Fun
Robin Burke
GAM 224
Outline
Admin
Fun / Pleasure
Types of Pleasure
Flow
Managing Difficulty
Meaning
Systems of meaning
Admin
Play paper handout
Due 5/16
Rewrites
Due 5/25
Play Paper
Schemas
Experience
Pleasure
Meaning
Narrative
Simulation
Social Play
Thesis should say both
what schemas
preview your findings
Fun
Important, but vague concept
What makes the player want to play?
What makes the player want to keep
playing?
Not always the same thing for a given
game
Experience vs Pleasure
Experience
what players do (most) to play
Fun
the pleasurable quality of those
experiences
Example
Soccer
Perception
• trajectory of ball
• trajectory of players
Analysis
• negative space
Decision
• points of attack / defense
Execution
• positioning, dribbling, passing, shooting, blocking,
tackling
Where is the fun?
Being right (cognitive)
correctly identifying a weakness and
exploiting it
Being skillful (sensation)
correct physical execution
Being competitive (contest)
winning individual confrontations
winning the game
Being collaborative (social)
communicating well with team members
Typologies of pleasure
Fun is a vague concept
we want to talk about the
pyschological rewards of playing
"pleasure"
Various ways to analyze these
rewards
LeBlanc
Sensation
the game engages the senses
Fantasy
the game lets us play make-believe
Narrative
the game has interesting characters and compelling drama
Challenge
we can confront and overcome challenges
Fellowship
we can build relationships with other people
Discovery
we discover new things and places
Expression
we express ourselves
Submission
we follow blindly
Caillois
Agon
competitive struggle
Alea
chance
Mimicry
make-believe
Ilinx
physical sensation
Soccer, revisited
Sensation
the feel of the field, the sounds and sights of the players in action
Fantasy
imagining yourself as Pele, David Beckham or Freddie Adu
Narrative
the story of the game
dramatic moments – the highlight reel
Challenge
meeting the physical demands of running, blocking and kicking
meeting the cognitive demands of offensive and defensive play
Fellowship
the comradeship of the team
Discovery
learning new techniques
Expression
developing a style of play
Submission
the rituals of the game
• the kickoff, the corner kick, etc.
Asteroids
Sensation
black and white vector drawings
Fantasy
imagining yourself commanding a space ship
Narrative
individual dramatic moments
Challenge
the demands of maneuvering and clearing asteroids
the increasing challenge of higher game levels
Fellowship
not much
Discovery
not much
Expression
not much
Submission
not much
FFTA
Sensation
tiny screen
annoying music
cute drawings
Fantasy
imagining yourself as a mage or warrior
Narrative
the unfolding of plot elements leading to the desired return to real life
Challenge
the demands of managing battles under increasing constraint
the demands of managing clan development
Fellowship
not much
Discovery
unfolding of different locations in the game world
acquisition of new items and new powers
Expression
not much
Submission
the stylized forms of battle
the imposition of rules
Thunderstorm
Sensation
simple drawings
throwing the dice
Fantasy
not much
Narrative
increased tension with fewer dice
the destruction of houses
Challenge
not much
Fellowship
sharing the game activity
Discovery
not much
Expression
not much
Submission
the acceptance of random outcome
Sources of pleasure
Games
differ in where the pleasure arises
Video games
emphasize particular types of challenge
• cognitive
• hand-eye coordination
emphasize fantasy
emphasize narrative
Because
these capitalize on the advantages of the
computer
The cost of fun
Pleasure is not cheap
high-quality graphics and sound
creative stories and vivid dialog
thoroughly tested and balanced gameplay mechanics
lots of territory to discover
all expensive
Top game titles are expensive to produce
because they try to provide pleasure of all types
Focused titles
emphasize a subset
are criticized for the things they leave out
cheaper to make
require perfect execution
Classic engineering trade-off
put development effort where the biggest pleasure pay-off lies
Challenge
Most important source of pleasure in
video games
in the post-arcade era
Reasons
suits the computer's strengths
• easy to make things faster
• more intense
suits the aesthetics of the audience
• adolescent males
Level of Challenge
"hide and seek"
Difficulty
Too hard
game can't be enjoyed
Too easy
game is boring
nothing to learn
Quantifying difficulty
Analytical
# of choices
complexity of decision
• branching factor
complexity of execution
Empirical
Playtesting
Adjusting difficulty
new option
decision-making more complex
• as long as dominance avoided
new opponent / environment
more to learn
new constraint
routine patterns can't be applied
Pacing
"Pace" of the game
speed at which new challenges are
introduced
= speed at which player must master
each in order to succeed
Arcade games
primary challenge
speed and accuracy of response
• "button mashing"
difficulty adjustments
number of targets
response speed required
cost of error
usually continuous increase of difficulty until
impossible
Example
WarioWare
Match skills and
opportunities
More opportunities than skills
player will flounder
game becomes overwhelming
More skills than opportunities
game is limiting
player feels confined
Mastery
When the choices and perceptions
become "automatic"
non-deliberative
Can only happen when
skills are fully learned
perceptions correctly trained
Path to mastery = repetition
Basic psychology
repetition of skill increases
performance
But
how to manage repetition?
major concern in game design
Repetition
Invariant
starting level all over
Drawback
• level involves many skills
• failure in one means need to repeat all
Decomposition
emphasize new skills as acquired
Problem
• must generate more levels
Practice Mode
allow player to practice outside of main game
Flow
"The state in which people are so
involved in an activity that nothing
else seems to matter; the experience
itself is so enjoyable that people will
do it even at great cost, for the sheer
sake of doing it."
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Flow state
Loss of sense of time
Intense focus
Responses are fast, continuous and
(almost) unconscious
Many examples
athletes, musicians, surgeons, pilots,
soldiers
gamers
What builds flow?
Attention invested in realistic goals
Skills match opportunities for action
Skills can be mastered
Learning
acquisition of skills
increased ability to participate
shared community / developed
commitment
Flow as a design goal
Present the player with realistic goals
Match skills and affordances
Teach skills
Have those skills increase level of
participation
Develop the player's commitment
Realistic goals
Goal is realistic if it can be
accomplished by the player
might require acquisition of new skills
Player has to adopt the goal and
understand that it is possible
Level of challenge
Meaning (from 4/4)
Meaning is created by the
interpretation of signifiers in context
A game designer
creates a new context
with new meanings
using particular signifiers
Systems of meaning
Individual signifiers
"hand with red circle" means
"disabled"
System of signifiers
whole set of icons for different status
conditions
When a new icon appears
players has to try to understand what
it might mean
Play of meaning
The way in which the game invites the
player to use its system of signs
Activities
interpreting signs
learning new signs
looking for signs
sometimes inventing signs
Play with meaning
Sometimes games invite play with meaning
Signs with conventional meaning are
subverted
dissonance between the conventional
meaning and the game's meaning
Examples
Spin the Bottle
• a kiss signifies?
Grand Theft Auto
• carjacking signifies?
Game Metacommunication
Meta
(beyond or behind)
The communication about the game
as opposed to the communication required in order to
play
How do we know that we are playing
constant stream of communicative acts required to
keep play going
to signal involvement
focus of attention
readiness of participation
game-appropriate demeanor
Monday
Narrative
Simulation