How%20Can%20Experimental%20Psychology%20Inform%20Game%20Design?

1
How Can Experimental Psychology Inform Game
Design?

• David Brodbeck
• Department of Psychology, Algoma University and
  Laurentian University
• Jeb Havens
• 1st Playable Productions

2
Please just listen to this list

• Pin
• Haystack
• Knitting
• Sharp
• Pointy
• Inoculation
• phonograph

3
Introduction

• What makes people come back to games?
• Why are some games hits?
• Why are some games misses?
• We are applying science to art
• The science we are applying is experimental
  psychology, especially learning, memory and
  cognition
• People have been playing games as long as there
  have been people

4
Learning Theory

• Acquisition
• Asymptote
• Extinction
• Spontaneous recovery
• Pretty much universal

5
Reinforcement

• Anything that increases the likelihood of a
  response is a reinforcer
• Food reinforces pecking in pigeons
• Exams reinforce studying
• Save points in Splinter Cell
• Skinner

6
Maintaining behaviour

• Not Continuous reinforcement
• Use of partial reinforcement
• Subject never knows when next reinforcer is
  coming, so behaviour is maintained
• Variability
• Ratio strain
• Just takes a few reinforcers to bring the subject
  back
• Now pull the ratio back up

7
Chaotic systems

• Simple interacting components
• Emergent behaviours and strategies
• Might miss a reward
• Not frustration but curiosity

8
Performance vs. Observation

• People can learn by observation
• Online games, multiplayer
• God mode
• Reinforce players for staying in a game after
  they are killed
• They get better simply through observation
• Not aware they are in a tutorial

9
Divided Attention

• Finite amount of perceptual resources
• Dichotic listening
• Dichotic watching!
• We can actually give information that is not
  consciously processed, but still affects behaviour

10
Design implications

• Inputs and outputs not in a hardware and software
  sense but in a human sense
• Subject learns best when actively participating
• However, hints can be given without awareness
• Makes difficulty levels less transparent

11
Implicit learning

• Most of the learning that ends up taking place is
  probably implicit
• The controls, for example, of a given genre
  USUALLY are the same
• Keep it consistent
• Player does not know he or she is being taught
  what is going on, thinks I figured this out
  myself!

12
Memory

• Atkinson and Shiffrin
• STM has a limited capacity
• 7 /- 2
• Chunking and becoming an expert
• Implication is that early on we can only give
  players so much at once, but once they become
  experts more can be thrown at them

13
Implicit memory again

• As mentioned, much of the learning is implicit
• We can drop implicit hints
• Associations, fragments of information that are
  filled in later

14
Remember any of these words?

• Pin
• Chair
• Cup
• Pointy
• Sharp
• Desk
• Knitting
• needle

15
Conclusion

• We know that most designers use these principles
  implicitly
• We are not trying to constrain the art of game
  design
• We want playable and successful games
• Beta test time may be reduced
• Games evolved with us, so it is sensible to think
  about how we think