Let's Play Our Way - Designing Flexibility into Card Game Systems - Gifford Cheung - Dissertation Defense

Let’s play our way:Let’s play our way:

Gifford Cheung

under the supervision of David Hendry (Chair), David McDonald, Nicolas Ducheneaut, and Jennifer Turns (GSR)

Designing Flexibility into Card Game Systems

Designing Flexibility into Card Game Systems

2

Overview

Introduction

Literature

Review

Design Reflection

LabSession

s

Analysis

Findings &Implicatio

ns

Robustness

Versatility

Card BoardDesign 1

Design 2

Design Inquiry User Study

3

This is a mother daughter story.

My Scope: Skilled and social play among established friends and family.

3 motivations for playing cards (Crespi, 1956)Gambling, Skill, Social

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Cards against cards Cards against cards

5

digital

flexible

6

Flexibility is

My CriteriaWhat?

What rules can change?Who?

Designers? Programmers? Players?When?

At design-time? In-between patches? During the game?

PreliminaryContribution

7

Overview

Introduction

Literature

Review

Design Reflection

LabSession

s

Analysis


ns

Robustness

Versatility

Card BoardDesign 1

Design 2


8

Flexibility is

(From a literature review by Saleh et al., 2009)

A flexible choice is one that provides more available choices in the future.

Evans (1991):Designer of Card Game Software

Robust

Able to resist extreme breakdowns that a new requirement would impose

ImportedTerminology

10

Versatile

Able to accommodate multiple use-scenarios and

support them very well.

Versatile

ImportedTerminology

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Yahoo

! Sty

le Crib

bage

Yahoo! Cribbage

Mom

-sty

le

Crib

bage

Deck of cards

Versatile

12

Research questions

1) Is this feasible?a) How to design a system that is robust and versatile for

gameplay?b) How to support communication when the rules are

negotiable?

2) Design Tradeoffsa) Flexible vs. Yahoo! Gamesb) Adding versatility to a robust system?c) Versatility vs. Robustness

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Overview

Introduction

Literature

Review

Design Reflection

LabSession

s

Analysis


ns

Robustness

Versatility

Card BoardDesign 1

Design 2


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Card Board

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Investigating Robustness byemphasizing manual card play.“Dumb”

Design 1

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Design 2

Investigating Versatility By extending Design 1 for the poker genre of card games.E.g., Semi-automatic functions that track the bets and evaluate hands

Poker Games

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Video demoDesign 1 & 2

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“What now?”Balancing versatility with

robustness

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Overview

Introduction

Literature

Review

Design Reflection

LabSession

s

Analysis


ns

Robustness

Versatility

Card BoardDesign 1

Design 2


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User StudyUser Study

Goal: To observe players as they use Card Board and as they negotiate the rules of the game.

Approach: Seeking Gameplay and Social Negotiation

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Group A,Design 1:

Part I Texas Hold’em

Part II Dealer’s Choice

Part III Adapt Blindman’s Bluff

Part IV – Free play with Design 2

Procedures

Group B,Design 2:

Part I TexasHold’em

Part II Dealer’s Choice

Part III Adapt Blindman’s Bluff

Part IV – Free play with Design 1

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Overview

24 participants screened out of 77 for above-average

agreeableness and emotional stability in Big 5 Personality

7 sessions 1 hour video-captured, 30 minute group interviews & individual closing surveys

Analyzed qualitatively via thematic analysis & a grounded approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998)

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Gameplay

Dimensions of:

Gameplay PresenceAttending to winning the game.

Gameplay ReadinessEverything that helps players attend to winning.

AdversityChallenges in the environment. (e.g. a ski slope has varying

levels of adversity: bunny, blue, black diamond)

As informed by familiar HCI concepts of:

Present-at-hand andready-to-hand(Winograd & Flores, 1987)

Flow(Csíkszentmihályi, 1991)

NewDimensions

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Communicative

Dimensions of:

VisibilityAudibilityReviewability

(Also: Copresence, Cotemporality, Simultaneity, Sequentiality, Revisability)

As adapted from:

Grounding in Communications(Clark and Brennan, 1991)

ApplyingGrounding toGames

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Ok, ok, so what happened?

Playing extra roundsLaughterUnexpected Dealer’s Choices of games (Spoons)Broken BettingBathroom breaksMessing around

Michelle: Ahem.Michelle: Get yer cursor off my cards!Danny: hmmm?Lindsay: (chuckle)Danny: oh, sorryTara: laughsMichelle: a little virtual bubble please.

