When memorizing a game’s content becomes a requirement

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about DiRT Rally and the imbalance that starts to evolve when the game is played over a longer period and players start to memorize the game’s content.

Normally, I enjoy pointing out the positive effects of playing computer games. Amongst other things, computer games challenge and hence train our abilities or help us to learn new knowledge. In addition, computer games are highly immersive and engaging environments that keep us motivated even if we are about to tackle a very difficult or repetitive task. The increased motivation to continue playing a game also results in an increased repetition of the game’s knowledge thus leading to a better learning outcome.

DiRT Rally

However, in case of DiRT Rally, the automatic training effects work a bit against the concept of the game. DiRT Rally is an authentic rally simulation and challenges the players with a realistic off-road driving experience. In contrast to circuit racing, rally drivers do not practice a rally stage until they have completely memorized it. Instead, they basically see every turn only once during a rally event.

Unfortunately, DiRT Rally features only a limited amount of rally stages and, as a result of this, players start to automatically memorize the stages while playing the game. Although this is another great example for the positive effects of playing computer games, it slowly takes away the excitement of the game. Personally, I am far away from memorizing all the stages available in DiRT Rally, but I already start to remember certain sections of some of the stages and once I approach them, I exactly know what is ahead of me. This knowledge ultimately helps me to drive more aggressive and faster than I would normally do.

There is, however, also a downside of this automatic learning effect which can become a problem once the game is played with other players. Normally, the amount of time a game is played is not the critical factor when it comes to multiplayer racing events. It is more about a player’s skill and ability to keep a car under control when driven at its limits. However, in the case of DiRT Rally, having remembered a stage gives a huge advantage over those players who are at the same skill level but who have not memorized a stage as they have to drive much more careful.

In the end, DiRT Rally successfully demonstrates how computer games help us to learn new knowledge due to a constant repetition. Unfortunately, from the point of view of a player, it is really sad that memorizing the content of a game seems to become necessary in order to stay competitive, especially when the game is all about seeing every corner only once. It would be very interesting if DiRT Rally would receive a random track generator that greatly reduces the effects of memorizing a stage.

The feeling of complexity

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about some of the changes that were implemented in World of Warcraft with the release of the Legion content patch.

On Wednesday 20th, 2016 the World of Warcraft (WoW) Legion Pre-Expansion Patch went live on European realms and implemented all the major game changes that are part of the next WoW Expansion which will be released on August 30th. At first, after I started the game for the first time since I upgraded to WoW Version 7.0.3, I was really skeptical as the glyphs system as well as some of my most used warrior skills, I play a protection warrior, got removed. Suddenly, the game seemed more simplistic than ever before!

World of Warcraft

However, after thoroughly analyzing the changes, I came to the conclusion that the alterations were not as drastic as I thought. As the glyphs system got implemented with the release of the Wrath of the Lichking expansion, it seemed to be a very interesting game mechanic that challenged the decision making of the players as only a few glyphs could have been active at a time. Hence, players were required to chose only those glyphs that matched their personal playstyle or provided them with the best bonus. Unfortunately, the system never had many valid alternatives for a certain playstyle and, as a result of this, I had to change my selected glyphs only when Blizzard introduced significant changes to the glyphs. Therefore, despite having the potential to implement a certain complexity, the glyphs system never played a significant role during my gameplay.

In contrast to the glyphs system, Heroic Strike, one of the warrior skills that got removed, played a significant role during my gameplay. Using this skill was useful to significantly increase the damage I could cause while tanking less dangerous bosses. Interestingly, Blizzard also implemented a new skill which, once activated, increases the damage of a different ability but does no longer cause direct damage. In the end, using the new skill has the exact same effect as it increases the damage I can cause, hence I have not lost anything except for a good feeling during the gameplay when more numbers indicating my damage were shown.

In sum, the Legion content patch has just streamlined the gameplay by removing features that were not used very often. Strangely, although the game has not lost much complexity, it still feels as if the game has got more simplistic. It seems that even rarely used game mechanics can highly increase the feeling of playing a more complex game. Also, I wonder what would have happened if Blizzard, instead of removing the glyphs system completely, had improved the glyphs by providing more valid alternatives. In the end, although my normal gameplay has not changed by a great deal, I wish the developers would have just added more features to the game to make it more challenging.

