December 8, 2009 at 13:53Gameplay and the psychological basics of discomfort
Art and business, standards and interconnections of these aspects
Let's try to navigate consumer preferences, based on well-known observations made not only in the field of the gaming industry. The experience of the film industry is also interesting, especially since it is much older than the gaming one.
Some data on games, platforms and genres:
Statistics of preferences published on "E3" in 2003:
* 57.3% game consoles.
* 26.7% personal computers.
* 2.6% online games.
* 13.3% all the rest (PDA, telephones, combined and portable devices).
Distribution of announced games by genre:
* 20.3% Action
* 15.5% Sports & Driving
* 11.7% RPG
* 8.3% Strategy
* 8% Adventure
* 5.1% Family & Child
* 4.8% Educational / Edutainment
* 2.9% Simulation
Demand analysis in the film industry has been a long and professional task since its very existence depends on box office receipts. We’ll try to determine what the similarities between the average consumer of film and game production are and draw conclusions that are useful to us.
Selection criteria by which the consumer of film production is guided
* Budget.
o In the film industry: Mega-budget is one of the main criteria for choosing a consumer. This parameter evaluates the expected level of the product and the number of special effects.
o In the gaming industry: The large budget in the gaming industry is not interpreted so clearly. This criterion may be an indicator of product quality, but often it is an attribute of a failed project.
* Producer.
o In the film industry: The name of the director is often a serious criterion for selection.
o In the gaming industry: You can list several names - Carmack, Sid Meyer, Peter Mouline, etc. But more often pay attention to the publisher or developer
* Actors.
o In the film industry: At times, the viewer comes to the cinema in order to see the unsuccessful role of the famous actor “Kindergarten policeman”.
o In the gaming industry: A trend has emerged: Duke Nyukem, Lara Croft, Max Payne. Today, however, this is the exception rather than the rule.
* Script or adaptation of popular works.
o In the film industry: None of the above will help a bad scenario.
o In the gaming industry: A scenario, like a gaming concept, has the same properties as in a movie. The adaptation of popular works, for example, “The Lord of the Rings” by Tolkien and “Harry Potter” by Joan Rowling often become hits.
Genre, movies and games.
* Action: In the movie and gaming industries, preferences are similar. Action and Action are the most popular genres.
* Children's films, cartoons: In the gaming industry, this category includes “Family & Child”, “Adventure”, “Sports & Driving”.
* Melodrama: A serious niche in the film industry; the closest analogue in the gaming industry is a quest, but, unfortunately, quests are not so profitable. Although on the other hand, than the Sims is not a soap opera, and with box-office success they have everything in order ...
* Fiction: A very popular genre in cinema and in games, but the game always has something from science fiction, so talk about a separate genre Fiction in games is hard.
* Comedy: A popular and difficult genre in the cinema, however, in the gaming industry this topic is not presented in its purest form.
Of course, not all genres are listed in both cinema and games ...
Consumer preferences.
* Cinema for everyone: American (average) standard, this category of films is most popular.
* Elite cinema: Films most often receiving prestigious awards, but box-office success is not their indispensable attribute.
Summary
About ten basic criteria that influence consumer preferences are listed.
The film industry is an art that is taught, around which a huge self-contained world has formed; it has its own traditions. Perhaps an excursion into the history of cinema will allow a better understanding of the gaming industry.
In the 50s, when films began to bring losses, they began to attract professionals to study the market: sociologists, psychologists, advertisers, etc. Gradually, they and everyone else realized that society is a living organism, with changes changing in the economy and politics needs. Moreover, the taste, behavior, lifestyle of millions of people can radically change even in a relatively short period of time.
The audience was influenced by: the May youth revolution in Paris in 1968; “Sexual revolution”; major technical and environmental disasters; the onset of mysticism; space exploration and the race of superpowers in space, and much more. Chaplin also checked the shot trick on the audience. If they didn’t laugh, he went to retake.
In the 60s. the era ended when the question of what to show the public was decided by the directors, screenwriters, artists, film studio managers. Now, if the script is defined by the marketing service as having commercial value, then the film begins to be shot. Otherwise, the credibility of the producer or director is not enough to start the film production. In other words, the decision is made primarily in the light of current consumer stereotypes.
