interactive experience design
DESCRIPTION
Interactive Experience Design. Explorations in Optimal Experience Theories Rhythm Affinity and Synchrony and the Paradigm Shift of a Developing Medium. Why Study Games?. “We play and we know that we play, so we must be more than rational beings, for play is irrational” -Johan Huizinga - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Interactive Experience DesignInteractive Experience Design
Explorations in
Optimal Experience Theories Rhythm Affinity and Synchrony
and the Paradigm Shift of a Developing Medium
Explorations in
Optimal Experience Theories Rhythm Affinity and Synchrony
and the Paradigm Shift of a Developing Medium
Why Study Games?
“We play and we know that we play, so we must be more than rational beings,
for play is irrational”
-Johan HuizingaHomo Ludens
“We play and we know that we play, so we must be more than rational beings,
for play is irrational”
-Johan HuizingaHomo Ludens
Why Study Games?
Personal Thought Shift
I am designing gamesobjectives, obstacles, enemies, collectibles
I am designing interactive mediareactions, interactions, patterns, purpose
I am designing evocative interactive multimediaemotions, thoughts, feelings, messages, experiences
I am designing interactive experiencesplayer agency, collaboration, systems of interaction, emotions,
ambiguity
Investigating Optimal Experiences
Flow
MechanicsImmediacyShort-TermChallenge/SkillAdaptive Difficulty
psychologyMihayl Czikszentmihayli
Enchantment
AestheticsImmersionLong-TermNovelty/AmbiguityTransformation
hciMcCarthy et al
Flow
1. Clear goals at every step
2. Immediate feedback to actions
3. Balance between challenge and skill
4. Action and awareness are merged
5. Dimensions are excluded from consciousness
6. There is no worry of failure
7. Self-consciousness disappears
8. Sense of time is distorted
9. The activity becomes autotelic
Enchantment
1. The specific sensuousness of each thing
2. The whole person with desires, feelings, and
anxieties
3. A sense of being in play
4. Paradox, openness, and ambiguity
5. The transformational character of experience
Applications Example
Flow: Clear and Concise Goals
supported by design heuristics, efficiency/production
models
Enchantment: Ambiguity as a Design
Resource
supported by studies on minimalism, classic arts
Ambiguity
Minimalism & Ambiguity
Classic Artsminimalism creates space into which the user can place themselves
ambiguity encourages the user to engage with the medium & establish empathy
Social Communicationfacebook pokes, 140 letter tweets, Kaye’s “I just clicked to say I love
you”minimalism broadens interpretation and evaluation space
Meaning & Mechanics“less is more”
focuses user on context, nuance, and detail
Minimalism & Ambiguity
Minimal control mechanicsincrease context awareness, usability, and skill adaptability
Minimal narrative elementsas with books, encourage empathy, user engagement and
interpretation
Minimal communication outletshelp reduce grieving, create more stimulating AI, hone focus
Rhythm Affinity and Synchrony
An experiment to study the interrelatedness of
ideas
Flow
Rhythm
Synchrony
Emotion
Tempo
Music
Synchros
Group 1Silent
Random Stimuli
Group 2Silent
Rhythmic Stimuli
Group 3Asynchronous Sound
Rhythmic Stimuli
Group 4Synchronous Sound
Rhythmic Stimuli
Silent vs Auditory
Asy
nch
ronous
vs
Synch
ronous
Results: Unexpected
Still processing full results, but…• Properties of Flow are NOT transitive
• People with rhythmic stimuli and higher scores reported
more accurate times, inverting the hypothesis
• Rhythm and emotion are linked, but NOT always
positively correlated• More correlations to emotional responses in rhythmic tests,
but sometimes it was a lack, not presence
• Auditory stimulus does NOT improve score• Hypothesis that more synchronized stimuli would improve
performance was overturned
Future Studies
• Proved the power of phenomenology studies• We need to understand what aspects of games create what
effects
• Many assumptions were overturned
• Looking beyond stereotypical audiences• Tested 14-24 age range; lack of familiarity with interface
had too great an impact on performance to test older users
• Ability to influence emotions through rhythm• Users with sound that fell in and out of synch reported more
enthusiasm towards the experience, possibly due to meta-
level challenge.
Portfolio Example
TIPOL
5 people, 48 hours, 1 game
Strict exercise in minimal design - narrative and controls
Mechanics take under 10 seconds to learn
1 rule
Play
Full Circle
The New Games Movement
Thank You
For more information download the full thesis
at
http://ied.manojalpa.net