LECTURE L21GAMES AND GAMIFICATION

Disclaimer

Games are the one of the most powerfulforce in the world

Computer Game History

Early GamesCathode ray tube amusement device, 1947

Analog game, purely electromechanical

Controlled by control knobs which influences the trajectory of the CRT's light beam

Player controls a reticle and aligns it to an airplane to shoot down

Noughts And Crosses, 1952

A Tic-Tac-Toe game

Ran on EDSAC

Used the tank display CRT as 35 x 16 pixel screen for displaying his game

Game did not get well known

Early Games

Early Games

Early 1960s - Two cultures contributed to the idea that computers should be things we interact with and play with:

Walter Isaacson: The Innovators

Hackers - “the hands on imperative”

Rebel entrepreneurs - eager to break into the amusement industry

Spacewar! 1961

Early Games

Programmed on PDP-1 in MIT in 1960 by Steve Russel

One of the first time-sharing computers

Space game where two players try to shoot each others without being drawn to the sun in the center

Spacewar! 1961

Early Games

Impact:

1. Collaboration - Liquid network effect

2. Free - Open Source

3. Strengthened the view that Computers should be Personal and Interactive in real-time

Spacewar! 1961

Early Games

ArcadesSpecial purpose machines

Most popular game was PONG

Arcades became popular amongstyoung in 1971-1974

2-D boards and movementof objects

Special controls and buttons

Pong 1974

Atari VCS 2600 1977

Game ConsolesIn 1974 game consoles start to appear

Computer games market emerges

Atari became the industry leader - Nolan BushnellVCS – Video Computer System 1974 – 1984 Discontinued in 1991

The Video Game CrashIn 1983 the computer game market crashed

Throughout the 1984 and 1985, the home video game industry was nearly dead

Too much supply of similar gamesLow qualityThe public lost interest

Atari did not want to credit developers

Game Consoles Come BackNintendo Entertainment System, 1986

Started the second computer console revolution

Changed the way games were marketedStrict control of what games were produced and soldInstituted quality standardsInstituted content standards

Enter the Personal ComputerIn the 80s Personal computers become more wide spreadGames slowly appear in the PCs

Interactive fictionIn the 80s Interactive fiction games became popular

Role-playing game in which the player moves around in imaginative adventure world and solves mysteries

Early games where text games with simple commands

Slowly graphics was added

Enter CD-ROM

With CD-ROM new types of games became possible

More graphic

The 7th guest from 1992

Myst from 1993 became an unexpected huge success

Multiplayer and 3-D GamesEarly games were multiplayer games

Pong and Spacewar! were multiplayer

Most games after that were single player games where player plays against the computer or players take turn

In the late 80s and early 90s networks start to appearEthernet LANs, then the Internet

DOOM introduced 3-D graphics and multiplayer capabilities in 1993

3D game where the player moves around in a 3-D world

Breakthrough graphicsMultiplayer capability on a LAN

Multiplayer and 3-D Games

Impact of Computer Games

“Games offer immediate feedback, you can see your progress, you can try something and be frustrated but later learn more…

that’s why game play is so engaging to us.” —Barbara Chamberlin, project director at

the New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab

Addiction

Some games are highly addictive

Role playing games, MUD (Multiple User Dialog)Example: EverQuest

Games with progression, construction and commandsExamples: WarCraft, CounterStrike, Sims

Impact of Computer Games

Really simple game, but highly addictive

Released on May 24, 2013, discontinued Feb 8, 2014

Violence

Some games are violent, made for mature adult audience

Most games are not violent

Impact of Computer Games

The Gaming Market

“In twenty years, games will have taken over the world and everything will be virtual reality.”

-- Ray Kurzwiel

Average Game Player Age

35

Source: ESA Essential facts, US data

Source: ESA Essential facts, US data

Source: ESA Essential facts, US data

Source: ESA Essential facts, US data

1990

$10 bn

2000 2010

$20 bn

$50 bn

Games$100 bn

2017

Game Consoles

Sony

Products: PlayStation, PlayStation2, 3 and 4PlayStation Portable

Have the broadest marketHas most of the games

PlayStation3 came with IBM’s CellMovie and TV show downloads

PlayStation4 released late 2013

XBox

Products: XBox, XBox 360, XBox One

Appeal to hard-core gamesMost powerful console

Xbox Live – online game service

Kinect

Microsoft is promotingxbox as entertainment device

NintendoProducts: GameCube, GameBoyWii, Wii U, DS

Appeal to familiesApply strict standards

Wii got a very good start withWii Remote

Nintendo Switch

The Market

PlayStation 2 is still on top

What is the most popular game console of all time?

Games for Everyone

The Market

Tetris

What is the most popular game of all time?

Games are universal

Games areplayed by anyone

Games are part ofgrowing up

Millennials wants entertainment and play in their work, education and social life

Starts early

Why should we stop playing when wegrow up?

Casual Games

Simple and easy games, last for short time (50+ hours)

Addictive with low barriers

Pictures from PopCap

Source: IGDA 2008-2009 Casual Games White Paper

Social Games

Multiplayer games that are played with others

Synchronous or Asynchronous

Source: The online computer and video game industry (OECD Report) The MMORPG Top List

Thousands of players

Roles and responsibility

Continuity and progress

MMORPG

Monetizing games

Monetizing games

Monetization strategy depends heavily on the type of game

To make successful games, you have to be a really good game designer

Art style, tone, uniqueness, game design and balancing have to work

Monetizing gamesAd supported - free, low barrier, large audience

Free 2 Play - optional in-play purchase, time, skills, virtual stuff

Download - Pay for downloads for PC, console and mobile games

Subscription - Pay for access, monthly

Money gaming - Play for money and take rake or percentage

Give player access to play significant portion of the game without paying

Then charge for extras, VIP access, more choices, virtual stuff, advancement

Based on the Freemium concept

Free to Play - F2P

VIRTUAL STUFF

Tom Chatfield 7 ways video games engage the brain

(2010)

TED Talk

The 90-9-1 Rule

In social communities, 90% of theusers don’t contribute

In gaming 90% play for free butare needed so the community works

90% Play for free

9% Pay for added value

1% Pay for anything

Can games improve the world?

Jane McGonigal: Gaming can make a better world (2010)

Can we use games to solve (boring, untasteful…) problems?

Gamif icat ion

Gamification is the process of using game thinking and game mechanics to engage audiences and solve problems

game me•chan•ics

Techniques used by game designers to make games fun and addictive

The Gamification Loop

leaderboard

progression

Influence and status

Games are the most powerful motivation to influence behaviour

How can we usegame mechanics tochange the real world?

Each week we spend

3 billion hours playing computergames

At the age of 21 people have spent

10.000 hoursplaying computer games

Compulsory school is

10.000

hours

The time people have spent playingWorld of Warcraft is 5,93 million years

Evolution of man took

5,93 million years

Fluid intelligence is the capacity to think logically and solve problems in novel situations, independent of acquired knowledge

Crystallized intelligence is the ability to use skills, knowledge, and experience

Evolution of Man gave us Intelligence

Gabe Zichermann: How games make kids smarter (2010)

Real life can be soboooooring

Why should we take games seriously?

Clearly people are wasting time

But we need scientific evidence

Daphne Bavelier: Your brain on video games (2012)

“ ... people who play action games far outperform the people who don’t”

- Green and Bavelier’s experiment

Better in problem

solving

Better in unknown

situations

Better in exploring

new options

Track more objects

Better in monitoring

cluttered world

Better at processing

visual stream of

information

And when you are hiring a person to do a job for you, what is your first interview question?

Do you play video games?

Play games with your kids