Similarly, game developers are afraid to touch on new, unsuccessful concepts. On the other hand, there are pleasant exceptions, such as “Black & White” or “Max Payne” and some others. Innovative products are unique and therefore have no competitors in the market. Thus, the emergence of new stereotypes must be tracked, and sometimes create them yourself.
Currently, the gaming industry itself is hostage to the prevailing stereotypes that arose in the 80s - early 90s of the last century. The gaming industry, as a new form of entertainment, produced games whose concepts deliberately took into account technical limitations. Since then, game concepts and gameplay have not changed much, there is a banal build-up of muscles. Inventing something new is primarily unsafe.
In Hollywood, they learned with high probability to calculate the success of a product, the proof of which is the dominance of American cinema in the world.
Gameplay and causes of discomfort
The communication process includes three components: source, message, destination. In the absence of one component, communication does not occur. I would like to know more precisely how much information is acceptable and desirable for a person.
Games are intended for entertainment, a person wants to get the most out of them. Where are the boundaries that separate entertainment from work?
The problem is a person’s ability to digest information. That which is remembered “by itself” can be a pleasure. What efforts should be made for is work. Ask yourself how many phone numbers an average person remembers?
Consider the situation with regard to gameplay. The player must remember the location and purpose of the keys used, including how to use the mouse. The channel for transmitting game information is a graphical interface. For a comfortable game, the total number of “controls” should not exceed a certain limit. We should not forget about the convenience of the location of the keys.
It is quite reasonable to ask about the psychological state of the player directly during the game.
Here is a part of the acute problems of gameplay related to the interaction of the player with the game environment that lie on the surface and can be analyzed, as experts see them.
I quote from the article "Structuring the basic design elements."
Eric Betke (Executive Director, Taldren): “The main concept of Diablo was the user interface. Not in the plot, not in the volume of the game, not in the number of characters, not in the variable appearance of the avatar, not in the rich role-playing model of the gameplay, no. All efforts were directed to the interface. That is, that with a left click it was possible to attack monsters and open chests, and with the right one - cast spells. It was also a pleasure to look at the visual design of the user interface - these were two glass spheres filled with blue and red liquid, representing life energy and mana (energy for spells), respectively. ”
Quote from the same article about Rainbow Six
Ray Music: “I totally agree. I remember that annoyance from the difficulty with the equipment of the team, the selection of soldiers, the planning of actions, and so on. It was impossible to learn this - instead, they slipped the simulator “shell your character” into the simulator, and not at all the game that I wanted to buy. This created problems with its perception for users who have discouraged many from playing it. ”
According to statistics, the most popular games are simple to manage; the trend is that the more complex the gameplay, the less popular the genre. Similar observations can be made with respect to the film industry. The average moviegoer prefers to watch entertaining movies, where action and special effects dominate. In any case, such games and such films bring the most money. Companies such as Electronic Arts and Activision are focusing their efforts on the action genre. In addition, we note that the market for game consoles is an order of magnitude superior to the PC market. Using consoles is as simple as possible. The user buys the game, installs the disk in the drive, and after a moment using the joystick, on which, including the manipulators, is located from 7 to 18 buttons, takes control of the game process.
And here I agree with Mikhail “ZAVKHOZ” Fedorov - this is one of the components of the dominance of consoles.
Another related area is the music industry. It's no secret that “pop” in terms of profits is an order of magnitude superior to such high art as opera. Thus, “Hands up” from the point of view of the consumer is more priority than “Tchaikovsky”.
And therefore, the best does not have to be successful, and the successful does not have to be better.
Now consider the real situation. A schoolchild, student, or just a mature uncle after studying and working, having acquired the long-awaited game and returned home, decides to relax and get positive emotions expected in advance (thanks to good advertising). Turns on the computer, installs the game, but it is not possible to start the actually fascinating process right away. There are a lot of buttons, they are arranged in their own way, of course, you can figure it out, but it's work, and we are going to have fun ... We manage with the basic minimum, the character moves forward, comes to a cliff, and what is needed? Right, jump over! We are looking for the “Jump” key, but it’s not where it’s always ...
As a result, the gamer does not receive any pleasure, and not only does he abandon the game, but he also informs all his friends that the new game is “completely sucks”, and after some time the results of a well-conducted marketing campaign are nullified ...
