Mind Games, Part 2: Be One With The Fun

In Mind Games, Part 1, I discussed the elements of an exceptional game, and the psychological impacts of music in story-driven games. Part 2 of Mind Games will focus on the concept of fun. Let’s face it; a game cannot be considered exceptional unless it is exceptionally fun.

What makes a game exceptionally fun? Is there a formula that transcends personal preference and creates a fun experience for everyone? I’d like to quote Neils Clark from his Gamasutra piece, Psychology is Fun. It is a phenomenal article, and I would recommend it to game developers. Clark captures the essence of fun by raising some very interesting points about desire, need, and the longing to escape from reality: 

           

“The key to generating fun in the brain of the player is to cater to them. They should always have options for how they want to stimulate themselves. Don't bother them with aversive situations. We already know about the world we're escaping from…”

When we play a fun game, we are the masters of our universe. A fun game should give players the opportunity to experience things they would want to experience. We seek arousal, not tedium. This is why there are no successful games that allow you to work on a factory line doing the same exact thing for hours on end.

Fable 2 is a prime example of this. It was actually a fun game, but there were some aversive factors to it as well. For instance, my moral compass can support robbing a NPC for money in a video game; chopping wood, crafting daggers, and serving beer are noble professions and suitable for making money in the real world, but in a game, it’s only fun for about 60 seconds. Unfortunately, many players subjected themselves to hours of this inexplicable behavior.

…We can send their minds to the giddy heavens, conjoin them with the stars. Best of all, once most folks get a taste for self-actualization, they'll sacrifice physiological, safety, love, and esteem needs in order to keep tasting the sweet magnanimity of our media experience…

…Designers can tap flow's engagement, while demanding only a fraction of the dedication. In reality, we favor the challenges that make us feel we're accomplishing something profound. In this way flow states are immensely powerful. They can provide gamers all the joy of a life worth living, without any of the struggle.”

Many people suffer from delusions of grandeur. We want to feel important, and we experience intrinsic rewards each time we achieve success. But achieving success in real life is real hard! Do you know why the Grand Theft Auto series is so fun? Players always assume the role of a common criminal, but through a series of fun and non-life threatening illegal activities, they end up taking over the criminal underworld. And they do this in a matter of hours.

When we can achieve the kind of success that most people only dream about, we feel really good.  Who cares if it didn’t happen in real life? We tried hard and accomplished some incredible things, and for our brains, there is little difference between that alternate reality and this one. At least, not while we’re immersed in it.

Another important fun factor is the difficulty. No matter how beautiful, empowering, and intrinsically rewarding a game is it will not be fun if it is too easy, or too difficult. This can be a complicated balance to achieve, especially if your game targets casual and hardcore gamers alike, but there is no shortage of willing game testers out there, so be sure to stock up and get your valuable feedback while there’s still time. Just remember; as a gamer, I am legendary, but I also want to be challenged.

Finally, it’s important that your game immerses players in every way possible. The more genuine the experience is, the more immersed players will become. Make it easy to love the characters. Create a history for your game world that players have the option of exploring. Provide players with goals, and the freedom to pursue them.

Enter Skyrim. Here is a fun game. Self-actualization? Travel the land playing champion to the gods, putting an end to a civil war, and saving the world from the apocalypse by way of a world-gorging dragon? Yes, I believe Maslow would be pleased. Immersion? The HUD is almost non-existent, aside from a tiny and barely noticeable reticle and a compass at the top of the screen. There are books and scrolls numbering in the hundreds that detail the history of the world, and it’s various heroes and villains. Yes, it is quite easy to feel as though you are a part of the world, even allowing you the ability to shape the way events unfold. Is it difficult? Well, that’s a little tricky, but it represents the perfect opportunity to enforce the importance of balanced difficulty in a fun game.

The Elder Scrolls series has been packed full of glitches and bugs throughout its various installments. Some of them are frustrating, some of them are empowering, and some are just neat to watch. However, some glitches present an altogether different danger when exploited. There are various glitches that allow Skyrim players to become very advanced, very quickly. By advanced, I mean jumping off mountaintops and landing unscathed, or slaying giants with a single stab from a dagger.

This extreme distortion of difficulty will make the game very boring, very fast.

