Toxic Jam

Week Twenty-Two Task

While looking through the GDC sessions list, one thing that i noticed was the mention of psychology and its use in games. Psychology can be used in various ways to enhance the gaming experience and make it more realistic.

In certain genres, emotion is a key factor. It is important for the player to be able to identify with the main character. Non-player characters are vital in creating emotional links, building up relationships in game brings new factors into the gameplay.

The study of human behavior can also be important in creating a realistic environment. Building up a personality for an NPC means that the player can understand them, and maybe link them to a person they know in reality. Having that character then respond in a correct way in relation to their personality will subtly improve the game.

Another way in which psychology can be used by companies is by thinking about the player, and how they will respond to the environments they are placed in. It is important to understand target audience in order to create desirable events for them.

"Challenging Everyone: Dynamic Difficulty Deconstructed" sounded particularly interesting. It mentioned something called the "Personal Challenge System" which enables the player to choose the type of experience they wanted, and the game would alter accordingly. This system is obviously trying to expand its target audience by making the game potential enjoyable for more people. I think this is a good idea in theory, but in practice I'm not so sure. Games have many different genres, people know what genres they enjoy, and therefore know which games to buy. When these boundaries are broken down, i'm not sure how many people would respond to it. I find it hard to imagine how drastic these alterations could be when in a single game. When looking at game difficulty, i can understand that people who enjoy the same genre of game may not share the same skill and ability, and therefore a difficulty setting is appropriate.

I think i may have strayed slightly from my original point... Other sessions i found to be of interest were "Can You Make Them Cry Without Tearing Your Hair Out? Emotional Characters" Which explained how emotion is important for reaching a wider audience, "Behavioral Theory in the Design of Serious Games" Which explained how we should use behavioral theory to assist us in designing games.

I have noticed that when creating games one of the most important things is the understanding of reality. The greater our knowledge is of our world, the greater our creations can become.