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[Lustdante]

I'm very exhilarated to read this psychological interpretation of video games.

It also gives me a thought that game developers are manipulating player's instinct to make more money. Well, it's undeniable that nearly every single commercial products out there manipulate consumer's mind to sell more, but here is an interesting point.

The area of industry closest to video game in terms of product's nature I can think of is film industry, and yes they manipulate audience's thoughts hell out of it. But this manipulation is more on emotional level while video game's manipulation is rather on behavioral. The former deals with humans while latter deals with lab animals.

[SplinterOfChaos]

It also gives me a thought that game developers are manipulating player's instinct to make more money. Well, it's undeniable that nearly every single commercial products out there manipulate consumer's mind to sell more, but here is an interesting point.

Braid's creator talked about this extensively: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFu5O-oPmU

[Lustdante]

It also gives me a thought that game developers are manipulating player's instinct to make more money. Well, it's undeniable that nearly every single commercial products out there manipulate consumer's mind to sell more, but here is an interesting point.

Braid's creator talked about this extensively: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFu5O-oPmU

Oh, I happen to be from Rice University and I was sitting right next to this camera during the entire lecture. 

[Sankar]

Hima: Thank you for your interest! I'm glad you're enjoying the series. I've been planing to make a PDF document when I reach a good number of chapters. I'm having ideas as I go writing these series, like to use or not use pictures. But I plan to release a PDF soon. When I do, i'll post here!

Lustdante: I believe that Games are using the same techniques as the movie industry to evoke emotions, but its very hard to talk about these theories. It's not that they are hard to explain, it's just that
Behavior Psychology has a very "scientific" feel to it. Psychology roots are in philosophy, all those ideas about what is real, what isn't, why we do this or that. When the first Behaviorists came, they felt that it was time to treat psychology like chemistry or physics. So thats where all the lab-testing, Skinner's box, Pavlov's dogs came from.
Other theories came, like Freudian Psychoanalysis, Pearl's Gestalt and Maslow's Humanist Approach. These theories didn't stop in time, they were (and still are) further developed by other theorists.
Behavior theories were updated too, and in today's World Cognitive Behavior Therapy is very popular.

So, this is why these series of posts are touching the most "Behavioral" aspect of Psychology in Games, because its a popular theme and people usually accept it more than other approaches. But I don't feel, for example, that is a coincidence that lots of games feature the whole "save the princess from the dragon/beast" theme, and I believe freudian theories could explain this very well. And Paul here talked about how he uses Maslow's theories in his games.

I'm not sure if I was clear, but what I'm trying to say is that there is lots of different psychological theories being used in Games today, but since talking about our emotions and "explanations" behind them generates lots of "emotions", It gets harder to touch the subject without risking really upsetting some people, so most Games/Movies just use it behind the scenes and never talk about it anymore. I feel some people "feel like" Its wrong to use psychology in games, the whole "Oh it's playing with our minds!" myth.

Anyway, I plan to go deeper into other theories in future chapters, I just feel that its easier to talk about the more "Human Behavior" first because, you can fit these theories in any kind of game, even games without any story or setting behind them.
Hope I made any sense. Thanks for your post and interest!

SplinterOfChaos: I really like this speech by Jonathan, he gets really shy in the first minutes. But I recommend everyone to sit tight and wait some minutes, because when he starts to talk and relax a little more, he touches some really interesting theories and approaches.
Thanks very much for this link, great post!

For anyone interested in "less ethical" ways that Psychology has been used with people, I would recommend the first episode of the "Century of the Self" documentary, you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcYBSXgtmKQ
It talks about how Sigmund Freud's theory have been used by marketing companies to try to sell people stuff they don't need, its the birth of consumerism. Its pretty interesting, and gives us a better view of Freudian Theories + Business.

Later today I'll post the next chapter in our series about Psychology and Game Design, Thank's everyone for the interest!

[baconman]

That fear is totally bogus. Because face it - the whole reason people play games and watch movies is to quench their own psychological needs. Duh.

[Sankar]

In this chapter we will see how Shadow of the Colossus manages to allow the player to fill the story with his own emotions and thoughts, without making the player feel like he is making up the story

= Cues =


   Shadow of the Colossus storyline is simple, but the way it ressonates inside the player's head isn't. By leaving gaps in the storyline, the game allows the player “write” the story too, filling those gaps with ideas and emotions.
   But the player never feels like he is doing the game a favor. It's not about creating a story because the game lacks one. “The story is there”, you just have to find it.

A simple image can tell a whole story, see how careful the boy carries the girl

   The game is not a empty canvas, it feeds the player with cues, but you're not left to your own devices, you're not making up a story because the game lacks one, its there, you feel it.



