East Coast Game Conference Frustration in Games “Much of game design is managing (and causing) frustration” Wikipedia: "Lewis Pulsipher"; "Britannia (board game)"; "Archomental“ 26 April.
Download ReportTranscript East Coast Game Conference Frustration in Games “Much of game design is managing (and causing) frustration” Wikipedia: "Lewis Pulsipher"; "Britannia (board game)"; "Archomental“ 26 April.
East Coast Game Conference
Frustration in Games
“Much of game design is managing (and causing) frustration” Wikipedia: "Lewis Pulsipher"; "Britannia (board game)"; "Archomental“ 26 April 2012
Note about the slides
Slides are provided primarily for those who want detailed notes later, not so much as an accompaniment to the talk Consequently, they are “rather wordy” Available now at http://pulsipher.net/teaching1.htm
Or go to pulsiphergames.com and look for teaching material
Frustration
This is a “philosophical” rather than nuts and-bolts game design topic The idea is to look at your game designs in a new way that might help you improve them If you want nuts and bolts about learning to design games, read my book
Who Am I?
Commercial tabletop game designer Teacher Author Computer networker and programmer
Game Designer
Designed games from an early age Began playing commercial wargames in early ‘60s, video games with Atari 2600 Designer of several commercially published board wargames from late 70s Most well-known, Britannia most recently, second edition of Dragon Rage (originally 1982) Forthcoming: Law & Chaos (Mayfair)
Teacher
College teacher for most of the past dozen years: computer networking and later video game design and production 17,000 classroom hours of teaching experience (college and graduate) First to teach game design in North Carolina as far as I know (Fall ’04)
Author
Author of Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish, summer 2012 *Practical* advice for game design learners http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0 7864-6952-9 Contributor, Tabletop Analog Game Design, Hobby Games: the 100 Best, Family Games: the 100 Best Game design blog: http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/ Teach game design blog: http://teachgamedesign.blogspot.com
"Expert blogger", Gamasutra: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/LewisPulsipher/774/ ·former contributing editor, White Dwarf, Dragon, Space Gamer, etc.
·former publisher, Supernova, Blood and Iron, Sweep of History, etc.
Computer networking/programming
Worked a decade at Womack Medical Center, Ft. Bragg “Programmer analyst”, then Chief of PC and Networking Support Y2K rep as well (yuck!)
Some of my work
Some questions
How many call themselves “hard core” players How many like tension when they play a game?
How many like to play games against human opposition?
Do you expect “opposition” from a puzzle?
Are modern video games about depth or about variety?
In terms of entertainment, how closely related are games and films? Games and novels? Games and puzzles?
Are games about earning something, or about being given something?
Nature of Frustration
Chess/checkers/go- opposition Monopoly- randomness Charades and other family games Arcade games-system, you're going to die Home-play video games Team Fortress/Left4Dead Justin--frustrated with teammates Settlers of Catan Tabletop D&D--arithmetic Freemium games and CCGs ("free to die") Social networking games —need for “energy”
Frustration in Games
A natural concomitant of opposition: "the feeling that accompanies an experience of being thwarted in attaining your goals” (dictionary.com) "Frustration is a common emotional response to opposition. Related to anger and disappointment, it arises from the perceived resistance to the fulfillment of individual will.“ (Wikipedia) So if you play against someone else, frustration is to be expected Challenge versus “I’m sick of this” But what if you’re playing against a computer?
Centuries of Tradition in Games
Put players on the “horns of a dilemma” The “agonizing decision” You don’t have all the information you need Removed under time-stress —you don’t have time to agonize Games are (or were) about making decisions Games were not “experiences” designed to elicit particular feelings, as some video games are
What’s necessary, what isn’t?
A reviewer (of Shank 2) complained that “Despite some improvements and a fun new co-op mode this sequel packs in too much unnecessary frustration.” Where does the “deliciously agonizing decision” end and unnecessary frustration begin?
When does the number of decisions itself become frustrating?
Tension in Games
From opposition From uncertainty From "fiddliness"
Kinds of frustration from player’s point of view
frustration that produces
desirable
(“good game”) tension frustration that's
acceptable
perfect”) (“it’s not frustration that's
unacceptable
game” (“crummy frustration that's
intolerable
game”) (I’ll quit that
Types of Frustration from Designer’s Point of View
Frustration with other players Frustration with the game mechanics Frustration with the interface Frustration with extraneous factors
Frustration with opposition
“PvP” versus “PvE” Or with the computer Expected by those who see games as challenges or intellectual tussles Not desired by those who play games purely as entertainment Party games Social networking and many other casual games
Opposition related to losing
How competitive is the game?
Puzzles not very competitive —you can’t lose Contests: time how fast players can do something, or how much they can do in a given time Races Puzzle contests (“multi-player solitaire”) Story-based games Direct versus indirect competition
Frustration with the game mechanics
“PvE” versus “PvP” Unnecessary mechanics “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” Designers need to abstract and automate Abstract: combine two functions into one Automate: let the game do something instead of making the player do it Simple game mechanic choices Memorization, e.g., in
Stratego
Frustration with the interface
A huge problem in video games How often do we read about games “ruined” by difficult interfaces Players would really like to think at the game and have it do what they wish “Intuitive” is a meaningless word IF it means anything at all, it means “familiar” Don’t deviate from familiar interface without very good reasons
Frustration with extraneous factors
Video games automatically take care of many of these problems: Arithmetic/calculation Sameness Color Blindness Writing things down Number of choices Planning ahead
Frustration and Casual Games
“Entertainment” doesn’t imply frustration Many players don’t want to be challenged by their entertainment Some players want to see a story, not fight with the game The new game players (from Facebook) are equivalent of tabletop mass market
Frustration and “Social Network” games
Many social network games are very simple puzzles (you can’t lose to a puzzle) After designing games for centuries to avoid unnecessary frustration, now we deliberately incorporate frustration “Pain points” to persuade players to spend their money.
“Energy” limitations Tasks/unlocks that require items that (practically speaking) must be bought
Ethan Levy on F2P game monetization
Emotion is the key to monetization Impatience (frustration) Revenge (frustration) Dominance (frustration through opposition) Jealousy (frustration) Accomplishment Exhilaration
21
st
century Lower Tolerance of Frustration
Age of Instant Gratification “Patience used to be a virtue” (billboard alcohol advertisement) Age of Convenience Generation “Me” Doing “just enough to get by” Activity rather than winning and losing (“lose turn” card, downtime)
Comments? Questions?
Copyright 2012 Lewis Pulsipher