meaningful play and game design

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Meaningful Play and Game Design Dr. Héctor Muñoz-Avila Assigned readings: Chapters 3 & 4 (Rules of Play Book)

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Meaningful Play and Game Design. Assigned readings: Chapters 3 & 4 (Rules of Play Book). Dr. H é ctor Mu ñ oz-Avila. How important is it to play?. Yes, we play to have “fun”, but By playing games we learn a number of skills:. Social Mechanical skills Communication skills - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Meaningful Play and Game Design

Dr. Héctor Muñoz-Avila

Assigned readings:Chapters 3 & 4 (Rules of Play Book)

Page 2: Meaningful Play and Game Design

How important is it to play?

• Yes, we play to have “fun”, but• By playing games we learn a number of skills:

–Social–Mechanical skills–Communication skills–Follow (or break) rules–We learn that there is something at play

•Direct: winning a game•Direct/indirect: reward or impress someone

Page 3: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Meaning and Play• Key goal of successful game design:

• Examples of meaningful play:

Create gaming experience of the player that have a meaning and are meaningful (“meaningful play”)

•Chess: intellectual dueling•Basketball: Improvisational, team-based tactics•Everquest: dynamic shifting of individual and community identities

What makes a game meaningful are not the rules of the game alone but the experiences of players playing the game

(this is why iterative design is so crucial in designing a game)

Page 4: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Descriptive Definition of Meaningful Play

• Descriptive: – meaningful play emerges from the relation between

player action and system outcome – Player: action System: responds

• Meaning of an action is the relation between action and outcome

• Is there meaningful play in something like this?

Of course, we execute our moves/combos with an intended outcome

This definition reflects an operational level

Page 5: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Evaluative Definition of Meaningful Play

• Evaluative:– Meaningful play occurs when relation between actions

and outcomes are discernable and integrated into the larger context of the game

• This definition relates to the experience of the player

• Therefore the evaluative definition is the one we use in our analysis

Page 6: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Discernable

• The outcome of an action is communicated in a perceivable way.

• Good examples?– Where the outcome was communicated

• Bad examples?– Where the outcome was not communicated and

should have

Page 7: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Integrated

• Actions taken by player have not only immediate significance but affects player experience later on.

• Good examples?– Where the outcome has significance later on– How about chess?

• Bad examples?– Where the outcome has significance no later on

Page 8: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Side Track: Massive Multiplayer Online RPGs (MMOs)

• Persistent world• RPG: players take role

– Priest: heal other players– Warrior: draws attention of the MOB towards him/her– Mage: deal damage

• “dude wut is ur DPS?”– … (as many as 20 other roles in modern games)

• Character advances “levels” and gains new skills that facilitates its role

• Fundamental that each player master their avatar’s role to defeat some encounters– 20/40 avatars carefully following a plan

Page 9: Meaningful Play and Game Design

So What is Discernable and Integrated in MMOs?

• Discernable

• Integrated

Page 10: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Homework (next class)

• Describe a concrete example of a discernable outcome in an action (choose a game)

• Describe a concrete example of an action not having discernable outcome (choose a game)– Explain what you think is the impact on play (i.e.,

player’s experience) for this game? (i.e., is it bad?)• Describe a concrete example of an integrated outcome in

an action (choose a game)• Describe a concrete example of a in an action not having

an integrated outcome (choose a game)– Explain what you think is the impact on play for this

game? • Please don’t use any of the examples discussed in class• You may use different games in your answers

Page 11: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Design

• As with “game” there are multiple definitions of what this means– Design is making sense of things– Devising courses of action aimed at changing

existing situations (Herbert Simon)– The conception of visual form– …

• So there are multiple elements: understanding, action, visual appearance, …

Page 12: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Design: A Definition (the “official”)• Design is a process by which a designer creates a context

to be encountered by a participant from which meaning emerges

– Designer: person who creates the game– Context: rules, spaces, objects, narratives (lore)– Participants: players– Meaning: meaningful play

• Crucial point of this definition: connect design and meaningful play

• When creating games we are crafting experiences• Classical example: RPG games

Page 13: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Controversy: MorrowindDesign decision:

• Monsters level as you level

So monster encountered later in the game is tougher than same monster encountered early in the game

In fact you can beat the game at very low level!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP4c0Q1KUs0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh_GgZ_2Hkg&feature=PlayList&p=6381B248E5BDBC5B&playnext=1&index=19

Paradox: can beat at level 20 but not at level 40

Is the outcome of actions integrated?

Page 14: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Design and Meaning

• Meaning in context of game design: assess the value or significance of play

• Meaning is crucial because the design results in a system of interactions

people object

context

meaning

Page 15: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Semiotics

• The study of how meanings are made• Created by a linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (early 1900s)• Example: symbols in rock-paper-scissors• Another examples: classes in a game (mage, warrior)

– What does a “mage” represents? And a warrior?• Four semiotic concepts:

– Sign represents something other than itself– Signs are interpreted– Meaning results when a sign is interpreted– Context shape interpretation

Page 16: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Sign represents something other than itself

• What is the meaning of “O” in Tic-Tac-Toe?

• Games use signs to denote actions and outcome (capturing an opponent’s piece/falling king in chess)

• Chains of signifiers: sequences of signs

• Examples?•Words (sequences of characters)•Civilization signifies society evolution

Page 17: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Signs are interpreted

• Meaning of signs are not because of the signs themselves but because of surrounding context

• Players are active interpreters of signs in games

• Analogy: cursor changes in RTS games

Page 18: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Meaning results when a sign is interpreted

• A sign stands for something to somebody in some aspect or capacity

• Think of the role of a warrior or a mage in an MMO game

– And perceived meaning is controversial (designer versus some players)

• Paladins in WOW: clerics or holy warriors?

Page 19: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Context shape interpretation

• Designer creates a context for the participant form which meaning emerges

• Classical example: word in a phrase

• Structure: set of regulations or guidelines that prescribe how signs are interpreted (example)

Page 20: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Side Track: Lore: Designing ContextPay for a License or Not

Use popular lore Licensing popular lore

Create own lore

Page 21: Meaningful Play and Game Design

Administrative• Game creation: Posted on web site• Analysis of existing game design: Posted on web site