Play

1
Play experience and pleasure

• second order design

2
Experience

• definitions
• an event lived through I just drove home in
  the storm - that was quite an experience.
• participation that provides practical knowledge
  He has experience with several versions of
  linux.
• apprehension of something through senses or in
  the mind If you spin around fast, you will
  experience vertigo.

3
Experiencing video games Sutton-Smith, 1986

1. visual scanning visual perception of screen,
   parts and whole
2. auditory input listening for game event sounds
   and signals
3. motor response physical manipulation of game
   controls
4. concentration focus on play
5. learning patterns becoming familiar with game
   structure

perception action cognition
4
Experience he missed

1. Emotional response to meaning
2. Social interaction with other players

5
Experience as part of game system

• input from game output
• output to game input
• internal decision-making process
• designing experience is second-order design

6
Core mechanicdominant repeated play activity

• examples
• Donkey Kong joy stick plus jump button to
  maneuver
• Quake move, aim, fire, manage resources
• tag chase and tag, evade
• baseball large collection of skills and
  strategies

7
Core mechanic of Breakoutan Atari 2600 classic

• descendant of first video game, pong
• move paddle left and right to intercept ball
  bouncing around the game space
• goal
• remove bricks
• by hitting with
• ball
• two screens to
• clear

8
Core mechanic of Breakout

• creation of meaning
• breakout physics
• side and brick bounces reflect intuitively
• paddle has five reflecting surfaces to be
  learned
• skills to acquire
• tactics to learn
• breakout get above bricks early
• cleanup hit final few bricks vertically

9
Variations on the core mechanic

• timed play
• minimize time to clear two screens
• Breakthru
• bounce goes through bricks

10
More variations

• steering paddle
• effects ball in flight
• stick paddle
• catch and release ball from paddle
• invisible bricks
• appear when one is hit
• (12) combinations of variants

11
Extensions of Breakout

• Atari Super Breakout sequel
• many levels
• more than one ball in play
• descending bricks
• Nintendo Alleyway
• gaps in brick wall more frequent breakout
• distinct hit sounds during breakout
• progression of behaviour by level
• other variations complex bricks that take
  several hits to eliminate

12
CentipedeComplex decision making

• space invaders style game
• core mechanic move and shoot
• horizontal limited vertical movement (20)
• single shot firing one shot on screen at once
• targets
• five elements with distinct behaviour
• objects interact, some threaten shooter
• feedback loops in population
• behaviour means decisions are tradeoffs

13
So why is this fun? Constraint

• L.S. Vygotsky, 1976
• Play continually creates demands on the player
  to act against immediate impulse, i.e., to act on
  the line of most resistance.
• pleasure delayed and constrained is pleasure
  enhanced, S Z, p.330

14
Constraint and...

• rules restrict play, enhance pleasure by
  inefficiency
• free play rules restrict the space of activity
  and resist play
• lusory attitude self control by acceptanc eof
  aritificial system
• stylized behaviour dramatic, ritualistic sense
  of belonging

15
So why is this fun? Autotelic

• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,1991
• (Chicks send me highly)
• games are (mainly) non-utiliatarian
• games provide their own intrinsic and artificial
  goals

16
Types of pleasure, LeBlanc, 1999examples?

• sensation game as sense-pleasure
• fantasy game as make-believe
• narrative game a drama
• challenge game as obstacle course
• fellowship game as social framework
• discovery game as uncharted territory
• expression game as self-discovery
• submission game as masochism

17
Types of coginitive arousal,Apter, 1991
examples?

• exposure to arousing stimulation
• fiction and narrative character identification
• challenge
• exploration
• negativism rule breaking
• cognitive synergy imaginative play
• facing danger risk within magic circle

18
Others from play definition

• Callois
• challenge, risk, mimicry, vertigo
• Sutton-Smith
• concentration, visual scanning, audio, actions,
  learning patterns

19
Flow - Csikszentmihalyi