Games
CS 445/656 Computer & New Media
Today’s Topics
• Game technologies
• Game design
• Game studies
– What makes a game fun?
– Funativity, Concrete rules, narrative, MDA
• Analysis of fantasy sports
Game Technologies
• Game engine vs. interface
• Game engine
– Runs the simulation
– Can be simple or very complex
• Interface
– Graphics
– Interaction
World Simulation
• Moving objects
– Animations for water, fire, etc.
– Physics engines for determining noncharacter movement
• Friendly (and not) characters
– Scripts and triggers for behavior
– Interactions between non-player characters
becoming ever more complex
Game Interface
• Point and click
– Direct manipulation
– Palettes of options
• Keyboards
– Lots of options, faster response
– Must be learned
• Vision and sensor based interfaces
– Activity of player is more aligned with activity in
game
– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwfc03vm97o
Game Design
• Game design teams are specialized much
like movie teams
– Lead designer
– System/simulation/user interface designer
– Level/environment designer
– Writer/scriptwriter
– Graphic artist
– Sound engineer
– Tester
Serious Games
• Games for serious purposes
– A game designed to teach real-world events or
processes to adults
• Goal: Motivate “players” to learn or to act
more by delivering an immersive/engaging
experience
Game Studies
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Studies of stories/interpretation
Studies of settings/worlds
Studies of individual activity
Studies of social interactions
Studies of rhetoric in/surrounding games
Game Studies != Game Theory
• Don't confuse "game studies" with "game theory".
They are not the same thing.
• Game studies: The discipline of studying games; in
particular their design, their players and the role they
play in society.
• Game Theory: A mathematical method of decisionmaking in which a competitive situation (could be a
game) is analyzed to determine the optimal course of
action for an interested party (agent). Game theory is
often used in politics, economics and military
planning.
Game Studies
• Game studies is a "huge" field.
– Psychology, Sociology view
• The effects of games on people (and vice versa)
• "What makes games fun?"
– Structure, Dynamics view
• games as artifacts, "affordances", critical analysis
• "How do you define a game and it's rules?"
– Industry/Engineering view
• design and development of games, how to make
better games, games as drivers of technological
innovations
• "Can we come up with a method to make great
games?"
"Funativity" (psychology/sociology)
• How, why is something fun?
• Do these kittens look like they are having fun?
"Theory of Natural Funativity"
• All fun derives from practicing skills that (previously)
insured species survival.
• Skills may relate to earlier context, but appear
disguised in a more modern form.
• Games are safe way to "practice" skills.
• Applied to Cats: Adult cats need to be able to catch
small prey for food and fight for territory/mates.
– Thus kittens practice:
• Hunting -> Chasing feather, ball of string, tail
• Fighting -> Attacking each other, ball of string, your leg.
Funativity & Humans
• For most of our species’ history humans
have been tribal hunter/gatherers.
• Many current popular games reflect
modern incarnations of these ancient
skills:
– Hunting:
• Shooters, sports games, hand-eye-coordination
– Gathering:
• Pattern games, powerups, resources
– Tribal Interaction:
• High scores, head-to-head, Sims, MMO
Funativity & Humans (cont)
– In humans we can identify three overlapping
categories into which we can divide aspects
of game play.
– People like (or find fun) games that have
components that fall into these categories
(realms):
1. Spatial Reasoning (Physical)
2. Pattern Recognition (Mental)
3. Social
1. Spatial Reasoning (Physical)
• Abstract Definition: Reasoning about objects in 3D space
and how they might interact (includes your own body,
hand-eye coordination).
2. Pattern Recognition (Mental)
• Abstract Definition: Recognizing patterns in organized sets
of data, remembering chains of linked events that are
significant.
3. Social
• Abstract Definition: Practicing interpersonal
communication skills, competing/cooperating with others
or modeling dynamics of social situations.
Other "psychological" aspects.
• Suspension of disbelief (immersion).
– A game isn't "real", and yet we can have "real"
physical/psychological responses (anger, fear,
pride).
– "Immersive" and "flowing" gameplay.
• Emotions and feelings.
– We are more likely to play a game, if it can make
us "feel" an emotion (change our internal state).
– Anxiety and frustration are bad, but...
– Indifference is the ultimate enemy.
Gameplay Immersion: Point of View
• The first person view does not focus our attention as
much on the game character as e.g. the view used in
‘third person shooters’ (see Tomb Raider style of
games).
• Doom has very transparent interface: the player focus
is strongly on the task and a feeling of immersion in
virtual space is created.
Image credits: Core Design, Crystal Dynamics; sources: www.tombraiderchronicles.com, www.wikipedia.org.
