital Games  Forty percent of all game players are women.  Women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game- playing population (34%) than boys age 17 or younger (18%).

Digital Games  In 2009, 25 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in  Forty-nine percent of game players say they play games online one or more hours per week.  Thirty-seven percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.

Games  26 — Number of months it took Activision's “Guitar Hero” franchise to generate more than $1 billion in North American retail sales.

Games  7 million -- Number of units sold of Rock Band and Rock Band 2 video games across all varieties of consoles.

Games in Education  100 to 135 — Number of Global Fortune 500 companies that will have adopted by 2012 gaming for learning purposes, according to The Apply Group.  4 million — Number of people to play Food Force in the game's first year, according to the United Nations World Food Programme.

Games  As of today, 503 educational institutions worldwide were listed on as having video game design and development courses available.

Games and Health  765 — Number of West Virginia schools installing the Dance Dance Revolution game as part of the state's physical education curriculum.

Games and Workplace  According to a study by the Entertainment Software Association, 70 percent of major employers utilize interactive software and games to train employees.

Games and Workplace  In 2008, the Hilton Garden Inn introduced the first interactive training game for the hospitality industry. Ultimate Team Play places employees in a virtual hotel interfacing with customers and fielding typical guest requests.

Games and Advertising  1 billion — Expected market, in dollars, for in- game advertising by end of 2010, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Games and Advertising  The presidential campaign of Barack Obama used in- game advertising by purchasing virtual billboards in the game Burnout Paradise.  The Obama campaign was the first in American politics to utilize advertising within a video game.

Games and Play  Games as a subset of play  Play as a subset of games

What is play?  Play doesn’t come just from the game itself, but from the way that players interact with the game in order to play it.  “[Play is] a free activity standing quite consciously outside “ordinary life” as being “not serious,” but at the same time absorbing the player intensely and utterly. It is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. It proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. It promotes the formation of social groupings, which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference from the common world by disguise or other means.” Huizinga.

Play  But this doesn’t differentiate between games and play. Doesn’t ask what are their differences.  We will come back to play as a dramatic element on Friday.  “Game designers do not directly design play. They only design the structures and contexts in which play takes place, indirectly shaping the actions of the player.” Salen and Zimmerman.  Chris Crawford, author of “The Art of Computer Game Design” identified four elements of play:  Representation – games are closed formal systems that subjectively represent a subset of reality. Game is complete and self-sufficient as a structure.  Interaction – Audience can explore, interact with system.  Conflict – All games have conflict. Arises naturally from interaction with game. Obstacle prevent player from easily achieving goals.  Safety – Games provide psychological experience of conflict and danger but player is not really exposed to these things in the physical world. A safe way to experience reality.

So … what is a game?  What are some features of games?

Games  Closed or open, formal systems  Represents subset of reality – 3d objects that look like people are meant to represent people, for example. Rules mimic real life possibilities.  Contest/outcome

Games Zimmerman/Salen: “A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.

Exceptions? Role playing games Puzzles

Is this a game?

How about this? Text Rain

How about this? PacManhattan

Games By formal, we mean: – Has a structure made of rules, procedures, etc.

Formal System Objects Attributes Relationships Environment

System: Chess

Open vs. Closed

Open vs. closed Three schema for looking at games Rules (Formal) – closed Play (experiential) – open and closed Culture (contextual) - open

Lusory Attitude WHAT IS IT?

The Magic Circle What is it? Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens

Traits of Digital Games Immediate but narrow interactivity (Limitations help shape space of possibility) Information manipulation (can learn rules as you go!) Automated complex systems (black box syndrome) Networked communication

Player Experience  As a game designer, you are the architect of the players’ experience. You make the game playable. You create the interactivity.  Games as “Carefully constructed piece of theater” – Beck and Wade  “It’s about building a potential experience, setting all the pieces in place so that everything’s ready to unfold when the players begin to participate.” - Fullerton

Potential Experience - Choice  Scribblenauts Scribblenauts

Rand Miller on Design  (9:21).  Myst:  Robyn and Rand Miller began work in 1991, and released Myst in Sept  Was the best-selling PC game of all time until The Sims in  Its sequel, Riven, was released in  Uru was released in 2003.

Player Experience  Design process  First, Set player experience goals.  “Players will have the freedom to pursue the goals of the game in any order they choose.”  “Players must complete tasks for which they have no instructions”  Forget the features. What do you want your player to go running into the next room about?  Five Minutes to Kill Yourself Five Minutes to Kill Yourself

Create Concepts and Prototypes  Another key component is to deliver to the player an experience he or she can use and will like.  You can’t give the player what he or she wants if you don’t ask what he or she wants  You need to playtest your game. Player feedback allows you to see the interactivity in action, judge what is working and what is not working. You made the game. Of course you know how to use it. But does everyone else?

Iteration  Iteration simply means you will design, test, and evaluate over and over again. You iterate before you reiterate.

Anatomy of a choice  Anatomy of a choice:  What happened before the player was given the choice (internal event) Addresses the state at which point a choice must be made. Addresses the context in which a choice is made.  How is the possibility of choice conveyed to the player? (external event) Are there buttons? Empty spaces? How does the user know he or she can make a choice, and what that choice could be?  How did the player make the choice? (internal event) Mechanism. Button? Enters text?  What is the result of the choice? How will it affect future choices? (internal event) How does the action influence outcome immediately and later in the game?  How is the result of the choice conveyed to the player? (external event) Does something blow up? Is a space now filled and can’t be used later? Provides context for the next choice that needs to be made.