WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.090 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:02.490 align:middle line:84% The following content is provided under a Creative 00:00:02.490 --> 00:00:04.030 align:middle line:90% Commons license. 00:00:04.030 --> 00:00:06.330 align:middle line:84% Your support will help MIT OpenCourseWare 00:00:06.330 --> 00:00:10.720 align:middle line:84% continue to offer high quality educational resources for free. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:13.320 align:middle line:84% To make a donation or view additional materials 00:00:13.320 --> 00:00:17.280 align:middle line:84% from hundreds of MIT courses, visit MIT OpenCourseWare 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:20.138 align:middle line:90% at ocw.mit.edu. 00:00:20.138 --> 00:00:22.680 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Today I've got quite a lot of stuff to go through. 00:00:22.680 --> 00:00:24.973 align:middle line:84% So hopefully we'll get to the actual game playing, 00:00:24.973 --> 00:00:26.640 align:middle line:84% but if not, don't worry, you'll actually 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:27.880 align:middle line:90% get to play the games-- 00:00:27.880 --> 00:00:30.990 align:middle line:84% the games that we'll end up playing today 00:00:30.990 --> 00:00:32.549 align:middle line:90% are games from last year. 00:00:32.549 --> 00:00:34.890 align:middle line:84% A lot of them are actually the final semester-- 00:00:34.890 --> 00:00:38.777 align:middle line:84% the final project, which means they are not 00:00:38.777 --> 00:00:41.110 align:middle line:84% answering the same question that you're trying to answer 00:00:41.110 --> 00:00:42.810 align:middle line:90% with your very first project. 00:00:42.810 --> 00:00:46.410 align:middle line:84% But it should give you a sense of what the scope of this class 00:00:46.410 --> 00:00:47.550 align:middle line:90% actually is. 00:00:47.550 --> 00:00:51.990 align:middle line:84% Last week, a couple of you played the LEGO game, 00:00:51.990 --> 00:00:52.830 align:middle line:90% Block Party. 00:00:52.830 --> 00:00:57.210 align:middle line:84% That was a two week project, and that was just without staff. 00:00:57.210 --> 00:00:59.370 align:middle line:84% These were more like four week projects. 00:00:59.370 --> 00:01:01.810 align:middle line:84% And we'll design my students with larger teams 00:01:01.810 --> 00:01:03.982 align:middle line:84% and probably closer to the kind of game 00:01:03.982 --> 00:01:05.440 align:middle line:84% that you're going to end up making. 00:01:05.440 --> 00:01:08.280 align:middle line:90% 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:11.760 align:middle line:84% I want you to keep in mind that you're not 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:15.600 align:middle line:84% constrained to building games that look exactly like those. 00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:17.900 align:middle line:84% In fact, after you've got a chance 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:20.070 align:middle line:84% to play some of the games from last year, 00:01:20.070 --> 00:01:21.900 align:middle line:84% I hope you actually have a chance 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:25.860 align:middle line:84% to think a little bit about what did they not do. 00:01:25.860 --> 00:01:28.560 align:middle line:84% All these games are like this sort of board game. 00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:31.370 align:middle line:84% And you will see a lot of them are this sort of board game. 00:01:31.370 --> 00:01:33.400 align:middle line:90% You find out what this is. 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:35.550 align:middle line:84% And you'll be able to do-- you can think 00:01:35.550 --> 00:01:37.705 align:middle line:84% a little bit about what would it be like to design a game that's 00:01:37.705 --> 00:01:38.205 align:middle line:90% not that. 00:01:38.205 --> 00:01:40.992 align:middle line:84% What if you just wanted to make your car game, for instance? 00:01:40.992 --> 00:01:42.340 align:middle line:90% You can. 00:01:42.340 --> 00:01:44.450 align:middle line:84% That's no reason why you couldn't. 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:46.950 align:middle line:84% What if you want to do a live action game where you actually 00:01:46.950 --> 00:01:48.908 align:middle line:84% move around with your body, that sort of thing? 00:01:48.908 --> 00:01:50.830 align:middle line:90% That's totally doable. 00:01:50.830 --> 00:01:53.690 align:middle line:90% I really, really hesitate not-- 00:01:53.690 --> 00:01:56.760 align:middle line:84% try not to put any live digital components in your game. 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:58.510 align:middle line:90% I know some people-- 00:01:58.510 --> 00:02:00.780 align:middle line:84% unless it's something simple like a timer 00:02:00.780 --> 00:02:02.640 align:middle line:84% that you can run off your iPhone. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:03.700 align:middle line:90% OK, maybe that's fine. 00:02:03.700 --> 00:02:06.690 align:middle line:84% By actually writing code, then the scope of this project 00:02:06.690 --> 00:02:09.600 align:middle line:84% just went through what I expected you to do. 00:02:09.600 --> 00:02:12.990 align:middle line:84% And the possibility of failure is-- 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:13.615 align:middle line:90% go back please. 00:02:13.615 --> 00:02:14.848 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Very much. 00:02:14.848 --> 00:02:16.390 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: But not failing the class. 00:02:16.390 --> 00:02:19.340 align:middle line:84% But your project just failing during runtime. 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:23.750 align:middle line:84% So that's probably something you don't necessarily want to do. 00:02:23.750 --> 00:02:28.260 align:middle line:84% We had two readings today, one for last Wednesday 00:02:28.260 --> 00:02:29.750 align:middle line:90% and then one for today. 00:02:29.750 --> 00:02:31.110 align:middle line:90% So I want to-- 00:02:31.110 --> 00:02:34.320 align:middle line:84% I try to cover quite a bit of it from the first reading 00:02:34.320 --> 00:02:35.340 align:middle line:90% during class itself. 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:38.630 align:middle line:84% Was anyone here not here on Wednesday? 00:02:38.630 --> 00:02:39.420 align:middle line:90% OK, all right. 00:02:39.420 --> 00:02:42.750 align:middle line:84% So we need to make sure that your name's on the attendance 00:02:42.750 --> 00:02:43.250 align:middle line:90% sheet. 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:45.647 align:middle line:84% And you should come and talk to me after class. 00:02:45.647 --> 00:02:47.730 align:middle line:84% And we'll make sure you get a copy of the syllabus 00:02:47.730 --> 00:02:48.980 align:middle line:90% and everything like that. 00:02:48.980 --> 00:02:52.650 align:middle line:84% Make sure that you get expectations for this class. 00:02:52.650 --> 00:02:54.385 align:middle line:84% Everybody who was here, hopefully you 00:02:54.385 --> 00:02:56.010 align:middle line:84% found your name on the attendance sheet 00:02:56.010 --> 00:02:59.160 align:middle line:84% because I had to manually add a few of you. 00:02:59.160 --> 00:03:00.870 align:middle line:90% So I hope you got-- 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:04.040 align:middle line:90% I got it all right. 00:03:04.040 --> 00:03:06.980 align:middle line:84% Now one of the points that I try to get across-- 00:03:06.980 --> 00:03:07.730 align:middle line:90% is this recording? 00:03:07.730 --> 00:03:08.460 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:03:08.460 --> 00:03:10.293 align:middle line:84% One of the points that I tried to get across 00:03:10.293 --> 00:03:11.240 align:middle line:90% on Wednesday was-- 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:12.990 align:middle line:84% all right, who's the most important person 00:03:12.990 --> 00:03:15.688 align:middle line:84% when it comes to actually playing a game? 00:03:15.688 --> 00:03:17.230 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: (COLLECTIVELY) The players. 00:03:17.230 --> 00:03:20.890 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: The players, right, not the designers, not you. 00:03:20.890 --> 00:03:23.190 align:middle line:84% But you when you actually play someone else's game. 00:03:23.190 --> 00:03:25.440 align:middle line:84% Then you're the most important person. 00:03:25.440 --> 00:03:30.660 align:middle line:84% If that person's experience is problematic or exciting 00:03:30.660 --> 00:03:35.130 align:middle line:84% or engaged or outright hostile to other players, or something 00:03:35.130 --> 00:03:38.010 align:middle line:84% like that, that's making it the way that they want to take it. 00:03:38.010 --> 00:03:39.510 align:middle line:84% And then you as the designer are are 00:03:39.510 --> 00:03:42.168 align:middle line:84% going to run through a number of different challenges trying 00:03:42.168 --> 00:03:43.710 align:middle line:84% to be able to give them an experience 00:03:43.710 --> 00:03:45.450 align:middle line:84% that you're trying to create for them. 00:03:45.450 --> 00:03:47.750 align:middle line:84% But you also have to acknowledge that if somebody wants 00:03:47.750 --> 00:03:49.940 align:middle line:84% to take your hardcore strategy game 00:03:49.940 --> 00:03:53.940 align:middle line:84% and turn it into a lighthearted party game, or vice versa, 00:03:53.940 --> 00:03:56.220 align:middle line:90% that's their prerogative. 00:03:56.220 --> 00:03:58.447 align:middle line:84% And if they say, hey, I really, really 00:03:58.447 --> 00:04:00.030 align:middle line:84% wanted this to be a lighthearted game, 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:02.010 align:middle line:84% and you gave me this hardcore game. 00:04:02.010 --> 00:04:04.980 align:middle line:84% And it made me hate the people around me, the table. 00:04:04.980 --> 00:04:07.840 align:middle line:84% And I don't like it, that is fine. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:09.810 align:middle line:84% It's OK for them to not like your game 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:13.960 align:middle line:90% based on my criteria like that. 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:15.720 align:middle line:84% However, one of the things that comes up 00:04:15.720 --> 00:04:19.140 align:middle line:84% in the Brathwaite reading is this concept 00:04:19.140 --> 00:04:22.620 align:middle line:90% of meaningful decisions, right? 00:04:22.620 --> 00:04:27.450 align:middle line:84% Well, what's-- Sid Meire how many of you heard of Sid Meier? 00:04:27.450 --> 00:04:29.317 align:middle line:84% Yeah, what games can people remember from-- 00:04:29.317 --> 00:04:30.900 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: (COLLECTIVELY) Civilization. 00:04:30.900 --> 00:04:34.110 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: OK, Civilization. 00:04:34.110 --> 00:04:35.670 align:middle line:90% Railroads? 00:04:35.670 --> 00:04:37.800 align:middle line:84% I think he also did the first Rollercoaster. 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:38.300 align:middle line:90% Pirates? 00:04:38.300 --> 00:04:39.865 align:middle line:90% Yeah, yeah. 00:04:39.865 --> 00:04:42.240 align:middle line:84% Mostly a computer game designer, although if you actually 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:45.250 align:middle line:84% play his games, if you like digital board games a lot, 00:04:45.250 --> 00:04:47.750 align:middle line:90% especially Civilization. 00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:52.680 align:middle line:84% And he has a code, which just says 00:04:52.680 --> 00:04:56.190 align:middle line:84% games are a series of interesting decisions. 00:04:56.190 --> 00:04:59.810 align:middle line:84% Not necessarily meaningful but interesting-- 00:04:59.810 --> 00:05:00.630 align:middle line:90% the decisions. 00:05:00.630 --> 00:05:03.780 align:middle line:84% And what are some of the ways that a decision 00:05:03.780 --> 00:05:04.568 align:middle line:90% can be meaningful? 00:05:04.568 --> 00:05:07.110 align:middle line:84% What are some of the things that might come up in the reading 00:05:07.110 --> 00:05:08.820 align:middle line:90% or occur to you right now? 00:05:08.820 --> 00:05:12.120 align:middle line:84% That a decision in a game can be meaningful-- what does it mean? 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:15.693 align:middle line:84% What does it mean to be meaningful? 00:05:15.693 --> 00:05:16.235 align:middle line:90% Couple hands? 00:05:16.235 --> 00:05:18.568 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: When you make that decision, the game's status 00:05:18.568 --> 00:05:20.564 align:middle line:84% changes or code that meanders the change? 00:05:20.564 --> 00:05:22.870 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, so when you make a decision, and then 00:05:22.870 --> 00:05:24.370 align:middle line:84% the outcome actually has changed. 00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:27.220 align:middle line:84% So the corollary is that if you make a decision and the outcome 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:29.440 align:middle line:84% hasn't changed, it wouldn't terribly be meaningful. 00:05:29.440 --> 00:05:30.130 align:middle line:90% OK? 00:05:30.130 --> 00:05:32.274 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: That's what I was going to say. 00:05:32.274 --> 00:05:35.620 align:middle line:84% I guess a lot like doing something and, I don't know, 00:05:35.620 --> 00:05:39.390 align:middle line:84% getting money in a money based game. 00:05:39.390 --> 00:05:41.240 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: So getting money? 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:44.550 align:middle line:84% So getting some sort of quantitative reward 00:05:44.550 --> 00:05:46.496 align:middle line:84% based on the decision that you've made. 00:05:46.496 --> 00:05:49.334 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Also you can get sort of awesomeness award 00:05:49.334 --> 00:05:51.568 align:middle line:84% even if it doesn't affect who will win or not. 00:05:51.568 --> 00:05:53.610 align:middle line:84% It could be something really awesome in the game, 00:05:53.610 --> 00:05:54.961 align:middle line:90% and you make a decision-- 00:05:54.961 --> 00:05:57.510 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: So kudos or something like that. 00:05:57.510 --> 00:06:00.988 align:middle line:84% It's like, wow, that was an amazing-- 00:06:00.988 --> 00:06:05.001 align:middle line:90% 00:06:05.001 --> 00:06:08.126 align:middle line:90% like in football, for instance. 00:06:08.126 --> 00:06:09.570 align:middle line:90% That was an amazing play. 00:06:09.570 --> 00:06:13.367 align:middle line:84% It didn't necessarily complete, but it would have been awesome. 00:06:13.367 --> 00:06:15.825 align:middle line:84% But maybe it was an awesome defense or something like that. 00:06:15.825 --> 00:06:19.050 align:middle line:84% That could be a meaningful decision. 00:06:19.050 --> 00:06:23.460 align:middle line:84% How about if you decide to roll a die? 00:06:23.460 --> 00:06:27.120 align:middle line:90% Game state has changed, usually. 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:28.420 align:middle line:90% Is that a meaningful thing? 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:33.330 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It could be if it's like a choice you have. 00:06:33.330 --> 00:06:36.447 align:middle line:84% You roll a dice in one direction of the game or do you 00:06:36.447 --> 00:06:39.530 align:middle line:84% not, and choose different that's meaningful. 00:06:39.530 --> 00:06:41.410 align:middle line:84% It's like, do I roll the die now, 00:06:41.410 --> 00:06:43.973 align:middle line:84% or do I wait a minute before I take my turn. 00:06:43.973 --> 00:06:45.640 align:middle line:84% That's not really a meaningful decision. 00:06:45.640 --> 00:06:48.172 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, it's like, let me think about this. 00:06:48.172 --> 00:06:49.380 align:middle line:90% Then I'll roll it eventually. 00:06:49.380 --> 00:06:50.730 align:middle line:90% All right, someone's hand is up. 00:06:50.730 --> 00:06:51.230 align:middle line:90% I'm going to go this way. 00:06:51.230 --> 00:06:53.500 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: So if you had meaningful alternatives 00:06:53.500 --> 00:06:54.060 align:middle line:90% as well? 00:06:54.060 --> 00:06:56.250 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, so again, if you had the choice 00:06:56.250 --> 00:06:57.925 align:middle line:90% not to roll the die, OK? 00:06:57.925 --> 00:07:00.775 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I would say most games that the die roll would be 00:07:00.775 --> 00:07:02.852 align:middle line:90% meaningful but not a decision. 