tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5565504827965795462024-03-08T06:35:16.638-08:00Finding Fiero in Game DesignLisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-14098186066827600862014-09-03T19:12:00.000-07:002014-09-03T19:12:46.373-07:00Humbled: a Review of GeminiHigh-concept games impress me; I like it when my understanding of reality is enhanced by having been twisted in a particular way, as with <a href="http://www.thinkwithportals.com/" target="_blank">Portal</a> and <a href="http://miegakure.com/" target="_blank">Miegakure</a>. <br />
<br />
Sometimes, though, it doesn't take much for a game to be a mind-opening experience for me.<br />
<br />
This year at PAX Prime, I came across <a href="http://www.geminithegame.com/" target="_blank">Gemini</a>. Drawn in by the soothing graphics, I picked up a controller at an available station.<br />
<br />
In Gemini, your avatar is a small sparkling circle. The world is 2D. There are no apparent obstacles; just the ground, which is a line you can't fall past. The game uses all of two buttons: left bumper and right bumper.<br />
<br />
Naturally, I moved both left and right along the ground, but I didn't seem to be making any progress. I glanced over at the other players. They were clearly able to go <i>up</i>. I wanted to go up, too.<br />
<br />
After skittering along the ground for another minute, I started pressing every button on the controller in a vain attempt to start flying. Sometimes I hopped a little. One of the devs caught me button-mashing, and tapped me on the shoulder. "Those are the only controls," he said, pointing at the LB and RB icons on the screen.<br />
<br />
Exasperated and embarrassed, I looked up at the game's poster for additional clues. I finally parsed the name, <i>Gemini</i>. The twins, a constellation. Wait a minute. Twins. Should I expect another player to show up?<br />
<br />
There <i>was</i> a glowing bauble that appeared from time to time. I had presumed it was a part of the background. It had moved around some, but didn't seem to do anything. I had ignored it. I did recall, though, that every time I'd hopped off the ground, that bauble had been nearby. Maybe it was important, after all.<br />
<br />
So I went back over to the little glowing orb, and sure enough, I jumped a bit. But it wasn't a real jump. Instead, I ascended somewhat unpredictably while in its proximity. With more experimentation, I found that it would follow me upwards. The bauble and I were entwined, but only just so. I couldn't get too close, or it would repel me like the wrong end of a magnet. I couldn't get too far, or we would both drift to the ground. If I kept to a certain 'Goldilocks' distance, however, I'd move upward, and it would follow me a little bit. Only together could we ascend.<br />
<br />
I found that I had the power to fly wherever I wanted, but I could never take a direct route to get there. Gemini rejects precise, Mario-like controls. Instead, you make a butterfly-like dance across the screen with your companion orb.<br />
<br />
When I made this realization, I had to blink back an actual tear.<br />
<br />
You see, I'm from a <a href="http://www.psmag.com/magazines/magazine-feature-story-magazines/joe-henrich-weird-ultimatum-game-shaking-up-psychology-economics-53135/" target="_blank">WEIRD</a> (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) culture. We emphasize the individual over the group more strongly than any other people in the world. The boundary I draw between myself and others is so strong that it took me several solid minutes to figure out that <i>I even had a companion in a game called Gemini</i>, let alone that my interactions with that companion could let me fly.<br />
<br />
For gods' sake, I had rejected the power of flight in favor of telescoping in on the one aspect of the game I had the most control over. I was blind to the fact that my avatar could even exist as a system between a pair of entities. Consider my eyes opened, Gemini devs, and thank you.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://gamecenter.nyu.edu/incubator/" target="_blank">NYU Game Center Incubator</a>, please release Gemini soon. Every WEIRD person in the world needs to play it and be humbled.<br />
<br />Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-32391013303913356602014-03-23T19:53:00.000-07:002014-03-23T19:53:59.773-07:00Brewing Tea in the OfficeI drink a liter or more of tea per day, and keep 15 to 30 types of tea at my desk. Over the years, this habit has taught me some tips about brewing tea using a standard hot/cold water dispenser.<br />
<br />
Brewing tea requires specific water temperatures and precise steeping times. While you can track steeping time using your smart phone, you cannot dip your smart phone into your cup to see how hot the water is. It's easier to interpret water temperature based on how your tea turns out, then apply what you learn to future cups of tea.<br />
<br />
<b>Black Tea</b><br />
Most black teas are best steeped in near-boiling (195-210<b>°</b>F) water. A typical water dispenser doesn't make water quite this hot, but it comes close. When brewing black tea in the office, swirl hot water in your mug to heat the mug first. Dump that slightly-cooled water out, then immediately add your tea ball and pour fresh hot water right onto the tea. This helps ensure the hottest possible steeping.<br />
<br />
<b>Oolong Tea</b><br />
Oolong is easy to brew in the office; most hot water dispensers produce exactly the right temperature water for it (about 185<b>°</b>F). You'll want to follow the same procedure as for Black Tea, but you can get away without heating your mug first.<br />
<br />
<b>White Tea</b><br />
While a dispenser's water is slightly too hot for white tea, that's ok! You can get the extra heat to transfer to your room-temperature ceramic mug, creating water that <i>is </i>the right temperature; 160-175<b>°</b>F. So - pour the hot water in your mug, wait until the mug is hot to the touch, then add your white-tea-filled tea ball and steep away.<br />
<br />
<b>Green Tea</b><br />
Green tea is difficult to brew even with the right equipment. I've ruined many a cup! Here's one way to avoid overcooking those delicate leaves in the office:<br />
<ol>
<li>Put your green tea in a tea ball in your room-temperature ceramic mug.</li>
<li>Pour COLD water into your mug until it is about 1/6 or 1/5 full. Learning exactly how much cold water is right for your mug and your tea may take a few tries.</li>
<li>Swirl the cold water around the tea ball,
soaking the tea. This helps protect the tea against the near-boiling water
you're about to add.</li>
<li>Pour HOT water into the mug, filling it the rest of the way, making sure to aim the stream of water away from the tea ball.</li>
<li>
The green tea should now be sitting in roughly
the correct temperature water (around 150<b>°</b>F, plus or minus). Remember to not oversteep.</li>
</ol>
Enjoy!Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-37946100335769227042012-12-01T20:15:00.000-08:002012-12-02T10:30:05.585-08:00Terminology Review: Girlfriend ModeTo recap the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderlands_2" target="_blank">Borderlands 2</a> <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnyegriffiths/2012/08/13/girlfriend-mode-borderlands-2-and-why-being-a-dude-rocks/" target="_blank">Girlfriend Mode</a> situation, the creators of the game wanted to make a character and skill tree that would appeal to players who are less talented at playing first person shooters. They came up with <a href="http://www.ign.com/wikis/borderlands-2/Mechromancer" target="_blank">Gaige the Mechromancer</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Borderlands-2-Mechromancer-Pack-Download/product-reviews/B009M8KRFE" target="_blank">a solid addition to the game</a>.<br />
<br />
The trouble started when the lead designer (John Hemingway) referred to the Mechromancer as 'Girlfriend Mode' in a <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-08-13-borderlands-2-gearbox-reveals-the-mechromancers-girlfriend-mode" target="_blank">Eurogamer interview</a>. Here's his most quoted quote: <br />
<br />
“The design team was looking at the concept art [of the Mechromancer
