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Travis Ross is a Ph.D. Candiate at Indiana University. He has presented and writen on social behavior in online games, the psychology of motivation/engagement, and virtual economies. He is the editor of the online blog Motivate. Play. where he writes and publishes work at the intersection of social science and games. |
Member Blogs
7 Essential Resources for Understanding Motivation  |
| Posted by Travis Ross on Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:16:00 EDT in
Design
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| Motivation is an important topic for game designers and social scientists.In the following article I provide a list of seven articles and books that anyone who is interested in motivation should know about. |
| Read More... | 6 Comments |
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An Interview with Community Designer Ron Meiners |
| Posted by Travis Ross on Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:48:00 EST in
Design,
Business/Marketing
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| During a trip to San Francisco, Jim Cummings and I had the privilege of sitting down with veteran community manager Ron Meiners. Ron has worked in online community for fifteen plus years, from Myst to Burning Man, from Splinter Cell 3 to The Sims 3. |
| Read More... | 0 Comments |
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How to reduce antisocial behavior in your game. |
| Posted by Travis Ross on Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:45:00 EDT in
Design,
Social/Online
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| Reducing antisocial behavior in online environments can be difficult. In this post I describe how theory and research from social science can help game designers understand norms. |
| Read More... | 9 Comments |
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Eight Mechanics to Enhance Cooperation in Online Games |
| Posted by Travis Ross on Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:26:00 EDT in
Design,
Social/Online
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| Explores how game developers can increase cooperation in online games using research from social dilemmas such as the prisoner's dilemma, stag hunt, public goods, or common-pool resources. Examples demonstrate how research can be implemented in design. |
| Read More... | 1 Comments |
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What really worries game designers: Game design driven by psychological theory and behavioral quantification. |
| Posted by Travis Ross on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 02:46:00 EDT in
Design
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| If gamers are attracted to games that employ evolutionary psychology and behavioral economics to draw them in and game developers don't want to make these kind of games. Then the game industry is suffering from a tragedy of the commons. |
| Read More... | 14 Comments |
Travis Ross's Comments
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Comment In: 7 Essential Resources for Understanding Motivation [Blog - 04/05/2013 - 09:16]
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Thanks Carlo, I added your ... Thanks Carlo, I added your contribution over at Motivate Play. I 've actually never read Drive - Jim Cummings told me it was pretty good, but I just never got around to it. Now I 'll have to give it a quick and dirty - or whatever they call it. |
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Comment In: When Players Make the Rules: On Memes and the Meta-Game [Feature - 11/15/2012 - 04:40]
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Yes - a little bit ... Yes - a little bit of complexity and multiplayer interaction seem to do a good job of stamping out dominant strategies, but they do crop up in unlikely places. r n r nAlso, my fault I should have grabbed the 2nd link off of Google Scholar. r nhttp://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/proceedings2010/mp2010 paper 49.pdf |
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Comment In: Opinion: Sanctioning Mechanisms For MMORPGs [News - 12/14/2011 - 03:33]
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George, thanks for pointing me ... George, thanks for pointing me to this. I 'll have to read the paper. I 'd also suggest the work of Ellinor and Vincent Ostrom for more on provisioning public goods. Also you 've probably read Kollock - Social Dilemma 's the Anatomy of Cooperation its a really good one. ... |
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Comment In: How to reduce antisocial behavior in your game. [Blog - 11/02/2012 - 12:45]
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Thanks George, thanks for the ... Thanks George, thanks for the encouragement : I 'll check out your post. I totally get what you are saying I think . One of the things I struggled with when writing my dissertation was - How important are norms for game developers The fact of the matter is the ... |
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Comment In: GDC 2013's debut sessions feature Assassin's Creed III, Magic: The Gathering creator [News - 11/07/2012 - 04:59]
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Good to see Daniel and ... Good to see Daniel and Matt back for a 9th year. Always a great crowd at the roundtable. |
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Comment In: 10 Years of Behavioral Game Design with Bungie's Research Boss [Feature - 06/15/2012 - 04:15]
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John, have you done much ... John, have you done much with cognitive heuristics Not the HCI kind, but the simple rules of thumb that us humans use to make fast/frugal decisions That line of research mixes well with the experimental economics literature - it moves a rational model of decision making over to a model ... |
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