Presentation given at Advance in Computer Entertainment 2013 in Bad Boekelo, near Enschede. Hosted this year by University of Twente. It is a presentation on the short paper accepted at ACE: meaning in life as a source of entertainment. Our main point is to wonder why and use human needs, including the humanistic view, to readdress and assess impact of choices in research, and design. This might can be used as source for new entertainment.
Ourpresentationbasicallycomes down toone word: Why?Askyourselves:Why?Whybuildthistechnologyto entertain humans, What are we tryingtoachievewiththis entertainment with respect toimproving a humans life.
Most ofus are engineers, we deal withformulasandrequirementsand we are good at it(otherwiseyouwouldn’t have made itto ACE 2013)Soto the why most of uswillrespondwith a technicalchallenge, “because we can” or a targeted user experience....Hassenzahlstatedabouttargetingexperiencesthey are elusive (intangible) and ephemeral(temporary) , and resist engineeringBut we make technologytoimprovehuman lives, it is alsohard to get funding without a why
So we proposesome new directionsto look at
[small pause] hmmmm … statedlikethisstartingfrom a blank sheet….it is notan easy task….
as Hassenzahlalsoproposed, instead of targetingexperiencesdirectly we couldlook below the surface of the experiences and turn to …fundamental human needs that are universalUnfortunately we donttellyouhowyoushoulduseneeds, not even howyoucan, onlythatyoucouldandperhapsthat we should.someneeds, those close tohumanism, mightbeeasilyoverlooked but we thinkthey are important
Sowhat we did is,.. we interpretedneedsproposedby differentpeoplelikeBaumeister, Maslow, Sheldon et al. and van houten et al. ,whomlooked at themandlooked at whatthey have in common andnot, andalsowhichones have been usedbypeople we know of workingwithneeds or similarconstructs in HCIWe thenended up withsomeoverview but this is not a finished or absolute list, such a collectionalways is a matter of a level of detail, justlike these pencils …..if want to draw thattotally blank sheet there is no use in 16 millioncolourshere but itmight help to have 10 different coloursto make a drawingif want to do anawesomerealism masterpiece I willneed more.Furthermoreit is not the most important point fromour paper, it is the turningtoneeds (whatever set andrealizing the whythat we liketoemphasize)
Sowhat does givemeaning, whatmakesour life interestingset of possibleneedsshort descriptioninterpretation of the needExamplesself-consistentI will go throughthiscombined set of possibleneedsgiving a short description of ourinterpretationaccompanyingeveryneedAnd show withexamplesthattheycanbefulfilled withexisting entertainment andserious-gamingforthis I triedtousealternativeexamplesthat we didnotyetuse in our paper…. [in retrospectthoseseemtobeslightlylessto the point thanthosefrom the paper]
a sense of volition. Not merely about free-choice
Forinstance open-endedgaming in whichyoudecide the rulesand goalsand in this case even create the worldSuch as Minecraft “Let’s go wherever you want to go”[for web publication: Screenshot of Minecraft trailer]
Efficacy, control and competence feeling capablebeing strong in life. Baumeister, merely understanding The whole edutainment movement signifies the importance of this.
But onecouldalso look at the universality of needs,forinstancepeoplewho are lacking in efficacy…As Henrik Larssendid in his SID-project forprofound multiple handicappedpeople,easy tounderstand but trulyinteractive multimedia devices,For instancethisvibratingwaterbed based on sounds. [we are alsorecentlystartedworking on this]
connected to other people,reciprocal
interactive bar elicitingsocial contact through a shared interactivespacewithanambiguous open-endedgame.
feeling healthyfood, water, nutrition exercise.
e-health entertainment , including coaching some persuasive games and exergaming, but they don’t stop the need for nutrition.Games like these full-body game-platforms on the picture can stimulate physical well-being[photo by semfotonl]
perceived threats for future need fulfilment
Relatedtoefficacy deal with threats serious games targeting security VR police officers suit system re-lion shownBut there are also applications to help people with a variety of phobias. [picture of re-lion system]
enjoyability of beautiful things, aesthetics,(passively) hedonic quality of things,
CreataestheticspleasuresWaiting screen[starcraft game as seen in opening game]
having goals and attaining fulfilment, to do things for a reason and the expected influence of this on future states.
solve hard problems with humans crowdsourcing havepeoplehelpingyou outGivespurposeto the participants
values to live by, moral standards and things to measure up to,
‘basics’ need for values.persuasivegames aboutenvironmentalunderstanding etc. Contemplating driving values and for example targetig simple everyday values of not disturbing other people addressed in a provocative way in the previous presentation by ConorLinehan- Designing Pervasive Games that Play with the Social Rules of Built EnvironmentsIt might also be nice to think of the different modes of persuasive games presented yesterday by ValentinaRao: A Framework for Evaluating Behavior Change Interventions through Gaming. Othergreatexampleare the games byMolleindustria, one could also look into the paper
To feel worthy, good and in some cases better compared to others, related to efficacy
high-scoresprefilled fake playerFeelbetterthan…
Self-actualisation, Creativity, Open-mindedness and Self-Expression. express become who one really is-------------many see it as an artistic dimension, although this is only a part of what self-actualization is about.
Nascarracing 1994, hpaintkittoolkitPainting more funthandriving
ConclusionWe canaddress(almost?) everydimension of our life
some cases find out you do not actually improve life ancare-robot for elderly person diminish social interactions Link to others needsFind new directions with the universality