Mindcraft - or why emergence makes Farmville as important as Minecraft

V0.6.10.10 Alpha Mindtrek 2010 Ben Kirman (@Benki) Lisc.lincoln.ac.uk

Minecraft: 1 man, 10 months, 290,000 copies sold. Alpha is the new beta: minecraft.net

Sandbox of simple physical laws and huge depth Materials can be mined, combined and used in construction Isn t my beach house awe inspiring?

OH... http://tinyurl.com/bigmines

What is so COMPELLING about Minecraft?

EMERGENCE   The design has GAPs   NO explicit objectives   Freedom to experiment   RULES are your own   no strict EXtrinsic narrative

What would Kill Minecraft?

Killing minecraft   Closing the Gaps   Forced objectives   you must build a tower to continue   LEVEL/class Structure   Only level 8 clerics can mine obsidian   formal story arc   princess *must* be rescued

Roger caillois* Defined play along an axis between ludus and paidia *other philosophers are available

LUDUS Strictly observed rules A Gratuitous taste for difficulty

PAIDIA freeform play experience spontaneous manifestations Of the play instinct

PAIDIcraft Minecraft is highly paidic: you have freedom to Craft your own fun While ludus is fun too, formal rules can be at the expense of paidia

So... does paidia require complex, sprawling environments? Do the players need to be literate gamers with lots of free time to be able to fun- craft?

The stereotype of social games is that they have:   Simplistic mechanics   no explicit objectives/ no end conditions   No strict extrinsic narrative Sound familiar? but can social gamers be creative?

Social Games with design GAPS such as control over space (e.g. FARM TOWN) have developed communities of playful creativity

My mum made this! It s based on the mosaics at granada She s been farmcrafting longer than I ve been minecrafting! More at: tinyurl.com/farmcraft

how could we kill playful fun in a social game? Zoo kingdom space for emergence

My zoo similar game mechanics, but few gaps means less opportunities for playfulness. (It s still fun though - just different)

just like real games, not all social games are paidic... Mafia wars has a very strong extrinsic narrative. There are few opportunities to subvert the mechanics, and create our own fun

Caution! playfulness does not require virtual spaces it s just the easiest visual example of a design gap Any freedom to exploit game rules can lead to emergent play

SUMMARY   playfulness emerges through gaps in design   e.g. control over environment   opportunities to subvert mechanics   playfulness = stronger intrinsic narratives   Social games, despite being simpler, can still offer this   minecraft is just Farmville for dorks

V0.6.10.10 Alpha Mindtrek 2010 PRESENTATION OVER! Any Questions...? Ben Kirman (@Benki) Lisc.lincoln.ac.uk

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Mindcraft - or why emergence makes Farmville as important as Minecraft

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