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Analysis

A codebook that describes how players negotiate the rules, communicate, and play when using Card Board.

Highlighting three themes:MundaneityA model of live-tweakingLevels of Readiness

CategorizingNegotiation

CategorizingGameplay

CategorizingCommunication

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Rule changing is boring.Rule negotiation to facilitateGameplay Readiness:

Introducing & teaching rulesNew rules to keep play smoothAsking for rules, clarifications Trying to stay impartial

This is great news!

RQ1: Play &Talk overFlexibility

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ProtocolAsking for a rule in this gameAsking for permission to do a game actionAsking for what to do nowAsking if an action is legalBending the rules temporarilyChoosing a gameConfirming that a rule applies – blocking, waiting for

confirmationConfirming that a rule applies – quickly, expecting a

quick answerConfirming that everyone understands enough of the

rules to move forwardCorrecting a wrong move, or undoImperative commandInstructionReminding everyone about a ruleReviewing official or traditional rulesSetting a ruleSpeculating about a rule (“Maybe”; “If”)Suggesting a ruleUnfinished negotiation about a ruleUnspoken suggestion for a rule

RQ 1.2:UnderstandingRule Negotiation

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Model oflive-tweakingRQ1.2: Messages

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RQ1.2: Messages

Ephemeral, in-situ

On record & retrievable

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Tradeoffs

vs.

Robustness Versatility Full Automation

RQs 2 Tradeoffs

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Yes and natural.Games played:Texas Hold’em, Blindman’s Bluff, Five-card Stud, Spoons, Blackjack along with many variations in betting style

A collection that is infeasible in the fully automatic case

“If you play Facebook social games, you’re alone. You’re playing with other people, but you’re not really talking with them. There might be a chat system or something like that, but it’s not the same as sitting – and this is more similar to sitting in the same room as people.” – Session 1, Sherry (Pseudonym)

RQ1: Feasible?RQ2.1: Contrastwith Yahoo?

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Automation

Manual vs AutomaticA concrete approach to understanding robustness and versatility

Automation

Related work:Automation vs non-automation in board games (Pape, 2012; Wallace et al., 2012)Chores are fun. (Xu et al. 2011)

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Analytic Focus

Manual effort in gamesHaving to do it yourself is followed by leadership, deeper engagement in the rules, and a sense of ownership.

(Session 7 Group Interview, discussing the semi-automatic yellow chip)

Anne: I guess it was fairly manual, putting the yellow chip in after your turn. I like things that are manual enough that you have to have some understanding going into it. Like, the game isn't just doing it for you. So, I appreciated that.

Chris: (Session 3) you can kinda do whatever you want to

RQ2.1: Contrastwith Yahoo?

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Analytic Focus

Automation in gameseliminates tedious chores, influence rule negotiation, helped teach the game. Also: risks an inversi____on

_____of “readiness” in games

(Anne, Session 7 Closing Survey)“Yellow Chip, shuffle, selection/collection of cards/chips, the bet tracker and community cards zone were helpful to me. They facilitate a learner playing the game without confusion/feeling overwhelmed by things to remember. Everything you need to keep track of is out on the board in writing.”


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Analytic Focus

Automation in gameseliminates tedious chores, influence rule negotiation,

helped teach the game. Also: risks an upset of “readiness” in games


1. Rule-Ready(understanding enough of the rules to play)

2. Gameplay Readiness(ready to focus on the game, no distractions)

3. Next-Stage Ready(having finished a turn, ready for the next turn)

Readiness & “Go go go”

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Ready too soon?

Shortcutting rule-readiness

Automation enforces legal play but can throw novice players too early into a complex game.

Summary ofContributions

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Introduction

Literature

Review

Design Reflection

LabSession

s

Analysis


ns

Card BoardDesign 1

Design 2


Criteria for Flexibility of Game Systems

DimensionsGameplayCommunication

Codebook

Readiness & “Go go go”

mundaneity model “ready”

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Limitations & Future workNew depths:

to...More dimensions of gameplay/communication

Studying flexibility beyond the laboratoryOther strategies of flexibility beyond

manual and semi-automation

New horizons:Minecraft, First-person shooters

Robustness/Versatility for unexpected use in other domains for appropriation (e.g., smart homes)

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Precedent

Observation: Precedent as a form of reasoning about rules(Example 1)Bernard: Do we ante in here or do we just do a round of betting?Nathan: Let’s do ante, we were doing ante before so.Bernard: Alright.

