This document discusses emotions in digital entertainment and proposes ways to improve it. It notes that digital entertainment today focuses too much on repetitive content and creating addictiveness, which leads to negative emotions. However, entertainment should aim to generate more positive emotions like love, joy, surprise, and compassion. The document argues for entertainment that is emotion-oriented, daring in its creativity, and socially responsible in the emotions it cultivates. It suggests looking to examples of well-designed games that transport players to "flow zones" of genuine pleasure and happiness.

1. Love Longing
Sentimentality Love
Joy
Lust
Tenderness Compassion
Affection Surprise
Fondness Caring Anger
Adoration
Beijing Digital Entertainment Jam – JulSadness
13, 2007
Attraction
Liking
Emotions in Digital Entertainment Plus Eight Star Ltd
Mobile & Internet Business Consulting
China, Japan & South Korea
Benjamin Joffe | +8* | Plus Eight Star Ltd Fear
www.plus8star.com

2. Me
Benjamin JOFFE
本杰明

3. 4 years
1 year
2 years

4. www.plus8star.com

5. Mobile and Internet
China | Japan | South Korea

6. „Innovation Arbitrage‟
他山之石，可以攻玉

7. ?
why am I here

8. 2
reasons

9. 1
Experience
with a visionary mobile startup
in Japan

11. Mobile
Massively
Multiplayer
Ubiquitous
Location-Based
Role-Playing Game

12. (MMMULBRPG?)

13. (1999)

14. Me
Collection + Communication

15. Released in Japan in 2003

16. No sound

17. No animation

18. No 3D

19. No PK

20. ?
why did users like it

21. Lots of communication
&
Pleasure of
linking with and discovering
both real and virtual world

23. 3D view (web interface) –
www.mogimogi.com
Nation-wide 3D maps can be
used to spot :
- rare items
- players and NPCs
- special locations (e.g. shops)

24. Me
Current
“Virtual Shops”

25. Strong media recognition (2004)

26. Me
Mobiles usually connect us
with people we know

27. Me
Location-based services
can connect us with strangers
who share „connectivity‟

28. Me
Position gives a strong sense
of reality

29. Company sold in 2005

30. Environmental reasons
- no marketing
- network speed
- cost of data
- (first venture)

31. Difficulty to communicate
a new feeling

32. 2
Share
an idea about possible futures
for digital entertainment

33. Me
digital world
undergoing rapid changes

34. Me
but
important problems remain

35. Me
?
where is the hope

36. Going back in time…

37. Founding Fathers
1958
1st video game: tennis for two
by US scientist

38. My generation
1977
Atari 2600 …simple but great gameplay

39. 1983
Tetris by Russian programmer
Alex Pajitnov

40. 1994
PlayStation sold over 100 million units

41. 2004
Nintendo DS with touch screen, sold
over 40 million units

42. 2006
with movement controller
Nintendo Wii & network connectivity,
sold over 8 million units

45. Me
Until now,
games for gamers

46. Me
Today,
virtual world trend

47. Second Life
(US)
HiPiHi
(China)

48. Me
Limits get blurred

50. Is World of Warcraft (WoW)
a new meeting place?

51. Is Second Life (SL)
another chance for those
who did not make it
in the first?

52. Mobile : long wait for 3G

53. “Entertainment is King”

54. Games
3G Girls
Gambling

55. Problem #1
Entertainment is stuck
in old definitions

56. Consequence #1
Too many me-too content

57. Consequence #2
Solution seen in high specs

58. Problem #2
Entertainment is not
responsible

59. Have you ever played
a video game?

60. Have you ever felt
bad or bored
after playing a game?

61. Consequence #1
Efforts to create addictiveness
“500 hours of gameplay!”

62. Consequences #2
Unhealthy

64. TODAY
Most digital entertainment is
BORING

65. …and often expensive

66. (less in China)

67. ?
why

68. …because creators keep
repeating what worked
&
limit their own creativity

69. ?
so what‟s the way out

70. Dogma
What makes people
buy „entertainment‟ are
the emotions it generates

71. Emotions created
by digital entertainment
have not been overly positive

72. violence
greed
fame

73. violence  destruction
greed  attachment
fame  self-centeredness

74. long-term feeling
=
not so good

75. Love Joy Surprise Anger Sadness Fear

76. Love Longing
Joy
Lust
Affection Surprise
Anger
Sadness
Fear

77. Love Longing
Sentimentality Love
Joy
Lust
Tenderness Compassion
Affection Surprise
Fondness Caring Anger
Adoration
Sadness
Attraction
Liking
Fear

78. 6
primary emotions
25
secondary emotions
135
tertiary emotions

79. Unfortunately, engineers
are not very good
with emotions…

80. …and designers often try hard
to create artwork,
not design…

81. to conclude, one example

84. “Top 10 Games
You Never Heard of”
Selection 2006
…and other awards

85. A well-designed game transports
its players to their personal
Flow Zones,
delivering genuine feelings
of pleasure and happiness
Jenova Chen
in Flow in games (and everything else)
ACM, April 2007

86. My wish
Digital entertainment to be:
+ emotion-oriented
+ daring
+ responsible

87. thank you
谢谢
Y (^_^) Y
benjamin@plus8star.com