RIP Heroic Strike.

Savegames are important

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the problems that occur when a computer game has only an automatic savagame function and does not allow the players to save their progress at any stage of their gameplay.

Over the recent years, an automatic savegame function (ASF) has become more and more common. Each time a player reaches a certain checkpoint, completes an event or just quits the game, the player’s progress is automatically saved in order to ensure that the players can continue where they left off or do not have to repeat certain stages of the game if they die in a challenging boss fight. In addition, an ASF adds some finality to the gameplay as each decision and each event can not be undone thus making the virtual world more authentic.

The most simple and direct way is to solely implement an ASF without providing any quicksave or normal save functions. In this case, every decision, event and even mistake is final and can not be reverted. This, on the one hand, adds some excitement to the gameplay as players are then challenged to think about their next steps and have to act very carefully. On the other hand, it also affects the players‘ interest in trying out new things as, in case of a bad outcome, they can not return to the point before they started the experiment. Moreover, players are constantly challenged to be fully focussed on the gameplay as they can not revert a mistake they make due to a lack of concentration which ultimately can result in a high degree of frustration.

A different way of implementing an ASF is by adding an additional quicksave function that allows the players to easily save the game at any time and, in case of a mistake or bad outcome, to return to the point as the quicksave was made. This way, players can try out risky things and learn from their mistakes without permanently affecting the state of their game. In addition, a quicksave function provides the players with a basic version of a safety net as, in case of an unhappy coincidence, they have a fallback level and do net get permanently punished for an event they can not account for.

The last way of implementing an ASF can be done by combining it with a quicksave as well as a normal save function. The ASF then acts as a fallback level in case a player forgets to save the own progress at the end of a game session or experiences a crash of the game itself. In addition, players are then able to create savegames of different stages of the game which ultimately provide them with the greatest flexibility to try out different approaches. Moreover, the normal save function allows the players to just play the game without being fully focussed on it as, in case of a mistake, they can just revert to a point before the mistake happened.

Therefore, the implementation as well as the form of an ASF can be also seen as an important game design decision as it greatly affect a gamer’s playstyle. Just implementing an ASF is only useful when decision making is an important part of the gameplay or the game belongs to the genre of survival games. In those two cases, being unable to revert to an ealier stage of the game increases the excitement and challenges the players to be extra careful with their next steps. All other games should at least provide a quicksave function in order to give the players some control over the way how and when they want to save their progression. Also, it ensures that players can just play the game without thinking too much about the consequences or try out different approaches without being required to start a new game in a worst case scenario.

Personally, I prefer the traditional way of having a normal save function that allows me to have multiple savegames of my current playthrough so that, in case of an unhappy coincidence or bad day, I can revert to a previous stage without losing all my progress due to a bad mistake.

In the end, a savegame is not only a feature to allow players to continue with their current playthrough, but also a way to save a certain stage of the game in order to return to this point when needed. Additionally, a savegame can rescue players who experience an error of the game that puts them into a position from which they can not recover. Unfortunately, several games just come with a plain ASF these days and do not give the players control over their savegames. Hopefully, game designers will start to rethink the way how they want to use the savegames as having no savegames takes away a lot of the playfulness of computer games.

The challenge of creating let’s play videos

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the complexity of creating Let’s Play videos. For the purpose of creating a Let’s Play video, the content creator has to perform two simultaneous tasks of which each can fully occupy the player thus challenging a player’s multitasking ability.

Normally, creating Let’s Play videos (LPs) involves the recording of the player’s gameplay as well as gameplay commentary explaining the own thoughts and actions thus adding an additional story arc to the narrative of the game. However, performing a gameplay commentary requires some practice as playing a computer game often requires a player’s full attention which then has to be shared with the task of commentating. This, in return, can distract the player from the actual gameplay and increase the chances of making a mistake in the game. Naturally, the player can also focus on the gameplay instead, but this mostly causes a negative effect on the quality of the commentary.

In addition, the genre of the game as well as the commentary’s content have a significant impact on the complexity of creating an LP. On the one hand, just describing the own actions and thoughts is simpler than discussing or explaining topics that have no connection to the actual gameplay.

