Why We Play Games: Four Keys to More Emotion Without Story - Nicole Lazzaro

Player Experience Research and Design for Mass Marker Interactive Entertainment

 This topic presented me with a question: Why do we play games? Well people play games for different reasons and this results in games having different effects. However all 'gamers' play to change or structure their internal experiences, these experiences create a strong emotional impact on them as a player. Emotions are a form of expression and allow us to express ourselves and let others communicate with us and better understand our emotions. Many games use some form of tools to give the player challenges to overcome, the challenge can result in emotions such as frustration and anger, whereas once the goal is reached the reward is happiness or relief. This could be one of the reasons for why people play games, the sense of happiness as a reward allows people to step out of their ordinary life and into a game world (escapism).

The company, named XEODesign, specialise in researching player experience and design for mass marker interactive entertainment. In these readings they have performed a field study on thirty different players from many different backgrounds with many different preferences in order to find out what makes them want to play the games they do. A set of key emotions were produced that tie in with story:

1. Like: What players like most about playing.
2. Emotion: Creates unique emotion without story.
3. Games: Already present in ultra popular games.
4. Theory: Supported by psychology theory and other larger studies.

Each key is a reason for why people play these games.

Hard Fun:

Players attempt to overcome obstacles. Hard Fun is a way of structuring your play and creating your own experiences and emotions - usually pursuing a goal set by them. This mainly focuses on the reward factor. This technique can cause more frustration and passion when goals are completed, players enjoy the relief after overcoming the frustration and this is one reason for people playing games. Hard Fun tends to attract people who enjoy a challenge and think things such as:

• I play to see how good I am.
• I play to beat the game.
• I play to have multiple objectives.
• I prefer using strategy rather than luck.

Easy Fun:

This type of player receive enjoyment from simply playing the game, for the simple enjoyment and experience of it. This enjoyment often entices the player provoking a sense of curiosity which causes them to become deeply immersed in the game world. The sensations of wonder and awe often draw these players into the game. They tend to have a short attention span so RPGs and Adventure games tend to keep them satisfied. Easy Fun attracts the kind of people that often say things like:

• I play to explore new worlds with intriguing people.
• I play for the excitement and adventure.
• I play because I want to figure out the story.
• I play because I want to see what happens in the story, even if I have to use a walkthrough!
• I play because me and my character are one.
• I love the sound of the cards shuffling.
• I play because of the growing dragons.

Altered States:

These types of players play games that generate emotion through perception, thought, behaviours and playing with others. Many people will say they play games because it makes them feel better about themselves, these games are usually created to shift players from one mental state to another. Players who enjoy these types of games often say things such as:

• I enjoy letting the game clear my mind by clearing a level.
• I feel better about myself whilst playing.
• I play to avoid boredom.
• Being better than someone at something that matters.

The People Factor:

These games create opportunities for players to interact and compete with each other. This type of player often play purely for the social aspects of the game. They will even play games they dont like just because they enjoy socialising with the people that do play. People can get angry and jokes can be thrown about but its all part of the game. These players often say things such as:

• It's the people who play that are addictive, not the game itself.
• I want an excuse to invite my friends over for some games.
• I don't like playing games, but it's a fun way to spend time with my friends.
• I don't play, but it's fun to watch.

Why Some People No Longer or Never Want to Play:

Some people refuse to play games as they value other things in life with a much higher responsibility, such as jobs or family. Some people never want to play again because they know that games can become addictive and develop bad habits. Games have even been regarded as against some people's morals.

Looking at these partitions of the types of games for the gamer I think that I barely fall under any of these categories. Perhaps a mixture of all of them because I enjoy doing nearly everything listed, but it depends on what mood I am in. But if I had to choose I would say either Easy Fun or Altered States  would satisfy me, although as I said I believe I enjoy nearly all aspects of gaming listed here.

Until next time!