Fun – 2h

The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.

Fun in Games

• It is important for a game to work, but it is not sufficient.

• Some say that a game must be fun in order to succeed – this is WRONG.

• In order to succeed a game must engage the emotions in some way.

• One facet of engagement is the presence of dramatic elements

Quote:

<< I always know how my husband feels about a game. If he screams, “I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!” Then I know two things:a) He’s going to finish itb) He’s going to buy version two.If he doesn’t say these things, he’ll put it down after a couple of hours >>

Dramatic Elements

• Give context to the game, making a meaningful experience.

• All games have Challenge and Play.

• Some (good ones) have:

• Premise

• Character

• Story

Premise

• Premise is the context of the game world

• Eg: in Monopoly, you are a landlord, buying and selling property

• Eg: in Doom, you are a commando, trying to retake a moon which has fallen into alien hands

Exercise - Premise

• What are the premises for Risk, Cluedo, Pitstop and Guitar Hero?

• Write down the context of the game world

• If you are not familiar with one or more, do at least one

• If you are really stuck, guess.

• (5 minutes + plenary)

Character

• “Character” describes the roles that you and other players take on

• In Tomb Raider, you are Lara Croft.

• We EMPATHISE and experience life in the game world – triumph and disappointment

• If the damn character won’t do what I want we switch from first person to third person in our minds (I can’t -> It won’t!)

Story

• A premise need not go anywhere, but a story unfolds with time

• How much story is too much/too little?

• Should game-play change the story?

• Should the story dictate the game?

• Stories create powerful engagement.

Exercise - Story

• Write down and games with stories that you can remember

• Did any appeal to you or even grip you?

• Did any spark your imagination?

• If so, why (...do you think). If not, why not.

• (5 mins + plenary)

An experiment in pronunciation

• I was at a party the other day. This chick sent me high.

• Repeat after me:“This chick sent me high.”

Challenge

• Satisfying to complete

• Sense of accomplishment

• Enjoyment

• Individualised to particular player

• Dynamic – as player learns, a task becomes easier, so challenge reduces

Flow

• Mihaly Csikszentmihályi did research

• Set out to identify the elements of enjoyment:

Regardless of age or class...

Regardless of type of activity...

Everybody described enjoyable activities in the same way.

Conditions for Flow

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities).

2. Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).

3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.

Conditions for Flow

4. Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.

5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).

6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).

Conditions for Flow

7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.

8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.

9. People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

• Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.

Flow

Ability

Cha

lleng

e

Boredom

FlowFrustration

Flow – “A challenging activity that requires skill”

• Goal directed

• Bound by rules

• Skills: Mental, Physical, Social

• If a player hasn’t got the skill, the game is frustrating and meaningless

• If a player has some skill, but is not completely confident, the game is challenging

Exercise: Flow - Skills

• List a few games you enjoy (not necessarily computer games)

• List the skills that players would need to play them

• (5 mins + plenary)

Exercise: Flow - Skills

• You are designing/have designed a game of your own.

• What skills that people enjoy could you, if you chose, incorporate into this game/

• (5 mins + plenary)

The Merging of Action and Awareness

• “When all of a person’s relevant skills are needed to cope with the challenges of a situation, that person’s attention is completely absorbed by the activity”

• “People become so absorbed in what they’re doing that the activity becomes spontaneous, almost automatic; they stop being aware of themselves as separate from the actions they are performing.”

- Mihaly Csikszentmihályi

Clear Goals and Feedback

• The players know what has to be done to win and they receive direct feedback for their actions toward these goals.

• E.g. musicians know what note to play next and they can hear their mistakes.

• In real life we face contradictory demands. Goals are not clearly defined. Feedback is delayed and confusing.

Exercise: Goals and Feedback

• Pick any three games (not necessarily on the computer)

• List the types of feedback generated in each

• Describe how the feedback contributes to the ultimate goal of the game.

• (5 mins + plenary)

Concentration on the Task in Hand

• Players are only aware of what is relevant here and now.

• Players are focused solely on the challenges of the game.

• If a musician thinks of his health or tax problems, he will hit a wrong note

Concentration on the Task in Hand

• A mountaineer:“You’re not aware of other problematic life situations. It becomes a world unto its own, significant only to itself. It’s a concentration thing. Once you’re in the situation, it’s incredibly real, and you’re very much in charge of it. It becomes your total world.”

The Paradox of Control

• “Only when a doubtful outcome is at stake, and one is able to influence that outcome, can a person really know she is in control”

- M.C.

• Outcome must be unsure.

• Person is not in complete control

• Otherwise no experience of control

The Loss of Self Consciousness

• Normally we constantly monitor our image and status

• However, the Flow experience is engrossing• We forget our self-consciousness• Clear goals, stable rules and challenges

matched to skills – so the Self is not threatened.

• People usually emerge from the Flow experience with a stronger self-concept.

• The Self expands through acts of self-forgetfulness (!?!)

The Transformation of Time

• People lose track of time

• Sometimes hours seem to pass by in minutes

• Conversely, a difficult manoeuvre can seem to take longer than it really does

• A digital game can suck a player in for hours at a time

• In extreme cases players lose whole days

The Experience becomes an End in Itself

• Most experiences in life are exotelic – we do them (shopping, working, studying) to achieve a goal.