Is it necessary to invent bike? About the benefits of meeting the concerns of people not employed in the gaming industry.
Just quote an article by Darren Laura “Anatomy of Fear”; the author has nothing to do with the gaming industry, but works as a policeman, although not an ordinary one.
The article is devoted to the behavior of a person who needs to act in a life-threatening situation.
... The Stress of Survival article by Bruce Siddle and Hal Bridlo also explains a lot.
The first serious studies of "Stress of Survival" (hereinafter referred to as ST), and how it affects the effectiveness of fighters on the battlefield, were carried out in the 30s of the last century. One of these studies demonstrates that the quality of a wireless telegraph operator (subtle motor skill) is noticeably deteriorating in combat conditions. Another serious study was conducted during the Vietnam War, and related to the location of instruments and controls in the cockpit of a fighter. According to the results of this study, the dashboards were redesigned taking into account the influence that the SV exerts on the coordination between visual perception and motor activity in combat conditions.
Although the early studies related to SV were conducted mainly by the military and in wartime, later, starting from the 60s, such studies began to be carried out in the interests of sports organizations.
SV arising in a combat environment, Siddle defines as: "... a state in which a stimulus, perceived as a threat, automatically activates the sympathetic nervous system. Consciousness is not involved in the work of the sympathetic nervous system, and therefore control over the process of its activation is hardly possible." Why is understanding how SV works so important when it comes to combat or self-defense? The answer is: this is important because the psychological and physiological effects of ST can make the threat assessment inadequate. Let us consider these effects as they are described in Siddle:
Heart rate
The intensity of heart failure is directly related to the heart rate
* At 115 beats per minute (y / m), most people lose their fine motor skills (precise finger movements, coordination between visual perception and motor activity, it becomes difficult to solve several problems at the same time).
* At 145 y / m, most people lose complex motor skills (three or more motor skills that should work simultaneously).
Vision
We consider vision as the most important sensory organ, because it provides the brain with most of the information necessary in battle and self-defense.
* Approximately at 175 u / m, the eyelids move apart, and the pupils expand. At the same time, there is a narrowing of the field of view, often called tunnel vision (narrowing can reach 70%). That is why it is human nature to move away from the source of danger in order to cover as much as possible with its narrowed field of vision. In addition, at the same heart rate, visual perception becomes extremely stereoscopic.
* At 175 y / m, visual tracking of objects becomes difficult. This is of great importance in the presence of several sources of danger. In this case, the brain requires the vision to capture a threat, which it assesses as the most direct. After neutralizing the danger, the following will be found. Such an unconscious sequential approach is often called the “lighthouse effect."
* At 175 y / m, it becomes difficult to focus on close objects. Under the influence of SW one of the first deteriorates the perception of depth. The fighter becomes farsighted. That is why those who are under the influence of SW so often incorrectly assess the distance to the source of danger.
Hearing
* At approximately 145 u / m, the auditory cortex almost ceases to function.
Consciousness
* At approximately 145 y / m, often in the aftermath it is not possible to remember what was happening, as well as your actions. This condition is called stress amnesia. After an incident that caused stress, it is often possible to recall about 30% of what happened in the first 24 hours, about 50% in the first 48 hours, and about 75-95% in the first 72-100 hours.
* At 185-220 y / m, a state of “hypervigilance” often arises, or, more simply, “the state of a hare running in front of a car in the light of headlights”. In this state, a person can continue to engage in a deliberately useless business, or behave irrationally, for example, leave the shelter. The victim of this condition cannot budge or scream. The state of “hyper-alertness” is a vicious circle from which it is difficult to break out. In this case, information about the danger is exclusively processed by consciousness, which increases the reaction time. The increase in reaction time leads to a deepening of stress, which, in turn, deepens the state of "hyper-alertness"
Does this material relate to computer games? The developers, one way or another, offer the player some form of reality, and the highlight is that the player has the ability to influence events. Thus, the player, joining the game process, involuntarily agrees with the proposed reality. Immersion in the gameplay in the future begins to affect the human psyche in the same way as reality.
Let me give you examples of side effects after the game, so that the theory looks better.
An example from folklore: a player is overly keen on an arcade game where, according to the rules, he should control a frog and overcome obstacles by jumping. After the game, he wanted to go to the store. Having reached the road, he began to figure out how many jumps it would take to overcome an obstacle street.
