I really loved this talk. My work right now is investigating joyful learning as a process of affective sense-making. I’m currently wading through learning sciences literature, affective literature, and game design literature to try to piece this all together. Hoffman’s presentation on SOPHIA helped crystallize how affect is a construct of movement—it connects people between states while serving as a state itself, and due to that duality, affect has power.
I love how they articulated fun as a process. The Games-Machine gear graph is a useful chart for understanding how what we colloquially understand as “negative” emotions can be transformed into “positive” emotions through the game loop. I find the graphic incomplete, though I admittedly don’t know what else it could take. Already, Hoffman’s talk is relevant to how I will be developing my understanding of joyful learning (Is it a moment? Is it a process? How does it emerge?). I’d like to try and take the MDAO framework from last week and slot it into Hoffman’s SOPHIA; even if the two don’t fit together, I think the exercise may at least reveal my understanding of each theory, in case any corrections are needed.
- The whole graph is within a box of Aesthetics. This is the box of player emotions. This is the package the developer designed to evoke emotions in the player; this is the process of how players feel things from games.
- The funnel that takes in the negative emotions. This is what Hoffman refers to as Ekman’s “fear” emotions. Frustration, anxiety, etc.
- The emotions churn in the Cog of Gameplay. Here, the core game loop consists of the three main mechanics. These produce emotions that power motion throughout the gameplay.
- In the cog is also the Web of Play. The player is interacting with the mechanics of the game, producing the dynamics of gameplay. This is the player becoming frustrated with new mechanics, getting sucked into how it works, trying to figure out the most efficient actions, testing how each mechanic works, experimenting with what is possible in the game.
- The Cog of Gameplay churns as players move through affective states. Curiosity, stress, discovery, insight; this is the process that produces fun.
- Out of the funnel comes fun, or what Hoffman refers to as Ekman’s “happiness” emotions. Here, too, is when designers can assess outcomes. How has the player changed since playing the game? What did they learn? This is when we can apply learning assessments. It is usually after the player is done with the game.
(The Cog of Gameplay – 2025)