• Flow experiences are autotelic – they are ends in themselves

• Art, music, sports and games can be autotelic: we often do them because we enjoy the experience, and for no other reason

Applying Flow to Games

• What skills do your target audience have – how can you balance the game for their skills?

• How can you give them focused goals, meaningful experiences and discernable feedback?

• How can you create a safe environment where players can focus only on the tasks at hand?

Applying Flow to Games

• How can you make the game activity enjoyable as a game in itself?

• Can you merge the player’s actions with the goals of the game?

Levels of Engagement

• Spectator Play– Enjoys watching others play. How can you make

a game attractive to spectators?

• Participant Play– Active and involved. Most directly rewarding

• Transformational Play – Deep level that shapes and transforms the

player’s life. Children and adults learn skills through transformational play. (My in-class exercises are transformational play)

PLAY

• We’re going to talk about play for a while (and not just in the context of computer games)

• Let’s start with a rather challenging task:

Write down a few phrases that describe what play is. (3 mins? + plenary)

PLAY

• Play is another key element that causes players to engage emotionally

• Play is freedom of movement within a more rigid structure

• The constraints and the rules are the rigid structure

• Play is the opportunity for emergent experience and personal expression

Play:

• Helps us learn skills and acquire knowledge• Lets us socialise• Helps us in problem solving• Allows us to relax• Lets us see things differently• Is not serious – gives us laughter and fun• Can be very serious – pushing boundaries

and trying new things

Play:

• Play is a style of approach rather than a single activity

• Play is a state of mind rather than an action

• A way of achieving innovation and creativity

• Helps us see things differently and achieve unexpected results

Play – Roger Callois

• Roger Callois in Man, Play and Games (1958) described four types of play

• Competitive play

• Chance based play

• Make-believe play

• Vertigo play

Play – Roger Callois

• There is also a second dimension:

• Rule-based play

• Free-form play

• Using these two dimensions allows us to discuss the SORT of pleasure that a game brings. We now have a vocabulary!

Play – Roger Callois

Free-Form Rule-Based

Competitive Unregulated athletics (Racing, wrestling)

Boxing, billiards, fencing, draughts, chess, football

Chance-based Counting-out rhymes

Betting, roulette, lotteries

Make-believe Role play, masks, disguises

Theatre, grand ceremonies

Vertigo Children whirling, horseback riding, waltzing

Skiing, mountain climbing, tightrope walking

Play – Types of players (Richard Bartle)

• The Competitor: Plays to best other players, regardless of the game

• The Explorer: Curious about the world, loves to go adventuring; seeks outside boundaries—physical or mental

• The Collector: Acquires items, trophies, or knowledge; likes to create sets, organize history, etc.

Play – Types of players

• The Achiever: Plays for varying levels of achievement; ladders and levels motivate the achiever

• The Joker: Doesn't take the game seriously-plays for the fun of playing; there's a potential for jokers to annoy serious players, but on the other hand, jokers can make the game more social than competitive

Play – Types of players

• The Artist: Driven by creativity, creation, design

• The Director: Loves to be in charge, direct the play

• The Storyteller: Loves to create or live in worlds of fantasy and imagination

• The Performer: Loves to put on a show for others

Play – Types of players

• The Craftsman: Wants to build, craft, engineer, or puzzle things out

Play – Types of players

• The Competitor

• The Explorer

• The Collector

• The Achiever

• The Joker

• The Artist

• The Director

• The Storyteller

• The Performer

• The Craftsman

Exercise – Types of players

• I’m going to roll the presentation back to the previous slide.

• For each type of player, try to jot down a game that would appeal to them especially

• Having done that – what type of player are YOU?

Fun Killers

These are “dont’s” – pitfalls which can undermine your game and kill the fun:

• Micromanagement:– The player has too many small

decisions to make when she really wants to get on with the game.

– Set default values. If an enthusiast really wants to alter these, you might offer the opportunity

Fun Killers

• Stagnation:– Nothing new happens for a long period of

time– Choices stay at the same level of

importance and impact– There may be no clear goal– Repetition without variation– Balance of power traps players– Try and organise a disaster or other major

event which shakes things up a bit

Fun Killers

• Insurmountable obstacles:– Through lack of information, a missed

opportunity, lack of experience– Players hit a major obstacle and get

stuck... then shortly afterwards abandon the game

– Detect getting-stuck if you can– Provide clues– Watch the game testers for sticking points

Fun Killers

• Arbitrary events:– Small random events can spice up a

game– Large random events (e.g.

catastrophes) remove the feeling of being-in-control needed for Flow.

– Caution the player at least three times before hitting them with something catastrophic

Fun Killers

• Predictable paths:

– Games with only one path to victory won’t be played many times

– Try offering a number of paths to victory

– Think about an object-oriented approach where there is NO path, just a world of objects which can allow you to accumulate points

Fun Killers

• Micromanagement

• Stagnation

• Insurmountable obstacles

• Arbitrary events

• Predictable paths

Lecture Summary

• Dramatic elements

• Flow

• Play

• Types of play

• Types of player

• Fun killers