PRESS START TOWARDS A FORMAL UNDERSTANDING OF GAMES.

PRESS START

TOWARDS A FORMAL

UNDERSTANDING OF

GAMES

Particles Waves

P

W

Stuff

Mental Models Mental Logic

MM

ML

Mental MetaLogic

Rules Play

R

P

Games

Rules

• Limit player action• Explicit and unambiguous• Shared by all players• Fixed• Binding

• Free movement within a rigid structure

• Expression of the system• The space inside,

between, and among the rules

• Opposes and resists• Uses existing structures

to invent new forms of expression

Play

Learning the Rules (Piaget)

• Stage 1– Begins around age 5, the child does not

understand that there are fixed rules to the game. Children of this age will play Marbles in an improvisational way, possessing a vague notion of rules but not yet understanding the idea of fixed rules

Learning the Rules (Piaget)

• Stage 2– Around ages 8 to 10, the child comes to know

that there are rules, and will regard these rules with a near religious reverence. The rules are felt to have their own implicit authority, which cannot be questioned.

Learning the Rules (Piaget)

• Stage 3– Beginning after age 10, the child comes to

realize that the rules of a game are dependent on a social contract and can be changed if all the players agree to do so. This final stage is generally how adults view the rules of games.

• “He (sic) no longer relies, as do the littlest ones, upon all-wise tradition. He no longer thinks that everything has been arranged for the best in the past and that the only way of avoiding trouble is by religiously respecting the established order. He believes in the value of experiment in so far as it is sanctioned by collective opinion”

-Jean Piaget

Challenges

• Entertainment is not considered to be a topic worthy of serious study

• Being entertained is partially an unconscious process

• Honing entertainment skill is partially an unconscious process

Differences Between Player Types

• Player 1: hey bitch gimme buffs

• Player 2: Sirrah! Dost thou address a lady thus?

Academia

Industry

Understanding Entertainment

• What makes us Entertainable?

1. We can model reality

2. We can focus our attention

3. We are empathic

4. We are imaginative

Modeling Reality

X

X

O

X

OX

X

OX

O

X

OX

O

X

X

OX

O

X O

X

OX

O

X O

X

X

OX

O

X O

X

Focus (Attention)

Our job is to guide it – more later

Empathy

:-D

Imagination

Measuring Interest

t

A Good Interest Curve

Interest

hook

climax

leave ‘emwanting more!

A Bad Interest Curve

t

Interest Change channel,Stop playing!

Three Factors of Interest

• Inherent Interest of Things– Things that involve dramatic change (includes

novelty)

• Poetry of Presentation

• Psychological Proximity

Prox

Me Us Them

InterestInherentInterest Poetry Prox

-Me

-You

-Them

InterestInherentInterest Poetry Prox

-Me

-You

-Them

InterestInherentInterest Poetry Prox

-Me

-You

-Them

Techniques

• Indirect Control• Immersion• Intellectual Problem

Solving• Competition• Social Interaction• Comedy• Thrill of Danger

• Physical Activity• Love• Creation• Power• Discovery• Advancement and

Completion• Application of an

Ability

Indirect Control

Immersion

Intellectual Problem Solving

Competition

Social Interaction

Comedy

Thrill of Danger

Physical Activity

Love

Creation

Power

Discovery

Advancement and Completion

Application of an Ability

Core (10%) Casual (90%)

Authored abdicated(linear) (nonlinear)

Player skill character skill(action) (cerebral)

Escape (AI) Socialize

(MMGs)

GAME OVER