Do games make you violent?

Let's see what common sense tells us about games making us violent.

Being a game designer, I am often asked these questions...
Do games make people violent?
Do games have an adverse effect on kids?

The game development fraternity will expect a NO for an answer. Others who know that I am part of that fraternity would expect a NO from me as well. And looking at how I've started this article, I am sure you are already expecting a shocker that I am going to claim otherwise. But let's read on before we jump to any conclusion... ;)

A few days back, I was 'following' an argument on a game developers forum about how random journalists who don't know what they are talking about, make wild and unfounded claims that games make people violent. Their stories, at times, backed by the equally clueless armchair academics with statistics to back their claims. I know for a fact that 80% of such stats are conjured out of thin air. (Got it :D) Anyway, once such an article is published, it is customary for the game developers to waste no time to pounce on that article and the writer to show how wrong and malicious that research is. And that something must be done to save the games industry from these 'enemies of games.' On such forums you dare not contradict the protectors of the games industry.

The most favorite defense of game developers is to pass the buck on to the most logical victim (victim of all victims) - the movie industry. 'Why blame the games when movies have been making people violent for over a century?' I really wish to see how the movie fraternity reacts to that!

The other favorite defense is to make everyone play Portal (A First Person Spatial Puzzler). Kids become bright after playing that game, is their claim.


I agree that opinionated journalism is a bane but, believe me, games are not the only victims. Also, whenever someone puts a real bullet in someone's head, the attitude of searching through his games library first and then, if required, checking out his hidden weapons inventory and criminal record as optional corroboratory exhibits is nothing short of a gimmick to grab the headlines.

So what's my take? 

On games
- Anything (including games) that entertains possesses the power to influence your thoughts.
- The extent and the kind of influence depend on the malleability of that person's mind.
- If a game can influence you positively (like most puzzle games), it can affect you in a negative manner as well.
- That most games, by themselves, aren't good or evil.
- Games can definitely trigger certain behaviors (I usually prescribe a couple of games as a suppository whenever people on my team suffer from a creative block. It works like magic :)  )

On people and them not allowing children to play video games 
 - I have a feeling that most game developers and journalists tend to think of their customers/readers as people with sub-par intellect. So much so that they believe that reading articles about how good or how bad games are, can tilt the balance in either direction.
- People, in my opinion, can very well decide if they want to play games or not and which games to play.
- People also know how to best bring up their child. The games industry should refrain from patronizing parents about how playing video games will or won't affect their child. After all, we aren't taking the responsibility of that child, are we?

Do games (video games specifically) make people violent?
No. 

Can they make people violent?
Yes they can (especially if the person has a violent disposition). Also it will be a great exercise for the game developers to dig deeper into why and how games were invented and for what purpose. I am talking about absolutely ancient games.

Can people be made violent by factors other than games?
Yes.
As a trial, just try to mouth, 'You should be given an award for your great traffic sense', to a passing motorist. Point a finger at him if possible and see how he reacts.

So does the debate over whether games make people violent or not, holds any water?
No. It's a pointless debate.

- regards,

Abhishek

Recognition

Just like if you wear your jeans long enough, even the odor it emanates after...say 15 days dies off on the 20th day and then there remains no reason to wash it in the first place. I say that I've been gone for so long, it's no use apologizing. And so let's begin.

One day, I was sitting at my desk going through my office mail, preparing my to do list for the day, jotting down points for the daily meetings for the 7 or so projects' that I have been directly or indirectly involved in ....in short, I was preparing for the day. Suddenly one of my Rareandraring Game Designer apparated at my desk and enthusiastically started telling me something. It took me, not more than, a couple of seconds to 'realize that he was there and look up and listen', but he was already talking about MS Dhoni...world cup...sachin tendulkar...

'Come again', said I.

Apparently my direct report had, by some snag in the system, been attending a training course that I was supposed to attend. From his gestures and enthusiasm it looked like he'd been thoroughly liking what he had been attending. I smiled. Someone seems to have giving him the idealistic stuff and he was lapping it up. I started listening.

'I wish I could be like Mahendra Singh Dhoni.' he said.

