90% of games are designed to be fun. Meaning the point is to stimulate your brain to produce feel-good chemicals. No greater meaning, or secret goal.
To do this, they have goals, rules, and other features, but the core loop is very simple:
I want to get a dopamine hit, therefore
I open up a game, and
The game provides a structure that I follow, subordinating my “real life” to the artificial goals and laws of the game
When the brain generates good feelings, it usually has reasons for doing that, which a game designer has to be aware of. If you keep trying to make it generate good feelings without respecting the deeper purposes of the source of the feelings, afaik it generally stops working after a bit.
My aspiration is to make games that are compatible with living in real life. It’s a large underserved market.
«When the brain generates good feelings, it usually has reasons for doing that» I think is probably true (though as far as the game designer, I suspect some designers are only subconsciously / on a gut-feeling-level aware, rather than consciously aware of all the reasons. Though good ones are probably consciously aware of some of the reasons)
«If you keep trying to make it generate good feelings without respecting the deeper purposes of the source of the feelings, afaik it generally stops working after a bit.» seems false to me.
Consider a scale that runs from “authentic real life” to “Lotus eater box”
At any point along that scale, you can experience euphoria. At the Lotus Eater end, it is automatic. At the real life end, it is incidental. “Games” fall towards the Lotus Eater end of the spectrum, not as far as slot machines, but further from real life than Exercise or Eating Chocolate.
Modern game design is about exploiting what is known about what brains like, to guide the players through the (mental) paths necessary to generate happy chems. They call it “being Fun” but that’s just thier medium level Map.
Some respected designers (including Mark Rosewater) would say that being compatible with real life is disqualifying for a thing to be a “Game.” You can apply game design principles to real life stuff (lessons/repetitive tasks/etc.) to make it more Fun. One thing that makes Games a particularly good source of Fun, however, is the safety provided by being independent of real life. With no “real” consequence to losing, brains are more relaxed. A similar effect is what makes horror movies Fun—the viewers brain is put through stimulus to generate chemicals, without overwhelming the system the way a real danger can.
90% of games are designed to be fun. Meaning the point is to stimulate your brain to produce feel-good chemicals. No greater meaning, or secret goal. To do this, they have goals, rules, and other features, but the core loop is very simple:
I want to get a dopamine hit, therefore
I open up a game, and
The game provides a structure that I follow, subordinating my “real life” to the artificial goals and laws of the game
Profit!
When the brain generates good feelings, it usually has reasons for doing that, which a game designer has to be aware of. If you keep trying to make it generate good feelings without respecting the deeper purposes of the source of the feelings, afaik it generally stops working after a bit.
My aspiration is to make games that are compatible with living in real life. It’s a large underserved market.
«When the brain generates good feelings, it usually has reasons for doing that» I think is probably true (though as far as the game designer, I suspect some designers are only subconsciously / on a gut-feeling-level aware, rather than consciously aware of all the reasons. Though good ones are probably consciously aware of some of the reasons)
«If you keep trying to make it generate good feelings without respecting the deeper purposes of the source of the feelings, afaik it generally stops working after a bit.» seems false to me.
Consider a scale that runs from “authentic real life” to “Lotus eater box” At any point along that scale, you can experience euphoria. At the Lotus Eater end, it is automatic. At the real life end, it is incidental. “Games” fall towards the Lotus Eater end of the spectrum, not as far as slot machines, but further from real life than Exercise or Eating Chocolate. Modern game design is about exploiting what is known about what brains like, to guide the players through the (mental) paths necessary to generate happy chems. They call it “being Fun” but that’s just thier medium level Map.
Some respected designers (including Mark Rosewater) would say that being compatible with real life is disqualifying for a thing to be a “Game.” You can apply game design principles to real life stuff (lessons/repetitive tasks/etc.) to make it more Fun. One thing that makes Games a particularly good source of Fun, however, is the safety provided by being independent of real life. With no “real” consequence to losing, brains are more relaxed. A similar effect is what makes horror movies Fun—the viewers brain is put through stimulus to generate chemicals, without overwhelming the system the way a real danger can.