Qcf Unit 22
Unit 22 – Developing Computer Games
(Outcome 1)
BTEC Nationals
Handout
2
Computer Games
Psychological factors
Prepared by: Mohamed Diab
Psychological factors
Computer games are popular because they affect us emotionally, in a similar way to films and music. Just as a horror movie makes you feel scared, a survival horror computer game can terrify you too. In some ways the game makes it feel more real because you are controlling the character, so what happens to the character can feel like it is happening to you. Games designers use the psychological factors to improve their games and make the experience of playing them more memorable. It can be done very simply and subtly, or it can be done in a very obvious way, …show more content…
depending on the needs of the game.
Use of Sound
Sound can make you feel lots of different things - it can make you feel happy, sad, scared, brave.
There isn 't a single human emotion that hasn 't been represented in music or sound effects at some point in our history. Games designers use this to their advantage and there will be an audio designer whose role is to pick the sound effects and musical scores that are used throughout a game.
High-pitched, fast-paced music or sound effects tend to make you feel more excited and as if you are in the middle of the action. Platform games and racing games use these features to add to the game 's excitement and pace.
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Horror games use string instruments such as violins and the sound of creaking floor boards to make people feel tense in the same way that a horror movie does.
High Score Listings
In the early days of basic 2D arcade games, there was no option to play against anyone except the computer. Even multiplayer games were usually limited to two people. Single-player games today are often driven by the storyline and the player will continue playing to the end in order to find out what happens. In more basic games, however, this is not the case.
The high score table or list becomes the motivation to play again and again.
If you feel compelled to improve your high score then you will keep on playing the game until you succeed and this means that you will get more game-play for your money. A high score list is an alternative to the storyline as a motivator for playing a game repeatedly. Some recent games, especially sports games and casual games, still include high score lists and you often have the option to publish your score on line through the game so that you can compare yours to those of people across the world. In many FPS (first person shooter) games that have online multiplayer settings, you can have a world ranking which shows you how well you are doing in a similar way to a high score list.
Page 3 of 10
Competitive Games
Competition with others is a driving factor that makes people try to improve their skills and abilities. High score lists will encourage you to compete against yourself, but competitive games where you play against other people will make you even more motivated to improve.
Throughout our history there are examples of people competing against each other in order to prove that they are the best at something. The most wellknown example is the Olympic Games, where people come together from every country in the world to compete, and the event generates a lot of international goodwill and excitement.
Inevitably there are occasions when people become over-competitive and the desire to win becomes a negative rather than positive motivation. On the whole, however, competition teaches people to be good losers, to push themselves and to analyse their skills and formulate plans to improve those skills. These are all positive attributes that make an individual successful in the world of work and are undeniably associated with being successful at computer games.
Page 4 of …show more content…
10
Since online multiplayer games have become mainstream, people have enjoyed playing a range of different games against friends or strangers.
Some of the consoles that are aimed at younger children, such as the
Nintendo" Wii or DS, restrict online play to those who are known to the player in day-to-day life rather than introducing them to people through the game that they have never met face to face.
The older consoles used to make use of LAN (local area network) gaming, where two consoles would be connected together with an ethernet cable, to double the amount of people playing the game. This would sometimes lead to LAN parties - larger groups of people meeting up with their equipment and playing games against each other. As the current batch of consoles and handheld devices include built-in wireless Internet access, playing competitive games online is very easy to do. High Score Listings
Another motivating factor that affects people psychologically is peer pressure. If friends, classmates or colleagues are pressurising someone to play the same games as them or to buy the same console, this can be a negative effect. Peer pressure is very powerful, especially with young people, because most people want to fit in with their peers. If everyone you hung out with was playing a certain game and you didn 't have it, you would feel you were the odd one out, left out of discussions that they were having.
