1. Chapter 2.1 Understanding Fun

2. What is Fun?
Dictionary: Enjoyment, a source of amusement – but that doesn’t help
Important to consider underlying reasons
“Funativity” – thinking about fun in terms of measurable cause and effect

3. 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

4. Education == Entertainment
Life is all either work, rest, or fun
Fun is about practicing or learning new survival skills in a relatively safe setting
People who didn’t enjoy that practice were less likely to survive to become our ancestors

5. Hunting and Gathering
For most of our species’ history we were tribal hunter/gatherers
Current popular games reflect this
Shooters, wargames = hunting
Powerups, resources = gathering
Sims, MMO = social, tribal interaction

6. 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

7. Physical Fun
Sports generally enhance our strength, stamina, coordination skills
Exploration is fun
Both of local area and knowledge of exotic places
Hand/eye coordination and tool use are often parts of fun activities – crafts
Physical aspect to gathering “stuff”

8. Social Fun Storytelling is a social activity
A way to learn important survival and social lessons from others
Gossip, sharing info w/friends popular
Flirting, showing off, finding mates is a key interest in social fun
Language has become paramount

9. Mental Fun Our large brains make humans unique
Pure abstract reasoning practice is fun
Pattern matching and generation
Music, Art, and Puzzles all pattern based
Gathering also has mental aspect, categorizing and identifying patterns

10. Multipurpose Fun
Many fun activities have physical, social and mental aspects in combination
Games that mix these aspects tend to be very popular
Incorporate ways to practice these skills to increase the popularity of games

11. 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

12. A Series of … Choices in Pursuit of a … Goal
Must have choice, or it is not interactive
Must be a series of choices or it is too simple to be a game
Must have a goal or it is a software toy
With Sim City and The Sims players may bring their own goals

13. Interesting and Meaningful Choices
Choices may be dull and uninteresting because it was easy to code that way
Or it may be the reflection of a lazy designer
Meaningful choices are perceived by the player as having significant consequences
May not have actual consequences…

14. Clear and Compelling Goal
Clear goals
Because it is not fun to flounder aimlessly
Avoid the “protagonist with amnesia” cliché
Compelling goals are goals that follow the concepts in Natural Funativity
Survival is always a compelling goal

15. A Series of Choices
No choice

16. A Series of Choices Meaningless choices
Obviously fold back into same path
Players discover this quickly

17. A Series of Choices
Infinite choices
Quickly become unmanageable

18. A Series of Choices Choose wisely
Kill off player with any wrong choice
Better but frustrating (Dragon’s Lair)

19. Classic Game Structure
A convexity
Starts with a single choice, widens to many choices, returns to a single choice

20. Convexity Qualities Go from one to many to one
Can be a level, an act, an episode
Can be any kind of choice
Geography, weapons, tools, skills, technologies, quests
Examples
Exploring an island
Technology build tree

21. Fractal Structure
Large scale structure repeated on medium, smaller scales, like a coastline
In the case of convexities, each circle is not a single choice, but a convexity
Age of Empires example
Take a defensive stance, create squad to defend left flank, collect resources to build a legionnaire, etc.

22. A Series of Convexities
Many games are chains of convexities
Points of limited choice (A) alternate with points of many choices (B)

23. A Series of Convexities
Many overlapping convexities in great games
Examples include Halo, Zelda games, Civilization, Diablo II, many others
Player can be starting one task or area, in the middle of another, and at the end of a third, all simultaneously

24. Why Is This Structure So Good?
Give the player choice but not an infinitely expanding set of choices
Mix of some “any order” choices (B) and some in fixed order (A), blending freedom with linear storytelling
Can be structured so players see most of the game, minimizing waste
Can have difficulty go up in new levels

25. Psychological Advantages of Classic Structure
Alternating intense learning (A) with time to practice (B) is the best way to master new skills
Gradual learning and introduction of new skills at the heart of fun game play
“Easy to learn, difficult to master”
“Simple, Hot, and Deep”

26. The Concept of Flow U of C professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
One of his books is “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

27. 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

28. The Flow Channel

29. The Flow Channel
Flow state is common while developing same Physical, Social, and Mental skills noted in Natural Funativity
Best to introduce skills one at a time, let player master them, move on to new
This results in staggered increase in difficulty (wavy difficulty line)

30. Difficulty Increase Varies

31. Typical Game Mechanisms
High difficulty increase: Boss monsters, climactic battles, quest resolutions
Low difficulty increase: Bonus levels, new resource- and treasure-rich areas, series of easy “minion” enemies
Overlap introduction of new skills, areas to explore, tools, enemies

32. Story and Character
Back to “interesting choices” and “compelling goals” – how to achieve?
Story and character can add emotional association, strengthen reaction
Storytelling has long history, but interactive storytelling can differ critically from traditional linear modes

33. Interactive Storytelling
Blend storytelling with design early
Use experienced interactive writers
“Do, don’t show” – let players experience story through interaction
Make it personal by having players make key choices, events affect them

34. It’s All About Interactivity
Don’t make choices for the player
Story should add emotional context to the choices
Keep any cut scenes brutally short
Break up non-interactive sequences by adding interactivity, even if very simple

35. Characters
Characters can make the game world seem more real and exciting
Bold stereotypes may seem crude but are better than colorless characters, and can help avoid boring exposition
Bring out character through action, not description or exposition

36. Gameplay Trumps Story
If you have a conflict between gameplay or story, first look for a compromise that favors both
Failing that, make sure that the gameplay is good at expense of story
Always signal player clearly in narrative to interactive transitions with visuals, audio