On Making Good Games: Using Player Virtue Ethics and Gameplay Design Patterns to Identify Generally Desirable Gameplay Features


Björk Staffan
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

This paper uses a framework of player virtues to perform a theoretical exploration of what is required to make a game good. The choice of player virtues is based upon the view that games can be seen as implements, and that these are good if they support an intended use, and the intended use of games is to support people to be good players. A collection of gameplay design patterns, identified through their relation to the virtues, is presented to provide specific starting points for considering design options for this type of good games. 24 patterns are identified supporting the virtues, including RISK/REWARD, DYNAMIC ALLIANCES, GAME MASTERS, and PLAYER DECIDED RESULTS, as are 7 countering three or more virtues, including ANALYSIS PARALYSIS, EARLY ELIMINATION, and GRINDING. The paper concludes by identifying limitations of the approach as well as by showing how it can be applied using other views of what are preferable features in games.

 

Review on psychophysiological methods in game research


Ekman Inger Chanel Guillaume Järvelä Simo Cowley Ben Salminen Mikko Henttonen Pentti Ravaja Niklas
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

This paper reviews the psychophysiological method in game research. The use of psychophysiological measurements provides an objective, continuous, real-time, non-invasive, precise, and sensitive way to assess the game experience, but for best results it requires carefully controlled experiments, large participant samples and specialized equipment. We briefly explain the theory behind the method and present the most useful measures. We review previous studies that have used psychophysiological measures in game research, and provide future directions.

 

Designing for Player Experience: How Professional Game Developers Communicate Design Visions


Hagen Ulf
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

This paper investigates the prevalence of deliberate design for player experience in big game studios, and how potential visions of intended player experience are articulated and communicated to the team in the course of the development process. The primary data consist of interviews with six Swedish game developers. The study shows that the practice of designing for player experience is indeed in use by many game developers, and that a wide variety of tools are employed to articulate and communicate their visions. The main purpose of this communication is to allow everyone in the development team to make design choices that are in line with the commonly shared design vision.

 

A public place of their own. A Fieldstudy of a Game Café as a Third Place


Jonsson Fatima
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

This article investigates the meaning and function of the game café as a ‘Third place’ for boys and young men who play games in a game café. As there has been relatively little focus on game cafés in Western Europe as compared to studies of game cafés in Asia this paper examines the meaning and function of a game café in Sweden. This is achieved through an ethnographic study of a game café in central Stockholm. The author argues that the game café functions as a public place of their own. This means that for this group the game café is an escape from the moral judgments and parental restrictions and control at home. It also provides young men with a local hang out to maintain, negotiate and establish relationships with friends, peers and like minded through gaming. This place is a rather restricted third place which fosters interaction within a homogenous community of people of the same gender and age group. Therefore the game café shares more similarities with a sport club than a traditional café.

 

“I’m in love with someone that doesn’t exist!!” Bleed in the context of a Computer Game


Waern Annika
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

It is not unusual for computer games to include romance, but most games treat romance as a narrative theme rather than as an integrated part of gameplay. In this article I investigate the gameplay experience in the game Dragon Age, a single-player game that allows players to actively engage in romance. Based on an investigation of blog and community comments, we argue that this sometimes will create an experience that is similar to the “bleed” effect in non-computerised role-play, and that the player to some extent shares emotions with his or her character.

 

The Positive Negative Experience in Extreme Role-Playing


Montola Markus
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

Fun is often seen a necessary gratification for recreational games. This paper studies two freeform role-playing games aiming to create extremely intense experiences of tragedy, horror, disgust, powerlessness and self-loathing, in order to gratify the self-selected group of experienced role-players. Almost all of the 15 interviewed players appreciated their experiences, despite crying, experiencing physiological stress reactions and feeling generally ―bad‖ during the play.

 

Social Play? A study of social interaction in temporary group formation (PUG) in World of Warcraft


Eklund Lina Johansson Magnus
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

One of the main components and reasons for the success of the Massive Multiplayer Online Games genre (MMOG) is that these games are seen as arenas for social interaction. The focus of this paper is the phenomenon of “Pick up Groups” (PUGs), a neglected aspect of online gaming. How is the social interaction structured in these temporary groups? The results of a participant observation study reveal a low level of social interaction between PUG players. Communication is held to a minimum and dungeons completed at high speed. Even in the event of downtime, interaction is rare. What little interaction has been observed is divided into instrumental and sociable interaction. A higher level of sociable interaction was found when several players from the same guild played together in the same group. But looking at greetings and goodbyes, normally used to acknowledge an ongoing social situation, we see that the social engagement in most PUGs is low. In summary, social interaction in PUGs, if any, is mainly instrumental, making these temporary groups unsocial game experiences; something not normally associated with group play in the MMOG genre.

 

And Justice for All – the 10 commandments of Online Games, and then some…


Johansson Magnus Verhagen Harko
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

As part of our research project on the social aspects of gaming and more in particular the structuring of behavior in online multiplayer games using norms and rules, we present an overview of the type of rules used by clans and guilds in both MMOGs and FPS games. Not surprisingly, both genre and player motivation play a role in the selection and creation of rules. We also note that one of the types of behavior addressed in many rules, griefing, needs a more sophisticated analysis than used in previous game research. We conclude by presenting a set of “game commandments” that summarize the rule sets analyzed.

 

Leadership Style in World of Warcraft Raid Guilds


Prax Patrick
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

This study shows how guild leaders in World of Warcraft (WOW) and leaders of real life organizations compare in terms of leadership style. This comparison is used to shed some light on leadership in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs). 12 interviews were conducted, six with leaders of successful WOW raiding guilds and six with leaders of various real life organizations. The Leadership Grid was used to analyze and compare the different leadership styles. The leadership style of the guild leaders can be described as “Janus-faced”. It uses both “County-Club Management” putting human needs first and “Authority-Compliance Management” focusing on efficiency and results depending on the situation. To secure the success of the raid a leadership style with focus on results is used during the actual raid. During the every-day life, outside of the actual raid, a leadership style concerned about human needs is chosen to be able to solve social problems and build strong social relationships using only digital media for communication.

 

Undercurrents: A Computer-Based Gameplay Tool to Support Tabletop Roleplaying


Bergström Karl Jonsson Staffan Björk Staffan
2010 DiGRA Nordic '10: Proceedings of the 2010 International DiGRA Nordic Conference: Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players

This paper introduces Undercurrents, a computer-based gameplay tool for providing additional communication and media streams during tabletop roleplaying sessions. Based upon a client-server architecture, the system is intended to unobtrusively support secret communication, timing of audio and visual presentations to game events, and real-time documentation of the game session. Potential end users have been involved in the development and the paper provides details on the full design process.