I patted myself on the back for such a flawless analysis of what a company training can be and ultimately yield. (And now you see that I pat myself on the back quite a lot) Anyway, I thanked the system or the person who had made the mistake.

Now you'd expect that I should ask him, 'Why?' . But when you are rareandraring, the raring part takes care of such meaningless questions. Cause my enthusiastic designer had already launched into explaining why he wanted to be like MSD.

'Remember when India won the cricket world cup, he (MSD) was calmly walking behind the team. He didn't crave for the limelight. He let Sachin Tendulkar take the center stage. That's the kind of attitude I want to have in life. ....' he said this and a lot more in one breath.

This conversation took me back a few days when during our design meeting, a topic about 'recognition' had popped up. Naturally, such a topic never pops up when there is an abundance of recognition. I was glad that such a topic came up because it told me that my team was indeed made of people with rareandraring attitude. These guys wanted a forum and an applause for the great work they've been doing. Amazing! More so because it wasn't the lack of recognition from within the team but from people outside. So when he was done, it was time for me to speak.

'So have you posted our latest game's review link on the Facebook?' I asked.

Pat came the proud reply, 'No.'

It was time for me to shine some sunlight up...
 'Even if Mahendra Dhoni breaks wind, it will make news about how he has lost form and how good he was at breaking wind. How did you know that he was in the background when Sachin was supposedly hogging the limelight? Because the camera was focused on Dhoni glorifying his gesture. And Dhoni knows it. He does not try to hog limelight because he doesn't have to.'

I stood up and looked around me. There was a guy sitting at the end of the office room playing Cityville. I told my designer to go and ask him about what game had he (my designer) worked on. All of us (me, my designer and the Cityville playing guy at the end of the room) knew the answer that he didn't know the answer. But I made him go through the exercise. So when he came back, I told him.

'We've just released one of the highest rated (internationally) video games made in India, ever! However, don't go expecting people to know about it on their own. Moreover don't expect people to play your game and somehow visit the credits section to accidentally come across your name. If you've done something that you feel proud of, let the world know about it. There is nothing wrong in publicizing your success when public recognition is one of your core driving factors. MSD can afford to not publicize his work because it's already being done for him. You, on the other hand, need to promote your work to reach that stage where you no longer need to promote it. So the next time when I ask you whether you've published that link on FB, I expect a yes.'

-----

I, as a game designer, believe that the greatest driving force for any true game developer is to entertain people and see them entertained. And when he does a good job, owns the bragging rights for it. If the recognition doesn't come his way, he must on his own volition make sure that it comes his way. Cause like money is to a business establishment, recognition is to an entertainer.

Where and how to start game design? (Part 3)

This is the concluding part of the three part article about where and how to start game design. People who have just arrived can click  (Part 1) and (Part 2) to understand what the hoopla is all about.

Rule 6 - Balance the game such that all the players should be able to make a comeback
I often refer to it as the 'point of no return'. This is the point when a player knows that he needs to restart his game or let his character die in order to make another, perhaps successful, attempt. If such a situation should arise in your game quite early, it should ring alarm bells. While designing the board game, you should make sure that the rules that you frame for the player allow him to make a complete come back and turn the tables on his opponents even when the case seems hopelessly out of hand. This not only keeps the lagging player interested but also keeps the leading player on a constant alert to perform. Because until the last turn is played out, nobody really knows who is going to win. Ideally, there should not be a point of no return unless the die is rolled for the last time. Quite a few games do it very well.

Risk, Chinese Checkers and Scrabble knowingly or unknowingly use this principle to keep the players engaged.

Rule 7 - No dominant strategy to win the game
Dominant strategy is a way of playing the game that assures or almost assures victory. Usually when your game depends too heavily on the skill level of the player and keeps the chance part to a bare minimum, you are invariably heading for a game that will have a dominant strategy. However, skill and chance imbalance are not the only causes of a dominant strategy but also how well balanced or fair your game rules are. A lot of play testing and iterations are required to remove any vestiges of such strategies.