00:07:02.852 --> 00:07:04.810 align:middle line:84% So the die roll basically tells you what to do. 00:07:04.810 --> 00:07:06.727 align:middle line:84% You're not actually thinking about it. 00:07:06.727 --> 00:07:07.810 align:middle line:90% But it's still meaningful. 00:07:07.810 --> 00:07:10.560 align:middle line:84% You can still change the game state and the fact who wins 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:11.790 align:middle line:90% or whatever happens to me. 00:07:11.790 --> 00:07:14.460 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: So the outcome of the die roll is usually meaningful, 00:07:14.460 --> 00:07:16.875 align:middle line:84% but you may not have had to decide to do that. 00:07:16.875 --> 00:07:18.500 align:middle line:84% (Starting with you, We'll go that way.) 00:07:18.500 --> 00:07:19.712 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: To go with that. 00:07:19.712 --> 00:07:21.388 align:middle line:90% In a game like Yahtzee where-- 00:07:21.388 --> 00:07:23.388 align:middle line:84% do you roll the dice you're trying to make room. 00:07:23.388 --> 00:07:26.574 align:middle line:84% But it's about the die rolling where it's 00:07:26.574 --> 00:07:28.168 align:middle line:90% like something not Monopoly. 00:07:28.168 --> 00:07:30.433 align:middle line:90% It's not really a decision. 00:07:30.433 --> 00:07:32.172 align:middle line:90% You have to do it every turn. 00:07:32.172 --> 00:07:33.500 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Mm-hmm. 00:07:33.500 --> 00:07:35.358 align:middle line:84% Yeah, and that's an interesting thing. 00:07:35.358 --> 00:07:36.900 align:middle line:84% I talked a little bit about mechanics 00:07:36.900 --> 00:07:40.320 align:middle line:84% on Wednesday and the idea that if you 00:07:40.320 --> 00:07:42.270 align:middle line:84% think of a mechanic as something a player 00:07:42.270 --> 00:07:45.860 align:middle line:84% does to change the game state, the roll die-- 00:07:45.860 --> 00:07:47.550 align:middle line:84% the die rolling thing is a weird thing 00:07:47.550 --> 00:07:49.425 align:middle line:84% because game state is changing it's something 00:07:49.425 --> 00:07:52.100 align:middle line:84% a player does but a player didn't decide how to do that, 00:07:52.100 --> 00:07:52.600 align:middle line:90% right? 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:55.097 align:middle line:84% The player is just told to roll this die. 00:07:55.097 --> 00:07:57.180 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Well, they kind of covered [INAUDIBLE].. 00:07:57.180 --> 00:07:59.550 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: OK, yeah that's good. 00:07:59.550 --> 00:08:02.593 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: We can choose like a different type of roll. 00:08:02.593 --> 00:08:04.260 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Oh yeah, again like Yahtzee-- 00:08:04.260 --> 00:08:05.322 align:middle line:90% which die, right? 00:08:05.322 --> 00:08:05.822 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:08:05.822 --> 00:08:07.440 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I learned this definition 00:08:07.440 --> 00:08:10.400 align:middle line:84% of [INAUDIBLE] series decisions, like the card game War, 00:08:10.400 --> 00:08:14.122 align:middle line:84% for instance, or the board game Candy Land. 00:08:14.122 --> 00:08:16.080 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: That's a version of Candy Land which 00:08:16.080 --> 00:08:19.840 align:middle line:84% lets you choose which pile of red cards to draw from. 00:08:19.840 --> 00:08:23.910 align:middle line:90% But is that meaningful? 00:08:23.910 --> 00:08:25.980 align:middle line:84% A stack of randomly shuffled cards? 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:31.170 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Yeah, it has to do with [INAUDIBLE].. 00:08:31.170 --> 00:08:33.244 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: If there a random pile [INAUDIBLE].. 00:08:33.244 --> 00:08:35.090 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: If you shuffle them and take the top card, 00:08:35.090 --> 00:08:36.215 align:middle line:90% it's doesn't really matter. 00:08:36.215 --> 00:08:38.330 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: But if you do Chance or Community Chest. 00:08:38.330 --> 00:08:39.190 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: I feel you something else 00:08:39.190 --> 00:08:40.190 align:middle line:84% that you wanted to add on to that. 00:08:40.190 --> 00:08:41.482 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: No, I was just going to say. 00:08:41.482 --> 00:08:42.868 align:middle line:84% It just means that these things aren't games. 00:08:42.868 --> 00:08:43.774 align:middle line:90% And-- 00:08:43.774 --> 00:08:45.994 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It's seems okay actually. 00:08:45.994 --> 00:08:48.350 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: The thing is that they might be games 00:08:48.350 --> 00:08:51.990 align:middle line:84% but that particular decision may not be the meaningful one. 00:08:51.990 --> 00:08:55.620 align:middle line:84% And it's possible that in the entire game, maybe 00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:57.600 align:middle line:84% you don't get that many meaningful decisions. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.250 align:middle line:84% That doesn't necessarily make it not a game. 00:09:00.250 --> 00:09:02.265 align:middle line:84% It might make it not a very good game, 00:09:02.265 --> 00:09:03.390 align:middle line:90% which is a different thing. 00:09:03.390 --> 00:09:05.973 align:middle line:84% That's a qualitative and often subjective experience, right? 00:09:05.973 --> 00:09:08.140 align:middle line:84% To a two or three year-old it maybe an awesome game. 00:09:08.140 --> 00:09:09.748 align:middle line:84% You get to play in a land of candy. 00:09:09.748 --> 00:09:13.170 align:middle line:90% 00:09:13.170 --> 00:09:14.696 align:middle line:84% A few more hands I thought I saw? 00:09:14.696 --> 00:09:16.430 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah, on that topic. 00:09:16.430 --> 00:09:19.310 align:middle line:84% I think there's a reason why people who over a certain age 00:09:19.310 --> 00:09:20.685 align:middle line:84% never really wanted to play Candy 00:09:20.685 --> 00:09:23.223 align:middle line:84% Land anymore because they realized that they don't really 00:09:23.223 --> 00:09:25.140 align:middle line:84% do anything, so they get really bored with it. 00:09:25.140 --> 00:09:26.960 align:middle line:84% For kids or some other targeted thing 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:30.370 align:middle line:84% going on more than the meaningful decision, 00:09:30.370 --> 00:09:34.500 align:middle line:84% making it fun to actually just doing something and moving-- 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:37.740 align:middle line:84% or winning cards that makes it fun. 00:09:37.740 --> 00:09:42.390 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: The thing that war and Candy Land let you do-- 00:09:42.390 --> 00:09:47.100 align:middle line:84% if, for instance, it gives a five-year-old a winning chance 00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:50.440 align:middle line:90% against an adult, right? 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:52.250 align:middle line:90% That could be huge for a kid. 00:09:52.250 --> 00:09:55.710 align:middle line:84% It's like, wow, I can actually play this with an adult? 00:09:55.710 --> 00:09:57.690 align:middle line:84% Learning how to take turns is one thing 00:09:57.690 --> 00:09:59.460 align:middle line:84% that people have actually get good at the games like Candy 00:09:59.460 --> 00:09:59.960 align:middle line:90% Land. 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:02.560 align:middle line:90% 00:10:02.560 --> 00:10:04.560 align:middle line:84% I can't remember if I brought this up last time. 00:10:04.560 --> 00:10:06.060 align:middle line:84% I believe Candy Land was invented 00:10:06.060 --> 00:10:09.410 align:middle line:84% to keep kids from getting polio from each other. 00:10:09.410 --> 00:10:10.656 align:middle line:90% That might be urban legend. 00:10:10.656 --> 00:10:11.330 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:10:11.330 --> 00:10:12.413 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Huh, it's true? 00:10:12.413 --> 00:10:14.220 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: It keeps kids indoors. 00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:15.030 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Keeps kids indoors and try 00:10:15.030 --> 00:10:16.030 align:middle line:90% to get them from their-- 00:10:16.030 --> 00:10:19.440 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: --they're working with other kids. 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:21.984 align:middle line:84% There's polio going around at the time it happened. 00:10:21.984 --> 00:10:23.516 align:middle line:84% If you stay indoors with the people 00:10:23.516 --> 00:10:25.945 align:middle line:84% you already know you know aren't infected, 00:10:25.945 --> 00:10:27.320 align:middle line:90% you're going to be OK. 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:29.280 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: So, OK, that was-- 00:10:29.280 --> 00:10:31.880 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: With polio, you can't do much of anything. 00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:33.338 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: There's a huge inversion 00:10:33.338 --> 00:10:36.084 align:middle line:84% from the get out and get some exercise. 00:10:36.084 --> 00:10:41.300 align:middle line:90% 00:10:41.300 --> 00:10:42.520 align:middle line:90% It's a serious game. 00:10:42.520 --> 00:10:44.870 align:middle line:90% It has health benefits. 00:10:44.870 --> 00:10:48.080 align:middle line:90% Let's play in the land of Candy. 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:52.400 align:middle line:84% I would like to go back a little bit to this idea 00:10:52.400 --> 00:10:55.310 align:middle line:84% about changing the game state, right? 00:10:55.310 --> 00:10:58.220 align:middle line:84% You make a decision in a game, and you've 00:10:58.220 --> 00:10:59.330 align:middle line:90% changed a game state. 00:10:59.330 --> 00:11:03.080 align:middle line:90% And it wasn't a decision-- 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:07.240 align:middle line:84% it wasn't-- I get to try to roll from three identical dice. 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:08.400 align:middle line:90% Which die do I roll, OK? 00:11:08.400 --> 00:11:10.294 align:middle line:90% All right, that's not real-- 00:11:10.294 --> 00:11:12.580 align:middle line:90% a real decision. 00:11:12.580 --> 00:11:14.640 align:middle line:84% Unless they are loaded and there not identical. 00:11:14.640 --> 00:11:21.380 align:middle line:84% But anyway, so what do you need to be 00:11:21.380 --> 00:11:23.210 align:middle line:84% able to communicate to the player 00:11:23.210 --> 00:11:26.640 align:middle line:84% that their decision actually changed anything? 00:11:26.640 --> 00:11:29.660 align:middle line:84% OK, actually let me flip that around. 00:11:29.660 --> 00:11:31.407 align:middle line:84% If you don't let the player know what 00:11:31.407 --> 00:11:33.740 align:middle line:84% changed the game state, even though the game state might 00:11:33.740 --> 00:11:39.170 align:middle line:84% have changed, is it that meaningful a decision anymore? 00:11:39.170 --> 00:11:40.040 align:middle line:90% You did something. 00:11:40.040 --> 00:11:42.417 align:middle line:84% Some numbers changed inside the system. 00:11:42.417 --> 00:11:44.250 align:middle line:84% It's good to affect how things go out later. 00:11:44.250 --> 00:11:47.706 align:middle line:84% But you don't actually know what happened. 00:11:47.706 --> 00:11:50.950 align:middle line:84% Has anyone played a game like this? 00:11:50.950 --> 00:11:52.801 align:middle line:90% Does that sound familiar? 00:11:52.801 --> 00:11:55.180 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I feel it's very much potential to player 00:11:55.180 --> 00:11:58.503 align:middle line:84% and the system because a lot of times something 00:11:58.503 --> 00:12:02.950 align:middle line:84% like that will happen and whatever most people say, 00:12:02.950 --> 00:12:04.910 align:middle line:90% oh, nothing really changed. 00:12:04.910 --> 00:12:07.600 align:middle line:84% My decision didn't matter at all. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:10.750 align:middle line:84% Whereas someone that takes the game more seriously might 00:12:10.750 --> 00:12:13.370 align:middle line:84% actually realize something changed just 00:12:13.370 --> 00:12:16.650 align:middle line:84% from probabilistic analysis, something ridiculous. 00:12:16.650 --> 00:12:21.100 align:middle line:84% And also if you expect players to get very into your game, 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:22.620 align:middle line:84% this is the stuff that you can leave 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:26.020 align:middle line:84% with because they will understand it and figure it out 00:12:26.020 --> 00:12:27.140 align:middle line:90% on their own. 00:12:27.140 --> 00:12:29.600 align:middle line:84% And that has to be part of the game. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:33.200 align:middle line:84% Whereas if you expect players to pick it up and play it 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:36.313 align:middle line:84% three times in their life and then move on, then 00:12:36.313 --> 00:12:38.480 align:middle line:84% it probably won't help them that much and you should 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.740 align:middle line:84% you should probably give them more feedback socially. 00:12:40.740 --> 00:12:42.450 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Yep, some other hand? 00:12:42.450 --> 00:12:45.677 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I think, also, if you have an adventure game where 00:12:45.677 --> 00:12:46.885 align:middle line:90% there's a story or something. 00:12:46.885 --> 00:12:50.160 align:middle line:84% And you tell some guys to just not help the guy. 00:12:50.160 --> 00:12:52.628 align:middle line:84% And then he becomes an evil warlord later, 00:12:52.628 --> 00:12:54.920 align:middle line:84% there are some interesting things you can do with that. 00:12:54.920 --> 00:12:57.040 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: There's a long term consequences, so 00:12:57.040 --> 00:12:58.620 align:middle line:90% a lot of immediate consequences. 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:02.010 align:middle line:84% Immediate feedback, which is a term that you brought up. 00:13:02.010 --> 00:13:04.010 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Looking at-- there are certainly games 00:13:04.010 --> 00:13:08.220 align:middle line:90% where --to make an example. 00:13:08.220 --> 00:13:10.350 align:middle line:84% In Dominion, oftentimes you can draw 00:13:10.350 --> 00:13:13.050 align:middle line:84% cards that don't help you just pointlessly causing 00:13:13.050 --> 00:13:13.730 align:middle line:90% a reshuffle. 00:13:13.730 --> 00:13:16.030 align:middle line:84% But normally if I were to do this without thinking 00:13:16.030 --> 00:13:17.550 align:middle line:90% and thinking doesn't matter. 00:13:17.550 --> 00:13:21.210 align:middle line:84% Would it actually be slightly beneficial or slightly 00:13:21.210 --> 00:13:22.630 align:middle line:84% [INAUDIBLE] that actually do this? 00:13:22.630 --> 00:13:24.768 align:middle line:84% But unless you really think about it, 00:13:24.768 --> 00:13:27.060 align:middle line:84% you won't even notice that it caused any sort of change 00:13:27.060 --> 00:13:28.630 align:middle line:90% there. 00:13:28.630 --> 00:13:30.473 align:middle line:84% Thinking of the Hitchhikers Guide 00:13:30.473 --> 00:13:32.502 align:middle line:90% to the Galaxy game wherein-- 00:13:32.502 --> 00:13:34.960 align:middle line:84% there's a specific point where you must-- if there's a dog, 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:36.460 align:middle line:90% you need to give it a sandwich. 00:13:36.460 --> 00:13:38.810 align:middle line:84% Otherwise you're doing it yourself 200 turns later, 00:13:38.810 --> 00:13:40.210 align:middle line:90% like hours later in this game. 00:13:40.210 --> 00:13:43.471 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Right, and that hurts, right? 