For instance, I use Minecraft for the creation of two different types of LP content. The first type is basically a regular LP in which I just play the game and commentate my actions or share my thoughts and goals. This standard type of LP is pretty straightforward as I just have to explain what I see or what I do, thus reducing the effects of sharing my brain power. However, I also utilize Minecraft for the purpose of creating some kind of video blog in which I discuss important things of my life or try to answer some questions from my viewers. This type of LP is very challenging as the commentary content and the gameplay content do not align all the time. Instead of just playing the game and commentating my actions, I have to use a portion of my brain power to explain complex topics in a clear and understandable way. As explaining complex topics is a very challenging task for our brains, I can no longer fully focus on the actual gameplay. When I like to execute a more demanding game mechanic or I get surprised by one of the many Minecraft monsters, I have to interrupt my explanation in order to free up some brain power.

On the other hand, the game’s genre plays another critical role as some games require a player’s full attention in order to be played successfully. For instance, playing realistic racing games, such as DiRT Rally and Assetto Corsa, demands the players‘ full focus to avoid making mistakes, hence playing such a challenging game leaves not much room for performing a good commentary. In contrast to those fast-paced games that constantly require the player’s attention, more slow-paced games provide good opportunities for performing the commentary. For example, turn-based strategy games like XCOM2 give the players an infinite amount of time to think about their next steps and hence content creators can easily explain their thoughts and plans as they can freely switch between both tasks without the risk of causing a negative effect on the other task’s outcomes.

In conclusion, creating LPs is a very challenging form of playing a computer game as the players have to share their attention between two simultaneous tasks of which each can, depending on the content of the commentary or the genre of the game, demand a player’s full focus. By performing both tasks simultaneously, the players have to constantly change the priority of the two tasks in order to successfully play the game and perform a good commentary. Ultimately, this can even lead to a multitasking ability training.

Mental Rotation and Spatial Navigation Training

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I take a look at Take On Mars and analyze the game’s spatial navigation and mental rotation ability training effects.

Take On Mars – Docking with the ISS

It was already shown that 3D computer games can train mental rotation [1] and spatial navigation [2] abilities. During the gameplay of those games, players can explore the virtual worlds and hence practice to orientate themselves in 3D spaces. Also, computer games often involve the rotation of objects in order to solve puzzles or to construct new things in the game world. For instance, the construction of a new spacecraft in Kerbal Space Program allows for the rotation of individual parts in order to give the new vessel a unique shape. In the end, players subconsciously train those abilities as they constantly repeat certain actions demanding them thus training them due to repetition.

Another great example for an effective mental rotation and spatial navigation training using computer games are the Take On Mars scenarios that involve the docking of a spacecraft to another spacecraft or to the Internation Space Station. The player’s goal is to successfully dock a spacecraft that is performing station keeping next to the other spacecraft by changing the spacecraft’s position and alignment. As those scenarios take place in a simulated space environment, the player is able to rotate the spacecraft around all the three axes and to freely translate it to a desired position. In the end, the player has to align the own spacecraft’s docking port with the target spacecraft’s docking port. For this purpose, the player controls the spacecraft from a cockpit view that provides the player with an additional docking screen indicating the current spacecraft’s alignment relative to the target docking port.

In order to successfully complete the scenarios, the player has to translate the spacecraft towards the target docking port, subequently change the spacecraft’s alignment so that the docking ports are facing towards each other and finally close the gap between them in order to successfully dock both spacecraft. During this procedure, the game exhausts the player’s spatial navigation and mental rotation skills as the spacecraft can be rotated and translated in any direction. Hence, the player is challenged to analyze and visualize the current spacecraft’s status and to decide which operation might help in order to complete the task. Subequently, when the player executes a maneuver, the game immediately provides the player with feedback about the maneuver’s effect, thus helping the player to train their spatial abilities.

In conclusion, Take On Mars creates an effective training environment for spatial abilities as the game’s goals and game mechanics demand a player’s mental rotation and spatial navigation, thus training those skills due to repetition.

[1]Cherney, I. D. (2008). Mom, let me play more computer games: They improve my mental rotation skills. Sex Roles, 59(11-12):776–786.
[2]Joorabchi, M. E. and El-Nasr, M. S. (2011). Measuring the impact of knowledge gained from playing fps and rpg games on gameplay performance. Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2011, pages 300–306.