Have you ever wondered how playing games can help us to train people, deal with societal challenges or raise awareness of contemporary social issues? In this MOOC you will learn the ins and outs of games that are designed with exactly those purposes in mind: serious games. We will define serious games and discuss the different types that have been developed. We will explain why people like to play them and what impact they may have. State of the art theories from game studies, philosophy and media psychology will be used to help you understand how serious games work and how they appeal to players. The potential impact of gaming is addressed in detail by discussing persuasive games, which aim at changing the player's attitude. Throughout the MOOC, theoretical insights will be illustrated with playful animations and case studies of serious games that are developed by world-class companies in the city of Rotterdam. This MOOC is particularly interesting for you when you are a student considering to study digital media such as serious games, a professional interested in the opportunities these games may create for your organization, or a game developer who wants to know more about the impact serious games can have. Are you ready to broaden your vision on serious games? Join this course and be inspired!
Motivations for playing and gaming
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Do curso por Erasmus University Rotterdam
Serious Gaming
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The Theoretical Framework
You might be wondering why we keep on playing a game, even though we sometimes lose or get stuck in a level. In this module, you will learn about what is so motivating about games. We will discuss theories and also a practical example of a serious game that encourages commuters to leave their car at home more often.
Conheça os instrutores
Jeroen JanszFull Professor
Media & Communication
Mijke SlotDr.
Media & Communication
[SOUND] Welcome.
This is the third video in our module on game theory.
In the first one philosophy professor Duhamel addressed playfulness and
the inexplicable link between play and culture.
In the second video, I discussed the psychological functions of play and
how rewards contribute to the appeal of gaming.
Now, I aim to deepen the psychological analysis of why people like to play.
Let me start with the question, why people choose to play a game in the first place.
The decision to spend time on gaming, rather than on, for example.
Television viewing, a hobby, school, or
work can be understood as a kind of motivated action.
Two theoretical traditions have been drawn upon in the investigations of why people
play digital games.
I will first discuss the uses and gratification theory and
next, self-determination theory.
Uses and gratification theory, developed within media research by Greenberg,
Sherry, and Ruggiero, holds that people use media to obtain
gratifications which are related to the individual's needs.
The theory emphasises that media users actively seek particular media content.
In order to satisfy their needs.
In the case of digital games, the active role of their users is beyond doubt.
Games can function only if players respond to the messages appearing on the screen.
If they do not push the buttons, the game simply stops.
Empirical research has shown that particular games or
genres are indeed chosen to satisfy specific needs.
I will briefly discuss the seven motivations that were
established in research.
The first one is control.
The virtual world of a game is appealing because it allows players to act as
agents exerting control over the game character and its context.
For example, in The Sims where the player is in charge of a complete household.
It should be noted, however, that control is never total.
Players are confronted immediately with the limits of their
command when they make a mistake.
The second motivation is challenge.
Players like to push themselves to attain a higher level of skill.
Challenge is often linked to a third motivation, competition.
It refers to a need to win or surpass others.
Generally sports and action games are the most competitive, but
playing a simulation game may also satisfy this need.
For example, when one is able to finish levels that one's friends can not.
The fourth motivation is fantasy.
It was found that gaming is attractive because it enables the player to engage in
a variety of acts that will be difficult, or
even impossible, to perform in our own lives.
It's particularly prominent in games offering an alternative adventurous
game world where players are engaged in role playing, like final fantasy.
One of the conclusions from our own research is that players often
fuse the adventurous game world to test their own behaviors and emotions.
In other words, the game comes to function as a kind of safe laboratory.
Interest is motivation number five.
It refers to an urge to explore the game in detail and gather information about it.
Control, challenge, competition, fantasy, and
interest are directional kinds of motivations.
The sixth motivation is less directional.
Players often feel a need to play because they seek diversion, using the game to
take their minds off their usual concerns by doing something completely different.
The seventh and final motivation is social interaction.
People like to play with each other, and against each other.
This is obviously the case when people seek to play multiplayer
games online such as the immensely popular World of Warcraft.
But research has also shown that single player games are often played in
the company of siblings, peers, or friends.
The second theory explaining motivations to play is
self determination theory or in short SDT.
It was developed by psychologists Deci and Ryan.
It holds that human behavior is determined by the interplay of three
basic psychological needs, autonomy, competence and relatedness.
Autonomy refers to the desire to self-organize experience and behavior.
Competence is the need for challenge and the experience of ones effectiveness.
Relatedness refers to the need to experience connections to other people.
SDT researchers, Ryan, Rigby, and
Pryzbylsi have established that gaming indeed satisfies autonomy needs.
Players like to be in charge.
Competence is satisfied as well,
in particular by the challenges included in games.
Finally, players satisfy their need for
relatedness by engaging themselves with other players.
Additionally, autonomy, competence and
relatedness have been found to work as good predictors of persistence in play.
That is the continuation of play despite
the unavoidable frustrations.
Obviously, self determination theory and uses and
gratification theory have a lot in common.
For example, autonomy is close to U and G's control motivation,
competence is similar to challenge, and a need for
relatedness is equivalent to social interaction.
The obvious difference is that SDT purposefully concentrates on three
basic needs, where U and G includes a larger set of motivations.
By reducing all possible motivations to three basic ones,
self determination theory aims to be applicable to many different situations,
thus increasing the theories predictive power.
Using gratification by contrast, is more concerned with describing
the diversity of needs people seek to satisfy by playing a digital game.
It is time to conclude.
The popularity of gaming underlines the fact that many people are motivated
to invest a lot of time to experience the pleasures of playing digital games.
Thus far, the research based on use and gratification theory and
self-determination theory was largely concerned with explaining
the appeal of digital entertainment games.
Conceivably, serious games could satisfy needs as well, for
example, by offering diversion, the sense of control, or catering for
needs concerned with competence, challenge, or interest.
It also seems very well possible to design a serious game that
satisfies competitive or social motivations.
In the next video we will present the case, From 5 to 4.
The game has been developed by Organiq in Rotterdam and
is concerned with changing commuter habits.
You will be informed about how the game developers
have taken the possible motivations of players into account.
Let's have a look.
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