Game Fun

This week reading blog is about the Game Fun. "Fun" is just another word for "learning". Putting players in a flow state is where this elusive "fun" comes from.

The first article I read was Level 7: Kinds of Fun, it was about the different kinds of fun and how they considered in video game development to create a fun game to play.

It references back to the article MDA Framework, we know there are different fun and an MDA Framework needs the rules of the game, description of how to play the game and what would the player experience.

To make a game fun you will need:

1. Sensation - A game that considers the audio and video "eye candy" of the video game.
2. Fantasy - Games can provide a make-believe world that is more interesting than the real world.
3. Narrative - A game needs a story, either of the embedded kind that designers put there or the emergent kind that is created through player action.
4. Challenge - Some games either an arcade game or a highly competitive board games have their own different way to make the game fun from the thrill of competition.
5. Fellowship - Many games have a highly social component to them. It is not the game but the social interaction with the family that people remember from their childhood.
6. Discovery - This is rare in board games but it can be found in exploration type games. It is more commonly found in adventure and null video games.
7. Expression - MDA authors mean the ability to express yourself through game play.
8. Submission - A game as an ongoing hobby rather than an isolated event. 

These different kinds of fun doesn't mean that everyone will find all of them fun. Players find different combinations more fun than others.

The other article I read was 4 Important Rule Changes That Make a Game More Fun by Chris Bucholz. Rules are necessary part of every game. Games come in all forms, whether they're board, card or video and although all these forms of games come with "official" rules, sometimes those rules aren't always the most appropriate because these games are played by people with wildly varying levels of experience, ability, and competitiveness.

The rules are:

1. The Forbidden Character - A game shouldn't have all the players running around on the same level. If someone is higher or lower than the player that is a problem because who would want to play against a higher level than you. The game would be unfair if this happens because that people can have more equipment and knowledge than you. The game should balance.
2. The Forbidden Tactic - Rushing is one possible example of a game tactic that's cheesy. The tactic is simple and easy to execute. A rush will typically end the game extremely early before a lot of the most interesting units and tactics become available. When used to the exclusion of all other tactics, it can make the game less fun. 
3. The Addition - The flexible gaming systems intends to accommodate a high variety of gaming needs. If you give a player the power to decide the shape of the universe, that's a person who can decide what happens to that universe when you hit it with a mace.
4. The Tweak - Games are mostly played by kids and they are usually greedy. Games like Monopoly will end people's relationship, it is a game that can't end until every player loses except one. It turns a game about accounting into a longer game about accounting.

It's all fun and games;
Source: PublicDomainPictures