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29 April 2006
by Mike Rozak
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A few years ago, I read Creating Emotion in Games, by David Freeman. One of the points that David Freeman made (or at least implied) is that games should be designed to evoke a variety emotions from players, like an emotional roller-coaster.
I've been a bit sceptical about this idea. However, lately I've been toying with the idea that if you broaden the commonly accepted understanding of emotion, emotions (in their new sense) could explain why people play games. Interestingly, the list of broader emotions also includes some concepts from ludology, where researchers have defined a number of "types of fun", such as "hard fun". Many of the ideas also tie into my thoughts about evolutionary fun.
Warning: These ideas are half baked. I'm just wandering down a path and seeing where it takes me.
Some emotions
How have I expanded my definition of emotions?
To begin with, I'll enumerate some "animalistic emotions" that are common to most mammals:
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Anger
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Feeling of dominance
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Excitement (adrenalin)
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Fear
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Frustration
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Hate
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Lonely
-
Lust
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Surprise
-
... This list is by no means complete. Feel free to modify the list as you see fit.
Some emotions that humans experience are more primate specific, although they do occasionally appear in other animals:
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Anticipation
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Boredom
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Disgust
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Feeling of comradery - The feeling you get when you're part of a group.
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Jealousy
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Love
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Sadness
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Shame/guilt
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... Modify the list as you see fit.
Finally, I'll broaden the commonly accepted list emotions to include some "emotions" that are specific to humans:
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Epiphany - The eureka moment.
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Laughter
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Sense of being needed
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Sense of achievement, accomplishment, self-improvement
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Wonder
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... This list can also be amended as you see fit.
Notice how my human-only emotions aren't usually called emotions. They're often prefixed by "sense of" or "feeling of" though. They act like emotions since they're rewards (or punishments) handed out by the brain, and people go out of their way to cause these "emotions".
Table of entertainments and emotions they can evoke
With the expanded definition of emotions, I noticed that every form of entertainment evokes some of these emotions. Not surpassingly, some forms of entertainment are better at evoking some emotions than others. Below is a list of emotions along with capital X's to indicate if the entertainment is very good at producing the emotion, and small x's if the entrainment is less adept at evoking the emotion.
Emotion
|
Stories
|
Sports (watching)
|
Single-player computer games
|
Sports (playing)
|
Multiplayer computer games
|
Anger
|
|
x
|
|
X
|
X
|
Dominance
|
|
x
|
x
|
X
|
X
|
Excitement (adrenalin)
|
x (action movies)
|
x
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
Fear
|
X
|
|
x
|
x
|
X
|
Frustration
|
|
x
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
Hate
|
x
|
|
|
X
|
X
|
Lonely
|
x
|
|
x
|
|
|
Lust
|
X
|
|
x
|
|
|
Surprise
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
Anticipation
|
x
|
|
|
X
|
X
|
Boredom
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
Disgust
|
X
|
|
x
|
|
(?)
|
Feeling of comradery
|
|
x
|
|
X
|
X
|
Jealousy
|
|
|
|
x
|
X
|
Love
|
x
|
|
|
|
(?)
|
Sadness
|
X
|
|
|
|
(?)
|
Shame/guilt
|
|
x
|
|
X
|
X
|
Epiphany
|
x (mysteries)
|
|
X (adventure)
|
|
(?)
|
Laugher
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
Sense of being needed
|
|
|
x (CRPG)
|
X
|
X
|
Sense of achievement
|
|
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
Wonder
|
x (fantasy, sci-fi)
|
|
X (adventure, CRPG)
|
|
(?)
|
The (?) in multiplayer computer games indicates that it's possible, but not catered to in current MMORPGs.
Some interesting revelations...
This table produces some interesting revelations:
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Most of what I've discussed about game theory in previous articles has been limited to the "sense of achievement" emotion.
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Multiplayer computer games can and are used as a replacement for being on a sports team. They fulfil basically the same emotional needs, but don't require any physical ability.
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Some people prefer watching (stories and sports watching), while some prefer doing (single and multiplayer games, and playing sports). I suspect this has to do with safety and effort; watching is safer and less effort than getting involved. Some people may naturally prefer one or the other. Likewise, single-player games are safer than multiplayer games, since multiplayer games cannot be "restored to the last save", especially with regards to what other players think about you.
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Some specific points about what entertainments attract what people:
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People looking for anger and/or dominance are attracted to sports and multiplayer games.
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People looking for "Aha!" and "Eureka!" moments either read mystery novels, or they play adventure games.
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People who want to be part of a group, or "needed", are attracted to playing sports and multiplayer computer games.
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People who want a sense of achievement are attracted to computer games (and playing sports) because stories don't satisfy them as well.
-
People looking for a sense of wonder either read fantasy and science-fiction novels, or play adventure/CRPG games.
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Turning the "table" around:
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Single-player games (in general) are about achievement, not being in a group, epiphany, and wonder.
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Multiplayer games (in general) are about achievement, being part of a group, anger, and dominance. Why? Because multiplayer games evoke these emotions better than any other entertainment (except playing sports, which most people are excluded from because of physical ability, laziness, and/or lack of time).
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