class] and thought, you know what, this is actually the cutest character
we’ve ever had. I want to make, for the lack of a better term, the
girlfriend skill tree. This is, I love Borderlands and I want to share
it with someone, but they suck at first-person shooters. Can we make a
skill tree that actually allows them to understand the game and to play
the game? That’s what our attempt with the Best Friends Forever skill
tree is.”<br />
<br />
It's clear that John Hemingway is not sexist
and he never meant to offend anyone with his terminology. His comments, however, provide a good platform for discussions of sexism in game design.<br />
<br />
I mentioned Girlfriend Mode the other day to a fellow game designer in one such discussion. We bantered for a while, and at one point, he asked, "If most of the people who play in Girlfriend Mode are players' girlfriends, is the term still insulting?"<br />
<br />
His question struck a chord. At first glance, "Girlfriend Mode" may look like a harmless phrase, but it contains insidious sexism. Here's an analogy I used to answer his question:<br />
<br />
"Pretend there is a restaurant owner who has a variety of patrons. He learns that he could get more patrons, and make more money, if he put more inexpensive items on the menu.<br />
<br />
"So, he adds several low-cost dishes and puts them on a new 'Dollar Deals' page of the restaurant menu folder. The owner is excited for the new menu's debut, so he takes an interview with a reporter.<br />
<br />
"When talking to the reporter about his concepts behind the 'Dollar Deals' page, the restaurant owner says, 'I wanted to make, for lack of a better term, the Black menu.'"<br />
<br />
It's clear why a 'Black menu' containing a list of cheap food would be considered racist. The terminology makes the assumption that Blacks are poor. Worse, it implies that Blacks are a separate group of patrons who, as a group, need special treatment.<br />
<br />
There shouldn't be any need to ask, "If most of the people who buy food listed on the Black menu are Black, is the term still insulting?"<br />
<br />
The same logic applies to Girlfriend Mode.<br />
<br />
It should be clear why a 'Girlfriend Mode' with the easiest gameplay would be sexist. The terminology makes the assumption that girls are bad at games. Worse, it implies that girls are a separate group of players who, as a group, need special treatment.<br />
<br />
As a culture, we've gotten to the point where we see this as racism, yet this kind of sexism remains invisible to many. We need to learn to see it and excise it, or else the makers of games will continue to unintentionally alienate a large part of their audience.<br />
<br />Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-34219860944052488992012-06-18T22:15:00.000-07:002012-06-18T22:15:44.504-07:00In Support of Gamers of All GendersThe recent sex-based internet attacks on Anita Sarkeesian and Felicia Day are appalling and inexcusable. Watching the situation has reminded me that I can't just sit around and hope that misogyny in the gamer world will go away on its own.<br />
<br />
So I'll say here that I support Anita and Felicia, and I'm glad that they have not been silenced or intimidated by the bullying they've
received.<br />
<br />
If you're unfamiliar with their situations, <a href="http://squidygirl.blogspot.com/2012/06/lets-play-game-part-2-women-vs-tropes.html">Squidy Girl has summed them up well.</a><br />
<br />
More links:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/06/kickstarter-project-funded-with-6967-backers/">Anita's story on her blog, Feminist Frequency. </a></li>
<li><a href="http://feliciaday.com/blog/gamer-girlcountry-boyflame-fest">Felicia's post about her attack.</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.animalnewyork.com/2012/ill-doctrine-all-these-sexist-gamer-dudes-are-some-shook-ones/">Jay Smooth's video empowering guys to speak up against sexism.</a></li>
</ul>Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-84409790039382778232012-05-26T12:09:00.000-07:002012-05-26T12:09:43.863-07:00TwitterYou can find me on Twitter, <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/phorusrhacid">@phorusrhacid</a><br />
<br />
I've been busy, but not too busy to tweet!Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-52737744925311439652010-02-13T01:03:00.000-08:002014-03-23T17:51:18.885-07:00Apple NomsThis post is only loosely related to gaming, but it is delicious.<br />
<br />
I dedicate my Apple Noms to Fallout 3, which I was playing as I figured out the dessert's details. (I was going to call them "Apple Bombs," but that name is already taken by a mixed drink.)<br />
<br />
You are invited to enjoy them as I do, as a winter snack after a long evening of gaming.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Apple Noms</span><br />
Dessert. Generously serves 2.<br />
<br />
Ingredients:<br />
<ul>
<li>2 large apples</li>
<li>"nomshell" crust: </li>
<ul>
<li>1 c. whole wheat flour</li>
<li>1/2 tsp. cinnamon </li>
<li>1/3 c. butter</li>
<li>1 tbsp. water </li>
</ul>
<li>"funpowder" filling:</li>
<ul>
<li>2 tbsp. brown sugar</li>
<li>1/2 tsp. cinnamon</li>
<li>1 tbsp. butter </li>
</ul>
</ul>
Instructions:<br />
<ul>
<li>Preheat oven to 350 F. </li>
<li>Peel and core the apples, then set them aside.</li>
<li>In a medium bowl, mix the flour with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.</li>
<li>In a small bowl, soften 1/3 c. butter. (I zap it for 30 seconds in the microwave.) Add the butter to the flour mixture, and use a fork to gently toss and mix until evenly crumbly. Toss in the water the same way. At this point, the dough should be crumbly yet moist, and it should form a clump when pressed together.</li>
<li>Coat the outsides of the apples in the crust. Use whatever method works for you. I like to press pieces of dough to pie-crust thickness and tessellate them onto the apples.</li>
<li>Use any extra dough to plug the bases of the apples, especially if you cored them all the way through.</li>
<li>In the small bowl, mix 1/2 tsp. cinnamon with the brown sugar. Spoon it into the empty cores of each apple.</li>
<li>Divide 1 tbsp. (refrigerated) butter in half, and mash the pieces into the apple cores as well.</li>
<li>Dust the apple tops with cinnamon.</li>
<li>Bake the apples in a covered glass or ceramic casserole dish for 45 minutes at 350 F. Then take the lid off and bake them for 15 minutes more.</li>
<li>Let the apples cool for a few minutes before carefully lifting them from the dish.</li>
</ul>
Troubleshooting tips:<br />
<ul>
<li>If your dough isn't holding together, add water 1 tsp. at a time until it does.</li>
<li>If your dough is too sticky, generously coat your hands in flour when applying it to the apples, and don't worry about the extra flour that will end up on/in the crust.</li>
<li>If you use smaller apples, you will end up with extra dough.</li>
<li>If the filling isn't filling the apple cores, add more brown sugar as needed.</li>
<li>The final appearance of this dessert varies. Every kind of apple does something different in the oven. Some hold together perfectly, some seem to puff up, and others shrink inside their nomshells. </li>
</ul>
Variations:<br />
<ul>
<li>You can make your favorite pie crust and use it instead of the hax0red crust I use.</li>
<li>If you are using a sour varietal of apple, mix 1 tbsp. sugar into the crust, and/or add more brown sugar on top once it is stuffed.</li>
<li>If you use unsalted butter, add a couple of pinches of salt (no more than 1/8 tsp) to the crust.</li>
<li>You can use lard or shortening instead of butter, but please don't use margarine. </li>
<li>You don't have to peel the apples, but if you don't, it can be tougher to get the crust to stick.</li>
<li>This recipe can be doubled or halved.</li>
</ul>
Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-10110402485517066782010-01-31T17:17:00.000-08:002010-01-31T17:17:13.178-08:00Storytelling in Castle CrashersI picked up <a href="http://www.castlecrashers.com/">Castle Crashers</a> the other day. It's a well-made brawler with RPG and collection elements. <br />
<br />