An example from personal experience. In 1994, I became interested in one wonderful game, a space arcade flying game. After I flew about 3-4 hours, I had to go away on business. Without thinking twice, I get in the car and press on the gas. The car is playful, so it flew to the traffic light in a few seconds, and then red turned on like luck. Naturally, I ... there’s no brakes, I’m steering the wheel, and it doesn’t take off ...
Later I found out that this happened with pilots.
Hence the moral: immersion in the game process is deep enough to leave an imprint on the psychophysiological processes, and the “shift in perception” persists even after the game is stopped.
The conclusion suggests itself that in critical situations developing in the game, the very mechanism of “stress of survival” is activated, which works in reality, and then, quite naturally, the player begins not only to get confused in controlling the keyboard or gamepad, but also loses its spatial orientation ( watch the fights on the grid).
Motor skills
* Upon reaching approximately 115 y / m, complex motor skills (handling the trigger of a pistol, possession of melee weapons) begin to deteriorate, while actions requiring brute force are simplified.
As Siddle’s work shows, the higher the heart rate, the greater the degree to which SV affects the perception of the threat. The perception of a threat, in turn, determines the response to it.
In the course of research conducted by Dr. Alexis Artvoul from 1994 to 1999, 157 police officers who participated in the shootings were interviewed. The following perceptual shifts were observed:
* In 84% of cases - dullness of hearing
* 79% - tunnel vision (deterioration of peripheral vision)
* 74% - “autopilot” (action without consciousness)
* 71% - increased visual perception
* 62% - slowing down time
* 52% - partial memory loss
* 46% - partial memory loss about own actions
* 39% - a sense of unreality
* 26% - obsessive extraneous thoughts
* 21% - distortion of memories
* 17% - acceleration of the passage of time
* 7% - temporary paralysis (loss of ability to move)
Similar results were obtained by other researchers (Solomon and Horn, 1986, Hoenig and Roland, 1998 , Klinger, 1998).
Note that in combat conditions, the heart rate can jump from 70 y / m to 220 y / m in less than half a second. The question arises: in what interval of heartbeat frequencies (SV intensities) do fighting qualities reach their maximum? Siddle claims this is between 115 and 145 y / m. He also claims that the highest reaction rate is observed in this range. In other words, a heart rate of 115 - 145 y / m is optimal in terms of combat skills (rough motor skills) and quick response.
It should be noted that SV is an unconscious, and thus difficult to control, reaction.
Mostly familiar, isn't it?
From the above, we can draw the following conclusions based on Hicks law:
Hicks’s law states the following: let the average reaction time of a person to a certain stimulus, provided that there is only one reaction to this stimulus, be X seconds. If there are two possible responses to the same stimulus, the response time will increase by 58%. In battle, you should have a minimum reaction time. If you give several methods of counteracting a certain threat, the brain will inevitably spend some time choosing an option, and increasing the reaction time may turn out to be the difference between life and death.
For the developer, these issues are not so acute, life and death are considered from a philosophical point of view. This is a certain convention that does not have inevitable physical consequences. But even virtual death, especially in desatch games, is often experienced very deeply. I watched with my own eyes a situation in which one individual broke his favorite claudia ...
It is noteworthy that Siddle's work on motor skills, published before 1995, was based on research by leading experts in the field of sports physiology and psychology. In works on motor skills written before 1995, the heart rate was almost always used as a physiological indicator, since it was extremely difficult to use other indicators.
Back to the games. Within one game, for example, a real-time strategy, the load on the player at different points is different. In the beginning, he builds and develops the base, and for some time does not expect active actions of the enemy. In the future, the tension gradually increases, and in difficult moments and rolls over. In a difficult psychological situation, the player uses only a mouse and a few hot keys. He can’t master more than that (of course, this is an average player). The task of the developer is to give the player that control, which in an extreme situation will allow you to win the battle, and therefore the game. By the way, no one noticed how in a difficult moment for some reason they press the buttons harder than necessary?
Depending on the expected voltage at different points in the game, the developer must take care that a person in a difficult situation can use the necessary and sufficient minimum buttons to resolve the situation.