(Example 2)David: Yeah, so how many rounds do we play?Nathan: Um, I think until one person dies – er – runs out? ‘Cause that’s what we did last time right?David: Yeah. (Negotiation switches to a different topic)

RQ1.2: Messages

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Games are LawA kind of colloquial legalese in how players

negotiate

A familiar perspective from theorists: Suits’ lusory attitude (1978) ,

the Magic Circle Huizinga (1938) /Salen & Zimmerman (2004)

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In closing,

Game is not all Code

Thank you.

To my committee, the iSchool rich in people, DUB’s open arms,the green cohort wherever we may be, my dissertation support group through the years,my sharp auditor (Natascha K.), to the bowling team, to the phd Happy hour my school away from school, to my thoughtful faithful church,to those who played, wrote, and laughed with me,to Cole & Bianca, to my growing family, and to my loving wife,

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Research questions

1) Is this feasible?a) How to design a system that is robust and versatile for

gameplay?b) How to support communication when the rules are

negotiable?

2) Design Tradeoffsa) Flexible vs. Yahoo! Gamesb) Adding versatility to a robust system?c) Versatility vs. Robustness

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Appropriation

“Unexpected use” Perhaps the canonical interpretation of appropriation is that of customization and tailoring by users. Yet we felt that other interpretations, such as unexpected use of technology, or the socially constructed meanings around technology and its use that grow out of users’ practices, were equally interesting and worthy of consideration. (Dourish, Herrmann, Kellogg, & Kunau, 2005)

Consider exporting my design terminology and my understanding of automation on new contexts (e.g., how automation affects the pace of life in a smart home)

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tradeoffs

Incompleteness When adding automation without letting go of robustness.

(e.g. End-game situation in poker)

Interaction costs

RQ 2.3:Tradeoffs

ManualExtra labor

AutomationDraws attention to

itself(e.g. Visual clutter)

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Flexibility is

What?What rules can change?Identify richly/meagerly supported features

Who?Designers? Programmers? Players?Authority in negotiation?

When?At design-time? In-between patches? During the game?

Where?Where is the flexibility? (e.g., at the level of all card games like Design 1 or at the level of poker games like Design 2)

UpdatedContribution

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Rule Negotiation

MentalityLeadership/Initiative

Messing aroundPragmatism

IdealismOwnership

Rule-readiness

Reasoning“That works”

PrecedentFairness & Impartiality

No big reason“That can’t work”

Negative precedent

ProtocolTimingScope

Asking for a rule in this gameAsking for permission to do a game actionAsking for what to do nowAsking if an action is legalBending the rules temporarilyChoosing a gameConfirming that a rule applies – blocking, waiting for confirmationConfirming that a rule applies – quickly, expecting a quick answerConfirming that everyone understands enough of the rules to move forwardCorrecting a wrong move, or undoImperative commandInstructionReminding everyone about a ruleReviewing official or traditional rulesSetting a ruleSpeculating about a rule (“Maybe”; “If”)Suggesting a ruleUnfinished negotiation about a ruleUnspoken suggestion for a rule

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Gameplay

Gameplay presence

Game GoalState (Stage)

Game Information

Gameplay readinessBreakdowns

(Computer misinterpretation, incorrect play, misunderstood

rules, user error, waiting too long for others,

hands-off!, cumbersome interface)

Fixes (Major, Minor, No Fix, Social

Aspect)

Protection/ProtectionSkills

Other Foci

AdversityInterface

Game

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Communication

AudioIdentifying Speakers

Asking about the Game

StateDeclaring a game moveDescribing a

move or action

Describing my point of

view

Visual Gestures

Reviewability

AudioGame Log

Game layoutTrailing

Animations

Game move

Passing the Dealer ChipPassing the Yellow Chip

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a recipe

1. Pick a locale of flexibility2. Decompose automatic functions into a set of

general functions3. Expose these functions to the userCaveat: You may lose some assurances of automation

RQ 2.2:Robust + Versatile

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Design-time perspective for building towards flexibility.

Meagerly-supported features associated with robustness

Richly-supported features associated with versatility

Complementary Terminology

New Words

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Who designs the game?

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Themes

Mundaneity “Ready?” A model oflive-tweaking

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Audio wins

In the context of having Skype

Unsurprisingly audio is very well-suited for coordinating games, teaching, and negotiating rules. It is lightweight & can convey much or little.

Contra game moves:

Contra text:

RQ1.2: Messages

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Let's Play Our Way - Designing Flexibility into Card Game Systems - Gifford Cheung - Dissertation Defense