Precision of Emotion: A New Kind of Fun
- One theory of fun is that fun is just learning
- When you’re trying to make a fun educational game, it should be super easy
- Lesson 1: Kids are smarter than you think
- Didn’t think they were learning when playing sim-city–wanted more
- “Fun is learning” is just the beginning
- Emotion lens
- Doesn’t individually involve fun
- Fun is a process emergent out of multiple emotions
- Sophia: the game learn emotion
- “Fun is the cognitive mechanical process by which we convert fear into happiness through surprise”
- Example: the second genome–start by feeling icky then you learn and feel good
- Sophia games:
- Portal
- Journey
- SimCity
- Meaningful games: games that connect to the real world vs games that are not (completely closed system)
- When you design for sophia, you must first identify fear created by the absence of skill then scaffold players into the happiness of mastery
- When making learning games we know the effect we want to achieve, but it’s hard to find the emotion
- Make it very precise
- A lens through which we can view games
- Story is necessary as people learn through story