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Team 4: Harry the handsome executive -
Keller: catches attention with scenario; music, graphics get boring after awhile; lack of sufficient new elements; lack of instructional content; destroys self-confidence; no sense of direction; lack of feedback - instructions only; no satisfaction, no relevance
Czikszentmihalyi: no flow; didn't want to go on; no reason to continue; boredom; just for a moment, when I thought I had an assignment; anxiety: feeling stupid at times
Lepper & Malone: lack of clear, obvious goal; too much, too fast - player wanted to control it; scoring confusing; hated audio effects after awile; some randomness; game slow; not exciting; not competitive; multiple levels - variable difficulty levels; not stimulating after first minute - exogenous fantasy <- only depended on navigational skill, little or no instructional content

 Game: Snood

Summary:
During the first run of the game. Hugh became "frustrated" and "worried about losing" during minutes 6-8. He lost the game at minute 9.


During the second run of the game at minute 14, Hugh complained that we "interrupted his flow". Although the score was the same as his frustration time, he commented that "he is intent on winning." At 16 minutes he claimed "I've got it beat."

When the skill level matched the challenge of the game Hugh seemed positive.

When the challenge was high (score and danger level were high) and Hugh's skills were low, he was frustrated.

Hugh did not favor the idea of playing the low skill levels again.


When Hugh was in flow, he was oblivious to environment and focused on the game.

Hugh would have enjoyed a time limit or more pressure.

We played Babel. The directions were lengthy and player said "I don't have a clue" at the start. Even with prior time to read the directions, she was still reading when the game started.

Hugh expressed frustration at 4 minutes because she wasn't accomplishing anything that seemed significant to success in the game. The computer kept responding "I don't see..." for each command she entered. At 8 minutes, she was trying to follow the game according to her understanding of the commands but the computer didn't let her do anything.

At 10 minutes, she said "Everyone else is having more fun. We have to read." There were 6 paragraphs of reading on her screen at this point. At 12 minutes, it said she was in a communication center, and she could almost see a picture. She said there was no clue as to the goal.

At 16 minutes, she figured out there were "special commands" and requested a printout. After 20 minutes, she learned that she only had achieved one out of 25 points and said she felt dejected. When instructor gave the option to stop, Hugh quit playing and a substitute Hugh got hooked into trying to understand this frustrating game.

Observers noted that game was demotivating due to the following: lots of small print to read, little extrinsic or instrinsic reward, minimal sensory input, no clear goals or directions. It inspired little arousal, it seemed irrelevant to anything in the player's experience. There was no satisfaction for the player because there was little perceived achievement, learning or understanding.

Feedback given by the computer was not encouraging, constructive, or clear. Feedback was consistent and frequent but not always helpful. Feedback was only visual.

This game is not recommended for individuals who do not tolerate ambiguity well.

Holly Hull, Tammy Goodwater, Mary McGibbons, Marie Doerner

Game-Absolute Stocks

Overall
The game didn't make a whole lot of sense. No control over what skills were needed to win the game-completely arbitrary. The game is very incongruent with the real stock market strategies.

Beginning
Tried to figure out game the first six minutes-working to get strategy down and understand the game. In this six minutes was when she had the most money and the highest score.

Middle
Losing interest in game, frustrated, irritated and not feeling in control at 10 minutes. Was not sure how to win game by 12 minutes. Realized that this game did not follow real life. Rapid losses between 10-12 minutes.

End
While Hugh continued playing until 22 minutes, the game was actually over for her after 12 minutes. Searching for something that works as a strategy. Game was very illogical. Tryed keeping one stock rather than diversifying which is "totally wrong" compared to the real life stock market. Insulted with simplicity and bored with the game. Inconsistent losses and gains between middle and end of time period.

Analysis

Mike
The challenge of the game was producing too much anxiety because she was unclear of the skills needed to successfully play the game. Therefore, flow was not achieved at the beginning.
However, as she began to understand the goal/rules/challenges/functionality, then she was beginning to get engaged in the flow. She was beginning to receive appropriate feedback and as her skills improved, so did the challenge. Unfortunately, about 8 minutes into the game, her experience with the real stock market was not providing "appropriate" feedback. Therefore, her skills did not seem to match the way the game was being played (lack of challenge) and she quickly entered into boredom.

Mark
Challenge
The challenge seemed out of reach from the beginning. The random nature of her performance feedback resulted in her giving up. Her high self-esteem and knowledge about the stock market led her to perceive the game as insulting and simplistic.