00:13:43.471 --> 00:13:45.070 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: What's the game called? 00:13:45.070 --> 00:13:48.680 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure. 00:13:48.680 --> 00:13:50.680 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Another really straightforward example 00:13:50.680 --> 00:13:53.640 align:middle line:84% is competitive games where you get only some 00:13:53.640 --> 00:13:55.661 align:middle line:84% of the [? stateness ?] information, 00:13:55.661 --> 00:13:57.558 align:middle line:90% like Starcraft or something. 00:13:57.558 --> 00:13:59.600 align:middle line:84% You can't really see what your opponent is doing. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:02.360 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, it's interesting because usually not 00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:04.460 align:middle line:84% [INAUDIBLE] changing what your opponent does 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:07.296 align:middle line:90% based on what you can't see. 00:14:07.296 --> 00:14:09.850 align:middle line:90% 00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:11.870 align:middle line:84% And I say usually because it does happen. 00:14:11.870 --> 00:14:15.140 align:middle line:84% Occasionally, your opponent sees something that you didn't see. 00:14:15.140 --> 00:14:19.370 align:middle line:84% And they changed their strategy based on that. 00:14:19.370 --> 00:14:21.098 align:middle line:84% I've played a number of adventure games 00:14:21.098 --> 00:14:23.390 align:middle line:84% that actually have this more as a puzzle solving thing. 00:14:23.390 --> 00:14:25.670 align:middle line:84% So it's not like 200 turns later something changes. 00:14:25.670 --> 00:14:28.640 align:middle line:84% It's like something changes right away, 00:14:28.640 --> 00:14:31.910 align:middle line:84% and you need to figure out what changed. 00:14:31.910 --> 00:14:33.330 align:middle line:90% So it's not immediate feedback. 00:14:33.330 --> 00:14:34.997 align:middle line:84% There's feedback somewhere in the world. 00:14:34.997 --> 00:14:39.090 align:middle line:84% But I want to say I probably didn't enjoyed those games. 00:14:39.090 --> 00:14:40.243 align:middle line:90% Maybe someone does. 00:14:40.243 --> 00:14:41.660 align:middle line:84% Something-- Do you want to ask it? 00:14:41.660 --> 00:14:43.243 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Well, you have to be careful 00:14:43.243 --> 00:14:46.550 align:middle line:84% that it doesn't have too much complexity or some sort 00:14:46.550 --> 00:14:49.640 align:middle line:84% of unanticipated change that there's too steep of a learning 00:14:49.640 --> 00:14:52.970 align:middle line:84% curve to actually enjoy it, but you play it 00:14:52.970 --> 00:14:54.584 align:middle line:90% and it takes two hours. 00:14:54.584 --> 00:14:57.840 align:middle line:84% And you realize something you did, screwed you up, 00:14:57.840 --> 00:14:59.255 align:middle line:84% you might not want to play again. 00:14:59.255 --> 00:15:00.040 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Yeah, it's like-- 00:15:00.040 --> 00:15:00.740 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:15:00.740 --> 00:15:02.198 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: --I got the wrong ending 00:15:02.198 --> 00:15:04.445 align:middle line:84% because I made this decision five hours ago 00:15:04.445 --> 00:15:05.490 align:middle line:90% or something like that. 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:08.820 align:middle line:84% OK, how about the alternative, when something-- my game state 00:15:08.820 --> 00:15:14.570 align:middle line:84% changes, and you're not really sure how your decision came up 00:15:14.570 --> 00:15:17.750 align:middle line:90% with that outcome. 00:15:17.750 --> 00:15:21.365 align:middle line:84% So not random exactly, but overly complex maybe. 00:15:21.365 --> 00:15:23.740 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Well, you don't end up with a good mental model 00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:25.690 align:middle line:90% of how the game works. 00:15:25.690 --> 00:15:29.442 align:middle line:84% And so even though you make meaningful decisions, 00:15:29.442 --> 00:15:30.900 align:middle line:84% you don't know what the meaning is. 00:15:30.900 --> 00:15:33.330 align:middle line:84% And so any time you're making another decision, 00:15:33.330 --> 00:15:35.877 align:middle line:84% you may be able to select, actually choose in a way 00:15:35.877 --> 00:15:36.585 align:middle line:90% that you want to. 00:15:36.585 --> 00:15:37.950 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Yep, OK, mhm. 00:15:37.950 --> 00:15:41.020 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It prevents a chess style of approaching the game. 00:15:41.020 --> 00:15:43.632 align:middle line:84% Right, in chess you see the board and you-- 00:15:43.632 --> 00:15:45.340 align:middle line:84% a lot of the really good players will see 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:47.410 align:middle line:90% X number of moves in advance. 00:15:47.410 --> 00:15:50.740 align:middle line:84% But when things happen, they just randomly appear. 00:15:50.740 --> 00:15:52.430 align:middle line:90% You have to react on the fly. 00:15:52.430 --> 00:15:55.820 align:middle line:84% You can't just plan out all of your moves. 00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:57.260 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: This-- reactive play. 00:15:57.260 --> 00:15:59.788 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I think this one's a lot bigger issue 00:15:59.788 --> 00:16:01.330 align:middle line:84% than the other one because this could 00:16:01.330 --> 00:16:05.020 align:middle line:84% lead to a lot of frustration with players. 00:16:05.020 --> 00:16:06.900 align:middle line:84% If they can see the game state changing 00:16:06.900 --> 00:16:09.317 align:middle line:84% and know that they're effective but don't know how they're 00:16:09.317 --> 00:16:13.101 align:middle line:84% affecting it, I just feel as a player, that 00:16:13.101 --> 00:16:14.520 align:middle line:90% would frustrate you to no end. 00:16:14.520 --> 00:16:17.350 align:middle line:84% And that would make you think that everything you do 00:16:17.350 --> 00:16:18.987 align:middle line:84% doesn't really matter and that you're 00:16:18.987 --> 00:16:21.195 align:middle line:84% going to win or lose regardless of what you're doing. 00:16:21.195 --> 00:16:23.356 align:middle line:84% And it kinda turns it into a Candy Land game 00:16:23.356 --> 00:16:24.745 align:middle line:90% even if it's not. 00:16:24.745 --> 00:16:27.060 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Mm-hmm, OK. 00:16:27.060 --> 00:16:29.504 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] the game-- 00:16:29.504 --> 00:16:31.990 align:middle line:84% occasionally I've played some word [INAUDIBLE] games 00:16:31.990 --> 00:16:34.121 align:middle line:90% that are hard to understand. 00:16:34.121 --> 00:16:39.370 align:middle line:84% And the mechanics aren't intuitive like Village. 00:16:39.370 --> 00:16:43.480 align:middle line:84% We sort of did stuff, but we had-- 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:45.760 align:middle line:84% and then afterwards, we didn't really understand. 00:16:45.760 --> 00:16:47.635 align:middle line:84% We didn't understand how we were changing it, 00:16:47.635 --> 00:16:49.514 align:middle line:84% but it took awhile before you really-- 00:16:49.514 --> 00:16:51.097 align:middle line:84% you don't understand what's happening. 00:16:51.097 --> 00:16:53.050 align:middle line:84% And there are many games where you can 00:16:53.050 --> 00:16:55.690 align:middle line:90% do very poorly or very well. 00:16:55.690 --> 00:16:57.960 align:middle line:84% And it takes a while to understand exactly why you're 00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:00.190 align:middle line:90% doing very poorly or very well. 00:17:00.190 --> 00:17:01.690 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: So sometimes even success 00:17:01.690 --> 00:17:06.050 align:middle line:90% can be bewildering, right. 00:17:06.050 --> 00:17:06.550 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:17:06.550 --> 00:17:08.633 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I feel like this sort of [INAUDIBLE]---- 00:17:08.633 --> 00:17:12.032 align:middle line:84% it's easier to deal with from a digital game and a board game 00:17:12.032 --> 00:17:14.442 align:middle line:84% because in a digital game, usually people have to take 00:17:14.442 --> 00:17:16.852 align:middle line:84% their turns and have to play out more slowly, 00:17:16.852 --> 00:17:19.744 align:middle line:84% whereas in a good board game, you change something and-- 00:17:19.744 --> 00:17:21.672 align:middle line:84% if you do something and something changes, 00:17:21.672 --> 00:17:24.412 align:middle line:84% maybe you can just start over and do it again 00:17:24.412 --> 00:17:25.579 align:middle line:90% like it's a different thing. 00:17:25.579 --> 00:17:26.490 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: All right, hold on. 00:17:26.490 --> 00:17:27.572 align:middle line:90% So in a digital game? 00:17:27.572 --> 00:17:29.510 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah, trial and error. 00:17:29.510 --> 00:17:31.810 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, so in a digital game, 00:17:31.810 --> 00:17:35.470 align:middle line:84% because some games let you save state and then reload state. 00:17:35.470 --> 00:17:38.030 align:middle line:84% So you can say, well, what if I tried this decision? 00:17:38.030 --> 00:17:40.780 align:middle line:84% And then there's an interesting phenomenon 00:17:40.780 --> 00:17:43.120 align:middle line:84% that goes with that in a lot of strategy games called 00:17:43.120 --> 00:17:44.620 align:middle line:90% save scrubbing. 00:17:44.620 --> 00:17:47.140 align:middle line:84% And that is where you know that the outcome of something 00:17:47.140 --> 00:17:48.920 align:middle line:90% is based on a probability. 00:17:48.920 --> 00:17:51.730 align:middle line:84% And so if you save and reload often enough, 00:17:51.730 --> 00:17:55.210 align:middle line:90% you will always be successful. 00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:56.740 align:middle line:84% And that's an interesting strategy. 00:17:56.740 --> 00:17:58.157 align:middle line:84% This is completely aside from what 00:17:58.157 --> 00:17:59.350 align:middle line:90% I wanted talked about today. 00:17:59.350 --> 00:18:02.872 align:middle line:84% But it's an interesting strategy that game designers use. 00:18:02.872 --> 00:18:04.330 align:middle line:84% And that is to-- in a digital game, 00:18:04.330 --> 00:18:08.130 align:middle line:84% save some random number seed at the time 00:18:08.130 --> 00:18:11.350 align:middle line:84% when the save is made so that outcome's always the same. 00:18:11.350 --> 00:18:15.410 align:middle line:84% I expect tech support calls when people when you implement that, 00:18:15.410 --> 00:18:17.800 align:middle line:84% though, because people are like this-- your random number 00:18:17.800 --> 00:18:18.370 align:middle line:90% is broken. 00:18:18.370 --> 00:18:19.855 align:middle line:90% I tried this thing 15 times. 00:18:19.855 --> 00:18:21.730 align:middle line:84% And it's supposed to have a 90% success rate. 00:18:21.730 --> 00:18:23.770 align:middle line:84% And I always fail when I do this one attack. 00:18:23.770 --> 00:18:28.180 align:middle line:84% And it's like, yes, because you saved the random number seed. 00:18:28.180 --> 00:18:32.410 align:middle line:84% So that is actually a problem because people 00:18:32.410 --> 00:18:36.870 align:middle line:84% have this concept about how the mechanics of what 00:18:36.870 --> 00:18:40.280 align:middle line:84% does 90% probability of success mean? 00:18:40.280 --> 00:18:42.960 align:middle line:84% And I am specifically thinking of XCOM right now. 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:46.224 align:middle line:90% If anyone wants to play that. 00:18:46.224 --> 00:18:48.790 align:middle line:84% 90% probability of success to a lot of people 00:18:48.790 --> 00:18:53.050 align:middle line:84% means that most-- means that it's going to succeed. 00:18:53.050 --> 00:18:54.430 align:middle line:84% Now for a lot of people, probably 00:18:54.430 --> 00:18:55.847 align:middle line:84% a lot of people in this room, this 00:18:55.847 --> 00:18:58.560 align:middle line:90% means you will probably succeed. 00:18:58.560 --> 00:19:01.200 align:middle line:84% But for a game whose pushed the random number 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:04.202 align:middle line:84% seed has been saved and you fail and then you 00:19:04.202 --> 00:19:06.160 align:middle line:84% reload from the start, it means you will always 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:10.010 align:middle line:84% fail because that's a different concept of how 00:19:10.010 --> 00:19:11.590 align:middle line:84% the random number generator works. 00:19:11.590 --> 00:19:12.965 align:middle line:84% It makes a lot of sense to people 00:19:12.965 --> 00:19:15.100 align:middle line:84% who are game designers or computer scientists 00:19:15.100 --> 00:19:17.520 align:middle line:84% but may not make a lot of sense to a lot of players. 00:19:17.520 --> 00:19:19.870 align:middle line:84% I get to re-roll again when I save in those, right? 00:19:19.870 --> 00:19:22.960 align:middle line:84% But now you get to re-roll exactly the same time, exactly 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:25.000 align:middle line:84% the same way, which means you've got to come. 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:28.180 align:middle line:90% 00:19:28.180 --> 00:19:31.240 align:middle line:84% So this brings me to the second reading, 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:35.890 align:middle line:84% which is Don Norman's first chapter in the design 00:19:35.890 --> 00:19:37.245 align:middle line:90% of everyday things. 00:19:37.245 --> 00:19:39.040 align:middle line:84% The book used to be called The Psychology 00:19:39.040 --> 00:19:41.570 align:middle line:84% of Everyday Things, which had a nice little acronym him 00:19:41.570 --> 00:19:42.610 align:middle line:90% of POET. 00:19:42.610 --> 00:19:47.402 align:middle line:84% But then people had trouble finding the book because he 00:19:47.402 --> 00:19:48.610 align:middle line:90% was looking for design books. 00:19:48.610 --> 00:19:50.590 align:middle line:84% And it was shelved in the psychology section. 00:19:50.590 --> 00:19:53.528 align:middle line:84% So he changed the name to The Design of Everyday Things, 00:19:53.528 --> 00:19:55.570 align:middle line:84% which I think is a really interesting application 00:19:55.570 --> 00:19:57.250 align:middle line:84% of the kinds of things that he's talking about. 00:19:57.250 --> 00:19:59.650 align:middle line:84% Do you expect to find this book somewhere and is not 00:19:59.650 --> 00:20:00.770 align:middle line:90% in that section? 00:20:00.770 --> 00:20:04.055 align:middle line:84% So you make a change and you iterate on it. 00:20:04.055 --> 00:20:05.430 align:middle line:84% And if you look at the copyright, 00:20:05.430 --> 00:20:08.530 align:middle line:84% it actually still Psychology of Everyday Things. 00:20:08.530 --> 00:20:11.350 align:middle line:90% He talks about visibility. 00:20:11.350 --> 00:20:17.000 align:middle line:84% And what does visibility do in a syst-- 00:20:17.000 --> 00:20:18.187 align:middle line:90% in a design? 00:20:18.187 --> 00:20:20.545 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It helps people understand 00:20:20.545 --> 00:20:22.003 align:middle line:84% the qualities of what they're doing 00:20:22.003 --> 00:20:24.390 align:middle line:90% or what they want to accomplish. 00:20:24.390 --> 00:20:27.930 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, they have an intent, right? 00:20:27.930 --> 00:20:30.510 align:middle line:84% They want to accomplish something. 00:20:30.510 --> 00:20:32.640 align:middle line:84% And it gives them a clue on what they 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:34.630 align:middle line:90% could do to accomplish that. 00:20:34.630 --> 00:20:38.430 align:middle line:84% So already, that's a direct application to games, right? 