Rule 8 - Keep the social aspect of the game alive
When two or more people come together to play a game, the social interaction between them is just as important as the game itself. The more rewarding the social experience is, the greater is the addiction value. I had an aspiring game designer who had designed a board game and asked me to review it. After looking at the board and the rules, I asked him to play test the game with his friends and figure it out for himself. He went on and played the game with his father. Eventually the father made him leave gaming field altogether. Coming back to the point, the board game was designed such that one player would take about 15 minutes to finish his turn and then the other player would start his turn, which would go on for another 15 minutes or so. And while this undulation continued, the waiting guy was just made to wait. So instead of promoting social interaction, the game (if it can be called one) bored the people. And while one player thought about how to take out the opponent's tokens, the waiting guy probably thought about taking out the other guy altogether.
Chess keeps both the players totally involved irrespective of whose turn it is. Risk does the same and makes you form unwritten alliances or back stab someone. That game is as much a game on board as it is off it. Monopoly goes a step ahead and makes you enjoy the opponent's turn more than your own.


Rule 9 - Allow the player to make his own rules and play it
Scrabble is a burning example of this. Not only do rules vary from country to country, but they also vary from household to household, locality to locality. In fact as I write this there are set rules when it is played at my home. RULE- No use of official Scrabble dictionary words like OI, NM, QI etc. And until I bothered to read through the entire rule set of scrabble (Remember Rule 1?), we used to allow users to make use of Triple Word, Double Word, Triple Letter multipliers any number of times (so long as you formed a word using that tile space). Which used to result in insane scores such as 550 vs. 498 etc. Still, with all these rules, we never found Scrabble to be unfair or boring. It was just as challenging. So whether it is ignorance or innovation, allow enough head room for your players to change your game and still keep it interesting.

Rule 10 - Play-test, Iterate and Refine
An idea is like disheveled hair on a particularly bad hair day. You will have to wash it, shampoo it, gel it, comb it etc to make it presentable (I love the way I draw parallels). Any game idea in its exact IDEA state never makes a good game. The idea will always need to change and alter itself in order to make it game worthy and entertaining. The best way to ensure that you entertain your players is to play-test, look at the outcomes, make corresponding changes, reiterate, play-test and refine. The more you do it, the better your game would be.

Now you know where and how to start game design :). If you are the rare and raring type, start NOW!

Where and how to start game design? (Part 2)

Don't ask me how much but, believe me, it takes a lot of will power, character and self control to not talk about Osama, Obama, where the world is heading and most importantly how incapable the Indian Government is to do anything about anything (With a disapproving shake of the head and an inverted crescent of lips). Wherever you look, posts and articles abound about them like that mirror room in Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. I was almost tempted to name this article 'Obaba Obama ne Osama Oodavla.' Which in Marathi means 'Look Dad, Obama took out Osama.' Anyway ...

In the previous article we discussed about the need to learn board game design and in this one we will actually learn the first 5 of the most critical rules of board game design.

Rule 1 - Restrict the number of rules and keep them simple. (Better than 'Follow rule number 2 and onwards' heh?)
And I am not joking. Imagine a bunch of bored kids wanting something quick to play with. And 99% of the times, one of the kids will not know the rules of the game at all. Now imagine the resistance to play your game if other bored kids have to explain a booklet full of game rules to the new kid.

Rule 2 - Equal focus on chance and skill
This is a rule that should apply to pretty much any game ever created. And any game that follows this rule will surely be a resounding success. Chess? The only chance or piece of luck you get is whether your opponent is a worse player than you. The game banks heavily on skill and therefore has a niche market. Snakes and ladders? Banks too much on chance and virtually no skill is applied. Again, you won't find a couple of grown ups playing this kind of a game with each other.
On the other hand check out these games...
Monopoly? Yes. Trivial Pursuit? Yes. Scrabble? Definitely yes. Risk? Yes. And these games are vastly more successful only because they balance out skill and chance.

Rule 3 - The board layout should be self explanatory (Cause it then makes your job of keeping the rules to a minimum easier)

Look at the following examples. (I can now put some pictures in the blog post :) )

For all you know this can be a pattern on someone's underwear. If a guy who has never really played chess takes a look at this, won't understand anything by looking at the board.

