Play-Persona: Modeling Player Behaviour in Computer Games

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ensemble - the syntagm. Selection requires the player to perceive similarity and opposition among signs within the set (the paradigm), classifying them as items having similar function or structure, only one of which the player needs. The player can substitute, or select, a shotgun for the sniper rifle – expressing a different attitude. Figure 1: Syntagmatic and paradigmatic operations from the player’s point of view The combination “sniper rifle” + “facing enemies from a distance” (figure 1) requires the player to know the rules by which weapons are optimally utilized. “The combination is, in short, a kind of sentence” [66]. The “shotgun” + “charging the enemies” syntagm conveys a different meaning (sends a different message) if the player has open ground in front or is separated from the enemies by a chasm, this means that awareness of the context and its consequences is fundamental for player’s choices. In a game, each of these sentences composed by players is an unconscious act of communication without a receiver. Figure 2: Syntagmatic and paradigmatic operations from the designer’s point of view On the other hand, we could also look at the practice of designing game spaces, as opposed to using them, with the same perspective (figure 2). In a game level, the succession of spaces is the 16
syntagm (i.e. corridor AND boiler room AND sewers), while the paradigm consists of the possible alternatives that could have been used instead (i.e. boiler room OR storage room). From the designer’s point of view the act of communication is the creation of the game spaces and it definitely has a receiver: the player. 1.1.4 Game Levels as meeting grounds between players and designers Game levels are at the same time the fruit of the designers’ expression and the canvas upon which players can build their experiences. In this thesis I suggest the construct of play-persona 3 as a tool used by designers to envision possible ways that players can use the game whilst it is still being developed, and as a mask used by players to shape their experiences. This double-headed ontological nature of games split between text and practice not only mirrors the split shown initially between design (industry) and analysis (academia) but also foreshadows the often artificially constructed argument that marred the field of game studies from its inception as a separate, independent field of study: ludology versus narratology. The centrality of the experience of play and therefore the necessary presupposition of the player are the two pillars based on which, even while borrowing from literary theory and semiotics, I agree with the scholars that claim complete independence for game studies as an independent field of research. 1.1.5 Modeling players’ behaviour: Play-persona Play-persona as model of player behaviour has its roots in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and is inspired by Cooper’s work [26, 27] but achieves the dignity of a separate and independent construct mainly thanks to three factors. First, the play-persona construct covers both the modelization of ideal players prior to the encounter with the game as such (a-priori metaphor), and the modelization of empirical players after the play experience (a-posteriori lens). This double-headed nature mirrors the creative and performative nature of games as acts of communication that is established around levels or game worlds. Second, the play-persona attempts to describe behaviours procedurally, beside the traditional narrative model proposed by HCI practitioners. Player’s preferences, choices and desires are 3 Play-personas, as shown later in the compendium articles, are constructs used to model players’ behaviours. 17
Page 1: Play-Persona: Modeling Player Behav
Page 4 and 5: 4.2.3 PLAYER EXPRESSION 53 4.3 PEIR
Page 7 and 8: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to th
Page 9: ABSTRACT This thesis proposes a fra
Page 12 and 13: Analysis seeks to break down comple
Page 14 and 15: Considering games as acts of commun
Page 18 and 19: described in terms of likelihood of
Page 20 and 21: ook: FLUX, published in 2008. This
Page 23 and 24: 2. A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MODE
Page 25 and 26: “positivism” and “anti-positi
Page 27 and 28: with the game world based solely on
Page 29 and 30: on that text. Later, Barthes introd
Page 31 and 32: according to their mental state. Wh
Page 33: Following the humanistic tradition
Page 36 and 37: In most games it is not realistic t
Page 38 and 39: ehaviour. Assessing assumptions on
Page 40 and 41: Independently on the identity of ea
Page 42 and 43: main focus of the brand has always
Page 44 and 45: 3.4 Play-persona as a lens (a poste
Page 46 and 47: Figure 10: personality and subperso
Page 49 and 50: 4. CREATING EXPERIENCES The MDA fra
Page 51 and 52: Play-styles are sets of isotopic ga
Page 53 and 54: 4.2.3 Player expression Player expr
Page 55: Players will eventually understand
Page 58 and 59: Combining both of these two approac
Page 61 and 62: REFERENCES 1. Aarseth, E. (1997): C
Page 63 and 64: 52. Hunicke, R. LeBlanc, M. & Zubek
Page 65: 96. Wiggins, A. (2006): Data Driven
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ARTICLE 1 - TOWARDS A THEORY OF THE
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flow between the player, the avatar
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6. The player constructs knowledge
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are sets of rational, bodily, and b
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ehaviorism asserting that a compreh
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4.3 Origin of subpersonalities Acco
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environment and the emanating subpe
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flow line), one must increase the c
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7.1 Explorer’s path FIGURE 5 Expl
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the roof section, where he/she will
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14. DE SOUSA, R. 2003. Emotions. In
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ARTICLE 2 - DESIGNING LEVELS FOR EN
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2 STRUCTURE OF A GAME LEVEL The fir
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3.2 Symbolical Reading The movement
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The hangar is open for workers and
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gather info, spying through keyhole
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6.2 Play-Personas I am going to def
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The Butcher persona would have quit
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ARTICLE 3 - WAVING EXPERIENCES: PLA
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types" [12]. Personas are construct
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esults in the relatively easy task