00:20:38.430 --> 00:20:39.540 align:middle line:90% You have a goal in mind. 00:20:39.540 --> 00:20:42.150 align:middle line:84% It's like I want to accumulate more cash in this game. 00:20:42.150 --> 00:20:43.820 align:middle line:90% I want to-- 00:20:43.820 --> 00:20:46.078 align:middle line:84% I'll produce my opponent or something like that. 00:20:46.078 --> 00:20:48.120 align:middle line:84% All right, what are all the things that I can do? 00:20:48.120 --> 00:20:50.757 align:middle line:90% What's telling me might-- 00:20:50.757 --> 00:20:52.090 align:middle line:90% what's in front of me right now? 00:20:52.090 --> 00:20:53.923 align:middle line:84% Maybe in a board game, maybe in a card game, 00:20:53.923 --> 00:20:55.530 align:middle line:84% maybe in a visual game, that's telling 00:20:55.530 --> 00:20:57.930 align:middle line:84% me visibly, right now, that this might 00:20:57.930 --> 00:20:59.526 align:middle line:90% be the way I get to do that. 00:20:59.526 --> 00:21:04.107 align:middle line:90% 00:21:04.107 --> 00:21:06.450 align:middle line:84% In a lot of strategy games, some of these things 00:21:06.450 --> 00:21:08.370 align:middle line:90% are very literal, right? 00:21:08.370 --> 00:21:11.460 align:middle line:84% So and so technology gives you this bonus. 00:21:11.460 --> 00:21:15.300 align:middle line:84% It's very-- I guess a little of the role playing games also 00:21:15.300 --> 00:21:16.020 align:middle line:90% have this, right? 00:21:16.020 --> 00:21:17.780 align:middle line:90% I want to hit things harder. 00:21:17.780 --> 00:21:19.980 align:middle line:84% Oh, look, this thing just needs plus one to attack. 00:21:19.980 --> 00:21:24.820 align:middle line:84% All right, OK, that that's a very literal thing now. 00:21:24.820 --> 00:21:27.480 align:middle line:84% How much effort you need to do, you 00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:30.140 align:middle line:84% need to go through to actually find that piece of information 00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:34.080 align:middle line:84% and whether plus one is actually a meaningful difference at all. 00:21:34.080 --> 00:21:36.700 align:middle line:84% It's depending on the design of the game. 00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:40.620 align:middle line:84% But visibility has something to do 00:21:40.620 --> 00:21:45.865 align:middle line:84% with the intent of the player of the user in Norman's case. 00:21:45.865 --> 00:21:47.240 align:middle line:84% But he's not talking about games. 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:49.710 align:middle line:84% He's talking about the design of everything. 00:21:49.710 --> 00:21:53.100 align:middle line:84% And what the system can actually do, the actual operations 00:21:53.100 --> 00:21:54.060 align:middle line:90% of the system. 00:21:54.060 --> 00:21:56.130 align:middle line:90% So I'm playing a game like-- 00:21:56.130 --> 00:21:59.700 align:middle line:90% 00:21:59.700 --> 00:22:02.520 align:middle line:84% I'm playing a real time strategy game, and I have a tank. 00:22:02.520 --> 00:22:04.350 align:middle line:84% And I want to make it do doughnuts. 00:22:04.350 --> 00:22:08.460 align:middle line:84% And it's like, well, the system doesn't actually support that. 00:22:08.460 --> 00:22:11.460 align:middle line:84% There's no physics simulations to this tank. 00:22:11.460 --> 00:22:17.670 align:middle line:84% So I need to be able to convey to the player 00:22:17.670 --> 00:22:20.280 align:middle line:84% that this is not something you can actually do in the game. 00:22:20.280 --> 00:22:24.770 align:middle line:84% You can tell which hex to move your tank, but that's it. 00:22:24.770 --> 00:22:28.440 align:middle line:84% Maybe the tank doesn't even turn, right? 00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:33.420 align:middle line:84% So the other thing is this concept of mapping, 00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:36.120 align:middle line:90% that there is this-- 00:22:36.120 --> 00:22:38.620 align:middle line:84% again, it has to do with the player's intent of what 00:22:38.620 --> 00:22:41.350 align:middle line:84% they want to do, what they want to accomplish. 00:22:41.350 --> 00:22:44.280 align:middle line:84% But mapping, instead of the actual operations 00:22:44.280 --> 00:22:46.400 align:middle line:84% of the system, actually has to do it 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:48.715 align:middle line:84% for what you can see of the system. 00:22:48.715 --> 00:22:50.840 align:middle line:84% So there are affordances and there are constraints. 00:22:50.840 --> 00:22:53.460 align:middle line:84% These are both words that are introduced in that reading. 00:22:53.460 --> 00:22:56.050 align:middle line:84% I think affordances is introduced in this reading. 00:22:56.050 --> 00:22:58.600 align:middle line:84% What's an example of an affordance? 00:22:58.600 --> 00:23:01.600 align:middle line:90% 00:23:01.600 --> 00:23:03.630 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: If you can sit on a chair? 00:23:03.630 --> 00:23:05.047 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: You can sit on a chair? 00:23:05.047 --> 00:23:07.235 align:middle line:90% 00:23:07.235 --> 00:23:11.990 align:middle line:84% What about this thing tells you that you can sit on it? 00:23:11.990 --> 00:23:14.643 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It seems sturdy, and it's got a place for your butt. 00:23:14.643 --> 00:23:17.060 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, it's got a nice little butt-shaped thing, 00:23:17.060 --> 00:23:18.910 align:middle line:90% here right? 00:23:18.910 --> 00:23:22.010 align:middle line:90% It's not made of spikes. 00:23:22.010 --> 00:23:25.290 align:middle line:84% It's got at least three legs, which may help, 00:23:25.290 --> 00:23:28.990 align:middle line:84% and evenly distributed, which means that it's not 00:23:28.990 --> 00:23:29.940 align:middle line:90% going to tip over. 00:23:29.940 --> 00:23:31.315 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: You can also measure it 00:23:31.315 --> 00:23:33.820 align:middle line:84% related to other objects to [INAUDIBLE] also. 00:23:33.820 --> 00:23:34.412 align:middle line:90% And that you-- 00:23:34.412 --> 00:23:35.870 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, there's a little bit 00:23:35.870 --> 00:23:40.187 align:middle line:84% of cultural familiarity with other chairs that you've seen. 00:23:40.187 --> 00:23:41.895 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: What about a handle on a door? 00:23:41.895 --> 00:23:44.670 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: A handle on a door. 00:23:44.670 --> 00:23:46.894 align:middle line:84% What does a handle on a door allow you to do? 00:23:46.894 --> 00:23:51.980 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It's like-- it's a place for your hand. 00:23:51.980 --> 00:23:53.190 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: It's hand-shaped. 00:23:53.190 --> 00:23:53.704 align:middle line:90% It's-- 00:23:53.704 --> 00:23:55.912 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: If you hold your hand out in a natural way, 00:23:55.912 --> 00:23:57.391 align:middle line:90% you grab-- 00:23:57.391 --> 00:23:58.840 align:middle line:90% looking at the text. 00:23:58.840 --> 00:24:00.382 align:middle line:84% Oh, I wasn't thinking of that handle. 00:24:00.382 --> 00:24:04.145 align:middle line:84% I was thinking of the vertical type of handle. 00:24:04.145 --> 00:24:06.270 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: The one that looks like a U-shaped tube-- 00:24:06.270 --> 00:24:06.840 align:middle line:90% like that. 00:24:06.840 --> 00:24:09.340 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Yeah, exactly. 00:24:09.340 --> 00:24:12.240 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: So yeah, it's kind the right shape. 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:14.130 align:middle line:84% It's one of those door handles or something 00:24:14.130 --> 00:24:18.120 align:middle line:84% like the size of a supporting column. 00:24:18.120 --> 00:24:21.174 align:middle line:84% You wouldn't necessarily think that you had to grab it, right? 00:24:21.174 --> 00:24:24.786 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: An outlet is for sticking things into. 00:24:24.786 --> 00:24:27.230 align:middle line:90% You can see these holes thing. 00:24:27.230 --> 00:24:28.640 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Like fingers? 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:30.140 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: They're not finger-shaped. 00:24:30.140 --> 00:24:32.050 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Because they're not finger-shaped. 00:24:32.050 --> 00:24:35.770 align:middle line:84% Yeah, although it has a kind of weird happy face on it, 00:24:35.770 --> 00:24:38.605 align:middle line:84% which I always thought was a little bit strange about-- 00:24:38.605 --> 00:24:40.480 align:middle line:84% that might have been designed, too, actually. 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:42.340 align:middle line:84% That might have something because if you-- 00:24:42.340 --> 00:24:43.520 align:middle line:90% this won't kill you, really. 00:24:43.520 --> 00:24:45.178 align:middle line:84% So you should put it in your home. 00:24:45.178 --> 00:24:47.720 align:middle line:84% I want to find out more about the history of the Edison plug. 00:24:47.720 --> 00:24:51.720 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It's actually-- the design 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:58.424 align:middle line:84% with the ground on the bottom is a bad idea because if something 00:24:58.424 --> 00:25:00.500 align:middle line:84% starts falling out that are too exposed to it, 00:25:00.500 --> 00:25:02.593 align:middle line:90% it will not be the ground one. 00:25:02.593 --> 00:25:05.430 align:middle line:84% So it would be better to flip it. 00:25:05.430 --> 00:25:07.472 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Where's the ground in the mid- up top? 00:25:07.472 --> 00:25:08.527 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Yeah, because then even 00:25:08.527 --> 00:25:10.056 align:middle line:84% if it starts coming out a little, 00:25:10.056 --> 00:25:12.480 align:middle line:84% then something falls down between the-- 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:13.730 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: So it's bad design. 00:25:13.730 --> 00:25:16.510 align:middle line:84% It's bad design because you want to put it on your wall in a way 00:25:16.510 --> 00:25:18.260 align:middle line:84% that it smiles at you all the time. 00:25:18.260 --> 00:25:20.582 align:middle line:84% But when it's the other way around, 00:25:20.582 --> 00:25:22.040 align:middle line:84% it's actually a little more stable. 00:25:22.040 --> 00:25:23.930 align:middle line:90% It's actually like a mo-- 00:25:23.930 --> 00:25:28.921 align:middle line:84% British plugs, actually, have the pin usually on top and-- 00:25:28.921 --> 00:25:31.296 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: The British just have the eyes [INAUDIBLE] pin. 00:25:31.296 --> 00:25:32.770 align:middle line:90% There's [INAUDIBLE]. 00:25:32.770 --> 00:25:33.270 align:middle line:90% Right? 00:25:33.270 --> 00:25:35.162 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: That would be the-- 00:25:35.162 --> 00:25:35.870 align:middle line:90% what would it be? 00:25:35.870 --> 00:25:36.770 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:25:36.770 --> 00:25:38.240 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: For two round circles. 00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:40.365 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, yeah, the two round circles, yeah. 00:25:40.365 --> 00:25:41.775 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: They're using-- 00:25:41.775 --> 00:25:43.400 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Dan, I think you're thinking 00:25:43.400 --> 00:25:45.376 align:middle line:90% of your pins, which are round. 00:25:45.376 --> 00:25:47.300 align:middle line:90% The original size is flat. 00:25:47.300 --> 00:25:49.460 align:middle line:84% But they are twice the width of the thing. 00:25:49.460 --> 00:25:51.585 align:middle line:84% You could stick your finger in a British pin, which 00:25:51.585 --> 00:25:53.810 align:middle line:84% means they have to design all kinds of protection 00:25:53.810 --> 00:25:56.087 align:middle line:84% mechanisms, plastic springs, and things like that, 00:25:56.087 --> 00:25:57.920 align:middle line:84% just to be able to prevent you from sticking 00:25:57.920 --> 00:25:58.760 align:middle line:90% your finger in it. 00:25:58.760 --> 00:26:00.750 align:middle line:84% It does have-- yeah, this one's actually nice 00:26:00.750 --> 00:26:02.600 align:middle line:84% because the biggest hole in there 00:26:02.600 --> 00:26:05.660 align:middle line:84% is the lethal hole in there, is the one that doesn't have 00:26:05.660 --> 00:26:07.095 align:middle line:90% any current running through it. 00:26:07.095 --> 00:26:09.600 align:middle line:90% 00:26:09.600 --> 00:26:13.850 align:middle line:84% So an affordance is something which 00:26:13.850 --> 00:26:16.610 align:middle line:84% suggests this is how you can use it, right? 00:26:16.610 --> 00:26:19.160 align:middle line:84% Something that you can get hand around 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:21.080 align:middle line:90% suggests you can grab it. 00:26:21.080 --> 00:26:23.900 align:middle line:84% Something with a movable hinge suggests 00:26:23.900 --> 00:26:26.940 align:middle line:84% that's the direction that you move it in. 00:26:26.940 --> 00:26:30.192 align:middle line:84% So they talk about materials like wood and glass, right? 00:26:30.192 --> 00:26:31.400 align:middle line:90% Glass is for looking through. 00:26:31.400 --> 00:26:34.310 align:middle line:90% Glass is for smashing. 00:26:34.310 --> 00:26:38.330 align:middle line:84% Wood is for holding things together. 00:26:38.330 --> 00:26:40.747 align:middle line:84% And wood is possibly for writing. 00:26:40.747 --> 00:26:42.080 align:middle line:90% You've got this porous material. 00:26:42.080 --> 00:26:46.480 align:middle line:84% It paints very easily, that sort of thing. 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:50.900 align:middle line:84% And in games-- let me just bring in an example. 00:26:50.900 --> 00:26:52.640 align:middle line:84% Let's try to identify the components of-- 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:55.190 align:middle line:84% how many of you have played put before? 00:26:55.190 --> 00:26:59.940 align:middle line:84% Really, really-- this is the box. 00:26:59.940 --> 00:27:03.700 align:middle line:84% Let's talk about things in here that's a rule sheet. 00:27:03.700 --> 00:27:06.200 align:middle line:84% I guess it affords reading, but I'm not going to talk about. 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:07.190 align:middle line:90% It has this thing. 00:27:07.190 --> 00:27:09.980 align:middle line:90% 00:27:09.980 --> 00:27:12.384 align:middle line:84% Actually, what you do with this thing? 00:27:12.384 --> 00:27:14.120 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Ring it. 00:27:14.120 --> 00:27:14.956 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Slap? 00:27:14.956 --> 00:27:15.710 align:middle line:90% [BELL RING] 00:27:15.710 --> 00:27:17.060 align:middle line:90% Yeah, that's what it does. 00:27:17.060 --> 00:27:18.980 align:middle line:84% OK, all right, so now that you've seen what 00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:19.820 align:middle line:90% this thing does. 00:27:19.820 --> 00:27:23.030 align:middle line:84% What is one of the things that this-- 00:27:23.030 --> 00:27:26.240 align:middle line:84% not in the rule book Pit completely. 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:29.450 align:middle line:84% If you have this in your game, what is this thing good for? 00:27:29.450 --> 00:27:30.692 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Getting attention. 00:27:30.692 --> 00:27:32.150 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Getting attention, yeah. 00:27:32.150 --> 00:27:32.570 align:middle line:90% It's loud. 00:27:32.570 --> 00:27:33.650 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Annoying people? 00:27:33.650 --> 00:27:34.360 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Annoying people. 00:27:34.360 --> 00:27:35.735 align:middle line:84% You could use it to annoy people. 00:27:35.735 --> 00:27:39.534 align:middle line:84% It's like-- you want to lock out what they're trying to say 00:27:39.534 --> 00:27:41.117 align:middle line:84% or something and just keep hitting it. 00:27:41.117 --> 00:27:43.025 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Signalling that you're the one that 00:27:43.025 --> 00:27:44.025 align:middle line:90% completed the objective. 00:27:44.025 --> 00:27:45.410 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:27:45.410 --> 00:27:48.980 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, yeah, so the completion of something, 00:27:48.980 --> 00:27:50.400 align:middle line:90% the end of-- 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:52.890 align:middle line:84% because it's very percussive, right? 