= The Rorschach Test =


   Rorschach or “Ink Blot test” is one of the most well know psychological tests, it works because people see things in the ink-blots. But what most people don't know is that the test not about random ink-blots.
   Rorschach did a lot of testing with his ink-blots before choosing the final ones, he tested and re-tested lots of designs till he found “blots” that more or less would make people think about things within a context.
   Shadow of the Colossus gives us a context. You're a boy (Wanda/Wander) travelling with your horse (Agro) carrying a unconscious girl (Mono), you enter a place called the Forbidden Lands and place the girl on a ritualistic stone table. Shadowy figures attack you, but your sword scares them away. You're greeted by a “voice from above” that tells you it may be possible to restore the girl's soul, but to do that you need to defeat 16 colossi.

the beautiful and peaceful travel to the next boss is a great way to give the player room to think and feel.

   The game gives us “clues”, it makes us think about something: The girl and boy look like the same age, what comes to your mind? Brother and Sister? Lovers? Friends?... What if she was Older or Younger? What if Wanda just threw her in the stone table instead of carefully placing her? Little details that guide our imagination.

   And as the game progresses, we receive more and more clues. I won't spoil it, obviously. But the game achieves a rare balance between letting you “fill the gaps” and giving answers to its questions.
   


= Jackie Chan =


   Its hard to a human being to walk into any situation without expecting something. Everytime I watch a movie, I expect something and at the same time I have some preconceived notions.
   Jackie Chan may look out of place, but he is a good example of how this works. Why do we watch Martial Arts movies? Because it fascinates us. Its the same logic behind “Youtube Trick Videos” being so popular, we like to see what our fellow humans are capable of doing. Tricks, moves, anything “spetacular”.
   Jackie is a “movie star”, that means he made films before the one you're watching now. So that means you expect some things from him. So if you like him, even if a movie starts slow, you'll probably “give it a chance” instead of simply walking away.

Shadow of the Colossus convinces you that its minimalistic approach to landscapes is a design choice and not a limitation

   If you knew him back in his “Hong-Kong Movies”, you would probably expect to always see him performing his own stunts. So even if you didn't saw his face on a particular shot, you KNEW it was him.
   And its because of this concept that some games are able to pull more risky moves,  If you didn't feel like Shadow of the Colossus was well crafted, you could simply think his minimalist storyline was simply “lack” of story. Style and “intention” means a lot. And before you “get the job”, you gotta convince you can do it.
      


= Marketing and Context =


   Marketing creates hype, hype means attention, expectations. If a product has a very well crafted marketing campaign, we will expect something of it. Sometimes, marketing back-fires, because we expect the “industry” to try to hype things that we don't usually like. And thats why “word-of-mouth” is usually a very powerful marketing tool. In the previous part of this article, we talked about how important is to “convince” the player the game “can deliver”.
   Now, I won't go deeper into “marketing” aspects, because this series is about Game Design and not really Advertising, but I hope that the idea of “convincing the player” either before the plays the game or in the first moments of it, came across... And how important it is.

Fighting giant Bosses isn't new, but having to do it with a small sword while climbing them is.

   
   Since we talked about advertising, Its only fair to talk about Context. Context is about “what has been happening”, every game released is placed in a context. Usually with the games released before it.
   Shadow of the Colossus let you climb giant beasts in a generation where giant beasts were distant “bosses”, that you had to strike from far away with your gun or wait till it attacked you to strike it. You had to go close and personal against towering giant, a wish we all had for a long time, after watching many movies and playing games, that just made us wish we could do it.
   And this something that seens forgotten in modern design practices, sometimes we just wish we could do anything and a game allows us to do it, no deep psychological explanation here!


Next Chapter we will talk about a different way of rewarding, not about cues or allowing the player to create part of the story. We'll talk about Father Figures!

NEXT CHAPTER >>

[Blodyavenger]

Of course, psychology remains hidden otherwise it wouldn't be used to it's full extend. But yeah, all addicting/good games have lots psychology minds behind them.

For example, let's get an example of "Driving" simluation.
If you complete one track under:
- X minutes you get bronze medal
- Y minutes you get silver medal
- Z minutes you get goold medal

Yeah, you get medal but what's that? Some nice art shining after completing the track, that't it! Game tells you: "You're good, you've got a gold medal!". Who doesn't like to hear that from someone? Yeah, it's obvious why that gold medal is there, to play one track for 2 hours trying to beat thet Z time but we still do it.

I'm very interested in psychology lately and I have to get a book to something since it's very important on game design.

Thanks a lot for this great series, I'm looking forward to PDF

[SplinterOfChaos]

It occurred to me that maybe side quests in RPGs might be a sort of layered difficulty. In the example of the Final Fantasy series, optional bosses are sometimes harder than final bosses. And the challenge isn't always difficulty, but completionism. Like in Pokemon, Shin Megami Tensei, card battle games, etc., where some might chose to just finish the game and others might chose to complete their roster/pokedex/deck. Some RPG gamers even try to collect one of every item.

