Game Studies Download 2009 - Top 10 Research Findings

Game Studies Download 4.0 Ian Bogost, PhD Mia Consalvo, PhD Jane McGonigal, PhD

Today, right now , YOU will create the official TOP 10 LIST.* * post-GDC Slideshare readers: skip to final slide for the results

Like a study? POWER IT UP the top 10 list! Send us your answer to this Q: What game title – past, present, or future – might be improved by applying the findings of this study?

Fear of failing: The many meanings of difficulty in video games Jesper Juul, MIT

What is the role of failure in video games?

Do players prefer games where they do not feel responsible for failing?

Preliminary test offline with 9 players
(5 men, 4 women)
Second stage online with 85 players
(73 men 12 women)

Those who failed some liked the game the best

Failure adds content, by making players see new nuances in a game

Players want to feel somewhat responsible for failing in a game

How can you show players the nuances of your game through failing at it?

How can you show players the nuances of your game through failing at it? Friday, 10:30-10:50 AM

Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design
Karen Collins, University of Waterloo

Generativity

10 approaches to variability in games

1. Variable tempo 2. Variable pitch 3. Variable rhythm/meter 4. Variable volume/dynamics 5. Variable DSP/timbres 6. Variable melodies 7. Variable harmony 8. Variable mixing 9. Variable form (open) 10. Variable form (transitional)

How can you use musical dynamism to construct ambience through audio?

Relating the pleasures of violent game texts Gareth Schott, U of Waikato, New Zealand

2 year project in New Zealand
Alternative to effects studies, social science approach
Weekly game clubs, players 14-18, 61 students
Group & individual interviews

Is it appropriate to categorize what happens in games as ‘violence’?
How do players of violent games make sense of those experiences?

preservation rather than malice or cruelty

War games the most preferable way of engaging with violence

Agency and forward movement were primary drivers

How might building in time for reflection change a player’s perception of a gameplay experience?

Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds Michael Nitsche, The Georgia Institute of Technology

rule-based mediated fictional play social spaces created computationally space on the image plane; cinematic space the space imagined by the player the space of play itself, including the player and the videogame hardware the space of interaction with other players/people

How can you design for the space of play between player and machine/monitor?

Play to win or win to play? The material culture of gaming Charlie Breindahl, IT University-Copenhagen

Jonas Heide Smith: Do Players Seek to win?

The basic control scheme of FIFA (Xbox) looks like this: Left Stick: LS -Controls your player’s basic movement. Right Stick: RS -Controls your player’s First Touch Control. Left Trigger: LT -Secondary input. Calls in another defender when defending. Right Trigger: RT -Sprint. X- Lobbed Pass/Cross (hold LT and press X for Early Cross, double tap for Low Hard Cross) A- Regular Pass (hold LT and press A for a Manual Pass) B- Shoot (hold LT and press B for a Chip Shot) Y- Through Pass (hold LT and press Y for a Lobbed Through Pass)

The gaming circle The interface The game circle

So was the question wrong? Or the approach?

Hypothesis: the motivation for participating transcends the players’ in-game goal of winning

Xbox 360 player communities for racing games
Modding subculture
Classic car culture
Organized motor sport culture

Material car culture

Players race to win  to earn credits  to modify their cars  to stand out. Rather than playing to win, they win to play.

How can you broaden the ways players can differentiate themselves in your game?

Novices, Gamers, and Scholars: Exploring the Challenges of Teaching About Games
Jose Zagal, DePaul University Amy Bruckman, The Georgia Institute of Technology

Students are less able to talk about videogames critically

Recontextualizing

Game journaling Explicit theoretical frameworks Writing about the same game more than once

Players may not have the tools necessary to experience games critically, without assistance.

But perhaps we haven't given players the tools or invitations to grasp them at deeper levels. “ Andy, I saw your mail a while back and have not ignored it, just been trying to find the time to answer it. I've avoided getting too deep into Rand in interviews, because PC Gamer isn't exactly the best forum for an Objectivist discussion...” — Ken Levine, responding to an Objectivist Center forum member

The industry benefits from people able to talk about how games matter.

The introduction of background information and (perhaps more importantly) its repetition.

How can you introduce players to the subject matter of your game to help them reflect on it effectively?

‘ Because it just looks cool!’ Fashion as character performance—the case of WoW Susana Tosca & Lisbeth Klastrup, IT University-Copenhagen

The hypothesis: appearance always plays a role in the social fabric of a multi-player game
4 month in game observation; online survey (n=201); key informant interviews (2)

Survey Questions

Status awareness and anxiety

Channel for playful personal expression

Inspirational fashion

Fashion as
collector activity
Fashion trends

How can you be more intentional about developing a fashion culture in your game?

How’s the Weather: Simulating Weather in Virtual Environments
Matt Barton, St. Cloud University

ambiance

decoration

most games don’t depict weather's effects on the world and objects in it.

Weather = slippery

Weather is a force humans can't control = opportunity to offer realism beyond graphical verisimilitude offering instead a less predictable and more textured set of everyday experiences

How can you use weather as a tool for immersion and interest?