00:27:52.890 --> 00:27:55.140 align:middle line:84% It's not just a loud-- like an air horn. 00:27:55.140 --> 00:27:56.202 align:middle line:90% It goes eh. 00:27:56.202 --> 00:27:57.160 align:middle line:90% This one actually has-- 00:27:57.160 --> 00:27:58.710 align:middle line:90% [BELL RING] 00:27:58.710 --> 00:28:02.440 align:middle line:84% --very, very sharp [INAUDIBLE] sound. 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:02.940 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:28:02.940 --> 00:28:06.490 align:middle line:90% 00:28:06.490 --> 00:28:07.707 align:middle line:90% What else about this? 00:28:07.707 --> 00:28:09.080 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: It's shiny. 00:28:09.080 --> 00:28:10.500 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: It is shiny. 00:28:10.500 --> 00:28:13.410 align:middle line:90% Makes you want it, right? 00:28:13.410 --> 00:28:15.120 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: You can hold it in your hand. 00:28:15.120 --> 00:28:17.570 align:middle line:84% And so you might be able to conceivably pass it around. 00:28:17.570 --> 00:28:18.580 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: You could pass it around. 00:28:18.580 --> 00:28:20.455 align:middle line:84% This could be controlled by different people. 00:28:20.455 --> 00:28:22.890 align:middle line:84% It doesn't necessarily-- it's not a huge thing for anyone. 00:28:22.890 --> 00:28:24.640 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: There's only one of them. 00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:25.960 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: There's only one. 00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:27.550 align:middle line:84% If you only had one, so then that 00:28:27.550 --> 00:28:29.804 align:middle line:84% becomes even more desirable because it's the only-- 00:28:29.804 --> 00:28:31.196 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHING] 00:28:31.196 --> 00:28:32.588 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Seriously. 00:28:32.588 --> 00:28:33.520 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Nice. 00:28:33.520 --> 00:28:35.140 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Something that may might be able to stand nicely 00:28:35.140 --> 00:28:36.250 align:middle line:90% on a flat surface. 00:28:36.250 --> 00:28:38.740 align:middle line:84% But it's not rubberised or anything of that. 00:28:38.740 --> 00:28:42.650 align:middle line:84% So if you put it on an incline surface or something like that, 00:28:42.650 --> 00:28:45.040 align:middle line:90% it won't stop sliding. 00:28:45.040 --> 00:28:49.493 align:middle line:84% So this implies that it's going to sit on a table somewhere. 00:28:49.493 --> 00:28:50.993 align:middle line:84% It also comes with a bunch of cards. 00:28:50.993 --> 00:28:53.828 align:middle line:90% Ooh, whoa. 00:28:53.828 --> 00:28:55.036 align:middle line:90% What happened to these cards? 00:28:55.036 --> 00:28:55.710 align:middle line:90% Good Lord. 00:28:55.710 --> 00:29:01.442 align:middle line:84% OK, now the paint could rubbed off or something that. 00:29:01.442 --> 00:29:06.730 align:middle line:84% So don't worry too much about the text and the graphics. 00:29:06.730 --> 00:29:08.080 align:middle line:90% But just look at the card. 00:29:08.080 --> 00:29:11.660 align:middle line:90% What do cards allow you to do? 00:29:11.660 --> 00:29:13.954 align:middle line:84% What are the affordances of cards? 00:29:13.954 --> 00:29:14.454 align:middle line:90% Hm? 00:29:14.454 --> 00:29:15.830 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: You can hold a couple of them in your hand. 00:29:15.830 --> 00:29:18.413 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: You can hold a couple of them in your hand at once, 00:29:18.413 --> 00:29:19.648 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:29:19.648 --> 00:29:21.584 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Concealing. 00:29:21.584 --> 00:29:23.040 align:middle line:90% Because there's two sides. 00:29:23.040 --> 00:29:24.707 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, there's a side that you 00:29:24.707 --> 00:29:27.340 align:middle line:84% can put no useful information on, right? 00:29:27.340 --> 00:29:29.160 align:middle line:84% Besides the brand of the game, sure. 00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:32.706 align:middle line:84% But all identical, so you don't know what it is. 00:29:32.706 --> 00:29:34.074 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Collect. 00:29:34.074 --> 00:29:36.152 align:middle line:84% You can have a bunch stack onto each other. 00:29:36.152 --> 00:29:38.610 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: You can hold a lot of them in your hand at once. 00:29:38.610 --> 00:29:41.560 align:middle line:90% 00:29:41.560 --> 00:29:42.460 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:29:42.460 --> 00:29:44.350 align:middle line:90% What else about this? 00:29:44.350 --> 00:29:47.207 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Pattern recognition is really easy. 00:29:47.207 --> 00:29:49.040 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: The way how they've been designed 00:29:49.040 --> 00:29:52.460 align:middle line:84% makes it possible for you to do pattern recognition. 00:29:52.460 --> 00:29:55.040 align:middle line:84% Something which they didn't do is use different colors, 00:29:55.040 --> 00:29:57.500 align:middle line:84% which might make it even easier, at least for people 00:29:57.500 --> 00:29:58.620 align:middle line:90% who are not colorblind. 00:29:58.620 --> 00:30:01.170 align:middle line:90% 00:30:01.170 --> 00:30:06.320 align:middle line:84% But they've arranged similar elements in the same place. 00:30:06.320 --> 00:30:11.430 align:middle line:84% And they didn't use colors to denote the numbers. 00:30:11.430 --> 00:30:14.845 align:middle line:90% What else about these cards? 00:30:14.845 --> 00:30:16.220 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Just cards in general-- 00:30:16.220 --> 00:30:17.890 align:middle line:90% you can exchange them. 00:30:17.890 --> 00:30:20.220 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, I guess that's up to you. 00:30:20.220 --> 00:30:23.460 align:middle line:90% And in fact, Pit does that. 00:30:23.460 --> 00:30:26.650 align:middle line:84% Pit's one of those games where exchange is a real time thing. 00:30:26.650 --> 00:30:30.393 align:middle line:84% We're probably play it later in the semester 00:30:30.393 --> 00:30:31.310 align:middle line:90% because it's so light. 00:30:31.310 --> 00:30:31.850 align:middle line:90% And so easy. 00:30:31.850 --> 00:30:32.350 align:middle line:90% Yeah? 00:30:32.350 --> 00:30:34.564 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It's easy to have a deck and then draw from it. 00:30:34.564 --> 00:30:36.960 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Oh yeah, you can have this randomizing thing 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:38.910 align:middle line:84% where you just have a whole stack sitting on the table. 00:30:38.910 --> 00:30:39.990 align:middle line:84% And then you don't know what you're going to get. 00:30:39.990 --> 00:30:41.160 align:middle line:90% And you just grab one. 00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:42.750 align:middle line:84% Amazingly, it's actually pretty easy 00:30:42.750 --> 00:30:45.334 align:middle line:84% to just grab one as opposed to five at the time. 00:30:45.334 --> 00:30:47.834 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It's easy to mix them up too if there was a really 00:30:47.834 --> 00:30:49.050 align:middle line:90% good random aspect to the game. 00:30:49.050 --> 00:30:49.770 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Because of this? 00:30:49.770 --> 00:30:50.645 align:middle line:90% Because of shuffling? 00:30:50.645 --> 00:30:52.490 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:30:52.490 --> 00:30:53.656 align:middle line:90% Or 52-card pickup. 00:30:53.656 --> 00:30:56.820 align:middle line:90% 00:30:56.820 --> 00:30:58.340 align:middle line:90% It fits in a hand. 00:30:58.340 --> 00:31:00.960 align:middle line:84% It's a little bit smaller than it needs to be in order for you 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:03.072 align:middle line:84% to hold it comfortably like that. 00:31:03.072 --> 00:31:05.280 align:middle line:84% But these particular cards are a very, very good size 00:31:05.280 --> 00:31:07.148 align:middle line:90% for shuffling. 00:31:07.148 --> 00:31:08.148 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: They're black. 00:31:08.148 --> 00:31:09.620 align:middle line:90% You can put them on tables. 00:31:09.620 --> 00:31:12.010 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: You can put them on things like tables, yeah. 00:31:12.010 --> 00:31:13.180 align:middle line:90% You can deal them. 00:31:13.180 --> 00:31:16.830 align:middle line:84% You can flip them upwards and downwards, sure. 00:31:16.830 --> 00:31:20.952 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It's also the fact that then you 00:31:20.952 --> 00:31:22.810 align:middle line:84% have to put either face down or face up, 00:31:22.810 --> 00:31:24.560 align:middle line:84% you can't really place them on their side. 00:31:24.560 --> 00:31:27.160 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Yeah, they're really terrible for building things 00:31:27.160 --> 00:31:27.790 align:middle line:90% out of. 00:31:27.790 --> 00:31:31.560 align:middle line:84% It's possible but really hard to make something, 00:31:31.560 --> 00:31:33.510 align:middle line:90% to make a card stand up. 00:31:33.510 --> 00:31:37.800 align:middle line:84% So it makes it really obvious that it's either this or this. 00:31:37.800 --> 00:31:40.385 align:middle line:90% 00:31:40.385 --> 00:31:44.760 align:middle line:84% Other orientations other than that face up or face down 00:31:44.760 --> 00:31:48.670 align:middle line:84% aren't really considered, aren't really part of the game. 00:31:48.670 --> 00:31:50.920 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I was going to say that they're rectangular? 00:31:50.920 --> 00:31:51.920 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Yep. 00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:54.356 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: So going back to the point of orientation, 00:31:54.356 --> 00:31:56.700 align:middle line:84% maybe they're vertical and horizontal-- 00:31:56.700 --> 00:31:59.530 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Mm-hmm, it's a [? tap ?]---- 00:31:59.530 --> 00:32:01.270 align:middle line:90% the path it [? tap ?]. 00:32:01.270 --> 00:32:03.437 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: It'd be hard to do with a square or circle 00:32:03.437 --> 00:32:06.000 align:middle line:84% card, but a regular shape, an elongated shape. 00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:09.050 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Conversely, a square card 00:32:09.050 --> 00:32:12.780 align:middle line:84% could afford full rotation in any direction, rotation. 00:32:12.780 --> 00:32:15.280 align:middle line:84% We'll get that, actually, in the next one where you can just 00:32:15.280 --> 00:32:17.290 align:middle line:90% rotate things around. 00:32:17.290 --> 00:32:20.290 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Stiffness and shininess of them 00:32:20.290 --> 00:32:22.724 align:middle line:90% distinguishes them from stacks. 00:32:22.724 --> 00:32:24.872 align:middle line:84% In some games you have papers that you write 00:32:24.872 --> 00:32:26.975 align:middle line:90% on them that are disposable. 00:32:26.975 --> 00:32:27.910 align:middle line:90% Pass a paper. 00:32:27.910 --> 00:32:31.080 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: This is supposed to last a little bit of time. 00:32:31.080 --> 00:32:33.970 align:middle line:90% Multiple play sessions at least. 00:32:33.970 --> 00:32:36.150 align:middle line:84% So yeah, a bunch of things that cards do 00:32:36.150 --> 00:32:38.100 align:middle line:84% are already that you've identified 00:32:38.100 --> 00:32:39.970 align:middle line:90% which are all very accurate. 00:32:39.970 --> 00:32:41.220 align:middle line:90% And that's a lot. 00:32:41.220 --> 00:32:42.360 align:middle line:90% Cards do a lot. 00:32:42.360 --> 00:32:44.120 align:middle line:84% And when you're designing a game, 00:32:44.120 --> 00:32:46.495 align:middle line:84% you need to think about whether cards are the right thing 00:32:46.495 --> 00:32:49.140 align:middle line:90% for your choice, for your game. 00:32:49.140 --> 00:32:51.720 align:middle line:84% And you've gone through a pretty deep analysis 00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:56.270 align:middle line:84% about what this thing does that might make it appropriate. 00:32:56.270 --> 00:32:59.970 align:middle line:84% Something that might be a little subtle-- the rounded corners 00:32:59.970 --> 00:33:05.340 align:middle line:84% actually make it much easier for you to do things like this. 00:33:05.340 --> 00:33:07.200 align:middle line:84% If it wasn't around the corner, it's 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:11.110 align:middle line:84% actually pretty uncomfortable to do a fan. 00:33:11.110 --> 00:33:12.640 align:middle line:90% It's not like you couldn't. 00:33:12.640 --> 00:33:14.806 align:middle line:90% You totally could. 00:33:14.806 --> 00:33:17.300 align:middle line:84% There are stationary stores actually do 00:33:17.300 --> 00:33:21.272 align:middle line:84% sell punches, corner punches around of your cards. 00:33:21.272 --> 00:33:22.980 align:middle line:84% It is not something that I would actually 00:33:22.980 --> 00:33:25.350 align:middle line:84% recommend that you do during prototyping because it 00:33:25.350 --> 00:33:27.640 align:middle line:90% takes too damn much time. 00:33:27.640 --> 00:33:30.120 align:middle line:84% But if you were to design a game for home, for your family, 00:33:30.120 --> 00:33:31.020 align:middle line:84% or something like that, and you want 00:33:31.020 --> 00:33:32.560 align:middle line:84% to make it a pleasant experience. 00:33:32.560 --> 00:33:35.160 align:middle line:84% You might just want to spend $2 on a punch 00:33:35.160 --> 00:33:37.590 align:middle line:90% and just punch the corners out. 00:33:37.590 --> 00:33:39.540 align:middle line:84% It's really, really hard to do it consistently 00:33:39.540 --> 00:33:41.290 align:middle line:84% when using your hands, by the way. 00:33:41.290 --> 00:33:46.590 align:middle line:84% So it could take away the whole information hiding things. 00:33:46.590 --> 00:33:49.475 align:middle line:84% But oh, the one that was badly punched, that's the joker. 00:33:49.475 --> 00:33:53.370 align:middle line:90% 00:33:53.370 --> 00:33:55.340 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:33:55.340 --> 00:33:56.667 align:middle line:90% That's, oh, that's next. 00:33:56.667 --> 00:34:00.850 align:middle line:90% 00:34:00.850 --> 00:34:03.050 align:middle line:84% Let's see what else I talk about? 00:34:03.050 --> 00:34:06.090 align:middle line:84% So mapping, so back to the idea of mapping. 00:34:06.090 --> 00:34:07.820 align:middle line:90% You've got your intent. 00:34:07.820 --> 00:34:09.980 align:middle line:84% Here is something that you want to do as a player, 00:34:09.980 --> 00:34:12.277 align:middle line:84% maybe hide information from other people. 00:34:12.277 --> 00:34:14.235 align:middle line:84% And then there's the affordances of the system. 00:34:14.235 --> 00:34:17.670 align:middle line:84% Now if I wanted to hide my cards from you, 00:34:17.670 --> 00:34:19.949 align:middle line:84% then I will hold my cards in a way 00:34:19.949 --> 00:34:22.530 align:middle line:84% that only you can only see the side that doesn't 00:34:22.530 --> 00:34:25.440 align:middle line:90% reveal any useful information. 00:34:25.440 --> 00:34:29.190 align:middle line:84% So that's a very, very direct, clear 00:34:29.190 --> 00:34:31.290 align:middle line:84% what he calls natural mapping, although I am not 00:34:31.290 --> 00:34:36.580 align:middle line:84% quite sure that phrase is very easy to use in practice. 00:34:36.580 --> 00:34:38.610 align:middle line:84% It gets a little bit more complicated 00:34:38.610 --> 00:34:41.067 align:middle line:84% when you actually look at the system 00:34:41.067 --> 00:34:42.900 align:middle line:84% that the game is trying to reproduce, right? 00:34:42.900 --> 00:34:45.469 align:middle line:84% So far I've just been talking about cards. 00:34:45.469 --> 00:34:49.110 align:middle line:84% I haven't been talking about what the rules of the game are. 00:34:49.110 --> 00:34:51.239 align:middle line:84% How many people play Carcassonne? 00:34:51.239 --> 00:34:52.889 align:middle line:90% OK, a couple of people. 