Precision of Emotion: A New Kind of "Fun" Approach in Educational Games - freeeduapps.com

Precision of Emotion: A New Kind of “Fun” Approach in Educational Games

GDC
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In this 2015 GDC talk, GlassLab’s Erin Hoffman presents a new theory of “fun,” by positing fun is shorthand for a very complex psychological process by which we as humans convert stress into satisfaction through insight.

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10 Comments

  1. So it's a Stress Overcoming Process for Happiness and Insight Acquisition?

  2. If you have to say " fun " then what you are referring to is engaging

  3. The talk felt kinda disjointed, but it still gave some things to think about. Thanks

  4. excellent talk!… hmmm… Sophia… seems a useful tool for my mental toolbox 🙂

  5. I loved this talk a lot, would love to learn more about Sophia!

  6. This will never take off. For example, the Fiero genre, what does fiero mean? Hey what kinda game is it? A fiero game. uh….what's a fiero game? It's a …*long explanation that leaves you more confused than before*. You gotta learn a whole new word to learn what the genre is to know what kinda game it is. You're an extra level removed from understanding. It's like looking up a word in a dictionary and finding Fieoring – to fiero something, still no closer to understanding. Genres are created to provide clarity, this just creates more confusion. Not to mention if 2 very mechanically different games share the same core emotion should they be considered the same genre? This game is a happy game, but it's FPS, and this game is a happy game but it's a simulation game. Should they both be considered happy games, or an FPS and a simulation game. God of war and animal crossing are both Sophia games, that's an extremely vague/broad and un-descriptive description. Hack n slash gives you a very basci idea of what to and what not to expect from the game. Life simulator does the same for Animal crossing. Sophia tells you neither what to what to expect and what not to expect. It's a nebulous term that just creates confusion for the sake sophisticating a genre of video games. This will work for psychologists trying to study how game design affects the brain. Not consumers just trying to buy a product. Try these new sophia games. Uh….can I fight? In some. Ok well let me get the fighting sophia game them. Even if "sophia" took off as a vague genre title people will just result to the most prevailing feature in the game as the genre title for convenience and clarity. Speech leans in the direction of clarity and convenient laziness. people say MMO, people say RPG, people say MOBA, not the full word, but everyone knows exactly what you mean. You say sophia and people are gonna think your talking about the female protagonist in the game, not the experience of wisdom you get from a game. "Do you play as a girl named sophia in all these games or something?" would probably gonna be the prevailing thought running across a genre title like that on a google search.

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