Slightly better example of board design. Most important values and indicators are on the board itself.

Easiest and the best board design. You can explain this game to anyone in 4 to 5 sentences. Rest all is on the board.






Rule 4 - Use easily available tools and material for the design purpose
 An hourglass, 6 dice, 39 marbles, an electric count down timer, a circuit board, batteries and soldier shaped tokens are a big NO . All these items are not easily available and the more inaccessible the item is, the greater the delay it will cause for you to play-test and refine it.

Pen, pencils, paper, cardboard, water colors, a couple of dice, something that will serve as a token should help.

Rule 5 - Player should be able to identify with the game
Keep your target audience in mind. If you make a board game themed on Australian aborigines traditions and customs and expect it to be a hit in India, you are heading for a disaster. Similarly selling a Cricket based board game in the United States of America is a bad idea. While a very deep strategy game that features Pokemon characters will be a flop with strategy gamers and kids alike. So give a thought to the age group, ethnicity, culture, relevance and many such factors before you go gung-ho about your awesome game. The universal the theme is, the greater are the chances of success.

That's it for now. Hang in there and drop by sometime soon for the remaining 5 extremely important points.

Low Cost Airlines of Games - Part 2

...continuing from where we left off earlier this weekend. If you still haven't read Low Cost Airlines of Games - Part 1, might as well do it now.


All the games that use the 'free to play and then fortune to keep playing' model presently, are amongst the first to make such games. They have got millions of players thanks to the immense popularity of social networking sites and proliferation of iPhone, iPad devices. Publishers are getting away with absolutely substandard products because there was nothing like it in the market before this (And I hope this doesn't become a norm). And because these guys are making billions of dollars, quite a few publishers are jumping onto the bandwagon to reap the benefits.

But when there is more than one publisher in the foray, you no longer have the monopoly. And when someone doesn't have monopoly, their product needs to be much better or different from the competition. And people can easily figure out best amongst similar products. In short, the kitty splits.

With the attention span of present generation rivaling that of a gold fish, the Publishers don't know what game might work and what might not. Therefore to stay afloat, even the Dev/Publishers that have been renowned for unmatched quality have to cut the production costs so that a flop game won't result in a huge hit on their finances (amazing use of flop and hit in the same context). And therefore, they essentially try to get a game out within minimum possible time.

Typically a AAA console game usually takes around 1.5 to 3 years to make depending on whether it is a sequel/episodic or a 'from the scratch' game. The production costs of such games are huge. When these games pay, the payoff is huge; when they flop, entire studios close down.

A free to play game, of the current generation, usually takes around 5 months or less to make and new content gets released periodically. If it's a hit, the publisher keeps it going, if it's a flop, they kill the game.

Games that get made in 5 months and which need to appeal to millions of people (quite a hard task that) cannot be of the same quality as AAA products, in any respect (Most of FTP games are still Open Beta and buggy). Eventually, this idea of selling/playing quick frivolous games will become stale, even for the players. In short, the games will have to evolve. Evolution is always complex and complexity means more time to develop. The idea of making a game in 5 months will take a back seat and we will be back to square one of making a quality 'free to play' game. Longer production cycles, heavy costs, too many publishers

So all this is for what?
Look forward to the next installment for some hilarious examples of what might happen to current generation games if they are made free to play!

My Engagement Ring

Got you, didn't I? There's no denying the fact that you thought, 'This guy is now suddenly into lovey dovey stuff and poems, having exhausted his stock of topics and wisecracks. But let's see what this is all about.' :)

Though I don't usually call it 'My Engagement Ring', it can be called the 'circle of addiction' or 'the vicious circle'. Just like I write to entertain you people and perhaps guide the 'rare and raring' (and feel good about it myself) and just like you people religiously come every day to see what's in store for you (Will he be sarcastic, or be talking about Vevi , or what theory will it be today that kind of stuff), all the games should and must engage the player into this circle of addiction.

Let's see...

I was actually so tired after a hectic day and some tough exercise regime, I could have dropped off on the bed any moment. So what am I doing here writing a blog and completely alert? MOTIVATION!