While <a href="http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/903/903047p1.html">various</a> <a href="http://www.trueachievements.com/gamereviews.aspx?gameid=1732">reviews</a> mention Castle Crashers' simple story, the story<i>telling</i> is well done. For example, at the beginning of the Marsh level:<br />
<br />
You walk into the marsh and see that skeletons have killed a peasant. As you begin to fight the skeletons, two other peasants peek out from behind the terrain and watch your fight. They look at one another and nod, then leap out from the terrain and begin to assist you.<br />
<br />
The designers could have just dropped in some NPC assistants; instead, they chose to tell a story that gave meaning to the NPCs' behavior - the peasants help you because you avenged the death of their friend. The game is full of little visual and gestural details that help the player understand what's going on - the sort of storytelling details that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Comics">Scott McCloud writes about</a>. <br />
<br />
The game is also a good teacher - here's how you are introduced to sandwiches:<br />
<br />
You reach a door that you cannot break open. Enemies run onto the screen intermittently, but steadily. Each time you kill one, it yields a sandwich that goes into your usable-item inventory. In fact, the unbreakable door itself is shaped like a sandwich. Everything points to the inevitable conclusion: try out one of those sandwiches, and see if you can't get the door open.<br />
<br />
There are many good game design lessons to be learned from Castle Crashers. I recommend it.Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-25299488734824760942010-01-28T22:53:00.000-08:002010-01-28T22:53:56.142-08:00Maintaining the Joy of Altruism in MMOsDesigners often rely on players' <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/103/42/15623.full">enjoyment of helping others</a> when guiding them through their first steps in the game. New players may not yet understand XP or the advantages of leveling, but they do understand that the people around them need their help. First quests in MMOs often illustrate how the world is in danger; they give players the opportunity to assist while teaching them the basic mechanics of the game.<br />
<br />
As players' time in the game wears on, they see more and more violent events. Many quests ask players to kill NPC animals or people. Art props in the game world often include bones and corpses, and less commonly, wounded NPCs.<br />
<br />
My suspicion is that after a while, some players become inured to the violence around them, and become <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/03/violent_films_and_games_delay_people_from_helping_others.php">less likely to respond to pleas for help</a> from the NPCs. At the same time, players learn more about how the game works, and discover how to direct their play experience towards the improvement of their characters. Some players become more likely to pick up a quest for its XP, gold, or gear than for the emotional reward of assisting the NPC.<br />
<br />
If the joy of altruism could be maintained throughout a player's in-game career, it ought to provide for a more engaging experience. Briefly, here are a couple of methods that may help with this goal -<br />
<ul><li>Let the player see that they've changed the world around them for the better. Admittedly, this is easier to do, and more commonly found, in single-player games than in MMOs - but even a wave and a smile from an NPC can help them seem more human and less like XP vendors.</li>
</ul><ul><li>Tell the story in a way that players understand. If a quest is too wordy, it won't get read, and if the story is too complicated, players will ignore it. Many games succeed by relaying the narrative with the help of the world itself.</li>
</ul>Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-62955713553537445652009-04-05T14:45:00.000-07:002009-04-05T16:51:29.377-07:00Tidbits and Takeaways from GDC 2009Design games based on your interests and hobbies. For example, Shigeru Miyamoto realized it was fun to weigh himself every morning, and from that we got the Wii Fit.<br />(from Satoru Iwata's <a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90452-GDC-2009-Liveblogging-the-Satoru-Iwata-Keynote">keynote speech</a>)<br /><br />Our brains are wired with a 'Seeking Circuit'. Seeking out a reward, in and of itself, is at least as satisfying as actually receiving a reward. A person receiving a gift misses out on half the gift if it isn't wrapped.<br />(from Chaim Gingold's <a href="http://www.slackworks.com/%7Ecog/">presentation</a>)<br /><br />Games need weenies - navigational reference points that draw the player towards certain locations, pique the player's interest in future activities, and help the player set goals. The term was coined by Walt Disney; it's in reference to how you might wave a weenie in front of a dog.<br />(from Scott Roger's <a href="http://mrbossdesign.blogspot.com/2009/03/everything-i-learned-about-game-design.html">presentation</a>)<br /><br />"If I had given up, there wouldn't be any Metal Gear series. There wouldn't be any Splinter Cell series either, I guess...." This made me lol.<br />(from Hideo Kojima's <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/news/6206802.html?sid=6206802&part=rss&subj=6206802">keynote speech</a>)<br /><br />Passing money over a social network damages friendships. Money is there for when friendship won't cover what you need. "Facebook wouldn't be Facebook if it was a giant Amway party."<br />(from Nicole Lazzaro's <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/NicoleLazzaro/gdc09-mso-slides-100n032609">presentation</a>)<br /><br />People move towards light, but more importantly, away from darkness. This point was reinforced in several talks. Lighting is one of our most powerful tools in guiding player movement and behavior.<br /><br />Blizzard's WoW quest designers had to deal with concerns about spoonfeeding players with quest bangs, the quest log, and quests after level 10, among other things. Jeffrey pointed out, "players need a lifeline to the best moments in game. This is elegant game design, not hand-holding."<br />(from Jeffrey Kaplan's <a href="https://www.cmpevents.com/GD09/a.asp?option=C&V=11&SessID=8919">presentation</a>)<br /><br />Lionhead Studios likes portals. They were working on a portaling concept before Portal came out. Peter Molyneux demonstrated an experiment that his team had put together - a pair of mirrors that you could drop objects into, and depending on the objects' attributes, they change as they go through the mirrors. "Portal proved how brilliant the guys at Valve are."<br />(from Peter Molyneux's <a href="http://gdc.gamespot.com/video/6207027/">presentation</a>)<br /><br />Want to make great games? Bring a behavioral psychologist on staff! Valve has just such a person: Mike Ambinder, PhD, and I made a point of attending his talk. In a nutshell, he encourages designers to take a scientific approach to game design.<br />(from Mike Ambinder's <a href="http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/966/966972p1.html">presentation</a>)Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-78613926356546552052008-11-23T10:41:00.000-08:002008-11-23T16:20:53.477-08:00The Eyes of Master Chief"Why are you getting Halo 3?" my co-worker asked.<br /><br />I gave him my answer. "I cannot go another day forward as a game designer without playing Halo 3. It is too important of a game for me to have missed." (And I'm over a year late!)<br /><br />I had read the reviews and back story, of course, and I'd had many long conversations with fellow game designers about the glories and wonders of Halo 3, but somehow, none of that prepared me for playing the real thing.<br /><br />At once, I drank in the beauty of the game. The music, the environments - and all the loving detail put into the weapons, vehicles, and characters - it was delightful.<br /><br />In the initial sequence, my teammates help me up. They're so happy to find that I am well - they treat me like we've been friends for years. They have so much respect for me, I don't know if I've ever felt so welcomed.<br /><br />What an unexpected sequence of emotions! I thought I'd be shot to death many times over in the first few minutes, not step into a living world surrounded by friends.