Embodied Cognition, Game Characters, and Game Design Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Jul 17, 2015
Embodied Cognition, Game Characters, and Game Design
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Embodied Cognition ¡ Basics of understanding is based on action
possibilities ¡ Club affords hitting
¡ Seeing someone smile -> mirroring smile -> happiness & interpretation
¡ Someone raising a cup towards their lips -> drinking
¡ Mirroring actions
¡ Meanings are relations between an organism and environment
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Game Characters ¡ PC = Player-character ¡ Player controlled character
¡ NPC = Non-player-character ¡ An agent, AI, narrated actor
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Game Characters
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Imm
ort
all
(Arm
or G
am
es)
Empathic Engagement
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Revealing Character in Thief II
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Revealing Character in Thief II ¡ PC action ¡ Sneak & hide
¡ Pick locks
¡ Knock out with black-jack
¡ Take items / steal
¡ Fight with a sword
¡ Death comes often with this option
¡ Shoot arrows
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Revealing Character in Half-Life • First-person view
• Information about character is feed by • Text
• Dialogue
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Recognition ¡ An interpretation of a character
¡ Depends of formal features in the game
¡ Information ¡ Perceived actions
¡ Appearance
¡ Reactions of other characters
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Alignment
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Allegiance • Structure of sympathy (or
antipathy)
• Moral / aesthetic evaluation
• Relative to fiction & other characters
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Beauty ¡ Positive evolution / emotion ¡ Simple
¡ Learned & prototypical
¡ Associative emotions
¡ If visuals or sounds are not relevant for a current task, visuals/sounds ignored ¡ Especially when cognitive load is high
¡ Unexpected stimulus (e.g., peripheral movement or sounds) trigger orientation response
¡ However, especially music can influence other evaluations
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Goal-driven Engagement
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Goals ¡ Regulating goals ¡ Goals that regulate progression in a game
¡ Player goals correlates highly with regulating goals if they want to progress
¡ Player-generated goals ¡ Not relate to progression structure
¡ E.g., can I jump from this rooftop to next with a car in Grad Theft Auto IV?
¡ Game structure needs to facilitate challenges
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Regulating Goals in Ico 1. A cut scene showing how Ico is brought
to the castle and put into a statue and how the statue falls letting Ico out. -> GOAL: Escape
2. GOAL: Pull a lever in the first room to open a door.
3. GOAL: go to the second room.
4. GOAL: climb up a chain, jump to a window, and enter the third room.
5. Ico sees Yorda on a gage -> GOAL: free Yorda
6. GOAL climbed up to a tower and use lever to lower Yorda’s gage
7. The gage does not get on the ground -> GOAL jumped on top of the cage, which breaks the cage.
8. A cut-scene showing Ico’s and Yorda’s first meeting. And showing a black portal appears and shadowy creates emerges from it.
9. OPTIONAL GOAL: pick up a wooden stick as a weapon
10. GOAL: destroy all creatures; GOAL: prevent shadow creatures take Yorda escape via the portal
11. A cut-scene where Ico says that it is too dangerous to be where they are and that they must escape, after which, Yorda opens a magically sealed door leading to the next room.
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Goals and emotions Basic Emotion Goal status evaluation
Happiness Progression towards or reaching a goal
Fear Threat to self or goal
Sadness Failure of a valued goal
Anger A goal is blocked
Disgust Reaching a goal risks contamination
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Goals and emotions… ¡ Primary emotions
¡ Secondary emotions ¡ As if reasoning triggers emotions
¡ Considering risky option leads fear
¡ Thinking about success leads to happiness
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Example: Silent Hill 2
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
Example: Silent Hill 2 ¡ Limited perceptual range and awareness of monsters
¡ Fear & Worry
¡ Static noise warns about nearby monsters ¡ The sound gets associated with fear
¡ Attacking monsters threatens the player’s goal of keeping PC alive ¡ Fear
¡ Zombies rot & Zombie’s vomit attack contaminating ¡ Disgust
¡ Killing zombies ¡ Happiness
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University
¡ Lankoski, P. (2012). Computer Games and Emotions. In Sageng, Fossheim & Larsen (eds.) The Philosophy of Computer Games. Springer. DOI=10.1007/978-94-007-4249-9_4.
¡ Lankoski, P. (2011). Player Character Engagement in Computer Games. Games and Culture, 6(4), pp. 291-311. DOI: 10.1177/1555412010391088.
¡ Lankoski, P. & Järvelä, S. (2012). An Embodied Cognition Approach for Understanding Role-playing. International Journal of Role-Playing, 3.
Petri Lankoski, Södertörn University