Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
things that do not internally motivate her, there is an external moti-
vator: her paycheck . She derives her interest from the previous experi-
ences upon which she has had a successful effect. She has built skill
by altering her long-term memory over time. She has built confidence
in her skills by continuing to perform positive outcomes at her job.
Unlike a game player, however, she has that external motivation to
keep working. Video games are something that our audience comes
to willingly, and as such, the motivation must shift from external to
internal in order to maintain our relationship with our players.
Again, this seems like a game design lecture, and that's the point.
As I have said before, what you currently understand to be a tutorial is
probably incorrect. Just as we often mistakenly understand education
to be about taking a topic like moray eel spermatogenesis and some-
how making it into an explosion of intellectual ecstasy, the tutorial
system is equally misunderstood. Teaching works best when instruc-
tion and problem solving are key to the outcomes, not external moti-
vators like detention (repeating a level), corporal punishment (loud
noises, black screens, and controller vibrations), or stickers and bubble
gum (“achievements”). Additionally, the tutorial works best when
the mechanics themselves effectively are the tutorial and instruction
is peppered in as needed. The carpenter will eventually burn out if
her skills are not respected, students will drop out, and players will
stop playing.
This all seems idealistic, you might be thinking. I've really only
given you examples of platformers and shoot-'em-ups, which admit-
tedly are mechanically thin compared to something like Harvest
Moon ™, Kerbal Space Program ™, or World of Warcraft , which add lay-
ers upon layers of complexity into the mix. Due to the previously dis-
cussed principle of element interactivity, it is still possible to teach
someone something very complex by breaking the mechanics down
into smaller parts. Sometimes this results in a tendency, however, to
insert wordy interjections in already text-heavy games like World of
Warcraft . In order to minimize the cognitive overload we are skirting
by doing something like this, we adapt our teaching method to be
appropriate to the game in question. When I wrote my Ph.D. thesis,
I used tutorials to help keep novice players both at a high level of
valence and somewhere between low and high arousal. For example,
playing World of Warcraft , when you first hop into water, you get a
Search WWH ::




Custom Search