Curiousity
Her curiousity kept her coming up with new strategies.

Control
In the beginning, our player was trying to figure out how to gain control but she never did. Later on, feeling out of control was related to feelings of irritation.

Fantasy
While there are no real elements of fantasy in this game, for about 90 seconds in the first 2-4 minutes, our player felt a part of the game.
 
John
Attention
Confusing to look at and plain looking. Nothing on the screen, with the exception of the colors, caught my attention.

Relevance
The game itself did not appear to match the real life stock market. Therefore, the motive or goal of the game is unclear. Not enough information was provided about individual stocks. The game was almost too simplistic which may have caused a problem for our experienced player.

Confidence
The level of confidence that our player had went down as she continued to play the game because the game did not follow the real stock market. Also, Hugh was confused by keeping track of the scores.

Satisfaction
Hugh was not satisfied with this game because she was not able to keep control of this game.

Game: Boogle

The purpose of the game is to find as many words as possible in a 5 by 5 grid of letters. Each game has a set amount of time. When the time is up the player receives a score.

The game had a steep learning curve. The first 6 minutes were spent figuring out how to play the game. The player was frustrated from the very beginning. The instructions were too long and detailed. It was difficult to grasp the main idea. There were visuals that were the most helpful. In the first 6 minutes the player had to refer to the instructions several times.

Once the learning curve was beat, the game never became enjoyable. Flow was never achieved. The player felt anxious throughout the entire time of play. The game did not allow the player to choose a difficulty level. Also, there was no performance feedback until after the game was over. A hint feature would have helped player feel more comfortable with the entire process. The interface was too simple. Also, it was unattractive and not intuitive at all. The player had to click buttons several times to figure out how they worked.

Analysis

The game did not offer any long term goals. A cumulative score would have helped motivate the player. The only randomness in the game was the set of letters given to the player at the start of each game. There is not feedback until the game ends. The game did not promote feelings of confidence at all. No audio nor visual stimulation was provided to the player. The player was not able to choose the level of difficult of the game, therefore the player did not promote feelings of self-determination and control. There was not intrinsic motivation provided through fantasy involvement. The game did not allow for any social interaction. The main flaw of this game is that it is taken from a popular board game that allows for competition and social interaction. This version removed all of that and therefore the fun as well.

Jerry Niehaus
Roberto Del Busto
Sara Pehrsson
Dave Comstock

Time 0 - As the game begins teh subject discribes confusion.

Time 2 - By the first two minute period he is kind of bored and frustrated that he does not "understand" the point. Game 1 has score 359.

Time 4 - By time four minutes, the subject is still bored and frustrated that there is no noise and not many rewards.

Time 6 - Likes it better because winning.

Time 8 - Likes teh game a little better. Feels that he is getting better.

Time 10 - Sound gets turned on. The subject expresses more interest becasue of the sound.

Time 12 - Teh group begins to interact with the player by pointing out good moves and strategies. Teh player expresses more interesat in teh game.

Time 14 - I like the game better.

Time 16 - I like the game better. I like all the comments.

Time 18 - I feel good. I like the game. BOOM!

Time 20 - Teh group is interacting and encouraging with more enthusiasm. Teh player says, Ya I like it, but if I was by myself I would quit now.

Time 22 - Good. I like it, I want to win now and reach teh wall.

Time 24 - I'm into winning now.

John (Keller):
From the point of view of the ARCS model, the player's motivation increased as his confidence increased. Player score and enjoyment rose as his experience with the game increased. Also, when the sound feature was turned on, this helped focus attention and increased his motivation. However, the relevance was low... player noted that he would have stopped playing before 20 minutes if he had been on his own. The social factor of the group play helped increase the relevance for the player.

Csikszentmihalyi

At the beginning Hugh was frustated with the game. He did not undertand the game's purpose. As the game went on, he began to feel more comfortable with it. Flow was starting to take form at about 10 minutes, once sound was added to the game, and we were allowed to assist him. During the last 15 minutes of play, Hugh was very well aware of how to play the game. He also developed some strategies that allowed him to perform better.

Mark (Leper)
This game allows me to highlight several aspects of my theory of games. There are several motivators which will make learning and games more rewarding. the first of these are challenge. The subject began the game by expressing confusion. He perseved the game as too challenging because he did not have enough information. His emotional feeling over the first few minutes are low because the perceived challenge level is too high.

