1. CGMB345 Game Design Games in General

2. CGMB345 Game Design 2 What is a Game? n Active interest or pursuit n Involving competitive engagement or adherence to rules. n Activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime. n Examples:  Board games, card games, athletic games, children’s games, and video games.

3. CGMB345 Game Design 3 n Four common elements of a game:  Representation  Interaction  Conflict  Safety Fundamental Characteristics of Games

4. CGMB345 Game Design 4 Representation n A game is a closed formal system that represents a subset of reality.  complete and self-sufficient  has rules (either explicit or implicit)  has a collection of parts that interact with each other, often in complex ways.  attempts to recreate or simulate some elements of reality, and allows fantasy to fill in the rest.

5. CGMB345 Game Design 5 Interaction n Media for representing reality are either static or dynamic (change over time).  Static - E.g. photos, paintings, sculptures, etc.  Dynamic - E.g. movies, music, etc. n Games go even further and represent reality in an interactive fashion.  Players are allowed to directly affect other players and reality itself through their actions.

6. CGMB345 Game Design 6 Conflict n Conflict arises naturally; conflict need not be violent. n The player pursue goal while obstacles prevent goals from being easily achieved. Sources of conflict include:  Other players (including any computer agents)  Elements of game reality (the game environment)  Time (in the case of races, etc.)  The player’s own self (in the case of puzzles, etc.)

7. CGMB345 Game Design 7 Safety n Conflict implies danger; danger means risk of harm; harm is undesirable. n Game - safe way to experience reality. n The results of a game should always be less harsh than the situations the game models. n Safety - players are willing to sacrifice to enhance the overall experience.

8. CGMB345 Game Design 8 Why do People Play Games? n There are a lot of generally accepted reasons why people play games:  Social interaction  Physical seclusion  Competition  Knowledge  Mastery  Escapism  Addiction  And others …

9. CGMB345 Game Design 9 Why do People Play Games? n Social interaction  Multiplayer games allow socializing and interactions among people  Within the same room, and remotely through a network.  Can also occur with only two people, or thousands –Eg: Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games.

10. CGMB345 Game Design 10 Why do People Play Games? n Physical seclusion  May not be the opposite of social interaction.  Eg: MMO game, you can have many players in the same virtual place, with each in their own private physical space.  Some people do play single player games for this reason, but others play multiplayer games to have an interactive experience, just in a secluded environment.

11. CGMB345 Game Design 11 Why do People Play Games? n Competition  Players enjoy the thrill of competing against other players.  Other players in this case are typically human but could be driven by AI instead.  Natural extension of the same kind of competitive spirit found in sports, only now in a virtual space instead.

12. CGMB345 Game Design 12 Why do People Play Games? n Knowledge  Earliest learning experiences as children come in the form of games.  What is learned depends on the particular game in question.  Learning could be either conscious or subconscious, explicit or implicit.  Researchers theorize that all games involve learning, in one way or another.

13. CGMB345 Game Design 13 Why do People Play Games? n Mastery  Players motivated to master the game itself, dominate the game and become an advanced or expert player.  Prove one’s self by overcoming challenges presented - accomplishment, satisfaction, or acknowledgement.

14. CGMB345 Game Design 14 Why do People Play Games? n Escapism  Play games to escape or withdraw from the challenges or stresses of the real world.  In essence, games can be a participatory means of escape.  Provide fantasy fulfillment and exploration - player go to places and do things they couldn’t do otherwise.

15. CGMB345 Game Design 15 Why do People Play Games? n Addiction  Motivated by an addiction; a tendency to focus on one activity at the expense of others.  Most game developers argue they want their games to be addictive - players are given compelling experience that they do not want to stop playing.  However, one must also consider the social and ethical ramifications when this gets carried too far. (More on this later.)

16. CGMB345 Game Design 16 Why do People Play Games? n Other reasons  A form of therapy. Games can provide a safe means to relax or relieve stress.  A form of exercise. Games can provide both mental and physical exercise.  A safe way to “thumb one’s nose” at society and overcome social restrictions. Examples: n Do things in a game that you cannot or should not do in reality. n Assume a role unacceptable by society or engage in unacceptable activity.

17. CGMB345 Game Design 17 Why do People Play Games? n Why not? They are fun after all …

18. CGMB345 Game Design 18 Who Plays Games? n Consider the different types of players that play games.  Not all players are the same.  Not all players experience the same game in the same way.  Not all players play for the same reasons. n Examine - geographics, psychographics, and demographics.

19. CGMB345 Game Design 19 Who Plays Games? Geographics n Geographics relate to players’ locations. n A player’s country can affect their attitude towards games.  Even the particular region within a country can have similar effects. n Geographic effects must be taken into account when developing and marketing games.