<br /><br />Then, at the end of the intro, the camera shifts to become the eyes of Master Chief.<br /><br />Somehow, I wasn't prepared for it. Yes, the first two letters of "FPS" stand for "First Person" - you'd think that would be a big giveaway.<br /><br />So I try moving around. No good - apparently my armor is still locked up. However, my friends are here to help, and one of them offers to recalibrate my suit.<br /><br />He asks me to look up, so I look up. Then he asks me to look down, so I look down. We repeat the process. And then he tells me he's set my look style to "inverted."<br /><br />I'll admit that I'm most accustomed to 3rd-person-style controls. In many 3rd-person games, your camera sits on the outside of a sphere and always looks inward towards your character's head. Thus, when you move the camera downward, you see more of what's above your character, and likewise, when you move the camera up, you look down. While it is "inverted" to move in the opposite direction from the way you want to look, it's completely natural for someone used to playing in the 3rd person (like me).<br /><br />Satisfied with my inverted controls, my armor unlocks, and I'm free to move about on my own. I try all the buttons. Movement with the left stick - check. Shooting with the triggers - check. Reloading with the bumpers - check. Jumping - how do I jump again? Ok, the A button makes sense.<br /><br />And then I try looking around. I can't do it. Looking up and down is great - we tested for that - but every time I try to look left, I end up looking right, and vice versa. What gives?<br /><br />Unable to aim my weapons, I hit pause and go straight to the configs. I check all of them, and realize my problem. Inversion is only an option for the Y axis, not the X axis.<br /><br />I try to get used to it. I run around, trying to look at rocks, plants, and my companions. It's a no-go. I'm moving the stick the wrong way every time.<br /><br />Disheartened and frustrated, I go online to see if anyone else has my problem. Yes! Games with unalterable X axis controls are frustrating people on both sides. Final Fantasy XII has an inverted X axis that you can't switch to normal, whereas many FPS games, like Halo 3 and BioShock, have a normal X axis that you can't invert.<br /><br />Sadly, many of the forum posts I read were hurtful. To put it nicely, players said that those who use inverted controls are backwards, and players who use normal controls don't know how to use a camera. Arguments on both sides generally ended in "just get used to it!"<br /><br />So that is what I did. It took me a long hour of play to start looking in the correct direction, and it took me another hour to learn to aim accurately.<br /><br />During those two hours, I spent a lot of time hiding behind rocks, being frustrated, and not shooting aliens. I felt like I was letting down the Arbiter, Avery Johnson, and the rest of my team. I could have jumped right into the game if I could have inverted the X axis.<br /><br />With this experience, I have taken this lesson to heart: It's important to make a game's controls be configurable in as many ways as possible without breaking the game.<br /><br />Designers can't assume that they know where a player is coming from, and players should not be forced to re-map what's intuitive to them - nobody likes to hear that they must "just get used to it."<br /><br />Aside from that point, I took to Halo 3 fairly well. In fact, it's probably because the rest of the game is so intuitive that my X axis issues stood out like a sore thumb... or should I say, a confused thumb!Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-63372041857555295312008-11-15T20:15:00.001-08:002008-11-15T23:20:57.183-08:00Players and BrandingI attended the <span style="font-weight: bold;">>play</span> conference in Berkeley today.<br /><br />One of my takeaways from the <a href="http://playconference.org/panels.html">Creativity for Everyone</a> panel was that as media becomes easier to create and share, everyone is developing their own brand.<br /><br />It doesn't take long to write a blog post, put up a home video, or display artwork or photographs. Because many of the old barriers to self-expression have been taken down, people are joining the global conversation in droves.<br /><br />By using new media to participate and interact, people are effectively creating brands for themselves. And they enjoy doing it.<br /><br />This isn't news to web developers, but it's interesting looking at it from a gaming perspective.<br /><br />People aren't just creating brands with websites like <a href="http://www.facebook.com/">Facebook</a>, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/">Flickr</a> and <a href="http://www.deviantart.com/">deviantART</a> - they're using games like <a href="http://secondlife.com/">Second Life</a>, <a href="http://www.spore.com/">Spore</a>, and <a href="http://www.littlebigplanet.com/">LittleBigPlanet</a> to create in-game content that enriches and differentiates their personal brands.<br /><br />So how can we, as game developers, help players nurture their own brands?<br /><br />In my opinion, games that have the following components already help players. The more games that incorporate these features, the better!<br /><ul><li>Tools that let players meet/find each other easily<br /></li><li>Engaging multiplayer play that allows players to communicate<br /></li><li>Character and gameplay customization that lets players express their personal tastes<br /></li><li>Systems that enable and encourage social networking outside of the game (and inside the game, if the game type allows for it)</li><li>Tools that help players create and share some form of game content</li><li>Methods whereby players can experience and rate other players' shared content</li><li>Rewards that both commemorate and display players' gameplay choices, and those that reward excellent shared content<br /></li></ul>Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-31101015272621446142008-09-20T17:26:00.001-07:002008-09-20T19:23:39.713-07:00Spore: Biological DetailsSpore makes use of some incorrect biological premises. However, it's all for the sake of good gameplay.<br /><br />Creatures in Spore evolve by spending earned DNA to develop new body parts. In a very general sense, this is a decent representation of how real species develop different traits over time.<br /><br />However, Spore ends up confusing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_evolutionary_synthesis">modern evolutionary synthesis</a> with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism">Lamarckism</a>, which has been disproved.<br /><br />Essentially, Lamarckism is the the concept that individual animals who use a body part more than other individuals will have offspring with a better version of that body part. For example, if a gazelle tries to run faster than other gazelles, then Lamarckism states that that individual gazelle's offspring will be able to run faster than other gazelles.<br /><br />This is how Spore gameplay works. The body parts you are most likely to discover through play are the upgraded versions of the parts your creature already has.<br /><br />However, that's not how evolution works. A population of creatures (like gazelles) will have a variety of genetic traits that they have acquired over time through random mutation. There are all kinds of traits that individuals in a population can have (like long and short legs), and those traits can be good or bad, depending on the situation.<br /><br />If cheetahs attack our gazelles, the shorter-legged gazelles get eaten because they are slower, and the longer-legged gazelles survive to breed. The next generation will have longer legs.<br /><br />Evolutionary pressure doesn't happen like this in Spore. If you die, you are reborn with the same features you had before. Whether your creature gets chewed on by a sea monster or outruns an angry troupe of freeps, your creature's next generation doesn't get tougher skin or a better run speed.<br /><br />From a gameplay perspective, though, would "realistic" evolution be fun? Probably not in Spore's context.