Interactive Experience DesignInteractive Experience Design

Explorations in

Optimal Experience Theories Rhythm Affinity and Synchrony

and the Paradigm Shift of a Developing Medium

Explorations in

Optimal Experience Theories Rhythm Affinity and Synchrony

and the Paradigm Shift of a Developing Medium

Why Study Games?

“We play and we know that we play, so we must be more than rational beings,

for play is irrational”

-Johan HuizingaHomo Ludens

“We play and we know that we play, so we must be more than rational beings,

for play is irrational”

-Johan HuizingaHomo Ludens

Why Study Games?

Personal Thought Shift

I am designing gamesobjectives, obstacles, enemies, collectibles

I am designing interactive mediareactions, interactions, patterns, purpose

I am designing evocative interactive multimediaemotions, thoughts, feelings, messages, experiences

I am designing interactive experiencesplayer agency, collaboration, systems of interaction, emotions,

ambiguity

Investigating Optimal Experiences

Flow

MechanicsImmediacyShort-TermChallenge/SkillAdaptive Difficulty

psychologyMihayl Czikszentmihayli

Enchantment

AestheticsImmersionLong-TermNovelty/AmbiguityTransformation

hciMcCarthy et al

Flow

1. Clear goals at every step

2. Immediate feedback to actions

3. Balance between challenge and skill

4. Action and awareness are merged

5. Dimensions are excluded from consciousness

6. There is no worry of failure

7. Self-consciousness disappears

8. Sense of time is distorted

9. The activity becomes autotelic

Enchantment

1. The specific sensuousness of each thing

2. The whole person with desires, feelings, and

anxieties

3. A sense of being in play

4. Paradox, openness, and ambiguity

5. The transformational character of experience

Applications Example

Flow: Clear and Concise Goals

supported by design heuristics, efficiency/production

models

Enchantment: Ambiguity as a Design

Resource

supported by studies on minimalism, classic arts

Ambiguity

Minimalism & Ambiguity

Classic Artsminimalism creates space into which the user can place themselves

ambiguity encourages the user to engage with the medium & establish empathy

Social Communicationfacebook pokes, 140 letter tweets, Kaye’s “I just clicked to say I love

you”minimalism broadens interpretation and evaluation space

Meaning & Mechanics“less is more”

focuses user on context, nuance, and detail

Minimalism & Ambiguity

Minimal control mechanicsincrease context awareness, usability, and skill adaptability

Minimal narrative elementsas with books, encourage empathy, user engagement and

interpretation

Minimal communication outletshelp reduce grieving, create more stimulating AI, hone focus

Rhythm Affinity and Synchrony

An experiment to study the interrelatedness of

ideas

Flow

Rhythm

Synchrony

Emotion

Tempo

Music

Synchros

Group 1Silent

Random Stimuli

Group 2Silent

Rhythmic Stimuli

Group 3Asynchronous Sound

Rhythmic Stimuli

Group 4Synchronous Sound

Rhythmic Stimuli

Silent vs Auditory

Asy

nch

ronous

vs

Synch

ronous

Results: Unexpected

Still processing full results, but…• Properties of Flow are NOT transitive

• People with rhythmic stimuli and higher scores reported

more accurate times, inverting the hypothesis

• Rhythm and emotion are linked, but NOT always

positively correlated• More correlations to emotional responses in rhythmic tests,

but sometimes it was a lack, not presence

• Auditory stimulus does NOT improve score• Hypothesis that more synchronized stimuli would improve

performance was overturned

Future Studies

• Proved the power of phenomenology studies• We need to understand what aspects of games create what

effects

• Many assumptions were overturned

• Looking beyond stereotypical audiences• Tested 14-24 age range; lack of familiarity with interface

had too great an impact on performance to test older users

• Ability to influence emotions through rhythm• Users with sound that fell in and out of synch reported more

enthusiasm towards the experience, possibly due to meta-

level challenge.

Portfolio Example

TIPOL

5 people, 48 hours, 1 game

Strict exercise in minimal design - narrative and controls

Mechanics take under 10 seconds to learn

1 rule

Play

Full Circle

The New Games Movement

Thank You

For more information download the full thesis

at

http://ied.manojalpa.net