In Pursuit of Optimal Gaming Experience: Challenges and Difficulty Levels
REF: Bostan, B. & Ogut, S. (2009). In Pursuit of Optimal Gaming Experience: Challenges and Difficulty Levels. Entertainment=Emotion Conference, Spain.
This paper presents basic principles for designing game challenges as well as the requirements and qualities required to achieve maximum enjoyment. Special emphasis is given to the accumulated knowledge of Wizards of the Coast (and formerly TSR) in designing role-playing games. Different player types are discussed, the nature of the difficulty curve is examined, and the relationship between player satisfaction and different levels of difficulty is analyzed with a case study.
"© Entertainment=Emotion, Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pedro Pascual (CCBPP). This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution."
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Killer Readings: on Video Games
Title: Game Cultures: Computer Games as New Media
Type: Book
Full Reference: Dovey, J. and Kennedy, H.W. (2006). Game Cultures: Computer Games as New Media. New York: Open University Press.
Comment: Exceptional book that focuses on video games from a new media and CMC perspective.
Words of Wisdom III: Henry Miller
When one is trying to do something beyond his known powers it is useless to seek the approval of friends. Friends are at their best in moments of defeat - at least that is my experience. Then they either fail you utterly or they surpass themselves. Sorrow is the great link - sorrow and misfortune. But when you are testing your powers, when you are trying to do something new, the best friend is apt to prove a traitor. The very way he wishes you luck, when you broach your chimerical ideas, is enough to dishearten you. He believes in you only in so far as he know you; the possibility that you are greater than you seem is disturbing, for friendship is founded on mutuality.
Henry Miller - Sexus
Henry Miller - Sexus
Paper Presented at GAMEON'09, Germany
Explorations In Player Motivations : Game Mechanics
REF: Bostan, B. & Kaplancali, U. (2009). Explorations in Player Motivations: Game Mechanics. GAMEON’2009 Conference, Germany.
This article investigates the relations between player needs and the driving game mechanics behind them. It is shown that the restrictions imposed by the game mechanics significantly reduce the number of player needs satisfied by a game, thereby trapping the player within the common motivational cycle of Achievement, Aggression, Harmavoidance and Acquisition. This motivational study on gaming experience should facilitate the design of computer games that satisfy a broader range of player needs by providing ways to investigate the matching actions for each individual need while identifying the common patterns imposed by game mechanics.
"© Eurosis GAMEON 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution."
REF: Bostan, B. & Kaplancali, U. (2009). Explorations in Player Motivations: Game Mechanics. GAMEON’2009 Conference, Germany.
This article investigates the relations between player needs and the driving game mechanics behind them. It is shown that the restrictions imposed by the game mechanics significantly reduce the number of player needs satisfied by a game, thereby trapping the player within the common motivational cycle of Achievement, Aggression, Harmavoidance and Acquisition. This motivational study on gaming experience should facilitate the design of computer games that satisfy a broader range of player needs by providing ways to investigate the matching actions for each individual need while identifying the common patterns imposed by game mechanics.
"© Eurosis GAMEON 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution."
Killer Readings: on Interactivity
Title: Assessing Interactivity in Computer-Mediated Research
Type: Book Chapter
Full Reference: Rafaeli, S. and Ariel, Y. (2007) "Assessing Interactivity in Computer-Mediated Research", In Joinson, A.N., McKenna, K.Y.A., Postmes, T. and Rieps, U.D. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Internet Psychology , Oxford University Press, (Chapter 6, pp. 71-88).
Comment: Everything you need to know about interactivity.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Words of Wisdom II - Hagakure: Book of the Samurai
When intimate friends, allies, or people who are indebted to you have done some wrong, you should secretly reprimand them and intervene between them and society in a good manner. You should erase a person's bad reputation and praise him as a matchless ally and one man in a thousand. If you wilt thus reprimand a person in private and with good understanding, his blemish will heal and he will become good. If you praise a person, people's hearts will change and an ill reputation will go away of itself. It is important to have the single purpose of handling all things with compassion and doing things well.
Paper Presented at ISAGA2009, Singapore
Game Challenges and Difficulty Levels: Lessons Learned From RPGs
REF: Bostan, B. & Ogut, S. (2009). Game Challenges and Difficulty Levels: Lessons Learned From RPGs. ISAGA2009 Conference, Singapore.