Is this a correct analysis, or does it fall more under the category of filling gaps, from the first chapter?

[Sankar]

Yeah, you get medal but what's that? Some nice art shining after completing the track, that't it! Game tells you: "You're good, you've got a gold medal!". Who doesn't like to hear that from someone? Yeah, it's obvious why that gold medal is there, to play one track for 2 hours trying to beat thet Z time but we still do it.
I'm very interested in psychology lately and I have to get a book to something since it's very important on game design.
Thanks a lot for this great series, I'm looking forward to PDF

Nice comment and I agree totally with you. There is always a reward in being praised, since this is actually one of our goals as people. Nobody makes things to be just unknown, we expect some sort of feedback and specially a good one.

This is, by coincidence, the theme of the next chapter, that will be posted later today! And the PDF is coming with the next chapter, it will be illustrated and will have a revised text alongside new pictures and some pretty design around it, like a small magazine. I'm sure it will be worth the wait!

It occurred to me that maybe side quests in RPGs might be a sort of layered difficulty. In the example of the Final Fantasy series, optional bosses are sometimes harder than final bosses. And the challenge isn't always difficulty, but completionism. Like in Pokemon, Shin Megami Tensei, card battle games, etc., where some might chose to just finish the game and others might chose to complete their roster/pokedex/deck. Some RPG gamers even try to collect one of every item.

Is this a correct analysis, or does it fall more under the category of filling gaps, from the first chapter?

This is a very correct analysis, its a different way of layering the difficulty. I believe these different ways would deserve some more "Individual Analysis" as they work out in different ways, but its the same idea: Offer more than one challenge level, without using a difficulty selection screen.

Abe's case is special because in the first playable screen of the game, you're already "choosing your difficulty" without noticing (there is a secret area in the first screen, with some friends waiting to be rescued).
Games like Final Fantasy uses this usually later on the game, like after you did a lot of things you can try a side-quest to get a new summon or kill a beast. In some games of the series there aren't many mentions about this.
Pokemon, Shin Megami (great series!), Wild Arms 2 and Zelda: Minish Cap appeal to our "collector side" or "Obsessive Side" in a more psychoanalytical term. Its a funny and rewarding experience to collect all data about Pokemons, All cards in Zelda and so on. And these games shine, in my opinion, because its not extremely hard to do these things, its pretty possible.

And in some ways, these games are examples of a very popular trend in gaming today: Non-Sequential Levels, where you can usually skip something and come back later when you feel more prepared. This has gained popularity in the SNES games.

Thank you very much for your post!


Later today the next chapter will be up! Enjoy it!

[Sankar]

   What's real and what isn't is more than a simple “narrative trick”, its something that has roots inside the human mind. Fictional characters have the power to make people laugh, cry... In essence, fiction is able to make us care.
   It happens because fiction doesn't reinvent the wheel, characters and stories ressonate with moments and people we've had in our very own lives.
   In this chapter, we'll see how narrative and story can work alongside game design, to flesh out gameplay moments and specially make the player care.



   

= A link to the Past =

   Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker's father doesn't mean much if you heard it before watching the movies, cause there are emotional links to these characters and if you didn't watch the movies, this link was never created in you.
   Characters doesn't exist by themselfs inside our heads, they are linked to our emotions and lives. Most Sci-Fi settings, no matter how far in the future they are, they still touch the same themes of love, hate, belonging, friendship. How many war movies are actually about friendship?

   No matter if you, like Luke Skywalker, never met your father. The idea of Father has a meaning for you, lets see how the idea of “father figure” is used in a modern game:

Darth Vader is not a classical father-figure.

   

= Father Figure =

   Call of Duty: World at War has one of the greatest father figures in gaming story: Reznov. The first time you see him, you are both pretending to be dead. There is a simple bonding between you and him, but as the game progress he turns more and more into a father figure.

   In the first moments, you help him hunt a Nazi General. He can't shot anymore with his sniper rifle, but he “takes your hand” and guide you throught the whole level. Teaching you what he knows, and helping you when you need it.

   Reznov is not a weak figure, he is actually more powerful than you: He needs your help to kill someone, you need his help to not die.

Reznov appears again in Call of Duty: Black Ops

   The second time you met Reznov, he saves you and the whole “father figure” link starts to play. The Game has already stabilished him as a powerful figure and you as his great ally. In the following missions, he creates a “good brother/bad brother” relationship between you and a soldier, you are constantly praised for doing what Reznov wants, while the other soldier, a “pacifist” is constantly scolded.
   Reznov reward your every move with praise, he loves you and you love him. He is fearless, powerful, he saves you more than once.

