The Emotional DivideThe Emotional Divide

Bridging the Chasm between Bridging the Chasm between Games and Other MediaGames and Other Media

fmx/06 6 May 2006fmx/06 6 May 2006

There can be no transforming of darkness into light and of apathy into movement without emotion. - Carl Jung

Aristotle Gets EmotionalAccording to Book Two of

Aristotle’s Rhetoric:

Shame vs. Shamelessness

Kindness vs. Unkindness

Anger vs. Calmness

Fear vs. Confidence

Love vs. Enmity

Indignation

Envy

Pity

Acceptance, Agitation, Alarm, Amusement, Anger, Angst, Anticipation, Apprehension, Apathy, Awe, Bitterness, Boredom, Calmness, Comfort, Contentment, Confidence, Confusion, Cool, Courage, Depression, Disappointment, Discontentment, Disgust,

Desire, Delight, Dread, Elation or Euphoria, Embarrassment, Empathy, Ennui, Envy, Ecstasy, Fear, Friendship, Frustration,

Gratitude, Grief, Guilt, Glee, Gladness, Hate, Happiness, Homesickness, Honor, Hope, Horror, Humility, Joy, Jealousy,

Kindness, Loneliness, Love, Lust, Missing Someone, Modesty, Nervousness, Negativity, Nostalgia, Pain, Patience, Peace, Phobia,

Pity, Pride, Rage, Remorse, Repentance, Rapture, Sadness, Schadenfreude, Self-pity, Shame, Shyness, Sorrow, Shock,

Suffering, Surprise, Suspense, Terror, Trepidation, Unhappiness, Vulnerability, Wanderlust, Wonderment, Worry

85 Flavors of Emotion

- Wikipedia

Types of Emotions in Games

• Emotions non-player characters (NPCs) feel– Mimic other media such as film

• Emotions players feel based on story– Triggered by events the player character (PC)

experiences

• Emotions players feel based on character– Triggered by empathy with NPCs and sometimes

the PC

• Emotions players feel based on gameplay– Triggered directly by game mechanics

Emotion Generated by Film Technique

• Performance• Camera angles• Close-ups• Editing• Lighting• Musical cues• Production design

– Locations– Sets– Costumes– Color

Sex is emotion in motion. - Mae West

Emotion Generated by Story• Universal themes

– There is some good in everyone

– The past haunts the present– Blood is thicker than water– Adversity reveals true

character– Our children are our future– War is hell

• Familiar story material– Noble sacrifices– Good triumphant over evil– Love triumphant over hate– Family relationships– Innocence lost– David vs. Goliath

Emotion Generated by Character

• Characters we recognize (socialization)• Characters we identify with (sense of

self)• Characters that touch our

subconscious (instinct)– Aliens physically or psychologically– Wicked witches– Cuddly animals– Children

EMOTIONS

Gameplay Cut Scenes

85 flavors of emotion

Drama

All of humanityA player

Player emotions

Game

Techniques unique to interactivity

Techniques common to other media

Gameplay and

Storytellingas an

Integrated Experience

The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion.  - Albert Einstein

The Emotional Gamer

Emotions derived solely from gameplay

© 2006 XEODesign, Inc.

XEODesign’s Research on Emotion and the Fun of Games

XEODesignPutting Emotion into Play

®

™

The 4 Fun Keys

Nicole Lazzaro, President XEODesign

Emotion and Games

“It’s easy to tell what games my husband enjoys the most. If he screams ‘I hate it. I hate it. I hate it,’ then I know he will

finish it and buy version two. If he doesn’t say this, he’ll put it down in

an hour.” – Wife of a hardcore PC gamer from

XEODesign’s research

Putting Emotion into Play www.xeodesign.com© 2006 XEODesign, Inc.XEODesign

XEODesign’s 4 Fun Keys

• XEODesign observed people playing their favorite games at home, school and work.

• Measured emotions in face, body language, verbalizations, and questionnaire

• The 4 Fun Keys model describes how the best loved aspects of gameplay create emotion.

• Because players switch between 3 of the 4 Fun Keys, best selling games support 3 of them.

Putting Emotion into Play www.xeodesign.com© 2006 XEODesign, Inc.XEODesign

The 4 Fun Keys

achievement

social

experiment

purpose

Emotion from Interaction

15Putting Emotion into Play ™ www.xeodesign.com

© 2006 XEODesign, Inc.XEODesign

The Four Most Important Emotions From Gameplay

1. Fiero from Hard Fun: Emotions related to challenge, strategy and mastery

2. Curiosity from Easy Fun: Emotions related to novelty, ambiguity, detail and fantasy

3. Relaxation/Excitement from Serious Fun: Emotions for internal change, learning or real work

4. Amusement from People Fun: Emotions from competition, cooperation and social interaction

Putting Emotion into Play www.xeodesign.com© 2006 XEODesign, Inc.XEODesign

Emotion from Player’s Role

In games the player becomes the central hero to accomplish the extraordinary. The buddy rescued or the enemy vanquished in Battlefield is no more real than in film, but the player’s role in the achievement is. Good game design creates choices that sharply enhance a player’s emotional response. Movies, by comparison, invite the audience to share in the joys and sorrows of characters on screen.

