One word inspiration

A year ago, I ranted about the importance of evoking new kind of emotional experiences to push the artistic quality of video game forward. But since I've been working on Flow theory, I didn't spend enough time to evolve the idea of these emotions beyond just "new". Now I'm back with a new inspiration.

I encountered a word multiple times recently. I heard it through Tetsuya Mizuguchi's interview when he talks about his game design and "Synestesia". I saw it on my friend's blog describing her emotional experience affected by the television. And the word used by them is "Catharsis".

To many of you this is not a new word. But it opened an entire new world for me when I tried to figure out what the hell does this word mean from Wikipedia. I'll share some quote about this word here:

The definition of this word really covers what an artistic media with high quality contains no matter if it's a film or a game.

"Catharsis, the term in drama refers to a sudden emotional breakdown or climax that constitutes overwhelming feelings of great pity, sorrow, laughter or any extreme change in emotion that results in the renewal, restoration and revitalization for living."

Although most people related Catharsis strictly to tragedy. I think it applies to most extreme emotions and explains why people need entertainment very well.

"Using the term 'Catharsis' as a form of emotional cleansing was first written about by the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his work Poetics. It refers to the sensation, or literary effect, that would ideally overcome an audience upon finishing watching a tragedy. 'In real life, men are sometimes too much addicted to pity or fear, sometimes too little; tragedy brings them back to a virtuous and happy mean.'"

Another interesting argument here about whether a new art form (video games or poetry) makes people dangerous or the opposite.

"Any translator attempting to interpret Aristotle meaning of the term should take into account that Poetics is largely a response to Plato's claim that poetry encourages men to be hysterical and uncontrolled. In response to Plato, Aristotle maintains that poetry makes them less, not more, emotional, by giving a periodic and healthy outlet to their feelings."

As a temporary conclusion, purley saying new emotion for video games is too vague to follow and master. As we dive in and explore the open area of video game designs, not only do we explore new emotional experiences, we also have to leverage them into the level of Catharsis to achieve strong emotional impact to the gamer. And usually the moment you experience Catharsis in a video game is the most memorable sequence of it. I wonder if you experienced them. If so, please share it here :)

Thoughts on video games for adults

I haven't written down any game design related thoughts for a while. So here's my compensation.

I believe many of you have been excited and tried to show-off your Wii or DS to the parents and non-gamer friends. And probably a large portion of you did that with a tiny hope from the bottom of your heart that they will start appreciate and enjoy video games just like you did since Wii and DS are so accessible.

Well, I was one of you guys who wished everybody in the world enjoy and appreciate games. But the result from my Wii holiday test is not that positive. While most non-gamers picked up the Wii sports easily and told me "It's fun." None of them actually played more than 30 minutes before they go back to read books, cooking or watch TV. Without me turning on the Wii, none of them would actually play because of their own will.

Notice I'm talking about adults from 25 to 60. I'm sure younger generation loves Wii. The fact is that most people form stable values after they become adults and it gets harder to change as the age accumulates. These values cover the choice of entertainment. My grandpa loves playing chess and reading newspaper to kill his time, while my mom tends to watch TV all day long. To them, these are the entertainment they picked up when they were young and used through their entire life. A simple Wii game won't change the places and priorities of what they want as entertainment.

Today I am finally old enough to look at what I have enjoyed since I was a kid, video games, from an adult perspective. Old school arcade games we played countless hours when we were kids, such as Mario, Contra and Pac man, somehow, seem so difficult, frustrating and pointless today. Can you remember how many parents were actually playing video games with their kids back in the 90s? If I was the parent, I won't play a game where it resets every three times I die. Obviously, it has something to do with all the good games I played as I grew up. But as adults, we tend to expect something more. The success of Brain Age and Dance Dance Revolution really addressed what I mean with that extra meaning. "Game is for kids, but this is designed to keep my brain young. Why not give it a try?"

While Nintendo is doing great at engaging people from different age to play games, they become more and more like Disney. Mario has become the new Mickey Mouse. However, being Disney also means there are many things you can't do, a lot of rules that you can't break, and many desires you can’t satisfy.

I'm fine watching Disney movies with kids and playing Wii with them. But for myself, I want something with more depth and artistic spirit in it, something that kids can't really understand but adults will reach enlightenment with. While we have the "Disney", the "Action Heros" and "ESPN" for the younger gamers, I want to play the "Oscar" winners, I want to be moved and inspired.

I can rarely find a game that worth my time playing these days. Not that I don't love games any more, games designed and made intellectually attractive to the grown up gamers are simply hard to find. Gamers have grown up, what about the games?

ps: the image is only for eyeball catching...

What comes after usability?

Kathy Sierra from Creating Passion Users Blog posted a nice article about userbility and Flow. She also linked my theis site, that's how I find the article :)

I especially like the diagrams she used in the article.

Click here to see the full article.

Impression of Xbox360 Blockbusters

I was not born in US, so am I not a football fan.
But now as I think of footballer-like character as a cultural preference, it's amazing how it worked out very obviously in north american games.

It's interesting that football appears in movies too. But football theme is never the mainstream in Hollywood, it appears to teenagers not necessarily adults. So what will be the mainstream for video games in the future when more adults are involved?