00:34:52.889 --> 00:34:55.662 align:middle line:84% We should be able to get a chance to play this 00:34:55.662 --> 00:34:56.760 align:middle line:90% later this semester. 00:34:56.760 --> 00:34:59.766 align:middle line:84% I'm pretty sure it's already in the syllabus. 00:34:59.766 --> 00:35:02.370 align:middle line:84% So there are a couple of things in this game that 00:35:02.370 --> 00:35:05.857 align:middle line:90% is this board. 00:35:05.857 --> 00:35:07.940 align:middle line:84% There's a back of the board, which is not colored. 00:35:07.940 --> 00:35:11.830 align:middle line:90% And it has a design on it. 00:35:11.830 --> 00:35:14.960 align:middle line:84% We could just pass this one around. 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:18.120 align:middle line:84% It's got little playing pieces that 00:35:18.120 --> 00:35:26.150 align:middle line:84% are referred to as meeples by the hardcover board game fact 00:35:26.150 --> 00:35:27.570 align:middle line:90% base, I guess. 00:35:27.570 --> 00:35:30.800 align:middle line:90% They look like little people. 00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:34.560 align:middle line:84% Actually, there's probably enough in that for everyone 00:35:34.560 --> 00:35:35.873 align:middle line:90% to grab one or two. 00:35:35.873 --> 00:35:37.290 align:middle line:84% And then you can just take a look. 00:35:37.290 --> 00:35:42.200 align:middle line:84% I want them all back, but you can take a look at them. 00:35:42.200 --> 00:35:46.600 align:middle line:84% Whoops, and a bunch of tiles that I will also hand out. 00:35:46.600 --> 00:35:50.560 align:middle line:84% I'll hand out half to that table. 00:35:50.560 --> 00:35:52.060 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Something you can look at. 00:35:52.060 --> 00:35:54.960 align:middle line:90% 00:35:54.960 --> 00:35:55.910 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:35:55.910 --> 00:36:07.450 align:middle line:90% 00:36:07.450 --> 00:36:09.570 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Just take a look at the pieces, 00:36:09.570 --> 00:36:15.540 align:middle line:90% and let's start with the tiles. 00:36:15.540 --> 00:36:17.250 align:middle line:84% Some of you have gotten just the meeples. 00:36:17.250 --> 00:36:19.640 align:middle line:84% Some of you have gotten the tiles. 00:36:19.640 --> 00:36:23.888 align:middle line:84% What do the tiles suggest, just by looking at them? 00:36:23.888 --> 00:36:25.880 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]. 00:36:25.880 --> 00:36:26.380 align:middle line:90% Terrain? 00:36:26.380 --> 00:36:30.570 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Terrain, all right, something to do with land. 00:36:30.570 --> 00:36:31.993 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:36:31.993 --> 00:36:35.157 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: The various terrain features seem to match up. 00:36:35.157 --> 00:36:37.365 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: The various terrain features such as the-- 00:36:37.365 --> 00:36:39.090 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: --rivers and roads. 00:36:39.090 --> 00:36:40.050 align:middle line:90% You can match up. 00:36:40.050 --> 00:36:42.120 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, they line up nicely 00:36:42.120 --> 00:36:46.680 align:middle line:84% when you put the tiles in a grid with other tiles, right? 00:36:46.680 --> 00:36:51.050 align:middle line:84% Yeah, there was a hand back in the back room? 00:36:51.050 --> 00:36:51.880 align:middle line:90% No? 00:36:51.880 --> 00:36:53.220 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: You can rotate them. 00:36:53.220 --> 00:36:53.750 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Yeah you could ro-- 00:36:53.750 --> 00:36:54.450 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Squares. 00:36:54.450 --> 00:36:56.825 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, squares, because unlike the cards, which 00:36:56.825 --> 00:36:59.240 align:middle line:84% is taller and than it is wide or wider than it is tall. 00:36:59.240 --> 00:37:00.990 align:middle line:84% This one is the same length-- more or less 00:37:00.990 --> 00:37:02.520 align:middle line:84% the same size from all directions. 00:37:02.520 --> 00:37:05.550 align:middle line:84% So the idea is that maybe you could freely, just freely 00:37:05.550 --> 00:37:07.140 align:middle line:90% rotate these things. 00:37:07.140 --> 00:37:09.290 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: They're identical with a back. 00:37:09.290 --> 00:37:12.250 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: They are all identical with a back? 00:37:12.250 --> 00:37:15.750 align:middle line:84% And that tells us about these tiles, something 00:37:15.750 --> 00:37:17.698 align:middle line:84% that we already know about cards. 00:37:17.698 --> 00:37:19.490 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: You want to hide the information. 00:37:19.490 --> 00:37:21.150 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: You want to hide the information? 00:37:21.150 --> 00:37:21.845 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Or. 00:37:21.845 --> 00:37:22.590 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Or-- 00:37:22.590 --> 00:37:23.570 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:37:23.570 --> 00:37:25.687 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Or you want to shuffle it, yeah. 00:37:25.687 --> 00:37:27.270 align:middle line:84% The fact that you've got a hidden back 00:37:27.270 --> 00:37:29.400 align:middle line:84% gives you quite a lot of different possibilities. 00:37:29.400 --> 00:37:32.762 align:middle line:84% This rule-- this game in particular uses mostly because 00:37:32.762 --> 00:37:34.470 align:middle line:84% of this shuffling and this randomization. 00:37:34.470 --> 00:37:38.310 align:middle line:84% You don't know what tile you're going to draw. 00:37:38.310 --> 00:37:42.180 align:middle line:84% So for people who haven't played this game, 00:37:42.180 --> 00:37:44.160 align:middle line:84% and you're looking at all these tiles, what 00:37:44.160 --> 00:37:45.770 align:middle line:84% do you think you do with these tiles? 00:37:45.770 --> 00:37:55.372 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: You match them up [INAUDIBLE] on them? 00:37:55.372 --> 00:37:57.330 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Congratulations, that's Carcassonne. 00:37:57.330 --> 00:37:59.020 align:middle line:90% You figured out they game. 00:37:59.020 --> 00:38:00.420 align:middle line:90% You match things. 00:38:00.420 --> 00:38:01.410 align:middle line:90% You make big things. 00:38:01.410 --> 00:38:02.555 align:middle line:90% You put people on them. 00:38:02.555 --> 00:38:05.566 align:middle line:90% 00:38:05.566 --> 00:38:11.530 align:middle line:84% That track that's going around, the board that's going around, 00:38:11.530 --> 00:38:15.630 align:middle line:84% I've got one that is probably a little bit less insightful 00:38:15.630 --> 00:38:19.340 align:middle line:90% for this particular lecture. 00:38:19.340 --> 00:38:21.810 align:middle line:84% Anyone want to guess what that is, someone 00:38:21.810 --> 00:38:23.456 align:middle line:90% who hasn't played the game? 00:38:23.456 --> 00:38:25.250 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:38:25.250 --> 00:38:26.072 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: You haven't played the game, right? 00:38:26.072 --> 00:38:27.835 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Yeah, I've played some other games, 00:38:27.835 --> 00:38:29.877 align:middle line:84% but it's probably just a scoreboard or something. 00:38:29.877 --> 00:38:31.250 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: There's a scoreboard. 00:38:31.250 --> 00:38:34.060 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: You do something to move you along the path 00:38:34.060 --> 00:38:34.560 align:middle line:90% somehow. 00:38:34.560 --> 00:38:36.727 align:middle line:84% And then the first person to reach it probably wins. 00:38:36.727 --> 00:38:37.932 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Yep, OK, good. 00:38:37.932 --> 00:38:40.666 align:middle line:90% 00:38:40.666 --> 00:38:42.208 align:middle line:90% Well, yeah? 00:38:42.208 --> 00:38:45.112 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Well, it looks like it connects back. 00:38:45.112 --> 00:38:47.320 align:middle line:84% So it makes me think that maybe instead 00:38:47.320 --> 00:38:50.022 align:middle line:84% of winning by just getting around, maybe every loop, you 00:38:50.022 --> 00:38:52.090 align:middle line:84% get a new tile or something like that. 00:38:52.090 --> 00:38:56.360 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, it keeps going on and on. 00:38:56.360 --> 00:38:58.690 align:middle line:90% It's a combination of all three. 00:38:58.690 --> 00:39:00.230 align:middle line:90% It is a scorecard. 00:39:00.230 --> 00:39:02.230 align:middle line:84% If you loop around, I think it means that you've 00:39:02.230 --> 00:39:07.270 align:middle line:90% got 100 points or 50 points. 00:39:07.270 --> 00:39:11.170 align:middle line:84% So you just add 50 to your score every time that you go around. 00:39:11.170 --> 00:39:14.740 align:middle line:90% And what fits on those things? 00:39:14.740 --> 00:39:17.336 align:middle line:84% What would you place on that board? 00:39:17.336 --> 00:39:18.503 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: The little people? 00:39:18.503 --> 00:39:19.419 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: The meeple. 00:39:19.419 --> 00:39:20.340 align:middle line:90% You place the meeple. 00:39:20.340 --> 00:39:21.798 align:middle line:84% You place the meeples on the tiles. 00:39:21.798 --> 00:39:25.445 align:middle line:84% You place the meeples on the board. 00:39:25.445 --> 00:39:27.070 align:middle line:84% You wouldn't place a tile on that board 00:39:27.070 --> 00:39:29.387 align:middle line:90% because there's no hexes there. 00:39:29.387 --> 00:39:32.320 align:middle line:90% 00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:37.760 align:middle line:84% So you've already got a mapping of probably 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:39.310 align:middle line:90% what intent that you've got. 00:39:39.310 --> 00:39:42.060 align:middle line:84% Let's make some big things and put our people on them. 00:39:42.060 --> 00:39:46.390 align:middle line:84% And the affordances of what you can do with these tiles that 00:39:46.390 --> 00:39:47.920 align:middle line:90% suggested that to you. 00:39:47.920 --> 00:39:52.000 align:middle line:84% This is a game about making large patches of similar things 00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:55.535 align:middle line:90% and then putting people on them. 00:39:55.535 --> 00:39:57.012 align:middle line:90% Oh, my notes are over here. 00:39:57.012 --> 00:39:57.512 align:middle line:90% Why does 00:39:57.512 --> 00:39:59.073 align:middle line:90% that keep coming on. 00:39:59.073 --> 00:40:00.490 align:middle line:84% I keep giving private information. 00:40:00.490 --> 00:40:01.600 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: I'm sorry you keep being 00:40:01.600 --> 00:40:03.200 align:middle line:90% close to my family photographs. 00:40:03.200 --> 00:40:05.890 align:middle line:90% 00:40:05.890 --> 00:40:11.860 align:middle line:84% So there's a whole bunch of ways that you can help people 00:40:11.860 --> 00:40:13.750 align:middle line:90% with these sorts of mappings. 00:40:13.750 --> 00:40:18.370 align:middle line:84% We've be talking a lot of visual and physical. 00:40:18.370 --> 00:40:20.650 align:middle line:84% I guess Donald Norman would describe 00:40:20.650 --> 00:40:23.560 align:middle line:84% a lot of these as spatial, metaphors to use. 00:40:23.560 --> 00:40:26.600 align:middle line:84% Spatial mostly to describe things like driving in a car 00:40:26.600 --> 00:40:29.380 align:middle line:84% and you turn the wheel to the left 00:40:29.380 --> 00:40:31.630 align:middle line:84% specifically toward the top of the wheel to the left. 00:40:31.630 --> 00:40:36.438 align:middle line:84% And you car it's directed to turn left, that sort of thing. 00:40:36.438 --> 00:40:38.230 align:middle line:84% There are sort of bodily metaphors as well. 00:40:38.230 --> 00:40:43.960 align:middle line:84% Things that are high are either supposed to be good and happy, 00:40:43.960 --> 00:40:48.040 align:middle line:84% things that are low when you're feeling depressed. 00:40:48.040 --> 00:40:49.970 align:middle line:84% And you can't pick yourself off the ground, 00:40:49.970 --> 00:40:53.710 align:middle line:90% making you sad or bad. 00:40:53.710 --> 00:40:58.450 align:middle line:84% A lot of these metaphors are actually arbitrary. 00:40:58.450 --> 00:41:02.170 align:middle line:84% A lot of us have learned them through culture 00:41:02.170 --> 00:41:04.310 align:middle line:90% and socialization in a world. 00:41:04.310 --> 00:41:07.340 align:middle line:84% But that means that these might be things 00:41:07.340 --> 00:41:10.202 align:middle line:90% that you can play off. 00:41:10.202 --> 00:41:12.160 align:middle line:84% And we're going to do a little bit more detail. 00:41:12.160 --> 00:41:14.577 align:middle line:84% I'll give you a couple of more examples in about two weeks 00:41:14.577 --> 00:41:19.090 align:middle line:84% when we revisit the idea of user design. 00:41:19.090 --> 00:41:22.240 align:middle line:84% He talks about things like single control, single function 00:41:22.240 --> 00:41:25.900 align:middle line:84% where if you've got something that does something, 00:41:25.900 --> 00:41:29.363 align:middle line:84% you might not want to make it do yet another thing on top of it 00:41:29.363 --> 00:41:31.530 align:middle line:84% because that starts to get really, really confusing. 00:41:31.530 --> 00:41:33.947 align:middle line:84% The meeples, for instance, yeah you place them on the map, 00:41:33.947 --> 00:41:37.335 align:middle line:84% but you also place them on the scoreboard. 00:41:37.335 --> 00:41:38.710 align:middle line:84% I personally think this game will 00:41:38.710 --> 00:41:40.737 align:middle line:84% be a little bit easier to learn if they just 00:41:40.737 --> 00:41:42.820 align:middle line:84% gave you a different piece for the scoreboard that 00:41:42.820 --> 00:41:43.720 align:middle line:90% was the meeple-- 00:41:43.720 --> 00:41:47.500 align:middle line:84% the same colors, just a slightly different piece-- 00:41:47.500 --> 00:41:50.390 align:middle line:84% because pieces never move from the scoreboard to the tiles 00:41:50.390 --> 00:41:50.890 align:middle line:90% or back. 00:41:50.890 --> 00:41:53.935 align:middle line:90% 00:41:53.935 --> 00:41:57.630 align:middle line:84% The other thing that I want to talk about 00:41:57.630 --> 00:42:01.460 align:middle line:84% is what do these tiles not let you do? 00:42:01.460 --> 00:42:04.870 align:middle line:90% 00:42:04.870 --> 00:42:06.680 align:middle line:90% Well, they did let you do that. 00:42:06.680 --> 00:42:07.930 align:middle line:90% But was it easy? 00:42:07.930 --> 00:42:08.750 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: No. 00:42:08.750 --> 00:42:10.670 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: No, OK, all right. 00:42:10.670 --> 00:42:14.020 align:middle line:84% They're also not very good building materials, 00:42:14.020 --> 00:42:15.790 align:middle line:90% just like cards aren't. 00:42:15.790 --> 00:42:18.998 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Holding them is kind of hard. 00:42:18.998 --> 00:42:21.040 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Holding a whole bunch of them is hard. 00:42:21.040 --> 00:42:21.915 align:middle line:90% They're really thick. 00:42:21.915 --> 00:42:23.770 align:middle line:84% And you saw the difficulty I had just 00:42:23.770 --> 00:42:27.280 align:middle line:84% trying to pull half of them out of the box. 00:42:27.280 --> 00:42:29.270 align:middle line:90% They were unwieldy. 00:42:29.270 --> 00:42:30.560 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Shuffling. 00:42:30.560 --> 00:42:32.440 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Shuffling's tough. 00:42:32.440 --> 00:42:35.997 align:middle line:84% You can-- all right, maybe I'll do this once a game. 00:42:35.997 --> 00:42:37.414 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Put them in a bag maybe? 00:42:37.414 --> 00:42:37.997 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Hm? 00:42:37.997 --> 00:42:40.540 align:middle line:90% If you had them in a bag, yes. 00:42:40.540 --> 00:42:43.130 align:middle line:84% A bag is its own affordance, right? 00:42:43.130 --> 00:42:45.840 align:middle line:84% It affords its own like me picking Scrabble, for instance. 