Page 5 of 10
Advertisers know that peer pressure is a powerful motivator for
buying games and they use it to their advantage. Most young people will only be able to afford a new game from time to time, but as soon as one friend has bought an exciting new game everybody in the group will want it, and as soon as the majority have it, the person who doesn 't will feel left out.
Unfortunately the only way to combat peer pressure is to be sensible about the way that you make your games purchases and about who your friends are. If you know that you can only afford to buy one game a month, then make sure that you have read all the reviews of the games you might like and make an informed decision. If you are really enjoying the game that you have, then peer pressure won 't make you want another game too badly. If you have friends who have bought a new game and are unwilling to share it with you or let you play, then this is a weakness of their character and not a reflection on your character.
Peer Pressure
Another motivating factor that affects people psychologically is peer pressure. If friends, classmates or colleagues are pressurising someone to play the same games as them or to buy the same console, this can be a negative effect. Peer pressure is very powerful, especially with young people, because most people want to fit in with their peers.
If everyone you hung out with was playing a certain game and you didn 't have it, you would feel you were the odd one out, left out of discussions that they were having.
Page 6 of 10
Advertisers know that peer pressure is a powerful motivator for buying games and they use it to their advantage. Most young people will only be able to afford a new game from time to time, but as soon as one friend has bought an exciting new game everybody in the group will want it, and as soon as the majority have it, the person who doesn 't will feel left out.
Unfortunately the only way to combat peer pressure is to be sensible about the way that you make your games purchases and about who your friends are. If you know that you can only afford to buy one game a month, then make sure that you have read all the reviews of the games you might like and make an informed decision. If you are really enjoying the game that you have, then peer pressure won 't make you want another game too badly. If you have friends who have bought a new game and are unwilling to share it with you or let you play, then this is a weakness of their character and not a reflection on your character.
Page 7 of 10
Fun
Games are fun - that 's why we play them. The games industry is part of a wider entertainment industry that aims to make us enjoy ourselves during our free time. At school or college, and then later on at work, we have a daily routine that finishes at a certain time and then, meals and chores notwithstanding, our free time is our own. People choose to have fun in lots of different ways, from playing a sport to watching a film. Games are a fun pastime because they challenge the player and often have gripping storylines. They have been getting better in quality every year for 30 years and can be played on one 's own or with friends.
Games are fun because there are so many different types and, depending on what mood you are in, you can pick one that will satisfy you. Now that games are being embraced by whole families, game-playing doesn 't have to be a solitary activity - it is something that can be fun whilst spending time with your family and also whilst learning or getting exercise.
Educational Value
Games are also educational from psychological point of view, because they can teach us discreetly, whilst we think we are just having fun.A game with a strong storyline can also make the player think about how they would behave I a similar situation.
Page 8 of 10
Expectations
People have certain expectations when sitting in front of a new game and one of the features that designers have to consider when planning their games is the element of surprise.
When someone is surprised it is an enjoyable experience, even if it is associated with fear or shock, and this is a psychological factor that games designers use as often as they can. Some games have a storyline with a surprising twist whilst other games, such as action games, will have a surprising appearance of an enemy or special power-up. Regardless of what the surprise is, changing people 's expectations is a great way of making them enjoy the game more. As there are so many titles available to each games player, they can sometimes be quite similar to each other, so the ones that change the expectations of the play are the ones that sell the most copies. Leveling
One of the satisfying factors involved in playing a lot of computer games is the principle of levelling. Many games involve a character that begins in a basic state and can be improved upon as the game progresses. This tends to involve the advancement of particular characteristics/skills such as strength, agility, magical powers, etc.
Page 9 of 10
The player will gain points in some way for progressing through levels or defeating enemies and achieving a certain amount of experience will allow the character to move up to the next skill level. This is known as levelling up.
Role-playing games are dependent on levelling, as a higher level will allow the player to access new areas of the game or wield more powerful weapons.
Psychologically, there is great satisfaction in moving up to the next skill level and this keeps the player interested in the game for longer.
