Videogames & Emotion

This week, a TED talk that generated some energetic and thoughtful discussion was that of game designer David Perry (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/david_perry_on_videogames.html). His presentation included some thought-provoking insights into the minds of some designers--that many of them are looking hard at questions such as "Can a video game make a player cry?"

Now, many of you older cynics will be saying, "Of course, when I (parent) take it away from my screen-addicted kid." However, in the GOLD room, this question was viewed as a statement of desire--that the game designers are looking to increase the range and depth of emotional responses to their products. They, of course, want to create "fun" games--but they also want to create the sort of artistic, aesthetic, and emotional impact that a feature film can elicit.

Perry then presented a short, student-made video piece in which the creator, Michael Highland, discussed his experience of the world as being profoundly impacted by his immersion in video gaming. At one point Highland says, "my own car has 25,000 miles on it, while the sum total of miles I've driven on various driving games is 37,000 miles....it is a strange thought--that more than half of my experience driving is in the virtual world." He continues by suggesting that his reactions, knowledge, and appreciation of driving have been influenced strongly by his virtual experiences.

Highland asserts that his perception of reality has altered due to his gaming experiences. He recognizes the power of this influence and warns that games could become powerful tools of manipulation and control--more effective than 1984-style propaganda and torture.

I asked the students to discuss the following questions following watching Perry and Highland's presentation:

• Have you noticed times when your interaction with reality was blurred/overlaid/or heavily impacted by experiences you had through gaming?

90% reported that they had--ranging from physical reactions to sudden noises that seemed to stem from a combat game--to experiencing deserted parkades, dark and quiet city streets, or confusing crowd situations as snippets of various game settings. A few pointed out that classwork, such as reading about WWII, had been heightened through their memories of playing games such as "Battelfield 1942."

• I then asked, "how would this be different than the influence "Jaws", "Saving Private Ryan" or "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" had on my life, my perception of reality?"

The GOLDies, in general, seemed to have no trouble seeing that movies can change our perceptions of reality, and touch us emotionally--however, many of them feel that good video games have far more potential to involve and influence than a three hour movie.

• "Are you, as players, concerned about the potential to control or change people-populations through games?"

Not much consensus among the groups on this issue--most felt that they take their cues on morals and ethics from real-life adults and institutions in our society--and are savvy regarding manipulative techniques.

• One senior student shared the following scenario: his brother had been called by his parents to joing the family for dinner, and the brother refused on the basis of being "in the middle of a raid' (in World of Warcraft). This apparently led to some heated debate in the household. The brother explained that he held an important role in a team of people working cooperatively on a difficult and intense challenge. He acknowledged that his time-management had been faulty, but there would be no way for him to withdraw without endangering his teammates.

When I asked the kids to pass judgement in this scenario, many quickly asked "how often is your brother in this sort of situation? does he do it all the time? If so, your parents were right." (So, many of your kids do acknowledge the primacy of family and real-world over game-world.) But Kelson then asked, "what if your brother was playing a basketball game that was going into overtime when your parents wanted him home for dinner?"

Many of your kids see the team and the mission of an MMO (massively multiplayer on-line game) as being as valid and worthy as a school sports activity--there are real-world associates behind the on-line game team-members--people to whom they feel loyalty.

This got me thinking: strategic planning, resource management, communications, committment, team-work, interpersonal psychology, coordinated action--all appear to be essential ingredients for success in MMOs--aren't these some of the skills we (educators, parents) are hoping to instill in our children?

Could games be tweaked by altering the rules regulating how one could achieve "success" in the game world to encourage pro-social and ethical behaviour (with one's team-members at least)? Would this lead to greater real-world social awareness? "It would lead to a boring game that no one would play, Bromige."

Below I include a portion of the discussion that has arisen on the TED site regarding this presentation:

Norman Bearrentine – October 12 2008

Video games are not the only source of virtual reality in town. As Highland said in the video Perry showed, a good insurance commercial can create experience real enough to bring tears to those of us who become easily immersed. The same is true of books and movies.The difference between these kinds of virtual reality and physical reality is that we can step away from the video game, movie, or book, and become aware of the technology that produced the experience. It is impossible, however, to step away from the brain, which is the technology producing our experience of "physical" reality. All our experience happens in the brain, and the only difference in the varieties of experience is the kind of technology that provides the brain with its material--books, TV, movies, video games, or none of the above.Our experience of the physical world is as virtual as anything else; the only difference is in the kinds of constraints involved. In a novel, we're constrained by the author's skill and our own past experience--the emotional and physical repertoire we bring to the book. We're constrained by the technology and programming of the video game and movie as well. In our everyday virtual experience, we're constrained by the limitations of our sensory apparatus, and by the stimuli the physical world gives our brains to work with--we can't see magnetic fields; we can't see through walls.Although we can never experience reality directly, we can become more aware of the technology that produces the virtual reality that we live in--our brain. We can become more aware of its limitations--optical illusions can baffle it--and we can become more aware of how our history has programmed our brains. Our parents, schools, friends, culture, etc. have instilled ideas about what is real and important. The sciences of sociology, psychology, and neurology can help us gain perspective on the forces that have produced our current reality, and offer ways of enlarging on prior programming.

Highland – October 12 2008
(snip) I agree with you to a great degree that both academics and game developers are really just beginning to deeply understand how the ways in which video games generate feelings/emotions in players. Despite that fact, I believe video games today are already offering a ' uniquely powerful experience' whether the creators fully understand that potential or not -- I think it's up to players to be more self aware in their gaming, and to begin to think bigger about the experience of gaming. I don't think the paradigm shift you speak of is going to propagate from the established game development community but from gamers who are able to understand their own virtual experiences well enough to lead in the synthesis of virtual worlds that achieve the same universal potency as popular films. To be a great film maker I think one needs to be more sensitive than the average person to the filmic techniques that effectively communicate experience. The same can be said of game players/designers.

(to) Norman Bearentine - I'm glad you made the point about the virtuality of the 'real world'. I think we often forget that our whole lives happen between our ears, and that arguably our experience of the real world is no different from virtual experience apart from the constraints of the respective interfaces.