Contextual Studies: Emotional Progression

About a week ago we were asked to think about how games make us feel. We looked at the experience of "zoning out" and how this phrase covers many different experiences. Games with a heavy storyline often immerse you in a similar way to a book or film. These sorts of games also tend to have a very rich and detailed world in which the story can take place in. Games like Mass Effect or Final Fantasy are prime examles of this. They both have indepth storys which keep the player playing to find out what happens next, on top of worlds designed to make you feel, not only for the main characters, but for the people in the world. However, the type of experience that makes a game a game is the gameplay. A pure gameplay experience can be seen in older games like Tetris, Pac-man and, the more modern, Bejeweled. These games use repeatition, reflexive or spatial puzzles and bright colours to create addictive and often very difficult gameplay which forces the player into an almost trance like state.

Most games developers today look at all of these types of experiences and try to find the right balance to create and immersive and enjoyable experience that allows the player to enjoy the story, world and gameplay in a way that compliment each other.

After this we were all asked to draw quick diagrams of our emotional progression through a specific game. I chose the game that inspired me the most throughout my life, The Legend of Zelda; Ocarina of Time. Being used to think of games from a very technical point of view, I decided to look at the game's very obvious gameplay formula: explore, find a task, experiment with ways to solve the task, complete the task and then begin again. In the diagram, I put short list of what each element of the formula involved and then how the element made me feel as I was playing it. We were then asked to take the diagrams home and write a short paragraph as a written version of the diagram.

I found this task particuarly tricky. I am now used to writing about games from a technical point of viewand am not used to describing the emotions in anything more than a single word. I am not 100% happy with the outcome. Here it is:

The Emotional Progression through the Legend of Zelda; the Ocarina of Time

When the game begins, there is a brief introduction to the main characters and narrative and then you are released into a new world. Faced with a world to explore, characters to meet, quests to be done and, eventually, a kingdom to save, you, as the player, are filled with curiosity and an eagerness to learn about the world you now inhabit.

When you begin to explore, you find yourself meeting new people, learning the land and pushing the games limits to see what you can and can’t do. This gives you a feeling of freedom and choice as you are forced to use your initiative to find games to play and tasks to perform.

Once you have learnt the lay of the land and talked to some interesting characters, you now have an idea of what the game wants you to do. You decide to follow a lead with the hopes of having an interesting, challenging and fun quest on the end of it. Upon following your lead you find that new doorways open up to you with more characters to talk to, new, deeper storylines and more challenging puzzles and tasks to perform. You begin to consider how you might go about solving these tasks; and, as you do, you become more and more immersed and involved in the game.

When you finally find a task that really challenges you and you start experimenting with different methods to solve the problem you’re faced with you begin to feel yourself getting sucked into the game. You find yourself forgetting that you’re playing a game and begin to get frustrated when you fail.

When you finally solve the puzzle or defeat the enemy, you feel a rush of relief. The feeling you get when you suddenly pull through a life threatening situation. Not the feeling of winning at a game, but the feeling of a real life achievement.

The feeling of success is enchanting and you want more. You want more puzzles to solve and enemies to conquer. You have stopped thinking of it as a game. It has become a new life. You move out into the world, exploring, looking for new adventures and coming out victorious over and over.