Sporadic-Play Game Update The Latest Developments in Games for Busy - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Sporadic-Play Game Update The Latest Developments in Games for Busy - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Dec 13, 2022 109 likes •1.01k views

Sporadic-Play Game Update The Latest Developments in Games for Busy People Bryan Cash Jeremy Gibson Introduction Who We Are Bryan Cash Schell Games Jeremy Gibson University of Southern California Carnegie Mellon University

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Sporadic-Play Game Update

The Latest Developments in Games for Busy People

Bryan Cash Jeremy Gibson

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 Bryan Cash

Schell Games

 Jeremy Gibson

University of Southern California

Who We Are

Introduction

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Entertainment Technology Center

Carnegie Mellon University

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“Sporadic play” describes game mechanics which intentionally limit how often the player interacts with a persistent game world

Introduction

Sporadic Play (in brief)

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A Quick Clarification

and now for...

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Overview of Sporadic Play Advances in the Genre Successful Mechanics and Design Patterns

and now for...

A Quick Clarification

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Overview of Sporadic Play Successful Mechanics and Design Patterns

Advances in the Genre

A Quick Clarification

and now for...

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Overview of Sporadic Play

Advances in the Genre

Successful Mechanics and Design Patterns

A Quick Clarification

and now for...

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Designing for Sporadic Play

Making Games That Understand Players and Their Time

Bryan Cash Jeremy Gibson

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What is Sporadic Play?

Introduction

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“Sporadic play” describes game mechanics which intentionally limit how often the player interacts with a persistent game world

Introduction

What is Sporadic Play?

 Limiting Interactions  Persistent World

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What is Sporadic Play?

An Example from Skyrates

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Social Games

Examples of Sporadic Play

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80% Of the top Facebook games use sporadic play mechanics

Social Games

Examples of Sporadic Play

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Animal Crossing Kingdom of Loathing

Console and PC Games

Examples of Sporadic Play

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Trade Wars (1984)

Bulletin Board Games

Examples of Sporadic Play

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29.9 Million Players in 2007 Started in 1960

Fantasy Sports

Examples of Sporadic Play

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 Diplomacy (1960)

  • John Boardman

 Peaked in 1980s

Play-by-Mail Games

Examples of Sporadic Play

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Dates back to the Middle Ages

Correspondence Chess

Examples of Sporadic Play

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What isn’t Sporadic Play?

Introduction

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There’s a lot of overlap...

Animal Crossing Mouse Hunt

Casual Games

Sporadic Play is not

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Bejeweled Blitz

Casual Games

Sporadic Play is not ...but not everything overlaps.

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Casual Games

Sporadic Play is not (necessarily)

 Casual gameplay is defined as low depth of

gameplay with instantly obvious mechanics.

 The persistent nature of sporadic gameplay

allows for deeper gameplay and layered mechanics.

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Asynchronous Multiplayer

Sporadic Play is not Again, there’s a lot of overlap

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 Asynchronous Multiplayer focuses on the

relationship of the players to each other.

 Sporadic Play focuses on the relationship

between the player and the game.

Asynchronous Multiplayer

Sporadic Play is not (necessarily)

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What is Sporadic Play good for?

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What is Sporadic Play good for?

Increasing Internalization while Managing Obsession

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“Back of your mind” gaming

Increasing Internalization

What is Sporadic Play good for?

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You’ve experienced this in your life

Increasing Internalization

What is Sporadic Play good for?

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When Sporadic Play is done right the end of every play session is a cliff hanger.

Increasing Internalization

What is Sporadic Play good for?

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Cake is AWESOME!...

Managing Obsession

What is Sporadic Play good for?

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But too much cake... is too much awesome.

Managing Obsession

What is Sporadic Play good for?

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Managing Obsession

What is Sporadic Play good for?

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Sporadic Play prevents

  • versaturation...

and leaves the players wanting more

Managing Obsession

What is Sporadic Play good for?

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Benefits to Development New Revenue Models

Benefits we’re not talking about

What is Sporadic Play good for? because we talked them at GDC

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What is Sporadic Play good for?