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Crew actions schemas are: • Squad
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choice given until the mark “poli
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REFERENCES 1. Bozec, P. "My Everyth
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ARTICLE 4 - WEAVING EXPERIENCES IN
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In order to be able to take acti
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persona could be narratively define
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of non lethal, silent, and clean de
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ARTICLE 5 - DEFINING PERSONAS IN GA
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software is however limited in that
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event sets, i.e. capturing metrical
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objects and entities within it. Eve
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metrics include tracking camera vie
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Figure 4: Example of interaction me
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looting is a play-style observed in
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players can choose between differen
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Play modes: Running, climbing, fall
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according to their positioning on a
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14. Medlock, M.C., Wixon, D.; Terra
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ARTICLE 6 - PLAY-PERSONAS: BEHAVIOU
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experiences are evaluated and remem
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B) It is possible to infer user nee
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personas are hypotheses that emerge
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Expert Rookie Grunt Athlete Chess-
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Procedural description: Shooting: -
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In the case example for Tomb Raider
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2. Cooper, A.: The Inmates Are Runn
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ARTICLE 7 - TOWARDS GAMEPLAY ANALYS
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The requirement for improving user-
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The literature on game metrics is m
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ecause they all stem from in-house
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If a player kills a traitor they re
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Figure 3 (Top): diagram showing the
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titles where there is a trend towar
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a secondary variable together with
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player spent at the location and wh
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3. Börner, K., Penumarthy, S.: Soc
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34. Thompson, C.: Halo 3: How Micro
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ARTICLE 8 - ANALYZING SPATIAL USER
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on basic statistical analysis metho
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visualization or for creating overv
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egarding actions undertaken in-game
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ased methods within the games area
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2.4 The EIDOS Metrics Suite The dat
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is played in Third-Person perspecti
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one cause of death, and performing
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ArcGIS permits different layers to
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4. Cadez, I., Heckerman, D., Meek,
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35. Whiteside, J., Archer, N. P., W
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ARTICLE 9 - PLAYER MODELING USING S
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unsupervised learning in capturing
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3. TOMB RAIDER: UNDERWORLD The popu
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2 - Environment; the percent of tot
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(ESOM) [5] to emphasize the distinc
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populated middle-left cluster (Fig.
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weight values we repeat the trainin
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TABLE I THE FOUR PLAYING BEHAVIOR C
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(d) Number of Deaths, D (e) Complet
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equests for specific in-game puzzle
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13. G. N. Yannakakis and M. Maragou
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ARTICLE 10 - PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONAL
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Personality is described as recogni
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Inputs: Outputs: Primary attack (ra
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Due to the fact that each game metr
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12. Jennett, C., Cox, A.L., Cairns,
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ARTICLE 11 - GAME METRICS AND BIOME
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His research interests are biometri
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5. R. L. Hazlett. Measuring emotion
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ARTICLE 12 - ANALYZING USER BEHAVIO
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elated to player-game interaction a
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10. Kuniavsky, M.: Observing the Us
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ARTICLE 13 - PATTERNS OF PLAY: PLAY
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Play-personas are here introduced a
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It is only natural that game design
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4 Defining play-personas using game
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TRU is the eighth installment in th
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gameplay, descriptiveness of player
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In the case of TRU, the three param
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into which sections of the levels t
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Runners: This group completes the g
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17. Iser, W.: The Implied Reader. J
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