(Play) Ground rules: The social contract and the magic circle Stewart Woods, Curtin U, Australia

How do players see their role in a game as constrained by the implicit norms of a competitive game encounter?
800 surveys of players of modern strategy board games

“Victory is tertiary to socializing”

There are key times when players
play to lose
When playing against new or inexperienced players
To further the enjoyment of others
When victory appears impossible
When learning the game

How could you make winning one of several goals of your game?

Learning in Context: Digital Games and Young Black Men
Betsy James DiSalvo, Georgia Institute of Technology
Kevin Crowley, Roy Norwood, University of Pittsburgh

cultural context for young black men playing games in economically disadvantaged inner-city neighborhoods

(how differences in game play affect interest in science technology, engineering math)

offline social aspect

Game Talk Instructional, casual But especially competitive: “ smart talk” or “trash talk” was the most prevalent kind of talk

Trash talk grew more important as gamers grew older

How could you add layers of player talk to enhance the social interaction among players?

And finally…
THE RESULTS from our real-time Game Developers Conference rankings are in…

Which game title – past, present, or future – could be improved by applying the findings of this research?
You suggested…

10. “(Play)Ground Rules: The social contract and the magic circle”
Counter-Strike
Scrabble
Boom Blox
Puzzle Arcade
Rayman’s Raving Rabbits
Street Fighter 4

9. "Novices, Gamers, and Scholars: Exploring the Challenges of Teaching About Games”
The Marriage
Fallout 3
Metacritic (it’s a game, right?)
Metal Gear Solid 4
Braid
Gravitation

8. Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design
Rock Band Sudoku
World of Warcraft FEAR
Settlers of Catan
Shadow of the Colossus
GTA4
Wii Sports (seriously)
Coil
Knights of the Old Republic

7. “Play to win or win to play: The material culture of gaming”
Spore
Magic the Gathering
Any coop Wii game
WoW (especially PvP)
Call of Duty 4
Every MMO
Street Fighter 4
Oblivion

6. “Language-GAME-Players: Relating the pleasures of ‘violent’ game texts”
EVE Online
GTA
Prince of Persia
Serious Sam
No More Heroes
Mirror’s Edge
Call of Duty
ALL GAMES

5. “Fear of failing: The many meanings of difficulty in video games,”
Prince of Persia God of War series
Braid
Disgaea Any educational game
Magic the Gathering Prey Call of Duty
Peggle
MGS4
Puzzle Quest

4. "How’s the Weather: Simulating Weather in Virtual Environments"
Rock Band
Guitar Hero
WoW
Oblivion
Go way back… Midwinter
Wii Tennis
Counter-Strike
Any RTS game
Legend of Zelda
Battlefield Series

3. "Learning in Context: Digital Games and Young Black Men"
Mario Party
Any sports game
The Sims
Wario Ware
Civilization
Halo 3
Animal Crossing

2. Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds
Any iPhone game Spore
Cooking Mama Fallout 3
Rayman Raving Rabits Robotech Arcades
Endwar Nobi Nobi Boy
Left 4 Dead
Resident Evil 5
Rez
Any mobile game

1. “Because it just looks cool!” - Fashion as character performance: The Case of WoW.”
Rock Band
The Mii System
Xbox Live Avatars
Sony Home
Castle Crashers
Left 4 Dead. Zombies need fashion too!!
WoW – how long until Armani proper opens up a virtual shop in Azeroth or the like
Any FPS
We need a runway walk-off game
Team Fortress 2
Steven Madden
Bioshock
Animal Crossing

2009 Top 10 Game Studies Research Findings
10. Stewart Woods, “(Play)Ground Rules: The social contract and the magic circle” Observatorio Journal, 8, 2009. http:// obs.obercom.pt .
9. Jose Zagal and Amy Bruckman, "Novices, Gamers, and Scholars: Exploring the Challenges of Teaching About Games," Game Studies 8:2, http://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/zagal_bruckman .
8. Karen Collins, Game Sound: An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design ( Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008).
7. Charlie Breindahl, “Play to win or win to play: The material culture of gaming,” Association of Internet Researchers annual conference, Copenhagen, Denmark.
6. Gareth Schott, “Language-GAME-Players: Relating the pleasures of ‘violent’ game texts,” Screen and Media Studies Research Forum, University of Waikato, New Zealand.
5. Jesper Juul, “Fear of failing: The many meanings of difficulty in video games,” in Mark J.P. Wolf and Bernard Perron, eds., The Video Game Reader 2 (New York: Routledge, 2008).
4. Matt Barton, "How’s the Weather: Simulating Weather in Virtual Environments" Game Studies 8:1, http://gamestudies.org/0801/articles/barton .
3. Betsy James DiSalvo, Kevin Crowley, and Roy Norwood. "Learning in Context: Digital Games and Young Black Men," Games and Culture 2008:3.
2. Michael Nitsche, Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Worlds (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008).
1. Susana Tosca, Lisbeth Klastrup, “Because it just looks cool!” - Fashion as character performance: The Case of WoW.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research, 1:3, 2009. www.jvwresearch.org .

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Game Studies Download 2009 - Top 10 Research Findings

by Jane McGonigal on Mar 29, 2009

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