playing in the flow zone: designing games for flow
TRANSCRIPT
PLAYING IN THE FLOW ZONE
Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA Fielding Graduate University Symposium: Only a Game? The Promise of Games to Advance Health, Education, and Longevity August 6, 2015
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
The promise of games
Problem Intervention Outcome
GAME
GAME
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Is it ?
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
All games are fun
If It’s a Game, It Be Fun. Right?
Positive Games – Preaching to Choir
Wrong
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Put Games Where Your Audience Can Find Them
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Design for Flow
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Flow is the theory of optimal engagement
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
In the Flow Zone
• Challenging activity requiring skill • Clear goals with feedback • High concentration on activity • Merging of action and awareness • Sense of control • Effortlessness • Loss of self-consciousness
and time • Doubly rewarding
Challenge
Skill
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Flow Zone
Boredom
Anxiety USER PATH
Flow: User Path
Challenge
Skill
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Flow Zone
Boredom
Anxiety
Decreasing Challenge
Less Demanding
Skills Increasing Challenge
Increasing Skills
Flow: Game Design
Challenge
Skill
HIGH AROUSAL
LOW AROUSAL
Flow Channel
Boredom
Anxiety
FLOW EXIT POINTS
Flow Exit Points
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Flow is Motivating
• Competence • Autonomy • Relatedness
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Social Capital: Gamers Have Kids
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Case Study: Legends of Orkney Transmedia Literacy Project
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Literacy Bridge • Collaboration
– Author Alane Adams & Artifact Technologies
• Target – Young adult non-readers who love
games • Goal
– Create entry point to reading – Link storyworld to mobile game – Allow players to join book’s characters in story-
consistent quests that motivate exploration
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Location-Based Game Using Beacons Technology • Bluetooth-enabled sensors deliver
content as players pass by
• Encourage a range of social interactions in specific locations
• Recognizes players via mobile devices
• Players collect virtual cards, solve quests and cast spells
• Activities link with action in books
• MixbyTM Technology allows live enhancement
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Game Play • Each quest is at a new
location in Orkney storyworld
• Quests teach about native people and creatures
• Goal: collect all wisdom cards and learn secrets to cast Stonefire spell
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
• Game board size and large number of players created too long between quests • Lack of cognitive continuity
• Non-interactive upper navigation bar buttons created confusion • Violation of mental models
• Quest banner information not fully conducive to strategy • Narrative inconsistency
• Font size and readability • Perceptual constraints • Developmental match
Development: Testing for Exit Points
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
• Target core psychological needs • (Self-Determination Theory)
• Autonomy: Increase Player Control • New Collection screen to offer card
sorting animation • New Journal offers click-to-zoom full
screen • Swipe to view journal content in gallery • Easier navigation
• Mastery: Enhanced feedback • New Spellbook offers snapshot of
progress • Spell unlocks and casting options
visualizations • Connectedness: Improved game play
• Less time between quests increases player interaction
Solutions
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Integrating User Feedback • Highlight audience-character resonance for
better identification and narrative immersion • Who doesn’t love a bear with a sword?
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO
Goal Achieved: Young Players Can’t Wait to Read the Rest of the Story
