[game_edu] What is the name for this principle?

[Suzanne Freyjadis]

Hi Jim,

This seems like an aspect of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, where a person
is unable to leave a running game unplayed or a note go by in the game. I
know lots of people who want to play a game if they walk into a room and
it's left running or who miss one note in Rock Band and want to start the
song over and this seems like a great area for further research.

I think that the example of the clown game is an aspect of performance
anxiety and negative reinforcement both of which are created by the game
environment. This would also affect children who are risk averse who may
fear of killing or hurting the clown.

Suzanne

-----Original Message-----
From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf
Of Jim Parker
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 1:43 PM
To: game_edu at igda.org
Subject: Re: [game_edu] What is the name for this principle?

Could be related, but I've seen relatively severe forms. There was an
educational game that had a clown climbing a rope. The player had to type in
the solution to a simple arithmetic expression (3+2) to have the clown climb
a few feet. Get to the top and go to the next level!

... except that the rope was actually a lit fuse, and the clown would fall
if the burning part reached him. His face would change expression and he'd
fall. I saw young players panic and burst into tears when they saw the end
of the fuse approaching. It was not motivating, to be sure.

Now, this is a pathological instance and the player's age is certainly a
factor, but I think it's a bit more than a basic fear of losing. Still, I'm
open to the thought.

Jim

On 6/5/2012 12:30 PM, Jose P. Zagal wrote:

> Sounds related to loss aversion? (can't stand to see the game "lose") 

> (see wikipedia for a layman's explanation -

> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_aversion)

>

>

> Jose

>

> On 6/5/2012 1:17 PM, Jim Parker wrote:

>> Also posted to Serious Games

>>

>> A question that a grad student and I were discussing revolves around 

>> the observation that there appears to be some kind of compulsion to 

>> complete certain game tasks that have time constraints. For instance, 

>> think of Dance Dance Revolution when there is a single step traveling 

>> down the screen. The player knows what action must be taken, and 

>> feels some sort of compulsion to not let that note go by.

>>

>> Furthermore, can this compulsion be described in terms of drawing a 

>> player into a game as opposed to a player that is already playing a 

>> game? For example, a DDR game is left running and someone is 

>> observing the step traveling down the screen. Even though there were 

>> not playing up to this point, they still feel the compulsion to not 

>> let that step go by.

>>

>> Any papers that discuss this, or even the name of the compulsion 

>> would be greatly appreciated.

>>

>> Thanks

>> Jim

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