Components of Gameplay Immersion
• Three main components:
– sensory immersion in the sounds and
interactive images of virtual space
– challenge-based immersion in the actions of
play (sometimes close to an optimal, 'flow'
experience)
– Imaginative immersion in the world of fiction in
a game (this immersion can be created e.g. by
text alone).
• Together, these different components
contribute to games having considerable
immersive potential.
The concept of "Flow"
• “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
– Flow is a state of exhilaration, deep sense
of enjoyment.
– Keeps player immersed in the gameplay.
• Start with relatively low level of
challenge to match starting skill levels.
Then gradually increase challenge.
– Fast enough to prevent boredom
– Not so fast as to induce frustration
Concrete Components
(structure/dynamics)
• Research has identified many concrete
things that can improve a players
perception of a game:
1. Multiple clear achievable goals.
2. The illusion of choice.
3. Clear punishments and rewards.
1. Goals (multiple, clear, achievable)
• We are a goal-drive species and find
psychological reward in completing
objectives.
• If it takes too long to achieve a goal, player
may get bored, so, create many
simultaneous goals.
• Player should always have at least one
clear objective.
• One "unbeatable" boss or board, one
"impossible" jump or goal can ruin a game.
2. Choice (or at least the illusion)
• Players want to think that their decisions
matter.
– If you don't have choice, game is just a
complicated slide presentation.
• Different choices or actions sequences that
results in identical results will frustrate players.
– Complaints about "linear" gameplay.
• Character customization, alternate endings,
good vs. evil dynamics.
• "Game is a series of interesting choices" Meier
A convexity of choices
• Starts with a single choice, widens to
many choices, returns to a single choice
B
B
A
B A
A
B
A
A
3. Rewards and Punishments
• Value of an item (to an individual) closely
correlates with what it cost to acquire
(money, time, effort).
• A player who has spent time and effort on
completing a task, expects to be
rewarded.
• Likewise a player who has failed in an
objective, expects to be punished.
• If actions don't have consequences, then
the game-play is meaningless.
3. Beyond Rewards and Punishments
"The Skinner Box"
• Some researchers suggest that modern game
design is moving beyond "funativity" and moving
towards direct conditioning of players aimed at
getting them to play all the time (game addiction).
• (15 minute reward loop)
• Random rewards
• Punishment for not playing.
• Operant conditioning chamber
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOgowRy2WC
0
Narrative in Games
• It’s All About Interactivity!
• “Do, don’t show” – let players experience
story through interaction
• Make it personal by having players make
key choices, events affect them
• Blend storytelling with design early
• Use experienced interactive writers
• Keep cut scenes BRUTALLY short.
• Break up non-interactive sequences by
adding interactivity, even if very simple
A methodology for creating
successful games?
• Q: Knowing what we know now, can we
create a formula or a pattern for creating
great game.
• A: No. Many useful game design
methodologies have been suggested (MDA),
and they do help insure that a game gets
developed consistently and within time and
budget limitations.
• But every great game starts with a great idea,
and nobody can predict where those come
from.
MDA
Mechanics, Dynamics & Aesthetics
• MDA is a game development paradigm
designed to help developers make the
most out of a game idea, and proceed
efficiently through the complex process of
bringing a game to market.
• MDA is one of many development
paradigms that are used by large game
development companies.
Mechanics
• Before a single line of code is written the mechanics
that will be used by the game should be well thought
out and documented.
• This includes:
– The programming language
– The programming libraries, engines, tools
– The hardware required/available
– The logical programming components
– The storage/retrieval/initialization methods
– The interfaces (software and hardware) supported
Dynamics
• Before a single line of code is written the
dynamics that will be used by the game
should be well thought out and documented.
All objects and axioms need to be detailed!
• This includes:
– The domain of the game.
– The players in the game.
– The rules of the game.
– The objects in the game.
Aesthetics
• Before a single line of code is written the aesthetics
that will be used by the game should be well
thought out and documented. This is the
"narratological" part of MDA.
• The "art bible" which should contain every detail of
the "look" of the game will come out of this
development area.
• This includes:
– Color Palette
– Physical looks for all players
– Lighting plots, schemes, etc.
What's your idea?
• Remember, there is no proven method for creating a
great game.
– Every great game started out as someone's great idea.
– We have no proven way of generating great ideas.
• IF you have a great idea, there are things you can do
and methods you can apply to make it into the best
game possible:
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–
–
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Apply "theory of funativity" (Spatial, Mental, Social)
Apply concrete rules (goals, choices, punishments & rewards)
Include a compelling narrative (what should player feel?)
Use a methodology such as MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics and
Aesthetics)
Ideology in a Game
• Civilization has been a highly popular and
influential game.
• It has also been criticised, e.g. for simplifying
complex historical processes into a ‘toy version’
history, with organically-developing miniature
civilizations.
• Ideological critique has pointed out that to
succeed in the game, the player has to adopt
principles of Western industrialised society.
