Summary of the lectures from the course Play and Game at Tilburg University. It consists of the powerpoint slides and my extensive notes from the lectures.
Content
Lecture 1 – Introduction.........................................................................................................................4
What is a game?.................................................................................................................................4
Perspectives........................................................................................................................................5
Groups of researchers........................................................................................................................5
Lecture 2 – Game elements....................................................................................................................6
Groups of researchers........................................................................................................................6
Rules, goals and challenges:...............................................................................................................6
Mechanics..........................................................................................................................................7
Context...............................................................................................................................................8
MDA framework...............................................................................................................................10
Lecture 3 – Perception, memory, and attention...................................................................................12
Perception........................................................................................................................................12
Memory............................................................................................................................................13
Attention..........................................................................................................................................15
Lecture 4 – Serious games....................................................................................................................17
Serious games...................................................................................................................................17
More definitions...............................................................................................................................17
Benefits of (serious) games..............................................................................................................18
Challenges of serious games.............................................................................................................18
Example: America’s Army.................................................................................................................18
Serious games: Summary..................................................................................................................18
SGDA-framework..............................................................................................................................19
Lecture 5 – Motivation, emotion, and learning....................................................................................20
Context.............................................................................................................................................20
Motivation........................................................................................................................................20
Implicit motivation...........................................................................................................................20
Extrinsic motivation..........................................................................................................................20
Intrinsic motivation...........................................................................................................................21
Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.....................................................................................................22
Emotion............................................................................................................................................22
Learning............................................................................................................................................23
Lecture 6 – Player experience (1).........................................................................................................25
Player experience.............................................................................................................................25
Usability............................................................................................................................................25
1
, (User) Player experience is the whole experience............................................................................26
Engagement......................................................................................................................................26
“Engage-ability”................................................................................................................................27
“Engage-ability” – Motivation...........................................................................................................27
“Engage-ability” – Emotion...............................................................................................................29
“Engage-ability” – Emotions, motivation, and learning....................................................................30
“Engage-ability” – Gameflow............................................................................................................31
Lecture 7 – Player experience (2).........................................................................................................32
Unified model...................................................................................................................................32
Magic circle (Homo Ludens; Huizinga, 1939)....................................................................................32
Lecture 9 – Games and culture / online toxicity...................................................................................34
Culture and Game Design.................................................................................................................34
Unconscious bias..............................................................................................................................34
Games as a cultural object................................................................................................................35
Game Culture as Subculture.............................................................................................................36
Online toxicity...................................................................................................................................37
Toxicity solutions..............................................................................................................................38
Non-Task Related-Feedback (Research)...........................................................................................40
Lecture 10 – Gamification.....................................................................................................................41
Gamification....................................................................................................................................41
Gamification according to Gabe Zichermann (2011)........................................................................42
Gamification according to Ian Bogost (2011)....................................................................................43
Models for implementation..............................................................................................................44
Gameful design.................................................................................................................................45
Lecture 12 – Evaluating the PX and serious outcomes.........................................................................48
First things first.................................................................................................................................48
Different prototype-types.................................................................................................................48
Games user research (GUR)..............................................................................................................49
Evaluation – Playtesting....................................................................................................................49
Evaluation – Observations and think aloud......................................................................................50
Evaluation – Physiological measurements........................................................................................50
Evaluation – Interviews and questionnaires.....................................................................................51
Logging, metrics, and analytics.........................................................................................................53
Heuristics..........................................................................................................................................53
Evaluating the (serious) outcomes...................................................................................................54
Lecture 13 – Playfulness.......................................................................................................................55
Part of, and expression of culture
Art
Simulation
Community
Design material
...
Juul’s classic model of games:
Various definitions, various properties of games:
- Rules
- Outcome
- Goals (and conflict)
- Interaction
- Different from “normal” life (not productive, artificial
conflicts,...)
- Not work, voluntary, relaxation
- Social
- Fiction
AUTOTELIC = Games are autotelic: You play for the sake of playing, not to reach external goals.
Four types of games (Caillois):
1. AGON (competition) = How good you are determines whether you reach the goals.
2. ALEA (chance) = Luck and randomness determine (partly) whether you reach the goals.
3. MIMICRY (imitation) = You can take on the role of something/someone else.
4. ILINX (vertigo) = Emphasis on movement/speed, the goal being to get an enjoyable feeling.
Game versus ‘play’ (Caillois, o.a.):
Games can be played with a ludus and a paidia attitude.
Play (paidia) can also take place without a game.
More of this in Lecture 13.
4
,PERSPECTIVES
GAME = Structure and technology, how these determine the player experience.
PLAYERS = How games are used in the real world, effects on players.
CULTURE = How culture affects games and vice versa, subcultures related to games.
GROUPS OF RESEARCHERS
FORMALISTS = Focus on the games themselves or related philosophical questions (film studies) –
Categorization, reasoning.
SITUATIONISTS = Focus on the players and culture (context and variation, ‘real’ experiences).
Further subgroups within formalists:
NARRATOLOGY = Games as a way to tell stories.
LUDOLOGY = Games as a collection of rules (gameplay).
5
, LECTURE 2 – GAME ELEMENTS
GROUPS OF RESEARCHERS
Formalists: Focus on the games themselves or related philosophical questions
(film studies) – Categorization, reasoning.
Situationists: Focus on the players and culture (context and variation, ‘real’
experiences).
RULES, GOALS AND CHALLENGES:
RULES = Define the space, objects, passage of time, consequences of actions. E.g.: Giving people a soccerfield
and a ball only, given that they don’t know soccer they won’t know what to do
Gives you a framework to work with, how to work towards goals.
Passage of time: Does the game have real world time or not? E.g.: Complete this task in 15
minutes/game about the different times, completing a task will bring you to the Middle Ages
Consequences: Damage/morality. E.g.: GTA, if you drive your car against something it will look
damaged and be slower + Killing civilians will lower your morality score
1. OPERATIONAL RULES (in the GDD): Required to be able to play the game.
2. BASIC, “CONSTITUATIVE” RULES: Underlying, often logical/mathematical rules on which the
operational rules are based.
3. RULES OF CONDUCT: Often unwritten. E.g.: Sportsmanship, cheating
“REAL” RULES = If the game looks really much like real life, functions and looks like real life, we
assume that it works in a similar way as real life works. E.g.: Assassin’s Creed
ARTIFICIAL RULES = Rules that we create in order to create a game, from objects that not necessarily
have that inherent function within themselves.
GOALS =
The reason for players to play the game.
Achievable but challenging.
Can be determined by the game, or by the player themselves.
There are a lot:
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