Game Decisions
For this weeks task I had to read two articles and watch a video on game decisions. The first article was called "Building A Saving Princess App". The article talks about how to build learning and fun into your applications. It also talks about the difference between games and apps and how games are usually good at saving princesses and how apps don't do it half as well.
Image from the article
The image above is an example of a typical app. The article tells us that everything that needs to be done is already in the box and basically done for us and that it focuses on the user utilitarian tools to get things done. The article also talks about the learning curve for apps and about how skills are a useful tool that you pick up from experience. It also talked about how the jumping button was a tool but a skill is knowing when and how to use it.
Image from the article
The image above is a second attempt at designing a rescue princess app. The app is as simple as pressing a button and the princess is rescued. The article talks about how 80% of people will use app features once or never and that they hurt more than they help. The article suggests that apps remove extra features, focus only on the task at hand and use skills that people already know. The article also talks about how when web apps grow they menus, spell checking and hundreds of other features. It also talks about the difference between complex web apps and simple web apps. It explains that complex web apps are easier to use because we learn more skills and can also use the skills we have already learned. The articles also talks about Super Mario which is a perfect example of a rescue the princess game. In fact it is the original rescue the princess game.
Image from the article
The above image is a list of skills learned from playing Super Mario Bros. The article also talks about how the best games take weeks of learning while apps only usually take a few minutes and games will teach you more skills than an app and that games are more fun than apps such as Word. The article also asks the question "Why are games fun?". The answer is exploratory learning. Exploratory learning is when you are given a goal that you aren't told how to reach and you learn by failing. The steps for exploratory learning are Skills, Tools & Action, Rules and Stimulus (STARS). The game Super Metroid is used as an example when talking about these steps. It talks about how you learn to wall jump in Super Metroid. The game teaches you how to do this by throwing you into a pit with no way out other than to wall jump up a shaft that seems impossible but obviously is possible without anyone telling you how to. First you see three gremlins escape ahead of you which you then have to try yourself. This is where skills comes in. Next up is tools and action. This is where the user does something to move them closer to their goal so in this case they'll most likely jump. Next up is Rules. If jumping helps the first time then the player will try it again the second time to get them even further. And finally there's stimulus. When jumping off the walls the outcome will either be they succeeded and are further up the shaft or they failed and are back down the shaft. The games stimulus is the feedback you receive on whether the players actions got them closer to their goal or not. The message this article mostly tries to get across is that it is better for things to be more challenging to learn than simple because that way people can learn more skills in the process.
The second article was called "Flow Experience In Computer Game Playing Among Thai University Students". This article talks about how computer
and technology advancements have influenced everyday lives through communication, education and recreation. It tells
us that in Thailand statistically there are 22.2 million computer users with 18.3 million internet surfers in 2013. The
article also tells us that it is estimated that 2.5 million Thai children have a gaming addiction, American children spend
20 hours a week playing games, 90-94 percent of Australian people aged 6-25 play games daily, 10.3 percent of children
in China have game addiction and in South Korea there was even a death caused by heart failure as a result of 80 hours of
gaming. It also tells us that some games have led to aggressive behaviour and diminished empathy and altruism. It tells
us that game addiction is displayed by behaviour such as obsessing over a game, demanding to spend time to games
daily, increasing desire to play games and anger caused by not being able to play games. The overall concept of this
article is game addiction. The article also talks about theories surrounding game addiction. It explains that medical
biology focused on the cell level, the brain, the neurological system and neurotransmitters which were associated with
addiction. One theory suggests that game addiction is a freedom of choice and fulfilling basic needs such as physical
needs, love and belonging, acceptance and identity. I think this article talked about game addiction very well and it
treated it as a serious issue that actually needs help and explained reasons as to why people are addicted to video games
very well.
Lastly we had to watch a video called "What Is Flow Theory In Game Design?- The Basics". The video talks about how you can make games better using human psychology instead of just winging it. The video tells us that flow theory begins with giving the player a challenge then the player achieves a flow state and then they must maintain the flow state. When the player is in a flow state they are given a challenge and they then end up playing the game for hours without realising otherwise known as being in the zone. The idea of flow theory is to have players so focused on the game that they become unaware of anything going on around them and they go into their own world.
university students
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