<br /><br />Pre-tribal gameplay is already rather low key. Basing new body part choices on what features allowed you to survive (or die) might result in the same Lamarckian options. Removing part collection would take away perhaps a third of the game.<br /><br />On top of that, if you earned DNA mutations at a steady rate, all you'd have to do is survive in order to progress - you'd have no motivation to befriend other animals, only eat them.<br /><br />In the end, the Spore cellular and creature stages probably incorporate the best of both the biological and gameplay worlds.Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-9459626979520213682008-09-20T16:13:00.000-07:002008-09-20T17:31:02.142-07:00Spore: No Water WorldThere is one obvious omission from Spore: the 3D underwater phase, which, <a href="http://ps2.ign.com/articles/724/724542p2.html">according to this interview</a>, had been partly developed, but was cut.<br /><br />I had wanted to take my cellular creations on a gradual path from the microscopic to the macroscopic in a 3D world filled with bizarre aquatic creatures.<br /><br />However, instead, you go straight from a single cell to a vertebrate with legs, and find yourself somehow eating whole fruit with your filter-feeding tentacles.<br /><br />I can forgive Maxis for leaving out 'water world,' but they could have incorporated a less abrupt system for the cell-to-land transition. Despite the heartwarming cut scene, it feels like it was cobbled together at the last minute.<br /><br />Something as simple as requiring players to replace all of their cellular parts would have made for a better experience. For example, my first attempt at a land-based creature couldn't walk, because I had given it fins for feet.<br /><br />My only clue as to what I had done wrong was the name of the fins: cilia. Real life <a href="http://original.britannica.com/eb/art/print?id=66096&articleTypeId=45">cilia are like fuzz</a>, so of course you couldn't walk on them. But because Spore let me keep my cilia as macroscopic structures (and they sure look like fins), I assumed my creature could still use them for locomotion. I was wrong.<br /><br />On a more amusing note, another missing feature is procedural mating (they kept the dance, but not the finale). Apparently, the creatures of Spore have figured out how to produce hard-shelled eggs without internal fertilization - and good for them! Players are already going to spam the world with Sporn; there's no need for the game to offer them any encouragement.Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-78310280807056807972008-09-20T09:33:00.000-07:002008-09-20T16:20:14.549-07:00Spore Creatures: Unavoidably CuteAs a student of both biology* and game design, I have followed Spore with great interest. Since my copy arrived in the mail, I have spent most of my free time playing the game.<br /><br />Spore is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Spore">technological breakthrough</a> dressed up in cutesy visual design. The creature eyes, sounds, and procedurally generated animations are endearing, but there's a less-obvious source of charm: every creature's torso, tail, and limb segment is nearly circular in cross-section.<br /><br />You can shrink a Spore creatures' eyes as small as they go in order to obscure their adorableness, but there's nothing you can do about the rounded bodies.<br /><br />It made me a little sad to discover that you cannot laterally or horizontally squash and stretch body segments. I tried using Shift-Mousewheel and other key combinations in an attempt to discover hidden creature-shaping features, but I didn't have any luck.<br /><br />So, ultimately, there is no way to flatten your <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus">platypus</a>'s tail. You cannot make a disc-like body for your <a href="http://salamandercandy.wordpress.com/2006/07/10/organisms-that-are-totally-sweet-1-horned-lizards/">lizard</a>, a deep torso for your horse, or a broad chest for your ape.<br /><br />No segment is allowed to shrink below the built-in minimum thickness, either. There is no way to make a gracile leg for an insect or a bird, nor can you properly taper a tail.<br /><br />All in all, these limits don't detract from the enjoyability of the creature creator. While they enforce a certain humorously cute body type, that type can take many forms.<br /><br />However, no number of spikes, claws and toothy jaws seem able to make Spore creatures less cuddlesome.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">* My best college paper incorporated <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinglet">kinglet</a> banding capture data from <a href="http://www.manomet.org/">Manomet</a>. I wanted to see if evolutionary pressure could be seen in action on kinglet populations; would the size of birds caught be smaller in warm years (since being small allows them to feed more effectively at branch tips), and larger in cold years (since being large allows them to survive cold weather)? The data, sadly, were inconclusive.</span>Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-36692548176854926372008-04-17T19:30:00.000-07:002008-04-17T20:46:43.479-07:00Casual vs. HardcoreAfter making my opinion known about this touchy subject on <a href="http://www.virginworlds.com/podcast.php?show=5&ep=24">my recent podcast</a>, I figured I should shore up that opinion with some reasoning.<br /><br />First, this is <a href="http://www.raphkoster.com/2008/04/09/is-there-such-as-thing-as-a-casual-online-world/">Raph's Post</a> that started the discussion.<br /><br />The question is, where does a player sit on the continuum between casual and hardcore? I think you can best figure this out by looking at the player's emotional investment in the game in question. This is very close to <a href="http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/07/1519216">Damion Schubert's definition</a>.<br /><br />If you establish the casual-hardcore continuum only in terms of numbers of hours played, you misrepresent players who would play more, but are prevented from playing (because of illness, parents, social pressure, etc.). Number of hours played is a good indicator, but it's not the whole story.<br /><br />If you base the continuum on how failure-tolerant a player is, you misrepresent players who play a game with great intensity, but who don't happen to take as many risks. For example, much ado is made about care bears vs. PVP'ers. Having watched players at various points on the care bear - player killer axis, I think it's safe to say that they're looking for different sorts of emotions, but the players' actual level of emotional investment is not necessarily affected by one play style or the other.<br /><br />If you label players based on what kinds of games they play, you misrepresent players who are heavily engaged in games that just happen to be given the "casual" label. I agree with Raph in that the "mass market" label might be better here.<br /><br />What we are left with as an accurate measure is the level that players feel like they are emotionally invested or engaged with a game. People who are heavily invested in a game are hardcore players, and those less heavily invested are casual players. Regular players fall somewhere in-between.Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-64254590586729544532008-04-14T13:19:00.000-07:002008-04-14T13:22:38.959-07:00A Podcast!I've just participated in my first <a href="http://www.virginworlds.com/podcast.php?show=5&ep=24">podcast</a>.<br /><br />Just to make sure my bases are covered, I want to say again that my opinions stated in the podcast - like my opinions stated here - are solely my own, and not necessarily those of my current or past employers.Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-88646175288682250912008-03-29T18:50:00.000-07:002008-03-29T21:27:07.023-07:00Official Forums: Yes or NoShould MMOs have official forums? The question has been debated for years.<br /><br />This is the most recent incarnation of the question, as posed at the <a href="http://forums.stargateworlds.com/showthread.php?t=13933">Stargate Worlds forums</a>.<br /><br />And this is <a href="http://commonsensegamer.com/?p=649">Darren's take on the situation</a>, along with many interesting comments made by his readers.