Game design tutorial at the GDC

One of the most beneficial parts of the GDC was the Game Design workshop during the first 2 days of the conference.

They covered a very cool framework to think about game design, which they called the MDA framework. The letters stand for Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics. Here's a quick PDF about the topic:

Click to download

Here's the quick gist of it - basically the idea is that the "feelings" that a game imparts is covered under aesthetics. These feelings are being driven by human behavior that arises from playing the game, which they call "dynamics." And finally, these behaviors are driven by the actual literal rules.

An example, using Texas Hold 'em Poker:

Aesthetics
The game of Texas Hold 'em inspires huge swings in emotions, both positive and negative. First, you have moments of triumph, such as the "in your face!" feeling of winning. You also can feel clever, or powerful. Yet when you lose, you can feel tricked, betrayed, or a set of other negative emotions.

Dynamics
These aesthetics are being driven by dynamics within the game. For example, what are the most dramatic moments in poker? Probably, you are thinking about things like:

• Going all-in
• Bluffing
• etc.

Note that these behaviors are NOT written into the rules. They simply arise from the rules due to things like private/public information, or trying to signal confidence to other players, etc.

Mechanics
And finally, there are the actual concrete rules of the game, which describe how many cards you draw, how turns work, etc., etc. This is the boring stuff, yet, this is what the game designer has control of.

How does this apply to the web?
A very good question is: How do you use this in the context of your web app? Ultimately, it comes down to WHAT you want people to feel when they use your application. If you are doing a consumer based site, it seems clear that you ultimately have to tap into some deep emotions, in and around the activity you're trying to support.

For dating, that might be thrill and excitement. (I'll write more on this topic, and why Match.com presents the exact opposite of thrill and excitement). For travel, it might be escape and fantasy. For shopping, it might be safety and luxury.

As the designer, all you can work with are the actual mechanics of your application - which buttons do what, how users move around pages, etc., but these mechanics ultimately impact the user behavior, and thus, the aesthetics of the site. I'll go into more detail on this topic later, but in the meantime, check out the PDF and think about what emotions your product is trying to trigger.

Comments

[Randy Stewart]

Great post... it sounds like you learned quite a bit at GDC. I saw Will Wright at SXSW and I don't think that I've ever seen anyone talk that fast and say so much.

Talking to the aesthetics portion of your post, the main bit of Will's talk touched on the dichotomy of narrative between movies and games and the specific emotions they tap.

"Films have a rich emotional palette because they have actors. Games often appeal to the reptilian brain – fear, action – but they have a different emotional palette. There are things you feel in games - like pride, accomplishment, guilt even! – that you’ll never feel in a movie. I felt so bad about beating my creature to death in Black & White.

Stories are about empathy, and games are about agency. "

I took that from a great summary of Will's talk that is over here - http://www.wonderlandblog.com/wonderland/2007/03/sxsw_will_wrigh.html

Very interesting talk...

Cheers,
Randy Stewart

[andrea moro]

Hey Andrew - long time no see.

Did I miss the part about incentives?

Emotions and behaviors are what drive user satisfaction and involvement, but (as a subset of the Mechanics) the incentives are what drives continuous play and (sometimes) addiction. Want to talk about the incentive scheme of many popular games, last but not least the Facebook?

For instance, casual games are a great source of food for thought. A game that has a nice progression of rewards/difficulty tight to a good emotional experience has in itself the potential to be very addictive (e.g. the simple Max Dirt Bike).

In addition to single-player game mechanics, multiplayer games add a social component that is a stronger incentive to play (reputation, status, interaction, socialization, even volunteering etc. become very relevant). Let's think of MMORPG.

Let's thinks of the greatest "MMORPG-like" videogame, the Facebook. Facebook is great in promoting interactions that self-sustain and grow over time (have you tried to tag a picture of a friend of yours?). The news feeds is a great example. The "gameplay" incentives are all wrapped up in the goals, incentives and emotions of your personal life, making it so powerful.

Let's talk about bad incentives/rewards. For example, why I hate most MORPGs. Either I buy a level-50 character, or I have to go through the slavery of 3 hrs of basic training of my character, with tedious explanations of game mechanics, and missions that lack any style or drama or meaning (e.g. "Learn the ability: Fighting like a novice lvl1"). And I am completely lonely for hours.

After that, I still need hours of training to reach a level that allows me to survive a medium-size villain. The missions for the newly graduated hero are no less boring than the previous one. Whoever passes the tipping point will never leave (what a time investment!); all the others will go back playing solo Assassin's Creed or kill time in social networks...