Ian Bogost, Mia Consalvo, and Jane McGonigal present a curated list of the top 10 most interesting, surprising, and useful findings from game studies research over the past year. Presented at the 2009 Game Developers Conference

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

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

3. 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?

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

6. What is the role of failure in video games?

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

10. Those who failed some liked the game the best

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

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

17. Generativity

20. 10 approaches to variability in games

21. 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)

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

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

29. preservation rather than malice or cruelty

30. War games the most preferable way of engaging with violence

31. Agency and forward movement were primary drivers

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

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

36. 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

37. 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

44. 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

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

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

49. Jonas Heide Smith: Do Players Seek to win?

50. 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)

51. The gaming circle The interface The game circle

52. So was the question wrong? Or the approach?

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

56. Material car culture

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

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

62. Students are less able to talk about videogames critically

63. Recontextualizing

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

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

67. 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

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

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

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

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

76. Survey Questions

77. Status awareness and anxiety

78. Channel for playful personal expression

79. Inspirational fashion

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

83. ambiance

84. decoration

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

88. Weather = slippery

89. 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

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

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

94. “Victory is tertiary to socializing”

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

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

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

101. offline social aspect

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

103. Trash talk grew more important as gamers grew older

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