Immersyve's Scott Rigby and WB Games' Troy Skinner present applied psychological case studies on Mass Effect and Batman: Arkham Asylum to explain how developers can capture two different consumer segments: the "bro gamer" and "connoisseur."
In this GDC 2013 video, free courtesy of the GDC Vault, hear why Skinner believes Mass Effect 2's sales remained flat compared to the first game and didn't capture both consumer segments, and how his company's Batman succeeded.
Those wanting to know more about the "Player Experience of Need Satisfaction" model, which was used in this study, can read this Gamasutra feature, co-written by Dr. Rigby.
Session Name: The Applied Value of Player Psychology: Putting Motivational Principles to Work
Speaker(s): Scott Rigby, Troy Skinner
Company Name(s): Immersyve, WB Games
Track / Format: Game Design
Description:Developers and publishers are increasingly looking to principles of player engagement and psychology to help monetize their audience and build more successful titles. In particular, there has been an increased focus on sustained engagement and player motivation, including concepts such as "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" motivation, and other related strategies. Few presentations to date, however, have combined a specific theoretical approach to player motivation with its real world application within a major publisher across multiple studios and titles.
This talk will provide the "full arc" of theory and practical application, beginning with a brief overview of the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction motivational model (PENS), followed by a detailed description by industry veterans of how it is being used to help guide strategy and production of titles across multiple genres.
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Great talk. I think that it's definately true that having mad skillz is a core motiivation for most all players. The real question, though, is what kinds of skills a developer wants to implement in his game. I find that shooting people square on the head is not a big priority. Sure, it looks sexy. I could have played Max Payne on that level of sophistication, but I find it a waste of time. As another example, I like sports games. All of those variety of moves in NBA 2k are ridiculously impossible to execute over a narrow to medium bandwidth. I mean, alot of people play defense by taking charges cause it takes you 5 to 6 milliseconds to execute a move and less than that to press a charge button.
On the issue of feedback, that relates to validation. Nuff said.
More is better than less because when you have more less stuff, sometimes you want more. And your parents won't let you. The girl is so adorable. I laugh every time. Never gets old.
On the issue of feedback, that relates to validation. Nuff said.
More is better than less because when you have more less stuff, sometimes you want more. And your parents won't let you. The girl is so adorable. I laugh every time. Never gets old.