Video Games and the Human Condition

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Video Games and the Human Condition
September 27, 2010
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Speaking to the Human Condition
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Pac-Man (1982)
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Impossible Mission (1984)
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Game Design Best Practices

• Story What is going to happen next? Natural
  curiosity about humans.
• Justifies what you are doing, rather than
  red/green/blue cardkeys.
• Eye Candy / Ear Candy
• Next Goal that is clear, within-reach ("Just One
  More")
• Feeling of Constant Improvement
• Collection / Hoarding (via Skinner Box)

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Skinner Box
Operant conditioning with variable-ratio reward
scheduling.
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Skinner Boxes
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Skinner Boxes
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Game Design Best Practices

• Story What is going to happen next? Natural
  curiosity about humans.
• Justifies what you are doing, rather than
  red/green/blue cardkeys.
• Eye Candy / Ear Candy
• Next Goal that is clear, within-reach ("Just One
  More")
• Feeling of Constant Improvement
• Collection / Hoarding (via Skinner Box)

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How did we arrive at these best practices?
1. Natural process of evolving inspiration
2. More-professional monitoring of players
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Difficulty, as time passes
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The End
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The End ?
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What is Boredom?
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What is Boredom?
A healthy response to unproductive situations.
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Like simulated annealing
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A Spectrum of Games
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Many of today's console games exert a time
crush. They demand tens or even hundreds of hours
of attention to complete, some or most of which
often feels empty. In that respect, one could
argue that many games seem to destroy time.
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But social games do something even more violent
they also destroy the time we spend away from
them... through obligation, worry, and dread over
missed opportunities.
Ian Bogost
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A/B Split Testingto Maximize Profit
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Designers Defense
Were just giving people what they want
Theyre having fun.
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9.99 800 Microsoft Points
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These really aregood game design
They are also extremely manipulative.
How to respect the player?
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an intensely personal game
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a game on a subject that interests me very much,
right now
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the game that will impact players' lives in the
way that I want, while still making a reasonable
amount of money
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With respectcomes the possibility for
open and honest communciation
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Science
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Science,
yet also the subjectiveis precious.
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Games should just be fun. What is the big
deal? I am having fun.
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Writers and people who had command of words were
respected and feared as people who manipulated
magic.In latter times I think that artists and
writers have allowed themselves to be sold down
the river. They have accepted the prevailing
belief that art and writing are merely forms of
entertainment. They're not seen as transformative
forces that can change a human being, that can
change a society. They are seen as simple
entertainment -- things with which we can fill
twenty minutes, half an hour, while we're waiting
to die.
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It is not the job of artists to give the
audience what the audience want. If the audience
knew what they needed, then they wouldn't be the
audience they would be the artists. It is the
job of artists to give the audience what they
need.
Alan Moore The Mindscape of Alan Moore