today’s topics game technologies game design game studies analysis of fantasy sports

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Today’s Topics • Game technologies • Game design • Game studies • Analysis of fantasy sports

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Page 1: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Today’s Topics

• Game technologies• Game design• Game studies• Analysis of fantasy sports

Page 2: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Game Technologies

• Game engine vs. interface• Game engine

– Runs the simulation– Can be simple or very complex

• Interface– Graphics– Interaction

Page 3: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

World Simulation

• Moving objects– Animations for water, fire, etc.– Physics engines for determining non-character

movement• Friendly (and not) characters

– Scripts and triggers for behavior– Interactions between non-player characters becoming

ever more complex• Unintended results:

– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8hetpJxXSw

Page 4: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Game Interface

• Point and click– Direct manipulation– Palettes of options

• Keyboards– Lots of options, faster response– Must be learned

• Vision and sensor based interfaces– Activity of player is more aligned with activity in

game

Page 5: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Game Design

• Game design teams are specialized much like movie teams– Lead designer– System/simulation/user interface designer– Level/environment designer– Writer/scriptwriter– Graphic artist– Sound engineer– Tester

Page 6: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Serious Games

• Games for serious purposes

• Goal: Motivate “players” to learn or to act more by delivering an immersive/engaging experience

Page 7: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports
Page 8: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Game Studies

• Studies of stories/interpretation• Studies of settings/worlds

– “Compared with the rolling hills of Tamriel, the plains of Oblivion as represented in the opening shot involves a far more conventional version of the sublime, coming from Dante and Milton by way of Mordor. ”

• http://gamestudies.org/1103/articles/martin

• Studies of individual activity• Studies of social interactions• Studies of rhetoric in/surrounding games

Page 9: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Blending the Real and Virtual in Games: The Model of Fantasy Sports

Page 10: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Real and Virtual: Together

“Real or virtual” vs. “real and virtual”– Decades of comparisons of on-line communities to

physical communities– Computer games vs. in-person games

Separation is artificial – forms of entertainment and art can integrate the physical and digitalThis is not news … we see it all the time.

Page 11: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Existing Methods for Combining Real and Virtual

Using real people– Playing against other people– Basing people in game on real people

Using external personal contacts– Friends lists

Using physical location– Location aware games/arts

Clearly not an exhaustive list

Page 12: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

What are Fantasy Sports?

Fantasy sports: a derivative entertainmentPlayers of fantasy sports take on the role of coach

– Draft actual sport players for team– Decide which players start each week/game– Get points based on player statistics that week– Trade players to other teams/waiver wire

Many other variants of fantasy sports exist

Page 13: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Why Fantasy Sports?

Fantasy sports rely on real sportsFantasy sports can / will change the real sport,

perhaps to the point where real sports rely on fantasy sports …

A big, mainstream phenomenon– 33.5 million players in the US in 2013 survey– 75% played on-line in 2008– Billion dollar industry– Magazines and TV shows devoted to topic

Yet, rarely discussed in gaming literature

Page 14: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

History of Fantasy Sports

Dates1962: paper-based fantasy football game1979: start of Rotisserie baseball

Characteristics:– Leagues among local friends and colleagues– Significant effort of collecting statistics and

computing winners– Trophies and prizes for winners (and losers)

Page 15: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Digitization

A natural fit– Automatic collection and manipulation of statistics

reduces overhead of leagues.– Network provides easy access for players from around

the world to create leagues.

Effect– Low overhead, no knowledge of other players– Low consequences results in lower interest– Players abandon teams early in season

Page 16: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Recapturing What Was Lost

New interfaces aid sense of community– League statistics / power ratings / transactions– League newspapers / polls– League message boards

Integrating virtual and real sport news– News of injuries, anticipated changes to starting

players, and weather forecasts– Alongside articles about fantasy teams

Page 17: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports
Page 18: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports
Page 19: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Rhetoric in Fantasy Sports• Empowerment

“becoming the team's manager, owner, and president all in one”

“have star athletes working for you”

• Competition“ever thought you could do a better job than the people

running the teams?”“show the world just how smart you are”

• Participation“In Fantasy Sports, you can be as much the

beneficiary of an athlete's performanceas the athlete himself!”

Page 20: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Framework for Games and Sports

Fantasy sports combine spectatorship with gaming– Players must understand and anticipate the real sport– Players act in the virtual sport based on this knowledge

Real Action Virtual Action

Player Control Playing sportsPlaying games

External Control

Watching sports

Observing game playing

Page 21: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Emotion and Engagement

Lessons from fantasy sports• Ease of playing resulted in less

commitment to game• Community presence and

surrounding context can increase engagement• Real consequences increase engagement

(e.g. financial or other awards)• Connection to events in the real world can

remove the boredom that results from predictable game engines

Page 22: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Potential Effects of Fantasy Sports on Real Sports

Audience:– Greater interest driving larger television audiences– Spectators via multiple media

Game:– Rule changes to better support fantasy

sports (e.g. injury reports, starting line-ups)

Viewing:– Personalized presentations of real

sports events

Page 23: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Games as Derivative FormsSimple model

– Real world acts as data source for game engine– Model maps data to game

Real-WorldEvent

Collection ofData from

Event

Model MappingData to Game

Context

VirtualEvent

Page 24: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Examples of ModelSimple mappings

– Fantasy stock markets– Fantasy elections

Streaming or querying data– Weather and traffic in racing or other

simulation– Play/action selection in sports game based on

database of play selections retrieved by similarity of conditions

Page 25: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Fantasy Sport meets Reality TV

Information flow in model is in single directionWhat if:

An Alternative “XFL”– Vote for next play, or player substitutions– Audience communication with players on the field

Page 26: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Data-Driven Entertainment: Next Steps• Need to know

– Q1: How do players select athletes for their teams? – Q2: What are players’ data collection and analysis practices? – Q3: How do players scope the data they include in their decision

process? – Q4: What is the time commitment and activities of players? – Q5: What aspects of fantasy sports are problematic?

• Surveyed 160 self-reported fantasy sports players on Mechanical Turk

Age Range 18 - 25 26 - 40 > 40 Total

Male 58 70 8 136

Female 13 10 1 24

Total 71 80 9 160

Page 27: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Data Gathering Practices

• Where do players get data?

• How much data?

unreported

> 10

8 - 10

5 - 7

1 - 4

0

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

1

7

13

60

68

11

Page 28: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

What Tools?

• Which tools do players use for data analysis?

• Rationale of tool choice– Need range of features– Convenience– User Control– Usability

Page 29: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Activities and Time

• Number of interactions with game per week

• Length of average interaction

unreported

> 7

5 - 7

2 - 4

1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

1

42

43

67

7

> 1 hour

30 mins - 1 hour

15 - 30 mins

< 15 mins

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

41

42

57

20

Page 30: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Motivations

• Why do people play?

• Many of the comments emphasized social reasons

Page 31: Today’s Topics Game technologies Game design Game studies Analysis of fantasy sports

Fantasy Sports Summary

Fantasy games have 45 year history– 10s of millions of players in US alone– Billion dollar industry

Connecting the real and digital– Using the real world as data for or part of “game engine”– Community, context, and consequence result in

engagement

Potential for digital games to be combined with existing modes of entertainment

New forms of data-driven entertainment