As the game continues, his curiosity helps to sustain him, but there is also an element of the unatural to this experiement in that the players is forced to continue to play. The very nature of "play" is removed from the eperiemnt by this element. The game stops being a toy and is more a tool.

This forced nature to the experiment also frustrates the players sense of control, another of the prime aspects of good motivation. The players feels lose of power. This is sensed in his stament that he does not get what the point is.

Jennifer Martin
Christie Young
Doreen Clough
Paul Kerry

Game: Shapes 2

Overall Sense: The skills needed to manipulate the controls takes several rounds of practice.

Beginning: The player was highly frustrated and annoyed by the game.

Middle: Still annoyed but beginning to have moments of pleasure. Player was beginning to master the dexterity of manipulating the shapes.

 End: Player was doing very well, learned to change difficulty level. Was able to advance to new levels, very excited and motivated to play.

Mike: The flow was disjointed at the beginning, the difficulty was frustrating because she continually was losing the game. Towards the end of the game the player was in flow, especially after she advanced to new levels. She didn't want to quit when the time was up. There was a dynamic feature of the game that allowed that player to become better at manipulating the shapes.

Mark: There was a definite challenge to learn how to manipulate the spatial combinations of the shapes. Player was curious about how to play the game and how it worked at the beginning. Player felt very little sense of control at beginning of the game but as her skill level improved her feelings of control increased. The game addressed all levels of intrinsic motivation.

John: The player was highly engaged and her attention was on the game. Player was able to use her past experiences with Tetris when learning to play the game. Player felt very little confidence at beginning, but Player chose the hardest level first. She felt no locus of control, however once she discoved how to change the level of difficulty she felt much more confident in her ability. Player was only satisfied when she made rows, but especially felt satisfaction once she progressed to the higher levels.

Snood

Overall - The game was confusing, game was fast- things changed quickly. The rules didn't seem clear enough. Didn't understand the variables. Attentions split. Animations distracting.

Beginning - Some confusion, but felt she could win if had more time.

Middle -
A. Game's not fair, rules not being followed. "I don't understand what's going on."
B. But started to get engaged. Started to learn it, but got frustrated again because what she thought she knew didn't work anymore.

End- Scores got really high, but she didn't know if the score was important. Still wasn't clear what the objective of the game was.

Mike -
Goal was clear, but the skills to obtain the goal were unclear.
She wasn't aware of what it took to get the goal. She was engaged and concentrated on the game. Didn't give up. Time went by really fast - but she would have given up on it if it wasn't necessary to continue.

Mark -
There was a challenge and curiousity in the beginning to figure out how to play, but then it got boring. Didn't feel that in control of the actual object that was being shot.

John -
Attention - The game looked interesting and therefore a little engaging. She wanted to learn how to play it. But lost attention at the end because she got frustrated with the game.

Relevance - It didn't seem relevant to anything in her life, because she's not competitave. Didn't care about her score at all.

Confidence - Low confidence in the beginning, but as the game went she started to get a hang of it and felt she could do it with more practice. Observers got too engaged and made her feel a little less confident at times too.


Satisfaction - Did feel good as she got better at it. But then the game changed and she didn't feel as satisfied because it didn't stay consistant.

Boggle

Overall:
The challenge was very high for Reed in the beginning. He was very frustrated and only found words reading from left to right. Later, he started to feel more comfortable with the interface. The game kept asking him to register which distrubted his concentration.

Beginning
Game was very challenging for Reed. He was very uncertain and wasn't sure if he would look stupid.

Middle
He became engaged and this is when he played the best. He was engaged at the exsystemic and sensory levels. He had curiousity that was based on things beyond the game.

End
Towards the end he became content and pleased but then got frustrated because he kept pressing the wrong button.

Analysis
Mike:
His happiness was not fulfilling in the beginning..He was distracted by outside people and very self-conscience.
He started to feel more comfortable with himself and his anxiety went down as skill became less of a factor.
The flow was interrupted from interface problems due to the registration pop-up window.

Mark
Challenge
In the beginning the activity was at a significant level of difficulty for the learner. There was uncertain outcome each time that helped him stay motivated. Self-esteem was low. He did not have a high level of confidence that he could find the words.

Curiousity
There was minimal sensory curiousity due to the low tech visual affects and lack of audio. However, there was signficant interactive exchange as he tried to find words amidst the letters

Control
The learner was determined but the activity was not very responsive. Choices were limited to the learners existing knowledge. Personalization of the activity was hard for the learner. He did not feel powerful.

