Play-Persona: Modeling Player Behaviour in Computer Games

flow line), one must increase the complexity of the activity by developing new skills to meet new
challenges. The “zone” (highlighted in red) is the balance point between skill level and degree of
challenge. It is an extremely useful tool to evaluate a-posteriori the experience of individual players
but, as many critics have pointed out, players are not all the same, they have different needs,
motivations and belief systems, furthermore, as we have just seen, each player embodies different
“motivating” instances: the subpersonalities or types, and the power relation among them can
change considerably due to the mood or circumstances. This requires the flow theory to be slightly
amended.
6.2 Amendments to the flow theory
The first amendment that I’d like to incorporate is a minor but relevant one, instead of channeling
the zone between two solid lines I suggest to mark the “zone” (shown as a blurred, fuzzy area of
“enjoyable” experience in white color), by containing it at each side by “frustrating” (red) and
“boring” (blue) experiences. This minor change (figure 4) takes into consideration the different
levels of frustration/boredom that different players are willing to accept and even how the same
player at different times is more or less determined to pursue game goals, overcoming more or less
frustration and boredom according to which subpersonality has attained a dominant state. Although
it is a small change it redefines the two forbidden areas in a fuzzy way, so that there still exist
situations that potentially hinder the player’s progression in the game, but the wished occurrences
are expanded and the fringes can be exploited in a meaningful manner by game designers. To help
understanding the following concepts I’d like to introduce the hypothetical subsections of a game
level: the player starts in the basement of a hospital and has to make his/her way out through the
1st and 2nd floors, onto the roof and eventually outdoor.
FIGURE 4 Soft edges for the “zone” and variety in the flow line
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