This article focuses on game challenges, difficulty levels, and their effects on player enjoyment. Different character development systems are delineated, elements of character creation and progression in AD&D games are examined in comparison with another contemporary gaming system. Advantages and disadvantages of different techniques used in adjusting game challenges are discussed, the nature of the difficulty curve is analyzed from a cognitive science perspective and an ideal difficulty curve for game comparisons is proposed.
"© ISAGA2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution."
REF: Bostan, B. & Ogut, S. (2009). Game Challenges and Difficulty Levels: Lessons Learned From RPGs. ISAGA2009 Conference, Singapore.
This article focuses on game challenges, difficulty levels, and their effects on player enjoyment. Different character development systems are delineated, elements of character creation and progression in AD&D games are examined in comparison with another contemporary gaming system. Advantages and disadvantages of different techniques used in adjusting game challenges are discussed, the nature of the difficulty curve is analyzed from a cognitive science perspective and an ideal difficulty curve for game comparisons is proposed.
"© ISAGA2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution."
Words of Wisdom I - Chris Crawford
Scientists, engineers, and mathematicians are not just unschooled in the humanities; they actively dismiss the arts and humanities as soft-headed wastes of time. The arts and humanities people have gone just as far in the other direction: They simply refuse to have anything to do with the sciences and disparage science as "linear thinking". We are paying the price for this pigheadedness in the field of interactive storytelling. Interactive storytelling requires creative people who straddle the divide.
Chris Crawford - Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling
Chris Crawford - Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling
Article Published in ACM Computers in Entertainment 7(2)
Player Motivations: A Psychological Perspective
REF: Bostan, B. (2009). Player Motivations: A Psychological Perspective. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 7(2).
Assuming that goal-directed behavior is triggered by the interaction between personal and environmental factors, this article aims to analyze player motivations derived from basic human needs. The psychological needs investigated in this study are based on the psychogenic needs divided into six categories: materialism, power, affiliation, achievement, information, and sensual needs, defined by Murray [1938]. Detailed analysis of the conceptual components of player motivation focuses on matching each psychological need to common gaming situations in computer role-playing games (RPGs). The relationship between motivational factors and gaming situations is discussed with examples from a recently released RPG (The Witcher).
"© ACM, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ACM Computer in Entertainment, {VOL7, ISS2, (June)} http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1541895.1541902"
REF: Bostan, B. (2009). Player Motivations: A Psychological Perspective. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 7(2).
Assuming that goal-directed behavior is triggered by the interaction between personal and environmental factors, this article aims to analyze player motivations derived from basic human needs. The psychological needs investigated in this study are based on the psychogenic needs divided into six categories: materialism, power, affiliation, achievement, information, and sensual needs, defined by Murray [1938]. Detailed analysis of the conceptual components of player motivation focuses on matching each psychological need to common gaming situations in computer role-playing games (RPGs). The relationship between motivational factors and gaming situations is discussed with examples from a recently released RPG (The Witcher).
"© ACM, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ACM Computer in Entertainment, {VOL7, ISS2, (June)} http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1541895.1541902"
Article Published in ACM Computers in Entertainment 7(1)
Requirements Analysis of Presence: Insights from a RPG Game
REF: Bostan, B. (2009). Requirements Analysis of Presence: Insights from a RPG Game. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 7(1).
Presence, or the sense of “being there,” is a major design requirement for virtual environments where users inhabit an artificial reality in the form of two or three-dimensional graphical representations. This article aims to define various psychological and technological aspects of presence based on virtual environment design requirements defined by Stuart [2001]. Detailed analysis of design requirements focuses on a computer role-playing game (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), giving examples from one of the best titles in the genre.
"© ACM, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ACM Computer in Entertainment, {VOL7, ISS1, (March)} http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1486508.1486517"
REF: Bostan, B. (2009). Requirements Analysis of Presence: Insights from a RPG Game. ACM Computers in Entertainment, 7(1).
Presence, or the sense of “being there,” is a major design requirement for virtual environments where users inhabit an artificial reality in the form of two or three-dimensional graphical representations. This article aims to define various psychological and technological aspects of presence based on virtual environment design requirements defined by Stuart [2001]. Detailed analysis of design requirements focuses on a computer role-playing game (Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), giving examples from one of the best titles in the genre.
"© ACM, 2009. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in ACM Computer in Entertainment, {VOL7, ISS1, (March)} http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1486508.1486517"
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