• Civilization would thus implicitly teach Western,
imperialistic values and lifestyles.
Controversy Continued
• The violent, adult-oriented themes of FPS style
games continue to evoke debate.
• FPS action has become part of ‘family games’,
like those in the Harry Potter franchise
(produced by Electronic Arts).
• Popular contemporary games like Grand Theft
Auto III and its follow-ups often feature FPS style
of gameplay, but combine it with quests familiar
from adventure games.
• Also Grand Theft Auto III has created
controversy with its violent and sexual content.
Blending the Real and Virtual in
Games: The Model of Fantasy
Sports
Real and Virtual: Together
“Real or virtual” vs. “real and virtual”
– Decades of comparisons of on-line
communities to physical communities
– Computer games vs. in-person games
Separation is artificial – forms of
entertainment and art can integrate the
physical and digital
This is not news … we see it all the time.
Existing Methods for Combining Real and
Virtual
Using real people
– Playing against other people
– Basing people in game on real people
Using external personal contacts
– Friends lists
Using physical location
– Location aware games/arts
Clearly not an exhaustive list
What are Fantasy Sports?
Fantasy sports: a derivative entertainment
Players of fantasy sports take on the role of
coach
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–
–
–
Draft actual sport players for team
Decide which players start each week/game
Get points based on player statistics that week
Trade players to other teams/waiver wire
Many other variants of fantasy sports exist
Why Fantasy Sports?
Fantasy sports rely on real sports
Fantasy sports can / will change the real sport,
perhaps to the point where real sports rely on
fantasy sports …
A big, mainstream phenomenon
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–
–
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33.5 million players in the US in 2013 survey
75% played on-line in 2008
Billion dollar industry
Magazines and TV shows devoted to topic
Yet, rarely discussed in gaming literature
History of Fantasy Sports
Dates
1962: paper-based fantasy football game
1979: start of Rotisserie baseball
Characteristics:
– Leagues among local friends and
colleagues
– Significant effort of collecting statistics
and computing winners
– Trophies and prizes for winners (and
losers)
Digitization
A natural fit
– Automatic collection and manipulation of statistics
reduces overhead of leagues.
– Network provides easy access for players from
around the world to create leagues.
Effect
– Low overhead, no knowledge of other players
– Low consequences results in lower interest
– Players abandon teams early in season
Recapturing What Was Lost
New interfaces aid sense of community
– League statistics / power ratings /
transactions
– League newspapers / polls
– League message boards
Integrating virtual and real sport news
– News of injuries, anticipated changes to
starting players, and weather forecasts
– Alongside articles about fantasy teams
Rhetoric in Fantasy Sports
• Empowerment
“becoming the team's manager, owner, and
president all in one”
“have star athletes working for you”
• Competition
“ever thought you could do a better job than the
people running the teams?”
“show the world just how smart you are”
• Participation
“In Fantasy Sports, you can be as much the
beneficiary of an athlete's performance
as the athlete himself!”
Framework for Games and Sports
Real Action
Player Control Playing sports
External
Control
Watching
sports
Virtual Action
Playing
games
Observing
game playing
Fantasy sports combine spectatorship with gaming
– Players must understand and anticipate the real sport
– Players act in the virtual sport based on this knowledge
Emotion and Engagement
Lessons from fantasy sports
• Ease of playing resulted in less
commitment to game
• Community presence and
surrounding context can increase
engagement
• Real consequences increase engagement
(e.g. financial or other awards)
• Connection to events in the real world can
remove the boredom that results from
predictable game engines
Potential Effects of Fantasy
Sports on Real Sports
Audience:
– Greater interest driving larger television audiences
– Spectators via multiple media
Game:
– Rule changes to better support fantasy
sports (e.g. injury reports, starting
line-ups)
Viewing:
– Personalized presentations of real
sports events
Games as Derivative Forms
Simple model
– Real world acts as data source for game engine
– Model maps data to game
Real-World
Event
Collection of
Data from
Event
Model Mapping
Data to Game
Context
Virtual
Event
Examples of Model
Simple mappings
– Fantasy stock markets
– Fantasy elections
Streaming or querying data
– Weather and traffic in racing or other
simulation
– Play/action selection in sports game based
on database of play selections retrieved by
similarity of conditions
Fantasy Sport meets Reality TV
Information flow in model is in single direction
What if:
An Alternative “XFL”
– Vote for next play, or player substitutions
– Audience communication with players on the field
Fantasy Sports Summary
Fantasy games have 45 year history
– 10s of millions of players in US alone
– Billion dollar industry
Connecting the real and digital
– Using the real world as data for or part of “game
engine”
– Community, context, and consequence result in
engagement
Potential for digital games to be combined with
existing modes of entertainment
New forms of data-driven entertainment