Continued: LINK
Let's try to navigate consumer preferences, based on well-known observations made not only in the field of the gaming industry. The experience of the film industry is also interesting, especially since it is much older than the gaming one.
Some data on games, platforms and genres:
Statistics of preferences published on "E3" in 2003:
* 57.3% game consoles.
* 26.7% personal computers.
* 2.6% online games.
* 13.3% all the rest (PDA, telephones, combined and portable devices).
Distribution of announced games by genre:
* 20.3% Action
* 15.5% Sports & Driving
* 11.7% RPG
* 8.3% Strategy
* 8% Adventure
* 5.1% Family & Child
* 4.8% Educational / Edutainment
* 2.9% Simulation
Demand analysis in the film industry has been a long and professional task since its very existence depends on box office receipts. We’ll try to determine what the similarities between the average consumer of film and game production are and draw conclusions that are useful to us.
Selection criteria by which the consumer of film production is guided
* Budget.
o In the film industry: Mega-budget is one of the main criteria for choosing a consumer. This parameter evaluates the expected level of the product and the number of special effects.
o In the gaming industry: The large budget in the gaming industry is not interpreted so clearly. This criterion may be an indicator of product quality, but often it is an attribute of a failed project.
* Producer.
o In the film industry: The name of the director is often a serious criterion for selection.
o In the gaming industry: You can list several names - Carmack, Sid Meyer, Peter Mouline, etc. But more often pay attention to the publisher or developer
* Actors.
o In the film industry: At times, the viewer comes to the cinema in order to see the unsuccessful role of the famous actor “Kindergarten policeman”.
o In the gaming industry: A trend has emerged: Duke Nyukem, Lara Croft, Max Payne. Today, however, this is the exception rather than the rule.
* Script or adaptation of popular works.
o In the film industry: None of the above will help a bad scenario.
o In the gaming industry: A scenario, like a gaming concept, has the same properties as in a movie. The adaptation of popular works, for example, “The Lord of the Rings” by Tolkien and “Harry Potter” by Joan Rowling often become hits.
Genre, movies and games.
* Action: In the movie and gaming industries, preferences are similar. Action and Action are the most popular genres.
* Children's films, cartoons: In the gaming industry, this category includes “Family & Child”, “Adventure”, “Sports & Driving”.
* Melodrama: A serious niche in the film industry; the closest analogue in the gaming industry is a quest, but, unfortunately, quests are not so profitable. Although on the other hand, than the Sims is not a soap opera, and with box-office success they have everything in order ...
* Fiction: A very popular genre in cinema and in games, but the game always has something from science fiction, so talk about a separate genre Fiction in games is hard.
* Comedy: A popular and difficult genre in the cinema, however, in the gaming industry this topic is not presented in its purest form.
Of course, not all genres are listed in both cinema and games ...
Consumer preferences.
* Cinema for everyone: American (average) standard, this category of films is most popular.
* Elite cinema: Films most often receiving prestigious awards, but box-office success is not their indispensable attribute.
Summary
About ten basic criteria that influence consumer preferences are listed.
The film industry is an art that is taught, around which a huge self-contained world has formed; it has its own traditions. Perhaps an excursion into the history of cinema will allow a better understanding of the gaming industry.
In the 50s, when films began to bring losses, they began to attract professionals to study the market: sociologists, psychologists, advertisers, etc. Gradually, they and everyone else realized that society is a living organism, with changes changing in the economy and politics needs. Moreover, the taste, behavior, lifestyle of millions of people can radically change even in a relatively short period of time.
The audience was influenced by: the May youth revolution in Paris in 1968; “Sexual revolution”; major technical and environmental disasters; the onset of mysticism; space exploration and the race of superpowers in space, and much more. Chaplin also checked the shot trick on the audience. If they didn’t laugh, he went to retake.
In the 60s. the era ended when the question of what to show the public was decided by the directors, screenwriters, artists, film studio managers. Now, if the script is defined by the marketing service as having commercial value, then the film begins to be shot. Otherwise, the credibility of the producer or director is not enough to start the film production. In other words, the decision is made primarily in the light of current consumer stereotypes.
Similarly, game developers are afraid to touch on new, unsuccessful concepts. On the other hand, there are pleasant exceptions, such as “Black & White” or “Max Payne” and some others. Innovative products are unique and therefore have no competitors in the market. Thus, the emergence of new stereotypes must be tracked, and sometimes create them yourself.