Pryce is a popular character in the Modern Warfare spin-off

   Reznov is not the first game figure to praise you, many games have a narrator that says “Congratulations” or “Great Score”, but Reznov is not a random narrator, he is a living character, he has qualities that we admire and his approval is dear to us. In other words: his figure is linked to our emotions and thoughts, he has a “body” in the gameworld and a “soul” in our heads
   And this is not the first Call of Duty game that has a father figure in a important role in the story, all the lastest games has this story device.

   Think about it, how many cult leaders acted like a father figures? How many acted as spiritual guides, giving love and praise to their followers. And how far people would go to get this approval and love.
   
   In the next chapter, we'll go for a more in-depth approach to Psychology and Game Design, We'll talk how Sigmund Freud ideas are being used by the Media and the Entertainment Industry to design Movies and Games, and how we can learn from this to create engaging experiences and learn how these experiences work.

And I SWEAR: I won't talk about your mother

NEXT CHAPTER >>

[McG]

Great series, loving this. Still on pg. 1 mind, you don't want to gorge yourself on a good thing.

'Creating intentional gaps' is something that is v. important to make something special imo.

Keep it up!

For anyone interested in "less ethical" ways that Psychology has been used with people, I would recommend the first episode of the "Century of the Self" documentary, you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcYBSXgtmKQ
It talks about how Sigmund Freud's theory have been used by marketing companies to try to sell people stuff they don't need, its the birth of consumerism. Its pretty interesting, and gives us a better view of Freudian Theories + Business.

Yes, it's very interesting, I love Adam Curtis's stuff. His latest one aired recently and deals with our mechanized, computerized view of the world, how it arose and the problems with it, and ultimately our view of ourselves as part of a number of systems. It's interesting to compare to games which fundamentally are a series of reactive systems. The Silicon Valley stuff in pt. 1 was really interesting.

[Sankar]

Dear friends, I'm swimming in the sea of bureaucracy and I must say I'm sorry for the delay. But worry not! The next chapter is here.

And, I hope you guys can excuse the lack of pictures. I'm in crunch-mode so, I only had time to type the text!

CHAPTER SEVEN
SIGMUND FREUD AND GAME DESIGN: part 1

   Sigmund Freud is well-known as the father of Psychoanalysis. The Austrian doctor believe that deep inside every human being, there was impulses (drives) that weren't noticed consciously and these drives would guide our lives way more than we believed.
   
   His ideas weren't very popular at first, but as years passed, the unconscious theory started to be part of our popular culture and to this very day many of Freud's ideas are being used in Games, Movies and many other places, but in a way he never would expected.


= The Unconscious =

Freud was a MD, and unlike House, he actually cared and liked to talk to his patients. In his youth, Sigmund was trying to make a name for himself, and after many failed ideas he stumbled upon a “disease” that would define his life.
The young doctor was fascinated to find out that some people had physical symptoms without any biological reason for it. He then wrote to a guy named Charcot, and got back a letter saying that Charcot was able to cure this illness by using Hypnosis.

Freud for some years used hypnosis too, he met Charcot and they start to make theories together, till one day Freud realized that nobody was cured. Sure, hypnosis would make your arm move again, but one month later, your leg was paralyzed.

So Freud theorized that there was something deep inside each one of us, that we tried to so hard to hide but failed, and this (the unconscious) would constantly screw us, sending messages and making us remember that it is there, hidden deep inside of us.

Now keep in mind that Freud lived in a time where CONTROLLING yourself was a must. Its not the same World that we live today. Back then people were trying to control their drives so they could behave as society wanted, in the world today, society wants us to spill out our guts, make sex 20 times a week with 15 different super-models, beat each other and simply go wild.


= Neurosis =

As a child I used to think of Woody Allen when the word Neurosis came up, I wasn't totally wrong, but I greatly misjudged my own behavior. To Freud (hopefully) every single one of you, dear readers, are neurotics. And this is a good thing.

Now, we know that the unconscious exists, but how it is created? Freud started to believe that there are ideas, traces of our old “animal self” that society won't allow to exist, so we end up suppressing our little vampires and werewolves.
To Freud, we, the neurotics, would try to lock these ideas away, but they don't really go that far. So we try to keep a balance between how much we deny and how much we accept. Have you ever thought about why people who feel bad about hurting even a rat, can have giant fun on a God of War game? Or why your loving grandma go batshit when she watches Rambo exploding a whole building? Because neurosis feeds on “fantasies”, to keep our demons at bay, we do things in a fantasy world. This may sound strange, but think about it. How many people say that playing games is a great way to relieve the stress? Or hit a sandbag in the gym is the best way to cool down after a hard day.

Animals when hurt, they either flee or attack. They don't go home and think about it. We, on the other hand, control ourselves. And so Neurosis is born.

This will be sort of a “two parts” chapter, sorry about the lack of images on this one. I'm having some extra-work to do in the latest days and my time is somewhat short.

But I'll keep updating the text! :D