Quite a lot of time was spent thinking about what I am going to write about today. I cannot afford to lose even a single reader of this blog. So should I be technical or should I be funny? CHALLENGE

However, I made an EFFORT as you can see. (and shucks I seem to be pulling this one off fairly good)

And if you are reading this post, I have got my REWARD. That's what MOTIVATES me to write. And there completes the circle, the ring.

On a similar line, the readers of this blog have their own Engagement Ring (which I absolutely have to care about at all times) that makes them come back. If I fail to engage you guys in either Motivation, Challenge, Effort or the Reward, you won't return.

So remember, as I always remember, to engage your players, audience and readers into this circle of addiction. It will be absolutely worth it!

Now...I can sleep peacefully. Take care!

Game Designer Myths 1

'Starting salary 6 lakh toh rahega na minimum?' (for people who don't know Hindi, Should I be expecting an insanely high salary when I become a junior game designer?)was the first question an aspiring game designer working as a QA tester asked me. Without batting an eyelid I said, '...that and a company car with an all expenses paid  flat (apartment house).' 

Now the joke ends there for most of the guys with a 'heh heh....heh heh'. But the guy then added 'Really? That's awesome.' I salute you, man.

And before we proceed any further, let me be very clear that all that you are reading in this post actually happened.

'Yo Brother, I want to be a Designer.'  As I looked up and my eyes steadied on the source of that voice, I found myself looking at a bad copy of a stereotype game designer of yesteryear. Lanky build, disheveled hair, bespectacled, vague expression, sporting a goatee, Yantra T shirt, a loose fitting jeans just about hanging in there, over sized white running shoes, a couple of piercings, a large tattoo on a surprisingly thin arm. Whenever this guy spoke to me after that (which wasn't many times, mind you) there was this 'Yo Brother.' associated with it. If you want to be a rebel, be natural about it. You don't need to look like a typical stereotype game designer to be one.


Then there are a lot of people who come up with this when they know that I am a game designer.  'Mere paas ek jabardast idea hain game ka. You should be making a game on it.' or 'I have a great idea for a game.' I give them a smile and say 'Sure.' (We will really touch this topic later. I will perhaps dedicate a full post for this. So let's just wait.)

'I write a lot. Check out my blogs and fan fictions. I can be of great help in writing design documents.'  Excuse me? You write a lot? You use flowery language? You use words that makes me sit with a dictionary? And you want to help me in writing design documents?

It will take a lot of real estate to cover all the characters, for they are aplenty. For the very reason, I have started writing this blog. We will cover a few more and then a few more some other time.


Thanks for your support and keep those comments rolling.

Game Design

Vevina, my lovely daughter, is seven months old and despite me trying to be a 'typical old school parent', cannot help buying new toys for her. Toys are essentially tools that breed creativity amongst all. And Vevina tries to manipulate her toys in all possible ways. She being a Leo has a special affinity towards cows, giraffes and other prey animals (toys) whom she enjoys bossing and biting. No matter how we interpret these actions, nobody really knows what goes through that innocent mind. And eventually, because she is new to this world, she runs out of options to deal with her toys and gets bored.

And only when she is bored do we play. And when we play, it is not mere manipulation of toys and observing them at different angles, but we play by some rules. You poke the cow in the eye and she will dart at you, you pull her ears and she will say 'moo moo.' If you don't play with the cow for some time she will tickle you with her nose. Eventually, the baby starts anticipating these actions and feedback. And she draws immense joy when a particular action results in an expected (sometimes new) reaction.

There are many complex definitions for games and game design. In the simplest form of the definition, Game Design is formulating and applying rules of play to the toys. And a game is essentially a toy with rules of play attached to it.

And unless you are trying hard to get a place in my design team, we will not cram in concepts such as fun, interactivity, challenge, motivation at this stage and will not have them pollute our simple definition of games and game design. Because all these words in vogue are absolutely subjective.  We will dig deep into them once you acquaint yourself with the simple basics.

By now, you must have realized that at some point in time in your life, you did design a game. :)

Gear yourselves up for 'Game Designer - Myth Busters' in the next issue. Some virtual hilarity is promised there.