Movies can never hand the audience a jet ski for the thrill of stopping global thermonuclear war. As part of their unique value proposition, games have to. -Nicole Lazzaro

Putting Emotion into Play ™ www.xeodesign.com© 2006 XEODesign, Inc.XEODesign

Games Tell New Kinds of Stories

Many aspects of the storytelling language of cinema apply to games and still move players. However, emotions from the player’s goals and the things she/he cares about will likely prove to

be stronger.

In games the mechanic is the moral of the story. - Nicole Lazzaro

Putting Emotion into Play ™ www.xeodesign.com© 2006 XEODesign, Inc.XEODesign

Cut Scenes Will Fade Away

Viewing a pre-rendered video between game levels is less compelling than the emotions from player's actions. Eventually the emotional props from these cut scenes will fade from games just as title cards disappeared from old silent pictures once technology allows the actors and the action to speak for themselves. - Nicole Lazzaro

Putting Emotion into Play ™ www.xeodesign.com© 2006 XEODesign, Inc.XEODesign

The most dangerous thing in the world is to try to leap a chasm in two jumps.

- David Lloyd George

We should not discard one tool for generating emotion in favor of any other. Gameplay adds to tools learned in other media. It does not replace them.

This slide has absolutely nothing to do with this talk

ExtremeMulti-tasking

Ok, actually it does… it should make us feel several emotions…

Uncharted Territory

Finding a bridge between emotions generated by

character, story and film language and emotions generated by gameplay.

A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art. - Paul Cezanne

Building the Bridge

If we simply copy the tools of film, we are segregating emotion in cut scenes.

It sometimes helps to look at things from a different angle.

Any emotion, if it is sincere, is involuntary.  - Mark Twain

• The audience is now a participant called the player

• NPCs interact with other NPCs as in other media, but now the player interacts with NPCs

• Game structure is most natural when it is non-linear

• Story structure can also be non-linear• Emotion can be created in ways that are not

simply story or gameplay, but a synergy of both

Adapting Character and Story to a New Medium

Embrace Emotion Generated by Film Technique!

• Performance• Camera angles• Close-ups• Editing• Lighting• Musical cues• Production design

– Locations– Sets– Costumes

Music is the shorthand of emotion. - Leo Tolstoy

ALL of these can be used in the midst of gameplay.They do not need to be imprisoned in cut scenes!

Player-NPC Relationship Modifier

Positive Descriptor

Scale Negative Descriptor

Love 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 Hate

Admiration 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 Contempt

Trust 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 Mistrust

Loyalty 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 Disloyal

Respect 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 Disrespect

Like 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 Dislike

Calculating Player to NPC Relationship Value

Category NPC PersonalityPlayer

Relationship Modifier

Player to NPC Relationship

ValueLove(Hate) -2 +3 1

Admiration(Contempt) -1 +2 1

Trust(Distrust) 1 -2 -1

Loyalty(Disloyalty) 2 0 2

Respect(Disrespect) -2 -1 -3

Like(Dislike) -2 -4 -6

Generalized NPC to Player Relationship Value -6

Generalized NPC to Player Relationship Value

Score Range Descriptor

25 to 36 Adores

10 to 24 Amiable

9 to -9 Neutral

-10 to -24 Strained

-25 to -36 Despises

Find Systemic Approaches that Evoke Emotion!

• Program it once and it repeats as needed• Behavior consistent with the reality of the

game world• Evokes emotional responses the player

recognizes from other media• Interactive• Affects gameplay• Is affected by gameplay• Is not at home in a cut scene!

Modular Storytelling 1P = Permanent Feature D = Dynamic Feature

Modular Storytelling 2P = Permanent Feature D = Dynamic Feature

Different Game, Same Emotional Content

Match the Story Structure to the

Gameplay!

(Gameplay story structure does not work in a cut scene!)

When I repress my emotion my stomach keeps score. - J. Enoch Powell

Your Day at the Office

• Paper cut• Laughter at your

expense• Slight disagreement• Lost the trivia game• Minor inkstain on shirt

pocket• Minor reprimand• Idea ignored

• Better parking space• Laughter at a joke you

told• Gratitude for a kindness• Won the football pool• Found the favorite pen

you lost• Casual compliment• Idea accepted

Emotional Synergy

Techniques of Game Design,As Well As Other Media

• Film language• Systemic approaches to relationships that create

emotion• Story structure that matches gameplay structure

instead of fighting it• Emotional synergy• Cut scenes? Cut scenes? We don’t need no stinkin’

cutscenes!

…and there are many many more techniques. Some have been identified. Others are waiting for you to find them.

EmotionEmotion in thein the

World ofWorld ofa Gamea Game

Fiero

Excitement

Curiosity

Gameplay

Character &

Storytelling

Modesty

Empathy

Lust

How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling.  - Claude Debussy

Storytelling Gameplay

Emotion

A single integrated experience.

Contacts & Resources

Lee Sheldon: www.anti-linearlogic.com

Sheldon, Lee. Character Development and Storytelling for Games. Thomson/Course Technology

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper & Row

Nicole Lazzaro: XEODesign, Inc.

Free emotion and game whitepapers: www.xeodesign.com/whyweplaygames.html

I question what emotion Manilow touches. People are entertained by him. But are they emotionally moved? I don't believe anything that Barry Manilow sings. – Paul Simon