Week 2: Engage in the Meta

Big “G” Games

G Factors

• Collective Intelligence• Gamification• Smart Tools• Convergence• Distributed Intelligence• Constant Assessment

http://new.livestream.com/g4c/jamespaulgee

4 Factor Fun

• Hard Fun• Easy Fun• Altered States• People Factor

Nicole Lazzaro http://www.xeodesign.com/whyweplaygames.html

Flow and Fiero

Games Can Change the World

• Urgent Optimism• Social Fabric• Blissful Productivity• Epic Meaning

Jane McGonigal http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Meta Game

• Others• Metagame• Machinima• Modding• Sites

MMORPGs

• WoW• Minecraft• TERAOnline• EVEOnline• Club Penguin• Poptropica• Others

Console Games

• Portal• Skyrim• Assasin’s Creed • Others

COTSCommercial Off-Shelf

Metagame

• Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. Another definition refers to the game universe outside of the game itself.

Gaming Principles

• Players• Rules• Challenge or Conflict• Feedback• Practice• End state of winning or losing

Behavior Motivation Elements

• Points• Levels• Achieves• Badges• Leaderboards

MMORPGs

• Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Play Game• World of Warcraft• Stars Wars the Old Republic• Allow for PvP, PvE and RP

Engagement

Immersion & Flow

Keller’s ARCS Model

• Attention• Relevance• Confidence • Success

http://www.arcsmodel.com/

Clay Shirky TED Talk

“Cognitive Surplus"

the shared, online work we do with our spare brain cycles

The Great Spare-Time Revolution

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/05/ff_pink_shirky/all/1

The Game

• World of Warcraft http://us.battle.net/wow/en/

Player Roles & Responsibility

• Tank

Player Roles & Responsibility

• Healers

Player Roles & Responsibility

• DPS (Damage per Second)

DPS Mage

Example of the Math• Mastery for Mages

– Assumption: • Mastery rating gives you 10% damage increase based on mana• Your base is 10,000 dps

– Math in your head• at 10% mana, 10,100 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value

increased by 1% (10% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).• at 25% mana, 10,250 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value

increased by 2.5% (25% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).• at 50% mana, 10,500 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value

increased by 5% (50% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).• at 75% mana, 10,750 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value

increased by 7.5% (75% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).• at 100% mana, 11,000 damage, which corresponds to the normal damage value

increased by 10% (100% of the 10% increase from Mana Adept).

Now..

• Which do you choose? – Increase Mana (Intellect)? – Increase Mastery? – Lower Hit rating to increase Mastery? – Lower Critical Strike Rate to increase Intellect?

– Oh what about those pesky new patch notes… :D

Optimizing Play Styles• Websites: – Ask Mr Robot – Elitists Jerks– Icy – Veins

• Add Ons: – Curse Client

• Others?

Sounds Easy….

Right?

The Meta….

• Wow Wiki http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Main

• Elitist Jerks• http://elitistjerks.com/

• Icy-Veins• http://www.icy-veins.com/

http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Main

http://elitistjerks.com/

http://www.icy-veins.com/

Fat Boss

Metagame

• Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. Another definition refers to the game universe outside of the game itself.

Sandbox Genre

• Ability to alter the worldscape• Minecraft• Sims• Second Life• OpenSim Grids

Metagame

• Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. Another definition refers to the game universe outside of the game itself.

Mission

• Look at the Games Disposition• Flow and Fiero• Engage• Meta• Immerse

Synchronous Events

• Wednesday 7 pm MST (Denver) TweetChat• Thursday 7 pm MST (Denver) Massively

Minecrat• Saturday 9 am MST Field Trip into World of

Warcraft

• TBA Portal…..and perhaps another game

Engage in the Meta