00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:48.708 align:middle line:84% How then Scrabble was really, really well in a bag. 00:42:48.708 --> 00:42:51.708 align:middle line:90% 00:42:51.708 --> 00:42:53.500 align:middle line:84% So if you wanted to randomize things, yeah, 00:42:53.500 --> 00:42:56.652 align:middle line:84% you could totally just put the whole back hiding thing 00:42:56.652 --> 00:42:58.360 align:middle line:84% and just put them all into a bag and then 00:42:58.360 --> 00:43:01.800 align:middle line:90% just pull one out of random. 00:43:01.800 --> 00:43:03.622 align:middle line:90% So these are constraints. 00:43:03.622 --> 00:43:05.830 align:middle line:84% You're not really supposed to have more than one tile 00:43:05.830 --> 00:43:07.480 align:middle line:90% at a time in Carcassonne. 00:43:07.480 --> 00:43:10.030 align:middle line:84% You are supposed to draw one, figure out where it goes, 00:43:10.030 --> 00:43:11.810 align:middle line:90% put it down. 00:43:11.810 --> 00:43:14.290 align:middle line:84% You're not supposed to ever hang on to two. 00:43:14.290 --> 00:43:17.380 align:middle line:84% So it's OK that the tiles are designed in such a way 00:43:17.380 --> 00:43:19.750 align:middle line:84% that it makes it hard for you to hold on to do. 00:43:19.750 --> 00:43:22.773 align:middle line:90% 00:43:22.773 --> 00:43:24.690 align:middle line:84% For the cards, for instance, you're not really 00:43:24.690 --> 00:43:27.370 align:middle line:90% supposed to stack them. 00:43:27.370 --> 00:43:31.120 align:middle line:84% They are not very useful to you when 00:43:31.120 --> 00:43:34.607 align:middle line:84% you've got them face down because you can't really 00:43:34.607 --> 00:43:35.440 align:middle line:90% see the information. 00:43:35.440 --> 00:43:37.857 align:middle line:84% To get a small number of cards, like in poker or something 00:43:37.857 --> 00:43:39.370 align:middle line:84% like that, maybe you could remember 00:43:39.370 --> 00:43:41.740 align:middle line:90% what you had face down. 00:43:41.740 --> 00:43:45.512 align:middle line:84% But if it's a large number of cards, 00:43:45.512 --> 00:43:48.980 align:middle line:84% like in Pit, you really want then held face up, facing you. 00:43:48.980 --> 00:43:50.240 align:middle line:90% So the idea of-- 00:43:50.240 --> 00:43:53.210 align:middle line:84% in Pit, you don't really ever put that face down. 00:43:53.210 --> 00:43:55.890 align:middle line:84% I think there might be a rule about placing them face down 00:43:55.890 --> 00:43:58.203 align:middle line:90% right at the end of the game. 00:43:58.203 --> 00:44:01.240 align:middle line:84% But you don't actually-- no, that's not even true. 00:44:01.240 --> 00:44:03.560 align:middle line:84% You don't ever have to place them face down. 00:44:03.560 --> 00:44:08.194 align:middle line:84% When they're face down, they're not interesting to you. 00:44:08.194 --> 00:44:10.898 align:middle line:84% You should have had that information in a minute. 00:44:10.898 --> 00:44:11.940 align:middle line:90% So these are constraints. 00:44:11.940 --> 00:44:15.440 align:middle line:84% These are things-- this is another way 00:44:15.440 --> 00:44:17.020 align:middle line:84% that the visibility of the system 00:44:17.020 --> 00:44:19.450 align:middle line:84% can help you with those mappings. 00:44:19.450 --> 00:44:22.090 align:middle line:84% You're looking at the system and the pieces 00:44:22.090 --> 00:44:24.200 align:middle line:84% that it's giving you, and you're thinking, 00:44:24.200 --> 00:44:25.798 align:middle line:84% what can't I do with these things? 00:44:25.798 --> 00:44:27.340 align:middle line:84% And that's probably not what the game 00:44:27.340 --> 00:44:29.110 align:middle line:84% wants you to do with these things 00:44:29.110 --> 00:44:31.262 align:middle line:90% if the game is designed well. 00:44:31.262 --> 00:44:32.470 align:middle line:90% Games can be designed poorly. 00:44:32.470 --> 00:44:33.460 align:middle line:90% That's a caveat. 00:44:33.460 --> 00:44:36.550 align:middle line:84% Everything that I say is a qualitative, subjective 00:44:36.550 --> 00:44:37.354 align:middle line:90% statement. 00:44:37.354 --> 00:44:41.120 align:middle line:90% 00:44:41.120 --> 00:44:43.840 align:middle line:84% And that goes back to something that 00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:47.200 align:middle line:84% was brought up earlier about mental models, right? 00:44:47.200 --> 00:44:49.965 align:middle line:84% As you play around with these pieces-- 00:44:49.965 --> 00:44:51.340 align:middle line:84% of course when you read the rules 00:44:51.340 --> 00:44:52.740 align:middle line:84% and you see the illustrations, maybe when 00:44:52.740 --> 00:44:54.240 align:middle line:84% they read it at the back of the box, 00:44:54.240 --> 00:44:56.860 align:middle line:84% I would suggest that usually you start 00:44:56.860 --> 00:44:59.230 align:middle line:84% trying to figure out what a game is when you pick it up 00:44:59.230 --> 00:45:00.980 align:middle line:84% off the shell and you start looking at it. 00:45:00.980 --> 00:45:03.530 align:middle line:84% And it says, hey, this is a game that I want to play. 00:45:03.530 --> 00:45:06.380 align:middle line:84% It says Deluxe Pit, over 100 years of-- 00:45:06.380 --> 00:45:09.130 align:middle line:84% 100 years of card game fun, geez 100 years. 00:45:09.130 --> 00:45:10.660 align:middle line:90% The front says 1904. 00:45:10.660 --> 00:45:15.040 align:middle line:84% So this is probably not a science fiction game, 00:45:15.040 --> 00:45:15.778 align:middle line:90% all right? 00:45:15.778 --> 00:45:18.070 align:middle line:84% Actually, for people who haven't played this game, what 00:45:18.070 --> 00:45:19.600 align:middle line:90% do you think this is about? 00:45:19.600 --> 00:45:20.380 align:middle line:84% I don't think I've talked about it. 00:45:20.380 --> 00:45:21.730 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Maybe about the stock market or something. 00:45:21.730 --> 00:45:22.605 align:middle line:90% There's a bowl on it. 00:45:22.605 --> 00:45:23.938 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: There's a bowl on it. 00:45:23.938 --> 00:45:25.630 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: There's a trading pit maybe. 00:45:25.630 --> 00:45:28.960 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, the title of the game suggests things. 00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:31.040 align:middle line:84% It isn't like a commodity trading game. 00:45:31.040 --> 00:45:33.465 align:middle line:84% On the side, it says, "Corner the Market." 00:45:33.465 --> 00:45:35.870 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: And it's got a bell. 00:45:35.870 --> 00:45:37.460 align:middle line:90% 00:45:37.460 --> 00:45:40.120 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: I wonder whether they included the bell 00:45:40.120 --> 00:45:42.517 align:middle line:84% and over 100 years of card game fun intentionally. 00:45:42.517 --> 00:45:45.100 align:middle line:84% This is like, this game back in the time when stock market are 00:45:45.100 --> 00:45:46.390 align:middle line:90% run with bells. 00:45:46.390 --> 00:45:49.480 align:middle line:84% I guess they still are but mostly just 00:45:49.480 --> 00:45:52.600 align:middle line:90% run with computers nowadays. 00:45:52.600 --> 00:45:57.120 align:middle line:84% I'd love to see Pit done on some sort of updated 21st century 00:45:57.120 --> 00:45:58.584 align:middle line:90% thing. 00:45:58.584 --> 00:46:00.640 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] with insider trading. 00:46:00.640 --> 00:46:02.500 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: So there are, of course, 00:46:02.500 --> 00:46:06.250 align:middle line:84% the text at a back that tells you not only what 00:46:06.250 --> 00:46:07.750 align:middle line:90% the theme of this game is. 00:46:07.750 --> 00:46:09.250 align:middle line:84% Shout your deal and trade your cards 00:46:09.250 --> 00:46:11.530 align:middle line:90% to corner the market, et cetera. 00:46:11.530 --> 00:46:14.620 align:middle line:84% And then it also says, family age seven plus, 30 minutes, 00:46:14.620 --> 00:46:17.550 align:middle line:84% three to eight players, just to tell-- 00:46:17.550 --> 00:46:18.633 align:middle line:90% to give you a better idea. 00:46:18.633 --> 00:46:20.133 align:middle line:84% And when you look at this thing, I'm 00:46:20.133 --> 00:46:21.610 align:middle line:84% immediately forming a mental model 00:46:21.610 --> 00:46:23.020 align:middle line:90% of how is this game plays. 00:46:23.020 --> 00:46:24.820 align:middle line:84% You know that you're supposed to collect cards because they show 00:46:24.820 --> 00:46:25.510 align:middle line:90% you a whole bunch of cards. 00:46:25.510 --> 00:46:27.990 align:middle line:84% You know you're supposed to slam a bell at some point in time. 00:46:27.990 --> 00:46:28.970 align:middle line:84% And then you're just reading the rules. 00:46:28.970 --> 00:46:30.540 align:middle line:90% All right, so when do I do this? 00:46:30.540 --> 00:46:33.740 align:middle line:90% It's pretty easy. 00:46:33.740 --> 00:46:36.190 align:middle line:90% Let's see. 00:46:36.190 --> 00:46:39.430 align:middle line:84% When it comes to Carcassonne, there 00:46:39.430 --> 00:46:41.890 align:middle line:84% is actually a deep, deep problem with this game 00:46:41.890 --> 00:46:43.450 align:middle line:90% despite how popular it is. 00:46:43.450 --> 00:46:46.940 align:middle line:84% And that scoring is actually pretty difficult to do. 00:46:46.940 --> 00:46:49.460 align:middle line:90% It's a math intensive problem. 00:46:49.460 --> 00:46:54.430 align:middle line:84% It does largely map on to how many of the meeples 00:46:54.430 --> 00:46:58.500 align:middle line:84% that you have of your own color on large patches of things. 00:46:58.500 --> 00:47:01.000 align:middle line:84% But how much those things are worth, those patches of things 00:47:01.000 --> 00:47:03.830 align:middle line:84% are worth, requires a lot of counting, a lot of counting. 00:47:03.830 --> 00:47:07.060 align:middle line:84% And that's why you need a scoring track. 00:47:07.060 --> 00:47:09.730 align:middle line:84% So that is a big problem with that game 00:47:09.730 --> 00:47:11.540 align:middle line:90% on how the mapping works. 00:47:11.540 --> 00:47:13.180 align:middle line:84% It doesn't really give you a good idea 00:47:13.180 --> 00:47:16.530 align:middle line:84% or a good conceptual model of how much something is worth. 00:47:16.530 --> 00:47:18.460 align:middle line:84% But you've got a large patch of thing. 00:47:18.460 --> 00:47:23.200 align:middle line:84% You've got your dude somewhere in there. 00:47:23.200 --> 00:47:25.630 align:middle line:84% You can at least make the mapping. 00:47:25.630 --> 00:47:27.143 align:middle line:90% That's worth something. 00:47:27.143 --> 00:47:31.435 align:middle line:90% 00:47:31.435 --> 00:47:36.580 align:middle line:84% And then that's-- the feedback that you get back from games 00:47:36.580 --> 00:47:39.070 align:middle line:84% when it's Pit-- the feedback that you get when you hit 00:47:39.070 --> 00:47:39.960 align:middle line:90% the bell, right? 00:47:39.960 --> 00:47:41.043 align:middle line:90% There's a huge ding sound. 00:47:41.043 --> 00:47:42.585 align:middle line:84% That's the feedback that you get when 00:47:42.585 --> 00:47:44.110 align:middle line:84% you try to fit a piece that doesn't 00:47:44.110 --> 00:47:46.210 align:middle line:90% fit into something else. 00:47:46.210 --> 00:47:47.710 align:middle line:84% And there's a couple of board games 00:47:47.710 --> 00:47:49.640 align:middle line:84% where you have to put pieces together, 00:47:49.640 --> 00:47:52.240 align:middle line:84% and that gives you an idea of maybe those two pieces 00:47:52.240 --> 00:47:53.650 align:middle line:90% don't go together. 00:47:53.650 --> 00:47:56.687 align:middle line:84% What others things look for in the realm of feedback 00:47:56.687 --> 00:47:57.895 align:middle line:90% when it comes to board games? 00:47:57.895 --> 00:48:05.104 align:middle line:90% 00:48:05.104 --> 00:48:08.080 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Maybe a track? 00:48:08.080 --> 00:48:10.550 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Hm? 00:48:10.550 --> 00:48:12.151 align:middle line:90% You mean a board track? 00:48:12.151 --> 00:48:14.740 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Yeah, you want to stay on the track. 00:48:14.740 --> 00:48:17.740 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, all right, that's-- 00:48:17.740 --> 00:48:21.250 align:middle line:84% actually there are games where the only legitimate places 00:48:21.250 --> 00:48:25.360 align:middle line:84% that you can put your pieces can be is literally on the pieces 00:48:25.360 --> 00:48:26.580 align:middle line:90% that they provided you. 00:48:26.580 --> 00:48:29.170 align:middle line:84% So if you fall out of it, you are no longer-- 00:48:29.170 --> 00:48:33.450 align:middle line:84% that's not a legal place for you to place your token. 00:48:33.450 --> 00:48:34.950 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: So it depends on the game. 00:48:34.950 --> 00:48:38.687 align:middle line:84% But for a very easy example, in a game like Risk would have-- 00:48:38.687 --> 00:48:40.270 align:middle line:84% you can very quickly look at the board 00:48:40.270 --> 00:48:42.220 align:middle line:84% and say who has the most soldiers. 00:48:42.220 --> 00:48:44.190 align:middle line:84% It doesn't necessarily mean anything 00:48:44.190 --> 00:48:46.840 align:middle line:90% but it's a good indicator. 00:48:46.840 --> 00:48:49.657 align:middle line:84% Just something like that would usually be nice to see you just 00:48:49.657 --> 00:48:51.532 align:middle line:84% quickly look at it and say, oh, this person's 00:48:51.532 --> 00:48:52.800 align:middle line:90% winning for this reason. 00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:55.891 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: So the sheer quantity of similarly colored things. 00:48:55.891 --> 00:48:57.244 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Yeah, it doesn't even have to be [INAUDIBLE].. 00:48:57.244 --> 00:48:58.827 align:middle line:84% In Monopoly, if you look at the board, 00:48:58.827 --> 00:49:00.190 align:middle line:90% whoever has the most houses. 00:49:00.190 --> 00:49:03.633 align:middle line:90% [INAUDIBLE] 00:49:03.633 --> 00:49:05.050 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Similarly, in Catan, you 00:49:05.050 --> 00:49:07.645 align:middle line:84% can see if somebody has massive roads 00:49:07.645 --> 00:49:10.361 align:middle line:84% or a lot of settlements or cities, 00:49:10.361 --> 00:49:12.852 align:middle line:84% you can usually tell that they're doing pretty well. 00:49:12.852 --> 00:49:17.870 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Mm-hmm, that's, again, direct visual metaphor. 00:49:17.870 --> 00:49:19.840 align:middle line:84% And, of course, in that game, you 00:49:19.840 --> 00:49:22.378 align:middle line:84% earn points by having the longest road to emphasize 00:49:22.378 --> 00:49:24.670 align:middle line:84% it's a good thing even though it's already a good thing 00:49:24.670 --> 00:49:27.675 align:middle line:90% to have in game. 00:49:27.675 --> 00:49:28.175 align:middle line:90% What else? 00:49:28.175 --> 00:49:31.860 align:middle line:90% 00:49:31.860 --> 00:49:35.400 align:middle line:84% Other players can give you feedback, right? 00:49:35.400 --> 00:49:40.350 align:middle line:84% If people remember playing Code 7 7 last week, 00:49:40.350 --> 00:49:42.540 align:middle line:84% there's information that other players 00:49:42.540 --> 00:49:45.630 align:middle line:90% can provide you that you need. 00:49:45.630 --> 00:49:47.700 align:middle line:84% But other players have to provide you. 00:49:47.700 --> 00:49:52.050 align:middle line:84% So what other games can you think 00:49:52.050 --> 00:49:54.780 align:middle line:84% of where other players are your primary feedback 00:49:54.780 --> 00:49:58.948 align:middle line:84% mechanism on whether you've done a move that's OK or not? 00:49:58.948 --> 00:50:00.340 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Mound Builders? 00:50:00.340 --> 00:50:01.462 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Mound? 00:50:01.462 --> 00:50:03.210 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: The only feedback you get. 00:50:03.210 --> 00:50:05.250 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: It is the only feedback you get, OK. 00:50:05.250 --> 00:50:06.250 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Poker? 00:50:06.250 --> 00:50:07.750 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Poker? 00:50:07.750 --> 00:50:09.250 align:middle line:90% Did-- 00:50:09.250 --> 00:50:10.860 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: If you make a bet that is-- 00:50:10.860 --> 00:50:14.178 align:middle line:84% say you're bluffing and you make a bet that is good, 00:50:14.178 --> 00:50:15.600 align:middle line:84% you know when everyone else folds. 