1. Computerspil II Interaction & Instrumentalization (22/02/02)

2. and we should take advantage of it... Interactivity Immersion Gameplay are only possible in electronic media

3. Interactivity Beyond the commercial empty label -Feel the world responding to you (Action, Movement, Conversation, Combat...) -Actions have results -You influence outcomes -Involvement beyond reading/viewing

4. Interactivity: the ability to respond to changing conditions ryan 2 axis: -Internal / External (related to character focalization) -Exploratory / Ontological (impact on the world) 4 kinds: -external/exploratory (hyp) -internal/exploratory (myst) -external/ontological (sims) -internal/ontological (rpgs...)

5. Interactivity does not make it easy to tell stories, because a narrative interpretation is a response to a linear structure that is built into (or implied by) the text, not a type of meaning freely created by the reader out of any set of data. ryan

6. flow challenge ability frustration boredom FLOW (czikszentmihaly)

7. Emergence & addiction Complexity arises from the simplest of rules...

8. action! - Duration (Long term/Short term) - Fixity (Free/Constrained/Compulsory) - Nature (View/Interpret/Explore/Relate/Create) tipology Movement in textual, bidimensional or 3Dworlds. - to environment (click,use, puzzles...) - to characters (talk, fight) - Objects - relationships (strategy, multiplayer...) motivation rules interpretation

9. action control vs reflection?

10. Real User Implied User Intriguee Puppet focalisation (Aarseth) Real “Body” Virtual “Body” Real Action Manager (short/long term action) Implied Action Manager Interpretive /narrative Spatial/ temporal Management/ instrumentalization

11. Immersion “The experience of entering an ellaborate simulation” (Janet Murray) -Suspension of disbelief... only more so -Five senses? Nowadays only 2, sometimes 3... -Be present in the world (cursor, hand, character...) -It is not passive

12. gameplay -A game is a series of interesting choices (Sid Meier). Each decision must affect the next. -To be worthwhile, gameplay choices must be nontrivial All strategies must have an upside and a downside (i.e. the spells: e-bolts, band-aids) -Avoid a dominant strategy (that would make all others worthless) -Avoid trivial choices: stone-paper-scissors (Rollings/Morris)

13. toolbox of interesting choices -Strategic choices (not only tactical=right now) -Supporting investments (secondary aims) - Versatility (choices that are good in different circumstances, careful not to make them dominant) - Compensating factors (Balance game, i.e. Aerial unit goes everywhere but is easily destroyed) - Impermanence (Decisions apply to changing moments, i.e. best armor for 30 seconds) - Shadow costs (determine strategic choices, i.e. “breed” warriors in Age of Empire requires food...) -Sinergies (interaction between strategies) (Rollings/Morris) for gameplay