It is for this reason that developers try to patch these glitches as soon as possible, to prevent players from demolishing their own fun. It is not intrinsically rewarding to accomplish something when no obstacle you encounter is challenging. But we will pursue that vastly unbalanced advantage over our foes if a way is provided, because it is in our nature. We imagine how awesome it would be to kill a dragon by punching it in the face, until we’ve actually done it and we realize that we have relinquished the spirit of fun in exchange for unlimited (and unnecessary) power.

So what makes a game exceptionally fun? It should make players feel like they’ve accomplished something, and it should do this on a regular basis. It shouldn’t make them engage in the tedium of everyday life, ever. It should be challenging, but not to the point where they experience anxiety. It should be immersive, preferably to a point where it’s impossible to communicate with them if they are playing it.  

The most important part: all of these goals must be achieved without the gamers being consciously aware of it.

Mind Games, Part 1: Musical Meaning

Here’s a question that developers have been asking themselves for decades: “What makes an exceptional video game?” Does it adhere to time-tested game mechanics, or does it establish its identity through innovation? Does it rely on aesthetic value to capture the masses, or does it win hearts with its charming interface? Does it weave an incredible tale that connects players to their in-game characters on a multitude of levels, or do the players take an active role in weaving their own story?

The answer is yes.

It is a popular belief that video games fit the bill for artistic expression, so we could also apply what we know of traditional art in our search for the elusive “legendary video game.” One reason that so many people throughout history have enjoyed art, in all of its forms, is because it evokes an emotional response. How many people cried during the movie Titanic? Note that those tears were no accident.

There is something very psychological involved in the making of traditional and modern art, and the same is true for video games. Consider the effect of music when played in support of any theatrical performance. You may not have noticed because you were too caught up in the final loving exchange between Jack and Rose, but the most depressing scene in that movie was accompanied by some pretty emotional music. This should come as no surprise. Studies have proven that music has a verifiable effect on a person’s mood, be it positive or negative. Just take a moment to examine these examples of different types of music played for students prior to their exams, and you’ll understand why sad scenes sing sad songs.

In the case of video games, is it not safe to assume that an exhilarating, upbeat song with a fast tempo will get our adrenaline pumping during a high-speed driving pursuit? Is the story highly impacted by the music? To get a better idea of the efficacy of music in entertainment software, we’ll examine a few video games from history with an undeniably influential musical score, as well as the composers who worked on a majority of the titles.

• Final Fantasy Series (Composer Nobuo Uematsa)
• Metal Gear Solid Series (Composer Harry Gregson-Williams)
• Mass Effect Series (Composer Jack Wall)

Using these popular games as reference points, we can determine the effect of music on gameplay and story elements.

Seize by Immersion

Video games provide us with a means of escape from the daily grind. The more we can immerse ourselves in a video game, the more enjoyable the experience becomes. Unfortunately, immersion does not occur naturally. A solid story, an engaging environment, and believable characters are all elements that allow immersion to take place. A well-composed score will tie all of these elements together and provide players with additional sensory information that enhances the experience. Jack Wall achieves this with “stellar” results in the Mass Effect series. The cheesy 80’s sci-fi music featured in each Mass Effect installment creates an impression of mystery and allure that effectively plays on that part of the human psyche that thrives on the unknown.

Create a Sense of Urgency

Delivering retribution to the wicked is always more exciting when the onslaught is accompanied by invigorating music. If you’re an international spy infiltrating a military base with hundreds of guards armed to the teeth, you’re going to be pretty excited when they identify you and sound an alarm. In the Metal Gear series, the music doesn’t really pick up too much unless you’re in a heated battle with a boss or the alarm gets sounded. Harry Gregson-Williams’s use of tempo coupled with his orchestral arrangement aids in exciting players during combat. This leads to a slight burst of adrenaline, which increases overall enjoyment.

Once More, With Feeling!

Even video games are capable of creating magic moments. With the right mix of character personality, story build up, and musical mastery, games are capable of making players experience some pretty raw emotions. Gamers were so in love with the music of Final Fantasy VII that when composer Nobuo Uematsa joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic to perform the score, they sold out in three days. The score to that video game was so expansive and emotional that it was impossible not to be moved at several parts of the story.

Sometimes, a simple jingle will suffice. It’s important to acknowledge the casual gamer who just wants to have a little bit of fun. It’s probably not a good idea to invest half as many resources in the music and sound effects for a game like Sudoku as you would for a game like Skyrim. That’s not to say that casual gamers don’t enjoy the same qualities of an exceptional game that a hardcore gamer would. Here might be a good rule of thumb: the more story-driven your game is, the more resources you should invest in the music.