<br /><br />Also, Jaye writes <a href="http://www.journeyswithjaye.com/?p=1219">in defense of official game forums</a>. Given my experience on the development side of Vanguard, and my pro-newbie stance, I generally agree with Jaye.<br /><br />MMOs are huge, constantly evolving games. As developers, we need to complete the circle of communication with our players. And we can't expect to accomplish that by solely relying on fan sites.<br /><br />When Vanguard launched, the beta forums were taken down and no official forums came up in their place. Players had been warned, and they were given a list of fansites to visit instead.<br /><br />Players, now offered a score of potential communities, didn't have an obvious place to give feedback. Because the barrier to player entry increased, the fansite-only system weeded out those less familiar with using forums - people who could have given valuable feedback.<br /><br />Designers now had a similar barrier. We needed to comb through dozens of fansites to find new feedback. In order to meaningfully respond to players, we had to set up dev accounts in multiple places.<br /><br />Regardless, without the familiar official channels to post in, players offered less feedback. Players seemed to think that without the official forums, they weren't being heard. Many players posted on fansites as though their only audience was other players.<br /><br />While 'noise' was reduced, so too was 'signal.'<br /><br />My argument is this:<br /><br />Encouraging good player-player and player-developer conversation is so important to the health of an MMO, it's well worth the publisher's effort to have official forums.<br /><br />Official forums provide players with a familiar, safe and reliable place to find information, give feedback, and receive developer responses. They show that the developer cares, and is listening.<br /><br />As well, compared with most fansites, game publishers are better equipped to take advantage of modern media and proper information design to avoid losing 'signal.' Also, they can afford responsible moderators (and search technology) to help bypass 'noise.'Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-21208031128944506602008-03-25T21:03:00.000-07:002008-03-25T23:37:00.472-07:00Are Designers Playing Too Many Games?Game designers tend to agree that playing games helps you learn about how to design them.<br /><br />For example, in <a href="http://www.gamestudies.org/0401/jarvinen/">Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals</a>, Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman write, "Students should play every possible kind of game, digital and non-digital, contemporary and historical, masterpiece and stinker."<br /><br />They give several good reasons why, including the fact that designers need to learn how games function to create experiences, and they need to see what does and doesn't work about design choices.<br /><br />Yet, Raph Koster offers a word of warning in his book, <a href="http://www.theoryoffun.com/">A Theory of Fun for Game Design</a>.<br /><br />He writes, "They [game designers] build up encyclopedic recollections of games past and present, and they then theoretically use these to make new games."<br /><br />So what's the problem? Essentially, due to the way human brains work, designers are more likely to pull from their existing mental library of game design solutions than they are to try to innovate new ones.<br /><br />Raph writes, "The most creative and fertile game designers working today tend to be the ones who make a point of <span style="font-style: italic;">not </span>focusing too much on other games for inspiration."<br /><br />So, the very library of knowledge that designers must build in order to understand and design games can prevent them from exploring new potential game designs.<br /><br />How do we get around this?<br /><br />Game designers, of all people, need to "stay ahead of the game." Not playing as many games probably isn't going to help.<br /><br />Perhaps simply having an awareness of our 'mental game libraries' can help designers choose whether or not to select a solution from them.<br /><br />Perhaps, too, we can be mindful of fun wherever it occurs. For example, it might be worthwhile to make note when you see yourself or others having fun outside of a formal game environment, and ask yourself how you could bring that experience into a game.Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-83451567807227305582008-02-27T20:49:00.000-08:002008-02-27T21:44:11.539-08:00GDC SwagAt <a href="http://www.gdconf.com/">GDC</a>, it is a steadfast tradition that the booths at the expo offer swag to potential customers and hires.<br /><br />Some booths offer buttons. Other booths offer pens, candy, notepads, toys, gadgets, cloth bags, plastic necklaces... and T-shirts.<br /><br />However, none of the booths I visited had any women's styles or sizes of shirts.<br /><br />I stayed hopeful, though. At each booth with clothing available, I would ask, "Do you have anything for women? Or any men's sizes that would fit me?"<br /><br />The answer was no. Most booths had run out of everything "small" and "medium" on the first day of the con. Size "large" had disappeared soon after. By Thursday, the only size most booths had left was "extra-large".<br /><br />The folks at one booth, though, had a story to tell that's worth repeating.<br /><br />This particular booth had, in fact, stocked a significant quantity of women's style shirts - you know, the kind that are just a touch narrower at the waist. The kind that keep women from looking like amorphous barrels.<br /><br />Anyway, a small group of women discovered this rare stash on the first day of the con. So pleased were they with their discovery that they proceeded to inform other female conventioners. A crowd of women soon appeared at the booth, nabbing every last shirt.<br /><br />Alas, I didn't make it in time.<br /><br />So, my thoughts on the matter are these: If you are in the position to stock a GDC booth with swag, do not underestimate the number of smaller-sized attendees. And, if you want more women to attend your booth, by all means offer clothes tailored just for them!Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-7654327387685015582008-02-09T11:45:00.001-08:002008-02-09T14:16:38.946-08:00Prepare to be TestedWhen I was first hired in the games industry, it was based on the merits of my portfolio. At that time, only one of the companies I applied to gave me a test. I saw it as an unusual hurdle.<br /><br />This time around, however, it became the norm. Virtually every potential employer gave me one or more tests; I ended up taking over a half-dozen of them. Some tests took me only 2 hours, others took me over 2 days.<br /><br />So, at this point, I feel adequately informed to offer some advice to those seeking game design work.<br /><br />1) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't be offended.</span> If a game design company says you must pass a test (or even several tests), don't act shocked. Don't make the assumption that the company doesn't like you, even if someone else who applied there wasn't given a test. Simply, if the company is one you want to work for, take the test.<br /><br />2) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Be timely. </span>Do not take more than 6 days to complete your test. If you're really interested in the company, be done in less than 3 days. If they ask for the test to be completed in a certain number of hours, finish in under the time limit. If you have schedule conflicts, discuss them with your potential employer so you don't have to rush.<br /><br />3) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Be clear and concise.</span> Companies aren't just testing your game design skills - they want proof of your ability to communicate effectively. You must walk a tightrope with each of your answers. You cannot afford to ramble, yet you must explain your thought processes and math choices.<br /><br />4) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Research. </span>All but one of the tests I took was "open book." If you come across something that you're not sure about, Google is there for you. Cite your sources as needed. Plagiarizing is just as unwelcome here as on any test.