Knowledge Keeper: October 10th

We started off the lecture by discussing the midterm and what it would entail. Dr. Nacke explained that the midterm would involve each student to meet with him for about 10 minutes where he would ask us a series of questions and we would provide answers verbally. This is a very interesting way to run a midterm as it allows for direct connection  between the "test taker" and the "adjudicator" (Dr. Nacke) which would allow an instant notification as to whether one got the question correct or not. Dr. Nacke also explained that if you have not given the answer he is looking for then he will continue to prob you with questions going deeper and deeper into the subject until you give the correct answer or at least show that you understand what he is talking about. This definitely puts emphasizes the need for a deep understanding of the subject matter as it will give you a larger knowledge base to draw from and a higher chance of providing the answer Dr. Nacke is looking for.

The Actual Lecture was about Game Rewards. Firstly we went over some terms such as Agon, meaning competition, and Ilinx, meaning vertigo, as well as the "scale" between Paida and Ludus. Where Paida was purely about play, about making this up, improvising. This term very much reminds me of "Calvinball" from the Calvin and Hobbes comics where Calvin and Hobbes would just start playing a game and the rules would constantly be changed and made up on the spot. There were no goal, no rules, just play. Where as Ludus is about rules, and structure, there is no improvisation. Dr. Nacke discussed how games existed somewhere within that "scale".

We then discussed the eight reward forms from Wang and Sun which involved glory, sustenance, access, and facility and how these four characteristics were combined to create the eight reward forms. Though there is one reward form, feedback messages, which is incorporates another characteristic, praise. I think it should incorporate glory. This is because glory can be thought of as the achievement of greatness, or of a title. In other words it is the obtaining of something incorporeal within the game (glory is not represented by an item) but is still worthy of note. This can be seen in the reward forms such as achievement systems or score systems where the player is achieving some sort of number of title but said things have no effect on the game itself. The only different between the reward forms that use glory and the reward forms that use praise is time, or duration. Where feedback messages are instant and short term (them pop up on screen, congratulate you, then disappear) score systems and achievement systems are much more long term and permanent. For example: the leader boards in arcade games.

Dance Dance Revolution keeps updating you on how well you are doing 

We then talked about the four reward characteristics especially the social value of reward and how obtaining rewards is very much a social event in that it allows a player to show off their skills to the other players. We discussed how this related to the game Rock Band and how the game, though sociable, can focus on the competitive nature of people in that it allows a player to compare the skills of other and relish in the schadenfreude of being better than another. 

We also discussed the time required to earn a reward and how it's, as Dr. Nacke put it, like caramelized popcorn in how there are multitude of different flavours (or rewards) given to the player instantly just the for the action of putting the popcorn in their mouth. In other words we came to the conclusion that shorter time spans between rewards are much better than longer ones as the player is more frequently given stimuli through rewards and therefore more compelled to keep playing. 

We then discussed how players used their rewards for advancement, review, sociality, or for cooperative/competitive reasons or for some combination of those four. We also duscussed Schell's reward categories which included such things as praise, prolonged play, and completion. 

We then moved on to discuss conditioning and how players can be made to feel or do things based on the specific conditioning they are put through. Such as when a player feels panicked and afraid when they are chased by a monster while certain music played. The player then feels panic and fear whenever the music is played regardless of whether or not the monster chases them. This is because even though the player fears the monster, the player associates the music to the monster and therefore has been conditioned to fear the music.

We discussed Pavlov and his "Little Albert" experiment where he conditioned a child to fear rats by associating rats with loud noises. But there is some error involved in the study as Dr, Nacke revealed that it the in fact had some sort of brain abnormality and died a few years later when Dr. Pavlov said that the child was perfectly healthy.

 We also discussed operant conditioning and the skinner box where rats were conditioned to react to certain colours of light, one colour for reward (positive reinforcement) one for punishment (negative reinforcement). 

As I have mentioned before in my last knowledge keeper, this information, though can be used for good to produce more enjoyment from games, is dangerous in that it can be (and it probably already is) used for nefarious purposes. Such as compelling a worker, a pencil-pusher, to be content with their current status. To make them forget about their wages, about their working conditions, or about advancement and the bettering of themselves by keeping them constantly fed on stimuli. This reminds me very much of the matrix movies (or at least the first one) in that the world is populated mainly by human beings that don't do anything other than exist to provide power to another being(s) (the machines). They don't resist, they don't strive for anything better, they are not even aware of their situation because they are constantly being conditioned with stimuli. Dr. Nacki also gave the example of the movie Old Boy for the result of conditioning someone for a long period of time and I highly recommend the movie, it is beautifully twisted.

There is a reason why Neo's day job is a pencil pusher

We then talked about rewards and their schedules and how the timing of rewards should not be too short that the reward becomes superfluous but not too long so that the reward becomes not worth the effort. We also discussed reward triggers and the MAO model which involves Motivation, Ability, and Opportunity.

But rewards are not the only reason we play games. As Dr. Nacki said that the most important thing in playing games, is playing with great people, of which I agree wholeheartedly.



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