00:50:15.600 --> 00:50:21.160 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, yeah, for a certain kind of bad, 00:50:21.160 --> 00:50:24.164 align:middle line:90% it's like, I won it. 00:50:24.164 --> 00:50:26.020 align:middle line:84% Everyone folds, and it's like, wait what. 00:50:26.020 --> 00:50:26.860 align:middle line:90% I had a royal flush. 00:50:26.860 --> 00:50:29.620 align:middle line:84% Why'd you-- That was a bad idea, right? 00:50:29.620 --> 00:50:33.780 align:middle line:84% OK, that gives you some sort of feedback 00:50:33.780 --> 00:50:35.685 align:middle line:84% for a very specific kind of thing. 00:50:35.685 --> 00:50:36.560 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] 00:50:36.560 --> 00:50:38.710 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Oh, yeah. 00:50:38.710 --> 00:50:41.125 align:middle line:84% You stick a card with something written on it. 00:50:41.125 --> 00:50:44.515 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Yeah, and particularly based on [INAUDIBLE].. 00:50:44.515 --> 00:50:47.260 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Mm-hmm, again, it's like Code 7 7. 00:50:47.260 --> 00:50:49.810 align:middle line:84% Everything that you know about the thing 00:50:49.810 --> 00:50:51.760 align:middle line:84% that you are trying to guess is something 00:50:51.760 --> 00:50:53.702 align:middle line:90% that only other people can see. 00:50:53.702 --> 00:50:55.666 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: The game Mafia. 00:50:55.666 --> 00:50:58.770 align:middle line:84% All the feedback is filtered through the hosts. 00:50:58.770 --> 00:51:03.640 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: And both useful and possibly confusing feedback, 00:51:03.640 --> 00:51:04.198 align:middle line:90% right? 00:51:04.198 --> 00:51:06.490 align:middle line:84% So yeah, all the information you're getting in the game 00:51:06.490 --> 00:51:08.672 align:middle line:84% is through other people in Mafia. 00:51:08.672 --> 00:51:10.333 align:middle line:90% AUDIENCE: Battleship? 00:51:10.333 --> 00:51:11.250 align:middle line:90% PROFESSOR: Battleship? 00:51:11.250 --> 00:51:13.380 align:middle line:90% Yeah, there's again the hidden-- 00:51:13.380 --> 00:51:15.130 align:middle line:84% information that's hidden from you, 00:51:15.130 --> 00:51:18.825 align:middle line:84% but it's completely available to your opponent and vice versa. 00:51:18.825 --> 00:51:20.200 align:middle line:84% And you don't need me to tell you 00:51:20.200 --> 00:51:21.728 align:middle line:90% the mechanics to tell you that. 00:51:21.728 --> 00:51:23.020 align:middle line:90% There is a computer battleship. 00:51:23.020 --> 00:51:24.520 align:middle line:90% It's not as fun. 00:51:24.520 --> 00:51:29.470 align:middle line:90% 00:51:29.470 --> 00:51:34.750 align:middle line:84% Charades and Pictionary-- usually your teammates 00:51:34.750 --> 00:51:36.370 align:middle line:90% are the ones who are guessing. 00:51:36.370 --> 00:51:38.950 align:middle line:84% So I wouldn't necessarily call that feedback 00:51:38.950 --> 00:51:41.470 align:middle line:84% because it might be good feedback 00:51:41.470 --> 00:51:43.690 align:middle line:84% on whether your clues are getting across 00:51:43.690 --> 00:51:45.400 align:middle line:90% to your teammate. 00:51:45.400 --> 00:51:48.100 align:middle line:84% But your opponents are also usually some sort 00:51:48.100 --> 00:51:49.930 align:middle line:84% of feedback mechanism that's keeping 00:51:49.930 --> 00:51:54.910 align:middle line:84% time, that's keeping an eye out for or listening 00:51:54.910 --> 00:51:58.810 align:middle line:84% for illegal things, like if you said something very Pictionary. 00:51:58.810 --> 00:52:00.970 align:middle line:84% If they hear you say something, they go ah, ah, ah. 00:52:00.970 --> 00:52:01.723 align:middle line:90% You can do that. 00:52:01.723 --> 00:52:04.910 align:middle line:90% 00:52:04.910 --> 00:52:07.910 align:middle line:84% And are there a few more hands or something like that? 00:52:07.910 --> 00:52:12.850 align:middle line:84% So just always remember that you can employ other players 00:52:12.850 --> 00:52:14.080 align:middle line:90% into your feedback mechanism. 00:52:14.080 --> 00:52:16.837 align:middle line:84% It doesn't always have to be your game alone. 00:52:16.837 --> 00:52:20.813 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: There is a game I played a long time ago 00:52:20.813 --> 00:52:23.298 align:middle line:90% called Scotland Yard. 00:52:23.298 --> 00:52:26.280 align:middle line:84% The player positions is almost never known. 00:52:26.280 --> 00:52:29.262 align:middle line:84% You get some feedback about what he's 00:52:29.262 --> 00:52:33.390 align:middle line:90% doing, sort of what he's doing. 00:52:33.390 --> 00:52:37.450 align:middle line:84% You have that in terms of the information the gamestate 00:52:37.450 --> 00:52:39.116 align:middle line:84% that's hidden from you, feedback on 00:52:39.116 --> 00:52:42.887 align:middle line:84% whether or not you have achieved your objectives from the player 00:52:42.887 --> 00:52:44.380 align:middle line:90% that knows the information. 00:52:44.380 --> 00:52:46.630 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, I think it's like something like four 00:52:46.630 --> 00:52:50.650 align:middle line:84% or five detectives chasing one fugitive going through London's 00:52:50.650 --> 00:52:57.255 align:middle line:84% mass transit system basically-- buses, cabs, underground, yeah. 00:52:57.255 --> 00:52:59.500 align:middle line:84% And the person who's running knows where they're 00:52:59.500 --> 00:53:01.190 align:middle line:90% going at any given time. 00:53:01.190 --> 00:53:04.820 align:middle line:84% The detectives are working on partial information 00:53:04.820 --> 00:53:08.440 align:middle line:84% to try to corner and close this dragnet. 00:53:08.440 --> 00:53:12.020 align:middle line:90% So I think that's on the list. 00:53:12.020 --> 00:53:12.820 align:middle line:90% Do you remember it? 00:53:12.820 --> 00:53:13.862 align:middle line:90% That was on the syllabus. 00:53:13.862 --> 00:53:14.790 align:middle line:90% It used to be-- 00:53:14.790 --> 00:53:16.104 align:middle line:90% Scotland Yard. 00:53:16.104 --> 00:53:18.503 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: I'll double check it, I think I saw it. 00:53:18.503 --> 00:53:19.920 align:middle line:84% But we may have changed the game-- 00:53:19.920 --> 00:53:23.340 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yeah, so we might get a chance to play that. 00:53:23.340 --> 00:53:26.332 align:middle line:84% But that also falls in mastermind category of games 00:53:26.332 --> 00:53:27.790 align:middle line:84% where it's like, here's this person 00:53:27.790 --> 00:53:29.860 align:middle line:84% with all the information, only that person 00:53:29.860 --> 00:53:31.860 align:middle line:84% is changing the information as the game goes on. 00:53:31.860 --> 00:53:32.790 align:middle line:84% That's a big difference in Scotland. 00:53:32.790 --> 00:53:35.207 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Did remove it this year-- but we do have a copy. 00:53:35.207 --> 00:53:37.100 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: OK, maybe we'll bring it in. 00:53:37.100 --> 00:53:40.110 align:middle line:90% It is a good game. 00:53:40.110 --> 00:53:43.740 align:middle line:84% So one of the things that Donald Norman ends his very 00:53:43.740 --> 00:53:47.700 align:middle line:84% first chapter on is that why is it so hard to-- 00:53:47.700 --> 00:53:49.440 align:middle line:90% he asks this question. 00:53:49.440 --> 00:53:52.410 align:middle line:84% OK, we've gone through this huge list of things in his book, 00:53:52.410 --> 00:53:54.703 align:middle line:84% including things like light switches-- 00:53:54.703 --> 00:53:57.120 align:middle line:84% well, actually, he hasn't talked about light switches yet. 00:53:57.120 --> 00:54:00.210 align:middle line:84% He will talk about light switches, something like that. 00:54:00.210 --> 00:54:01.320 align:middle line:90% He talks about cars. 00:54:01.320 --> 00:54:02.513 align:middle line:90% He talks about doors. 00:54:02.513 --> 00:54:03.430 align:middle line:90% He talks about clocks. 00:54:03.430 --> 00:54:06.290 align:middle line:90% 00:54:06.290 --> 00:54:10.650 align:middle line:84% And he asked this question-- why is it so hard to actually make 00:54:10.650 --> 00:54:12.710 align:middle line:90% something right? 00:54:12.710 --> 00:54:14.730 align:middle line:90% Anyone remember? 00:54:14.730 --> 00:54:16.237 align:middle line:90% Or anyone thinking of-- 00:54:16.237 --> 00:54:18.570 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Doesn't the designer never really communicates 00:54:18.570 --> 00:54:20.070 align:middle line:90% one-to-one with the user? 00:54:20.070 --> 00:54:22.506 align:middle line:84% They're communicating through the object 00:54:22.506 --> 00:54:25.812 align:middle line:84% that either was designed or being used? 00:54:25.812 --> 00:54:27.270 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: That is definitely true. 00:54:27.270 --> 00:54:28.935 align:middle line:90% It is a second order problem. 00:54:28.935 --> 00:54:31.560 align:middle line:84% You're designing something that then becomes this manifestation 00:54:31.560 --> 00:54:33.180 align:middle line:90% that somebody else uses. 00:54:33.180 --> 00:54:37.000 align:middle line:84% And that's actually when all the problems occur. 00:54:37.000 --> 00:54:38.130 align:middle line:90% You first, then. 00:54:38.130 --> 00:54:39.862 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: Well, he was talking about how 00:54:39.862 --> 00:54:42.080 align:middle line:84% like at first when something is invented. 00:54:42.080 --> 00:54:44.752 align:middle line:84% At first it's very complicated, and then your iteration 00:54:44.752 --> 00:54:46.664 align:middle line:84% comes up with something very simple. 00:54:46.664 --> 00:54:49.054 align:middle line:84% But then people want more functions. 00:54:49.054 --> 00:54:50.815 align:middle line:84% And they start this whole process 00:54:50.815 --> 00:54:53.420 align:middle line:84% over again where you keep adding new things. 00:54:53.420 --> 00:54:57.300 align:middle line:84% But it becomes less and less intuitive. 00:54:57.300 --> 00:55:00.630 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Market forces push you to add things, 00:55:00.630 --> 00:55:04.170 align:middle line:84% to do additive design in order to distinguish yourself 00:55:04.170 --> 00:55:05.220 align:middle line:90% from the competition. 00:55:05.220 --> 00:55:11.114 align:middle line:84% And that naturally leads to complexity in interface. 00:55:11.114 --> 00:55:12.982 align:middle line:84% AUDIENCE: And a lot of products, you said, 00:55:12.982 --> 00:55:16.814 align:middle line:84% don't get through that process because it'll take five or six 00:55:16.814 --> 00:55:18.263 align:middle line:90% times to get it right. 00:55:18.263 --> 00:55:20.075 align:middle line:84% But if it's not good by the second time, 00:55:20.075 --> 00:55:22.340 align:middle line:90% people just won't buy it. 00:55:22.340 --> 00:55:26.370 align:middle line:84% PROFESSOR: Yep, so get back to iteration. 00:55:26.370 --> 00:55:29.880 align:middle line:84% Five or six times means five or six times at the same problem, 00:55:29.880 --> 00:55:32.620 align:middle line:90% right? 00:55:32.620 --> 00:55:40.070 align:middle line:84% So iteration is the reason why design starts off 00:55:40.070 --> 00:55:41.060 align:middle line:90% as being very clunky. 00:55:41.060 --> 00:55:44.520 align:middle line:84% But it can eventually become something that works well, 00:55:44.520 --> 00:55:46.620 align:middle line:84% communicates well, or something that people 00:55:46.620 --> 00:55:54.558 align:middle line:84% can learn and maybe even enjoy in the case of the games. 00:55:54.558 --> 00:55:56.100 align:middle line:84% One thing that's funny about the book 00:55:56.100 --> 00:55:58.560 align:middle line:84% is that it talks a little bit about the clock radio 00:55:58.560 --> 00:55:59.430 align:middle line:90% that could do-- 00:55:59.430 --> 00:56:02.220 align:middle line:84% make phone calls, and be used as a desk lamp, 00:56:02.220 --> 00:56:06.600 align:middle line:84% and keep track of your appointments, and used as a TV. 00:56:06.600 --> 00:56:09.160 align:middle line:84% And I'm still thinking, this isn't that this, right? 00:56:09.160 --> 00:56:11.940 align:middle line:84% Exactly the same thing they he's describing. 00:56:11.940 --> 00:56:14.100 align:middle line:84% And it's interesting because he described 00:56:14.100 --> 00:56:16.932 align:middle line:84% a phone that can only be used with two buttons, right? 00:56:16.932 --> 00:56:19.080 align:middle line:90% Here's a button. 00:56:19.080 --> 00:56:21.520 align:middle line:90% And then here's a huge button. 00:56:21.520 --> 00:56:22.930 align:middle line:90% You get to select things. 00:56:22.930 --> 00:56:25.410 align:middle line:84% And it's exactly what he's talking about only, 00:56:25.410 --> 00:56:28.333 align:middle line:84% I doubt that actually imagined that this 00:56:28.333 --> 00:56:30.750 align:middle line:84% was something to be possible at the time when he wrote it. 00:56:30.750 --> 00:56:31.380 align:middle line:90% That was 1980. 00:56:31.380 --> 00:56:32.380 align:middle line:90% It wasn't that long ago. 00:56:32.380 --> 00:56:34.380 align:middle line:90% 00:56:34.380 --> 00:56:37.620 align:middle line:84% And cell phones obviously have gone through 00:56:37.620 --> 00:56:40.410 align:middle line:84% a lot of criticism. iPhone, of course, has a lot of criticism 00:56:40.410 --> 00:56:44.730 align:middle line:84% because people who criticize it for being a lock-down system 00:56:44.730 --> 00:56:46.680 align:middle line:84% where you can't really do all that much. 00:56:46.680 --> 00:56:48.990 align:middle line:84% It's certainly not as customizable as Android system. 00:56:48.990 --> 00:56:51.510 align:middle line:90% It's expensive for what it does. 00:56:51.510 --> 00:56:54.220 align:middle line:84% But then, arguably, by locking out a lot of things 00:56:54.220 --> 00:57:00.480 align:middle line:84% that you might want to do but maybe don't have to do, 00:57:00.480 --> 00:57:02.370 align:middle line:84% they are trying to make it easier for you 00:57:02.370 --> 00:57:04.210 align:middle line:90% not to do the wrong thing. 00:57:04.210 --> 00:57:06.390 align:middle line:84% So depending on-- there are different ways 00:57:06.390 --> 00:57:10.980 align:middle line:90% to fall on this camp. 00:57:10.980 --> 00:57:13.350 align:middle line:84% But it is it has been successful through a number 00:57:13.350 --> 00:57:14.558 align:middle line:90% of different reasons. 00:57:14.558 --> 00:57:16.350 align:middle line:84% Don't discount marketing as being something 00:57:16.350 --> 00:57:20.820 align:middle line:90% that the does sell. 00:57:20.820 --> 00:57:26.280 align:middle line:84% But what I want you to think about now 00:57:26.280 --> 00:57:28.883 align:middle line:84% is actually the process of prototyping. 00:57:28.883 --> 00:57:30.425 align:middle line:84% Actually you know what, I'm not going 00:57:30.425 --> 00:57:34.247 align:middle line:84% to go right into prototyping because they will probably 00:57:34.247 --> 00:57:35.830 align:middle line:84% make more sense once I've actually got 00:57:35.830 --> 00:57:38.120 align:middle line:90% the prototyping materials out. 00:57:38.120 --> 00:57:41.240 align:middle line:84% What I am going to do is to give everyone a five minute break. 00:57:41.240 --> 00:57:42.990 align:middle line:84% We're actually going to come back and play 00:57:42.990 --> 00:57:44.448 align:middle line:84% some of last year's games because I 00:57:44.448 --> 00:57:48.210 align:middle line:84% think there's enough time for it now for about an hour. 00:57:48.210 --> 00:57:51.770 align:middle line:84% And then the last hour of class, what I'm going to do 00:57:51.770 --> 00:57:55.140 align:middle line:84% is I'm going to go into brainstorming. 00:57:55.140 --> 00:57:57.210 align:middle line:84% So then you can start forming your teams, 00:57:57.210 --> 00:57:59.250 align:middle line:84% thinking about what kind of game that you want. 00:57:59.250 --> 00:58:01.708 align:middle line:84% Prototyping might be something we'll leave up to Wednesday. 00:58:01.708 --> 00:58:03.990 align:middle line:84% So that there'll be a little more time 00:58:03.990 --> 00:58:05.760 align:middle line:90% for you to work in your teams. 00:58:05.760 --> 00:58:07.900 align:middle line:84% So I'd like to get all the Carcassonne bits back. 00:58:07.900 --> 00:58:13.010 align:middle line:84% So and then we'll pick this up in about five minutes. 00:58:13.010 --> 00:58:21.914 align:middle line:90%