20. CGMB345 Game Design 20 Who Plays Games? Geographics n Examples of geographics issues:  Dominant hardware infrastructure. n Consoles vs. computers? n Wired vs. wireless connectivity?  Dominant platform.  Tolerance to certain types of content. n Violence, sex, and so on.  Use of licenses and licensed properties.  Genre and gameplay adoption  And many, many others.

21. CGMB345 Game Design 21 Who Plays Games? Psychographics n Psychographics consists of people’s values, attitudes, perceptions, lifestyles, and ways of thinking. n This can affect attitudes towards games. n Consequently, psychographics must also be considered in developing a game. n There are several ways to look at this …

22. CGMB345 Game Design 22 Who Plays Games? Casual versus Hard-Core n A common way of classifying players : casual or hard-core. n This was studied in more detail by Ernest Adams, followed by Scott Kim, and then again by Adams and Barry Ip. n 15 factors for classifying players as casual or hard-core, and methods for computing a player’s “gamer dedication” to produce a scale of classification instead of simply two categories.

23. CGMB345 Game Design 23 Who Plays Games? Casual versus Hard-Core n Hard-core gamers are: (taken from Kim) 1.Technologically savvy. 2.Have the latest high-end computers/consoles. 3.Willingness to pay (also by Adams). 4.Prefer violent/action games. 5.Prefer games that have depth and complexity. 6.Play games over many long sessions (also by Adams).

24. CGMB345 Game Design 24 Who Plays Games? Casual versus Hard-Core n Hard-core gamers: (taken from Adams) 7.Hunger for gaming-related information. 8.Discuss games with friends/bulletin boards. 9.Play for the exhilaration of defeating (or completing) the game. 10.Are much more tolerant of frustration. 11.Tend to be engaged in competition with him or herself, the game, and other players.

25. CGMB345 Game Design 25 Who Plays Games? Casual versus Hard-Core n Other factors by Ip and Adams: 12. Age at which first started playing games. 13. Comparative knowledge of the industry. 14. Indications of early adoption behaviour. 15. Desire to modify or extend games in a creative way.

26. CGMB345 Game Design 26 n Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi conducted interesting research into what he called “flow” or “optimal experience”.  Main idea - certain mental states we feel a complete an energized focus on an activity, accompanied by a high level of enjoyment and fulfillment in what we do. n Flow - the experience of devoting total concentration effortlessly upon a task. Who Plays Games? Flow and Optimal Experience

27. CGMB345 Game Design 27 n Csikszentmihalyi identified seven characteristics of the flow experience. 1.The subject undertakes an activity they believe they can complete. 2.The subject can focus their concentration completely on the activity. 3.The activity has clear goals. 4.The activity has direct feedback. Who Plays Games? Flow and Optimal Experience

28. CGMB345 Game Design 28 n Characteristics (continued): 5.The subject experiences a sense of effortless involvement such that worries and concerns seem to vanish. 6.The subject feels that they are in control of the activity. 7.Subjective experience of time is altered. n Not all characteristics need to be present for flow to be experienced, but they are common traits of a flow experience. Who Plays Games? Flow and Optimal Experience

29. CGMB345 Game Design 29 n People that study games recognize these traits as common to playing games.  State of flow - highly enjoyable and immersive gameplay experience. n Game should strive to place the player in an optimal experience or provide a framework that makes it more likely to occur. Who Plays Games? Flow and Optimal Experience

30. CGMB345 Game Design 30 n A central idea to the psychology of optimal experience is the flow channel.  When a subject faces challenges for which they have insufficient skills - they experience anxiety.  When a subject faces challenges for which their skills are excessive - they experience boredom.  The key to reaching the flow channel where an optimal experience is achieved is to balance challenge and skill. Who Plays Games? Flow and Optimal Experience

31. CGMB345 Game Design 31 Who Plays Games? Flow and Optimal Experience Degree of Skill Degree of Challenge Anxiety Boredom Flow Channel

32. CGMB345 Game Design 32 n The concept of flow has very important implications on good game design. n Games must strive to balance the challenge they provide to the player playing the game.  How can this be done when every player brings different skills, experiences, and tolerances to the game?  How does the game cope and adjust difficulty as expected player skill increases, especially when the rate of increase varies? Who Plays Games? Flow and Optimal Experience

33. CGMB345 Game Design 33 Who Plays Games? Demographics n The demographics of players include statistic information including:  Gender  Age  Income level  Education level  Marital status  Ethnicity  And so on.

34. CGMB345 Game Design 34 Who Plays Games? Demographics n Understanding demographics can provide valuable information on the target audience and market for your game. n Also, if you intended to target a game to a particular audience, demographic information on that audience can help you tune gameplay to meet the needs and wants of that audience.

35. CGMB345 Game Design 35 Who Plays Games? Demographics n Demographics can influence games in many ways:  Interface design.  Story elements such as plot and characters.  Pace of action.  Target level of difficulty.  Multiplayer and online support.  Appropriateness of content.  And so on.