References:
BTEC level 3 Book- Information technology
Page 10 of 10
(Outcome 1)
BTEC Nationals
Handout
2
Computer Games
Psychological factors
Prepared by: Mohamed Diab
Psychological factors
Computer games are popular because they affect us emotionally, in a similar way to films and music. Just as a horror movie makes you feel scared, a survival horror computer game can terrify you too. In some ways the game makes it feel more real because you are controlling the character, so what happens to the character can feel like it is happening to you. Games designers use the psychological factors to improve their games and make the experience of playing them more memorable. It can be done very simply and subtly, or it can be done in a very obvious way, …show more content…
depending on the needs of the game.
Use of Sound
Sound can make you feel lots of different things - it can make you feel happy, sad, scared, brave.
There isn 't a single human emotion that hasn 't been represented in music or sound effects at some point in our history. Games designers use this to their advantage and there will be an audio designer whose role is to pick the sound effects and musical scores that are used throughout a game.
High-pitched, fast-paced music or sound effects tend to make you feel more excited and as if you are in the middle of the action. Platform games and racing games use these features to add to the game 's excitement and pace.
Page 2 of 10
Horror games use string instruments such as violins and the sound of creaking floor boards to make people feel tense in the same way that a horror movie does.
High Score Listings
In the early days of basic 2D arcade games, there was no option to play against anyone except the computer. Even multiplayer games were usually limited to two people. Single-player games today are often driven by the storyline and the player will continue playing to the end in order to find out what happens. In more basic games, however, this is not the case.
The high score table or list becomes the motivation to play again and again.
If you feel compelled to improve your high score then you will keep on playing the game until you succeed and this means that you will get more game-play for your money. A high score list is an alternative to the storyline as a motivator for playing a game repeatedly. Some recent games, especially sports games and casual games, still include high score lists and you often have the option to publish your score on line through the game so that you can compare yours to those of people across the world. In many FPS (first person shooter) games that have online multiplayer settings, you can have a world ranking which shows you how well you are doing in a similar way to a high score list.
Page 3 of 10
Competitive Games
Competition with others is a driving factor that makes people try to improve their skills and abilities. High score lists will encourage you to compete against yourself, but competitive games where you play against other people will make you even more motivated to improve.
Throughout our history there are examples of people competing against each other in order to prove that they are the best at something. The most wellknown example is the Olympic Games, where people come together from every country in the world to compete, and the event generates a lot of international goodwill and excitement.
Inevitably there are occasions when people become over-competitive and the desire to win becomes a negative rather than positive motivation. On the whole, however, competition teaches people to be good losers, to push themselves and to analyse their skills and formulate plans to improve those skills. These are all positive attributes that make an individual successful in the world of work and are undeniably associated with being successful at computer games.
Page 4 of …show more content…
10
Since online multiplayer games have become mainstream, people have enjoyed playing a range of different games against friends or strangers.
Some of the consoles that are aimed at younger children, such as the
Nintendo" Wii or DS, restrict online play to those who are known to the player in day-to-day life rather than introducing them to people through the game that they have never met face to face.
The older consoles used to make use of LAN (local area network) gaming, where two consoles would be connected together with an ethernet cable, to double the amount of people playing the game. This would sometimes lead to LAN parties - larger groups of people meeting up with their equipment and playing games against each other. As the current batch of consoles and handheld devices include built-in wireless Internet access, playing competitive games online is very easy to do. High Score Listings
Another motivating factor that affects people psychologically is peer pressure. If friends, classmates or colleagues are pressurising someone to play the same games as them or to buy the same console, this can be a negative effect. Peer pressure is very powerful, especially with young people, because most people want to fit in with their peers. If everyone you hung out with was playing a certain game and you didn 't have it, you would feel you were the odd one out, left out of discussions that they were having.
Page 5 of 10
Advertisers know that peer pressure is a powerful motivator for
buying games and they use it to their advantage. Most young people will only be able to afford a new game from time to time, but as soon as one friend has bought an exciting new game everybody in the group will want it, and as soon as the majority have it, the person who doesn 't will feel left out.