Fantasy
I would go so far as to say that the game was gender baised toward women due to it being a word game. As learner was male, frustration was high.

John
Attention:
He paid close attention to the screen as time was a factor and each minute counted.

Relevance:
He was not very interested in words or word games so this game did not have much relevance to his life.

Confidence:
Reed's level of confidence increased each round as he was able to list more and more words.

Satisfaction:
Reed was not very satisfied with this game due to the interruptions of the registry pop-up window.

Tracy Kreckman (Hugh), Suzanne Bacon (Mike), Bob Faust (Mark), Yiftach Levy (John)

First game begins: player Tranquil
@ 2 min.: Uncertain - nervous, score 378

A new game began just before the next mark:
@ 4 min.: Pleased, score 138
6 min: Engaged - doing well, score 1116

8 min: Pleased, score 1351

10 min: Annoyed (didn't finish level), score 1625 END GAME

12: engaged (discovered bank shot), score 241

14: frustrated (almost killed), score 573

16: Pleased (new game began), score 456

18: Uncertain, score 857

20: Excited, score 1221

22: Excited, 1471
Game ended @ 23 min., score 1581

John: Initial impression of game visuals attracted player, but Danger meter was ignored after first game (ATTN); Learning was by trial and error, low relevance to life activities (besides basic hand eye coordination) (REL); medium level of difficulty was "just right," perhaps just beyond player's level of skill, kept him interested enough to keep playing, "wanted to continue because I know I can do it." Danger Wall coming down was expected, exact timing unknown (due to ignoring of meter), feedback immediate: either snoods disappear, or they don't, and/or wall comes down.

Mark: The challenge of the game was its greatest appeal. Although the snood heads were interesting, they were not a significant fantasy element. Learning the game, the player did have significant control over what was happening. A lot of decisions had to be made as to which area to shoot to. The process of learning the game involved a high level of curiosity.

Mike: The player was in a pretty good state of flow throughout most of the game. The challenge level was just above his skill level. He knew the challenge was just within his reach, and he was excited to achieve his goal. Even after the activity was over, the player continued playing indicating a strong "flow" state.

Boggle

Reminder: Bernie, we lost our info; this is it retyped. Anne and Liz will add their parts later. Thanks!


Beginning – "Hugh" was excited at first. Then she became engaged in the game and quickly became annoyed at not knowing the rules. She wanted points for people’s names.

Middle – Her feelings continued to range from engaged to annoyed. Her confidence began to grow as she earned more points in each successive game. However, she would have liked to have seen a cumulative point total as she was playing each game. The incentive to score more points may have been higher. Then she found out that she could end her current game, receive a score, and start a new game.

End – She reached a level of higher engagement. But despite the possibility of ending a game to receive a score in “times of trouble”, she still wanted to finish each game.

Overall: Had there been a more definitive end goal, she may have been more "in" to the game. The same small goal of creating words without immediate feedback of her point total was unmotivating. This dimished her flow by not allowing her to become completely immersed in or challenged by the game.


Mike (Lori): There was little flow. Her low skill level did not match the high challenge of the game. Also, she found it difficult to focus when people were watching and became self conscious. This prohibited her from becoming fully engaged.

John (Liz):

Mark (Anne):

Re: Boggle eval w/ Anne, Lori, Kristine

Boggle eval notes according to John Keller:

Attention: Initially, Hugh was very excited to start playing Boggle. Throughout the twenty minutes of play, Hugh's attention was held during each game; she consistently reported feeling engaged. However, her attention was not at all sustained, as she said later the only reason she kept playing game after game was for the sake of the assignment.

Relevance: None could be found.

Confidence: Hugh perceived her competence to be higher initially, and as she quickly discovered the game was more difficult than she thought, her confidence dropped. As she played her confidence grew each time she rasied her score significantly.

Satisfaction: Hugh began to feel less annoyed, more confident, and somewhat more pleased each time she discovered a way in which she had control in the game. Finding out that she could re-roll or start a new game at any time and still be scored helped this, as did noticing the feedback the game provided on how many points she got for each word. Although Hugh mentioned about ten minutes into the play dissatisfaction with the scoring in that she would like to see a cumulative score, by the end of the play she reported feeling somewhat satisfied at feeling that her performance had improved with each game she played, even though it was not documented.