<br /><br />5) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Edit your work.</span> When you're done with the test, go do something else, then come back and edit your answers with a fresh mind. You'll at least catch some typos (well, I sure did), and you may come across answers you'll want to rework. If it's a timed test, save a few minutes at the end to give your answers a once-over.<br /><br />6) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Pace yourself.</span> Read through the whole test before you start answering questions, so you have a good sense of what you need to do. Design tests can vary widely in content, though the core of most tests will have you design a game, level, or quest/adventure. In general, if you find yourself spending too much time on one answer, come back to it later. You may find that you have fresh insight after working on other questions.<br /><br />7) <span style="font-weight: bold;">Don't worry.</span> Even if you aren't offered employment, by working through the test, you've learned more about game design and you've become a better game designer.Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-657496951168332192008-02-03T16:12:00.000-08:002008-02-03T18:10:49.167-08:00Kicking Stereotypes in the FaceNormally, trips to ye olde gaming store are a straightforward ritual: I cast my eyes around the store for new inventory while I gab with friends.<br /><br />This time, however, it was my first time visiting a gaming store in a new city, so I scoured every shelf.<br /><br />After going over tons of games and minis, my eyes landed on a book - a book with pink dice on the cover.<br /><br />Now, I fear pink in the same way that most goths would fear a daisy-print blouse. Yet, I felt compelled to pick up this book. I simply could not fathom it was real.<br /><br />I turned it over and over in my hands, trembling, trying to disbelieve it out of existence. No, really, here it was - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the Dungeon's & Dragons Game</span> by <a href="http://shellymazzanoble.com/wordpress/?page_id=7">Shelly Mazzanoble</a>.<br /><br />I hugged it, and I hadn't even opened the cover.<br /><br />Then I did crack it open. Seeing words written by R.A. Salvatore put inside a pink border made me chuckle - he and his wife wrote the introduction. Then I flipped through and found a recipe for Initiative Rolls. That sealed it. I had to buy the book.<br /><br />In a nutshell, Shelly speaks right to you about what D&D really is, and why it's fun for both genders (especially women, thank you very much). Her fantastic sense of humor and liberal use of cultural references bring her stories and explanations home.<br /><br />More to the point, Shelly smacks a Chuck Norris-sized roundhouse kick to the face of the gamer stereotype.<br /><br />It is so refreshing, empowering, and downright enjoyable - I can't help but recommend it to everybody.Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-75782665446421624592008-02-03T16:00:00.000-08:002008-02-03T18:09:11.636-08:00Personal UpdateI feel it's important to find fiero in my own life, not just build it into games.<br /><br />For those reasons and more, I've moved up to the San Francisco area to work at <a href="http://www.backboneentertainment.com/">Backbone Entertainment</a>.<br /><br />With all the job hunting and moving, I had put posting on the back burner, but no more!<br /><br />So, unless something else comes up (and trust me, I hope nothing else does for a while), I'll be posting more frequently now. Like, more than 0 times per month....Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-73760451059892382372007-12-09T14:23:00.000-08:002007-12-09T19:00:06.147-08:00Girl in the Computer Game StoreThis is the second post for my series, Gender and Games.<br /><br />What can be done to help women feel more comfortable buying computer games at a bricks-and-mortar store? I suspect that if game stores themselves could appeal to women better, then women would buy more computer games.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Computer Game Stores</span><br />Computer game stores are fine most of the time. Games are clearly displayed in a gender-neutral setting, and lighting is good. There are demo consoles in the store, so you can see what you're getting into. And, unless it's the holiday crush, clerks are generally available to discuss game titles. All-in-all, computer game stores are friendlier to women than traditional game stores. However, there is still work to be done.<br /><br />Overcrowding<br />Take a snapshot of a typical computer game store at Christmas time, and you'll see that over half the people in the store are in line, blocking other customers from reaching the rest of the store, and completely obscuring product displays near the registers. This is not a woman-friendly shopping environment. As at any store, women like to shop with enough space around them to avoid colliding with, or having to squeeze by, other customers.*<br /><br />Real Information, not Pink<br />So far, it seems that publishers are convinced that all it takes to sell a computer game to women is to color it pink. Just look at the packaging for the animal care simulation games, and games based on popular toys. You need only glance down the aisle at a computer game store to know which games and consoles are being marketed to girls.<br /><br />But that doesn't really help girls and women shop for the right game. Game packaging and placement need to provide clear, detailed information, such as if and how a game can be shared with friends, and what gameplay is really like.<br /><br />PC game boxes rarely explicitly state numbers of players on the box. For example, the WoW box has one tiny paragraph that mentions, "Play solo or enlist fellow heroes..." and then its ESRB rating reads, "Game Experience May Change During Online Play".<br /><br />That's not useful, and doesn't even make clear if 'fellow heroes' are NPCs, PCs, or both. Is it a team game where numbers of players are limited by specific map sizes? Is it an MMO where hundreds of people, or more, can share a game space? Do those other people need to buy a copy of the game or not to play together? How many slots or profiles does it save? Is play cooperative, competitive, or both? These are important details that should be shown on every package, but aren't.<br /><br />Fortunately, computer game stores could help overcome the problem. Games could be sorted by number of players. For example, stores could add 'party games' sections for the Wii and other consoles. PC games could be sorted into multiplayer and single player sections. Clerks could add stickers to the shrink wrap: Massively Multiplayer, Up to 4 Players, 2-player Co-op, etc., and define those terms on a colorful poster or kiosk. All of those steps would help women actually shop for games instead of leaving them squinting at miniaturized screenshots on the box, trying to guess at gameplay features.<br /><br />Other Ideas<br />Computer game culture uses a ton of acronyms, and these can be unfamiliar to the uninitiated. Basic ones, like MMO, RPG, and FPS, should be posted clearly with their definitions. Likewise, ESRB ratings should be posted and explained. 'Mature' rated games should be boldly labeled and kept on the top shelves, lest mom accidentally pick out a nice-sounding game like Rainbow Six for her grade schooler. Conversely, games for little kids should be placed at little-kid height, not high in the shelves (where I seem to keep finding them).<br /><br />Employees<br />Computer game store employees need to be careful not to condescend to women, or treat them like <a href="http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_17/109-OMG-Girlz-Don-t-Exist-on-teh-Intarweb-1">they couldn't possibly be gamers</a>. Having female clerks is great - it's easier for a woman to trust a fellow woman's recommendations. Clerks who know all the games out there and can describe them well are an awesome resource, vital to any shopper. Fortunately, I've never had any real problems with computer game store employees, aside from their tendency to ignore other customers when they're socializing.