today’s topics game technologies game design game studies analysis of fantasy sports
TRANSCRIPT
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
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
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
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
Serious Games
• Games for serious purposes
• Goal: Motivate “players” to learn or to act more by delivering an immersive/engaging experience
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
Blending the Real and Virtual in Games: The Model 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.
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
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
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
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)
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
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
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!”
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
What Tools?
• Which tools do players use for data analysis?
• Rationale of tool choice– Need range of features– Convenience– User Control– Usability
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
Motivations
• Why do people play?
• Many of the comments emphasized social reasons
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