Unfortunately the only way to combat peer pressure is to be sensible about the way that you make your games purchases and about who your friends are. If you know that you can only afford to buy one game a month, then make sure that you have read all the reviews of the games you might like and make an informed decision. If you are really enjoying the game that you have, then peer pressure won 't make you want another game too badly. If you have friends who have bought a new game and are unwilling to share it with you or let you play, then this is a weakness of their character and not a reflection on your character.
Peer Pressure
Another motivating factor that affects people psychologically is peer pressure. If friends, classmates or colleagues are pressurising someone to play the same games as them or to buy the same console, this can be a negative effect. Peer pressure is very powerful, especially with young people, because most people want to fit in with their peers.
If everyone you hung out with was playing a certain game and you didn 't have it, you would feel you were the odd one out, left out of discussions that they were having.
Page 6 of 10
Advertisers know that peer pressure is a powerful motivator for buying games and they use it to their advantage. Most young people will only be able to afford a new game from time to time, but as soon as one friend has bought an exciting new game everybody in the group will want it, and as soon as the majority have it, the person who doesn 't will feel left out.
Unfortunately the only way to combat peer pressure is to be sensible about the way that you make your games purchases and about who your friends are. If you know that you can only afford to buy one game a month, then make sure that you have read all the reviews of the games you might like and make an informed decision. If you are really enjoying the game that you have, then peer pressure won 't make you want another game too badly. If you have friends who have bought a new game and are unwilling to share it with you or let you play, then this is a weakness of their character and not a reflection on your character.
Page 7 of 10
Fun
Games are fun - that 's why we play them. The games industry is part of a wider entertainment industry that aims to make us enjoy ourselves during our free time. At school or college, and then later on at work, we have a daily routine that finishes at a certain time and then, meals and chores notwithstanding, our free time is our own. People choose to have fun in lots of different ways, from playing a sport to watching a film. Games are a fun pastime because they challenge the player and often have gripping storylines. They have been getting better in quality every year for 30 years and can be played on one 's own or with friends.
Games are fun because there are so many different types and, depending on what mood you are in, you can pick one that will satisfy you. Now that games are being embraced by whole families, game-playing doesn 't have to be a solitary activity - it is something that can be fun whilst spending time with your family and also whilst learning or getting exercise.
Educational Value
Games are also educational from psychological point of view, because they can teach us discreetly, whilst we think we are just having fun.A game with a strong storyline can also make the player think about how they would behave I a similar situation.
Page 8 of 10
Expectations
People have certain expectations when sitting in front of a new game and one of the features that designers have to consider when planning their games is the element of surprise.
When someone is surprised it is an enjoyable experience, even if it is associated with fear or shock, and this is a psychological factor that games designers use as often as they can. Some games have a storyline with a surprising twist whilst other games, such as action games, will have a surprising appearance of an enemy or special power-up. Regardless of what the surprise is, changing people 's expectations is a great way of making them enjoy the game more. As there are so many titles available to each games player, they can sometimes be quite similar to each other, so the ones that change the expectations of the play are the ones that sell the most copies. Leveling
One of the satisfying factors involved in playing a lot of computer games is the principle of levelling. Many games involve a character that begins in a basic state and can be improved upon as the game progresses. This tends to involve the advancement of particular characteristics/skills such as strength, agility, magical powers, etc.
Page 9 of 10
The player will gain points in some way for progressing through levels or defeating enemies and achieving a certain amount of experience will allow the character to move up to the next skill level. This is known as levelling up.
Role-playing games are dependent on levelling, as a higher level will allow the player to access new areas of the game or wield more powerful weapons.
Psychologically, there is great satisfaction in moving up to the next skill level and this keeps the player interested in the game for longer.
References:
BTEC level 3 Book- Information technology
Page 10 of 10