Project 2 – Case study
The first element of presence is the quality of the social interaction available within the VRE, that is, if it was perceived as “sociable, warm, sensitive, personal or intimate when it is used to interact with other people.”
——Alison McMahan, 2003
So how to make players feel extremely interactive. Alison refers to the term presence in her article, which comes from having some sociable, warm, sensitive, personal, or intimate interaction with the society or people in it. In Red Dead Redemption 2, the player can play cards and gamble with NPC, and in Elden Ring, the player can marry NPC Renna. These are all interactions with NPC to feel the presence of self.
So what interaction can sound provide?
In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, instrument sounds and speaker music can interact. When the player plays music on the speaker, if the player uses an instrument, then the instrument will sound the same pitch or close as the music.
In addition, once the shop is built, if the player chooses to enter at 9:50 pm (when the shop is nearly closed), they will hear a unique piece of music, much like the music played in malls before they are ready to close. Taro Bando, one of the producers of this game, has said in an interview, “Ah, there’s music here,” Hopefully, players will realise this. Collect songs and furniture as you go along and put them where you like.
- Update 12.5 – Bibliography – Alison McMahan. (2003). “Immersion, engagement and presence.” The video game theory reader 67.S 86.
- Update 12.5 – Game work reference – Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Nintendo, 2020 & Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018, Rockstar Games)
- Update 12.5 – Interview – How the Animal Crossing was born. 2008 Games Workshop. https://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0105/kaibo/talk/page02.html
Update 12.6 – The interactivity of presence
The first element Alison mentions about presence is social interaction. My understanding of this part is that the player can talk to the NPCs in the game or that some decision the player makes changes the course of the game world. In short, it’s about making the player feel part of the game world through various interactions. So for an example of social interaction with sound, I am thinking of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons example, mentioned in the section above. The player can change the position of the community sound source by moving the speaker’s place in the environment and making the NPCs move to follow the speaker.
This section highlights that interacting with the environment is essential to perceived presence.
Alison mentions Clive Fencott in the section on presence, and Clive Fencott mentions the word sense of control in his model. And the best way for players to feel that they are successfully gaining a sense of control in a game is through timely feedback on each of their control actions. For example, feedback on moving, acquiring items, gaining victories, etc. This feedback includes sound and animated graphics. So there is another concept that needs to be mentioned for players to perceive their presence in the game: Juicy design, which involves timely feedback.
Brown (2013) describes the Juicy Design as a ‘Visceral Feeling’ that provides a sense of satisfaction. And most game designers use the word Juicy to describe the sensory sensation and stimulation that gives to the player.
An area that is inherently linked to the idea of juicy design is the element of feedback in games, i.e. the information that the player receives about their input, and changes in game state. Feedback can be audio, visual, haptic, or a combination thereof; feedback elements are important to improve player experience. ——Fullerton, 2014
Rewarding the player for completing a level with musical rising tones (e.g. Super Mario Bros) or particle-feeling sound effects (e.g. Peggle) or unique sound effects that delight the player (e.g. Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ show off sound effect) gives the player a strong sense of success. The definition of the term Juicy focuses on positive feedback, however, Swink (2009) argues that negative feedback also needs to be considered and argues that at the heart of Juicy is the immediacy and richness of the feedback. Therefore, one of the key attributes of a successful game is that feedback on player actions is prioritised and focused on.
Bibliography
Alison McMahan. (2003). “Immersion, engagement and presence.” The video game theory reader 67.S 86.
Brown Morgan & Chuck Longanecker. (2013). How to Design for the Gut. UX Magazine. May 29.
Tracy Fullerton. (2014). “Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games”. Third Edition. CRC Press.
Steve Swink. (2009). Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation. Amsterdam: Boston: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers/Elsevier