Increasing Internalization

and

Managing Obsession

are both elements of

Understanding your audience and their time.

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Understanding Your Audience

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Who is Your Audience?

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Who is Your Audience?

Okay…big whoop.

Everybody already knows that.

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Two Main Questions

Who is Your Audience

 How often do they play?  What is the duration of each play session?

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How Often Do They Interact?

Who is Your Audience?

Where do they play from? When are they playing?

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How Long Do They Interact?

Who is Your Audience?

They’ve both been playing 3 weeks

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Consider Each Play Session

Who is Your Audience?

World of Warcraft

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Session Flow

Who is Your Audience?

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Prolonging Suspense

Who is Your Audience?

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Interaction Matrix

Who is Your Audience?

Rare Interaction Frequent Interaction Short Duration Long Duration

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Player Commitment - Daily

Who is Your Audience?

Social City Crazy Planets

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How Long Do They Interact?

Who is Your Audience?

Legends of Zork

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How Long Do They Interact?

Who is Your Audience?

Critter Island

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Player Commitment

Who is Your Audience?

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Who is Your Audience? It’s not just about how they play your game

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Who is Your Audience?

It‟s about what they‟re doing when they’re not playing.

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Who is Your Audience?

Designing for Sporadic Play is Designing for the Negative Space of Player Time

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Negative Space in Art

Who is Your Audience?

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Negative Space in Art

Who is Your Audience?

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Negative Space in Games

Who is Your Audience?

What your players do when they’re not playing affects what they do when they are.

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Sporadic Mechanics

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Appointment Management

Sporadic Mechanics

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Appointment Management

Sporadic Mechanics

Farmville Ghost Trappers

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Tap on the Shoulder

Sporadic Mechanics

Skyrates

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“Pardon me, sir…I‟m afraid you were just „ganked‟ in Mafia Wars. Most inconvenient, sir.”

Tap on the Shoulder

Sporadic Mechanics

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Caretaker / Delegation

Sporadic Mechanics

Neptune’s Pride

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What do these have in common?

Sporadic Mechanics

 Appointment Management  Tap on the Shoulder  Caretaker Delegation

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Persistent World

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Persistent World

Time Passes

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Accumulation of Time

Persistent World

Bodybuilderz WARs Mafia Wars

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Initiate... Wait... Get Reward

Persistent World

City of Wonder Neptune’s Pride

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Consider the Longterm

Persistent World

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Consider…Animal Crossing

Persistent World

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Parallel Universes

Persistent World

Farm Town

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Designing for Multiple Players

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Asynchronous Play

Multiple Players

Miniconomy Trade Wars

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Synchronous Play

Multiple Players

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Coordinated Play

Multiple Players

Mouse Hunt

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Coordinated Play in Skyrates

Multiple Players

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Player Versus Player

Multiple Players

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Balancing Attentive with Sporadic

Multiple Players

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Balancing Attentive with Sporadic

Multiple Players

Add Silides

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Player with Player

Multiple Players

You punks work for me now. Yes ma‟am.

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Traditional Games

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Multi-Platform Interaction

Traditional Games

Toy Soldiers Match Defense: Toy Soldiers

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Bonuses for “Negative Space”

Traditional Games

Rested XP in World of Warcraft

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Consider the Audience

Traditional Games

 A companion game for the same audience?  A different game for a new audience?

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Looking to the Future

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 You can only ask user to post about the

same thing once per play session.

 This means, if you want to generate lots of

posts, encourage multiple play sessions.

 Rumors of nefarious deeds.

Facebook Policies in the Past

Looking to the Future

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 Users are notified only once, when their

friends join a game.

 If they don’t join, you never hear from that

game again.

Facebook Policies as of Sept. 21st

Looking to the Future

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 This means that you either have to pay

Facebook a lot of $$ for ads

 Or you need to understand and respect

that player’s time enough to where they make their own wall post inviting friends to join.

Facebook Policies as of Sept. 21st

Looking to the Future

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 Bryan Cash

Schell Games bcash@schellgames.com

 Jeremy Gibson

University of Southern California jrgibson@cinema.usc.edu

Any Questions?

http://postmortem.skyrates.net