<br /><br />Summary<br />So, overall, computer game stores don't have too much further to go before they become places where women can feel really comfortable shopping for games. Game stores should keep hiring great staff, explain gamer jargon, make sure detailed information about gameplay is included on every box, sort games by ESRB rating and number of players, and speed up the checkout process.<br /><br />*Reference: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684849143/bookstorenow57-20">Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill</a><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> </p>Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-79552518755048650082007-12-08T18:14:00.000-08:002007-12-09T14:22:32.543-08:00Girl in the Gaming StoreI'm starting a 'Gender and Games' blog series, which I'm writing to help demystify the connections between women, men, and games. As a disclaimer, please understand that I'll be using generalities in this series.<br /><br />I'll start with the most obvious point of purchase for games: the bricks-and-mortar game store.<br /><br />So... why don't we see more women in game stores? How can we get more women to shop for games, and better yet, buy them and play them?<br /><br />Well, there's at least two kinds of stores to talk about, each of which have their own problems.<br /><br />The first is traditional gaming stores - the ones that sell card and board games as well as RPGs and tabletop miniatures games. The second is computer game stores, which sell console and PC games. The former has more problems than the latter, so I'll tackle it first.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Traditional Gaming Stores</span><br />The typical traditional gaming store is a mess. Dusty merchandise lines narrow, poorly-lit aisles, while impenetrable groups of men stand and chat loudly with the clerk. The bathroom isn't well-kept, and the gaming room in the back of the store - The Back Room - is worn and cluttered.<br /><br />The book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684849143/bookstorenow57-20">Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill</a> has a lot to say about why these are problems. Here is some of the book's knowledge that I've distilled for gaming stores:<br /><br />When a woman walks into a store, she typically prefers clean, undamaged, neatly ordered goods. A dusty, dented or scratched item just announces that it has sat on the shelf forever, and isn't a good buy. The majority of women also like to read packaging. Who wants to pick up a dusty old game to read how it plays? Not most women.<br /><br />Another issue with game store merchandise is that there isn't much available for beginners. For example, the best sizes of hobby paintbrushes are almost never present. There are plenty of miniatures and paints, but good luck finding the glue! Not only that, but the 'starter kits' for the more popular games are either missing or buried and dusty. You're not going to hook a woman on a hobby she can't find the basics for.<br /><br />The aisles at gaming stores are usually too narrow for a shopper to easily pass a crouching shopper. Walkways need to be wider, since women won't generally stay to shop if they are in danger of being bumped. As well, I don't think I've seen gaming store aisles wide enough to accommodate a stroller; so much for helping new moms find a game.<br /><br />Traditional game store lighting is often poor. It needs to be bright enough to read game books and packaging comfortably, even in the back corner. Plus, games often have great art - why not show it off with some well-aimed spotlights?<br /><br />Most women prefer to interact with other human beings to discuss their potential purchases. However, if the game store clerk is busy chatting it up with the guys, a woman may feel too intimidated to approach. If she's shy, and she'll have to walk through those guys to get to the counter, she might not even make a planned purchase. Hiring female clerks can really help with this, as women usually feel more comfortable approaching other women.<br /><br />Traditional game stores usually do have a lavatory, though its state is never predictable. I've seen perfectly clean bathrooms with everything a woman needs, and I've seen what could best be described as a questionable toilet in a janitorial closet. My advice to game stores is to install both men's and women's restrooms, and keep them clean and well stocked. When women see that a game store has a bathroom suited to them, they'll feel more welcome there.<br /><br />The Back Room can be unnerving. It has disorganized shelves of ratty and broken pieces of terrain for use in battle simulation games, uncomfortable metal chairs, ugly and worn tables and floor, racks of ancient books shredded with use, poorly lit display shelves with dusty (but beautifully painted) miniatures, and faded game posters covering the windows. Sometimes these posters have illustrations of <a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39288">women in various states of undress</a>.<br /><br />The Back Room is a home for the gamer elite; the kings of the geeks. It is a thoroughly intimidating place for women. I do, however, have a couple of ideas on how to avoid scaring women off.<br /><br />There's an interesting concept I learned about from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point_%28book%29">The Tipping Point</a> - the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows">Broken Windows</a> theory. For our purposes, it states that if you relentlessly keep a place clean, people will treat the place (and the people in the place) better. I've seen such actions work at <a href="http://www.backspace.bz/index.php">Backspace</a>, a computer/tabletop gaming hangout in Portland, OR. Unfortunately, after talking with employees of traditional game stores, I've realized that relentless cleaning would be difficult to practice at those locales. At the core of the issue is lack of manpower, and the juggernaut of gamer culture itself.<br /><br />It's a delicate issue. Gamers show slovenly characteristics often enough that the cultural stereotype persists. While game stores do have the right to refuse service to anyone, their profit margins are too low for them to afford confronting their least hygienic patrons. And because <a href="http://zebra.sc.edu/smell/ann/myth1.html">women are more sensitive to odors</a> than men are, the maleness of The Back Room perpetuates itself.<br /><br />So, since game stores may never be able to make The Back Room welcoming to women, they can at least strive for keeping them from being frightening. I'd start by installing a good ventilation system, and by making sure that the worst messes and most worn paraphernalia were taken care of. That way, when a girl shows up with mom or dad to buy collectible cards, she's not as turned off by what she encounters in The Back Room.<br /><br />Summary<br /><span>In my ideal world, it would be as easy for a woman to break into gamer culture by visiting a game store as it is for a woman to break into do-it-yourselfer culture by visiting a Home Depot.</span> Traditional game stores might be able to accomplish this if they had bright and well-placed lighting; clean merchandise and displays; beginner kits, instructions and materials present and in obvious locations; non-intimidating staff; superb bathrooms; wide aisles; and a well-kept gaming room.<br /><br />Next up: <span style="font-weight: bold;">the computer game store</span>.<br /><br /><br />References:<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point_%28book%29">The Tipping Point</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tipping_Point_%28book%29">: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell</a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684849143/bookstorenow57-20">Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill</a>Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-556550482796579546.post-33738464795800485352007-12-05T12:48:00.000-08:002007-12-05T12:49:29.158-08:00Shamelessly Reposted from Cuppytalk<a href="http://www.cuppycake.org/?p=311">The</a>Lisa Boleynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13164367290626572483noreply@blogger.com0