chapter 1.2 games and society. cs 44552 why do people play video games?
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 1.2Games and Society
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Why Do People Play Video Games?
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Audience and Demographics
What good are demographics? Are they always accurate?
Recent survey: what stands out?
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Audience and Demographics: ESRB
EC (Early Childhood) E (Everyone) E10+(Everyone 10+) T (Teen) M (Mature) AO (Adults Only) 32 different “Content Descriptors”
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Audience and Demographics: ESRB 2003 Statistics
57% of games received an E rating 32% of games received a T rating 10% of games received an M rating 1% received an EC rating
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Audience and Demographics: ESRB 2003 Statistics (2)
70% of best-selling console games were E or T rated 90% of best-selling PC games were E or T rated
Buying habits or development habits?
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Societal Reaction to Games
Misleading perception of games as being child’s play
Violence in video games drawing parental attention
Legal Issues (1992)– Night Trap – Mortal Kombat
Led to Senate Hearings (1993)
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Societal Reaction to Games
Legal Issues: Doom (1994) and the 1999 Columbine Massacre– Shooters were known to play Doom– Lawsuits were initiated against the industry, but
eventually dropped
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Societal Reaction to Games
Legal Issues: Grand Theft Auto– GTA: Vice City
• Haitian-American Rights Groups
– GTA: San Andreas• “Hot Coffee” mod
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Societal Reaction to Games
Games and Youth Violence– Root of All Evil, or Good, Old-Fashioned Fun?
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Cultural Issues
Abuse of stereotypes (Shadow Warrior) Foreign Diplomacy
– Germany (The Index – List of banned games)– China, Japan (controversial elements)
Cultural Acceptance– Changing standards and thresholds
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Society Within Games:Online Behavior
The Good– Everquest Weddings
The Bad– Addictive properties– Online rivalries becoming offline rivalries– Can games contribute to erratic offline behaviors?
The Ugly– Disinhibition and deindividuation occur because of
perceived anonymity. – Hate crimes
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Society Within Games
Tools– Moderators– Communication tools– Fan sites to discuss gameplay and community
outside of the game
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The Upshot
Games are an immature medium
Chapter 2.1Understanding Fun
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What is Fun?
Dictionary: – Enjoyment, a source of amusement
Important to consider underlying reasons “Funativity” – thinking about fun in terms of
measurable cause and effect
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Getting a handle on fun/play …
Evolutionary roots popular– Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens
But different ways to proceed– Play as basic desire?– Play as “evolutionary advantage”?– Crawford, Salen/Zimmerman, Koster, ….
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Evolutionary Roots
We must look to our distant past– Young mammals play to learn basic survival skills
– Games are organized play
– Human entertainment is also at its heart about learning how to survive
– Mating and social rules also critical to us Education == Entertainment
– Fun is about practicing or learning new survival skills in a relatively safe setting
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Natural Funativity Theory
Basic concept is that all fun derives from practicing survival and social skills
Key skills relate to early human context, but often in modern guise
Three overlapping categories– Physical, Social, and Mental
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Definition of a Great Game
A great game is a series of interesting and meaningful choices made by the player in pursuit of a clear and compelling goal
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A Series of … Choices in Pursuit of a … Goal
Interactivity Games = goals and rules?
– Toys vs. games? Interesting and Meaningful Choices
– Meaningful choices are perceived by the player as having significant consequences
S/Z: meaningful play– Actions to outcomes are “descriptive and integrated”
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A Series of Choices
No choice
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A Series of Choices
Meaningless choices
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A Series of Choices
Infinite choices
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A Series of Choices
Choose wisely
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Classic Game Structure
Convexities– Other terms (e.g., Narrative spine)
Fractal nature
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A Series of Convexities
Popular structure
Some freedom, implementable
A A A A ABB B B
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The Concept of Flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi– “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience”
Flow is a state of exhilaration, deep sense of enjoyment
Usually when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile
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The Flow Channel
Start with relatively low level of challenge to match starting skill levels
Gradually increase challenge Fast enough to prevent boredom Not so fast as to induce frustration
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The Flow Channel
Too Easy (Boring)
Too Hard (Frustrating)
Increasing Time (and Player Skill)
Increasing Difficulty
Ideal Game Difficulty Progression
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Difficulty Increase Varies
A A A ABB B B
Ideal Game Difficulty Progression
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Story and Character
Emotional association, strengthen reaction Interactive story different than linear stories
– Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck “Do, don’t show”
– Don’t make choices for the player– Bring out character through action
Gameplay Trumps Story!