Disrupting the Player’s Schematised Knowledge of Game Components

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Howell Peter Stevens Brett Eyles Mark
2014 DiGRA '14 - Proceedings of the 2014 DiGRA International Conference

The concept of „conservatism‟ in game design has been a subject of debate for a number of years. This „conservatism‟ is linked to „player-centricity‟ in design. Such player-centricity can be suggested to place a limit on the fulfilment of high level cognitive player needs. A framework is thus proposed for disruptive game design that focuses on the player and how they learn about game components. It actively seeks the disruption of knowledge construction as well as the recall process used in applying that knowledge to new situations. Such disruption aims to increase the player‟s cognitive engagement with the game in a way that does not entirely prevent them from understanding the game, which may cause frustration or confusion. This design approach thus aims to provide greater potential for fulfilment of a player‟s high level cognitive needs. The framework is applied to a small case study of the game Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (The Chinese Room, 2013) that was designed and developed utilising its principles.

 

Using an RFID game to phenomenologically test a theoretical systemic model for describing ambient games

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Eyles Mark Eglin Roger
2009 DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory

Imagine what Brian Eno’s genre defining 1978 album Music for Airports (Eno, 1978) would be if it were a game. The game might produce a mood in an environment; the player able to dip in and out of play, which could be facilitated by not having to carry gaming devices, allowing periods of disengagement from the game. The player’s everyday actions would generate data to move the game forward, causing game events. However, it should also be possible for the player to change their behaviour in order to participate more actively in the game, varying their involvement with the game from intense engagement to forgetting they are even playing. The proposed game would span both real and virtual worlds, with player actions in the real world affecting events in the virtual world. We have named this imagined game genre ‘ambient games’ (M. Eyles & Eglin, 2007a). Ambient games may be considered a type of pervasive game (‘a radically new game form that extends gaming experiences out into the physical world’ (Waern, 2006)) in which the game is embedded in the environment and the player may not need to carry digital equipment around with them and, crucially, can continue to actively play while ignoring the game. This paper proposes a systemic domain (Eglin, Eyles, & Dansey, 2007) theoretical model for understanding the underlying properties of ambient games, comparing and contrasting them with computer and video games. The theoretical models of both computer and video games and ambient games are used to generate player activity gameflow diagrams, in which the progress a player makes through the domains in the systemic models while playing a game are clearly shown. A game design research methodology (M. Eyles, Eglin, R., 2008) is used to investigate the ambient game systemic domain model and player activity gameflows. Ambient games, using RFID technology and pedometers, allow players to experience a game in which they are able to vary their involvement while engaged in other everyday activities. In order to discover the lived experience of players of ambient games existential phenomenological methods and in particular template analysis (King, 2008) are used. Studies and observations are described in which ambient games are used within the overarching game design research methodological framework.

 

Playful ambience

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Eyles Mark Pinchbeck Dan
2011 DiGRA '11 - Proceedings of the 2011 DiGRA International Conference: Think Design Play

This research started in 2004 as a search for a pervasive game equivalent of Brian Eno’s ignorable ambient music, such as ‘Music for Airports’. Brian Eno explicitly stated that the attention of listeners might alter over time, from ignoring to listening intently to the music; the ambient music pervading an environment and creating a mood, "it must be as ignorable as it is interesting" (Eno, 1978) Listeners might come across the music and then choose to what extent they engage with it. Defining ambience, and ambient properties, was particularly challenging. The concept of ambience, especially when applied to games, was not immediately clear. Building on the definition of ambience developed by Brian Eno for music (ibid.), fundamental properties of ambience as applied to games were posited. These properties included ideas of different levels of engagement by players, different levels of affect, persistence of the game when players are not present and the context of the game (where, when, who). The game design research methodology (Dishman, 2003; Eglin, Eyles, & Dansey, 2008; Eyles, 2008b; Zimmerman, 2003) developed for this research was used with phenomenological methods (Krzywinska, 2005; Mallon, 2006) to determine the experience of players and hence throw light on the fundamental nature of games and ambient gameplay. Following research into experimental games (M. Eyles, Eglin, R., 2007a, 2007b) which were designed to contain high degrees of ambience as previously (theoretically) defined it became clear that many existing commercial games contain some ambient (sometimes emergent) properties. They are not designed to be played ambiently, but have properties that facilitate ambient play (see ambient properties above). The research with experimental ambient games enabled the development of a phenomenologically predicated ambient lens through which these existing games could be viewed. This lens was then further refined by considering the ambience of both the experimental and the commercial games; finally arriving at a description of key features of ambient play. Constant comparisons within and between different data, and back to definitions of musical ambience, were used to ensure rigor (Glaser, 1978). This paper focuses on the findings of this research into ambience in games, delivering a succinct and far reaching schema of ambience that has not only been applied to existing games but has some important implications for the design of future games, throwing new light on the experience of game players and in particular of the inventive, collaborative and ambiguous nature of game playing. The applications of this research are wide reaching, in particular due to the ‘gamification’ (Campbell, 2011; McGonigal, 2011; Schell, 2010) of many products and services. For example, the awarding of points and rewards for use of online shops (such as Ebay) and the vine growing display of the Ford Fusion Hybrid car to denote driving efficiency (hypermilling) (Squatriglia, 2009). These applications of game mechanisms are pervasive, having many similarities to the ambient gameplay investigated in this research. The findings of this research into ambient play within games clearly indicate elements and approaches that could enhance the experience of gamified products and applications. Further this research offers a new way of looking at games, including both pervasive and commercial video games.