Currently, the gaming industry itself is hostage to the prevailing stereotypes that arose in the 80s - early 90s of the last century. The gaming industry, as a new form of entertainment, produced games whose concepts deliberately took into account technical limitations. Since then, game concepts and gameplay have not changed much, there is a banal build-up of muscles. Inventing something new is primarily unsafe.
In Hollywood, they learned with high probability to calculate the success of a product, the proof of which is the dominance of American cinema in the world.
Gameplay and causes of discomfort
The communication process includes three components: source, message, destination. In the absence of one component, communication does not occur. I would like to know more precisely how much information is acceptable and desirable for a person.
Games are intended for entertainment, a person wants to get the most out of them. Where are the boundaries that separate entertainment from work?
The problem is a person’s ability to digest information. That which is remembered “by itself” can be a pleasure. What efforts should be made for is work. Ask yourself how many phone numbers an average person remembers?
Consider the situation with regard to gameplay. The player must remember the location and purpose of the keys used, including how to use the mouse. The channel for transmitting game information is a graphical interface. For a comfortable game, the total number of “controls” should not exceed a certain limit. We should not forget about the convenience of the location of the keys.
It is quite reasonable to ask about the psychological state of the player directly during the game.
Here is a part of the acute problems of gameplay related to the interaction of the player with the game environment that lie on the surface and can be analyzed, as experts see them.
I quote from the article "Structuring the basic design elements."
Eric Betke (Executive Director, Taldren): “The main concept of Diablo was the user interface. Not in the plot, not in the volume of the game, not in the number of characters, not in the variable appearance of the avatar, not in the rich role-playing model of the gameplay, no. All efforts were directed to the interface. That is, that with a left click it was possible to attack monsters and open chests, and with the right one - cast spells. It was also a pleasure to look at the visual design of the user interface - these were two glass spheres filled with blue and red liquid, representing life energy and mana (energy for spells), respectively. ”
Quote from the same article about Rainbow Six
Ray Music: “I totally agree. I remember that annoyance from the difficulty with the equipment of the team, the selection of soldiers, the planning of actions, and so on. It was impossible to learn this - instead, they slipped the simulator “shell your character” into the simulator, and not at all the game that I wanted to buy. This created problems with its perception for users who have discouraged many from playing it. ”
According to statistics, the most popular games are simple to manage; the trend is that the more complex the gameplay, the less popular the genre. Similar observations can be made with respect to the film industry. The average moviegoer prefers to watch entertaining movies, where action and special effects dominate. In any case, such games and such films bring the most money. Companies such as Electronic Arts and Activision are focusing their efforts on the action genre. In addition, we note that the market for game consoles is an order of magnitude superior to the PC market. Using consoles is as simple as possible. The user buys the game, installs the disk in the drive, and after a moment using the joystick, on which, including the manipulators, is located from 7 to 18 buttons, takes control of the game process.
And here I agree with Mikhail “ZAVKHOZ” Fedorov - this is one of the components of the dominance of consoles.
Another related area is the music industry. It's no secret that “pop” in terms of profits is an order of magnitude superior to such high art as opera. Thus, “Hands up” from the point of view of the consumer is more priority than “Tchaikovsky”.
And therefore, the best does not have to be successful, and the successful does not have to be better.
Now consider the real situation. A schoolchild, student, or just a mature uncle after studying and working, having acquired the long-awaited game and returned home, decides to relax and get positive emotions expected in advance (thanks to good advertising). Turns on the computer, installs the game, but it is not possible to start the actually fascinating process right away. There are a lot of buttons, they are arranged in their own way, of course, you can figure it out, but it's work, and we are going to have fun ... We manage with the basic minimum, the character moves forward, comes to a cliff, and what is needed? Right, jump over! We are looking for the “Jump” key, but it’s not where it’s always ...
As a result, the gamer does not receive any pleasure, and not only does he abandon the game, but he also informs all his friends that the new game is “completely sucks”, and after some time the results of a well-conducted marketing campaign are nullified ...
Is it necessary to invent bike? About the benefits of meeting the concerns of people not employed in the gaming industry.
Just quote an article by Darren Laura “Anatomy of Fear”; the author has nothing to do with the gaming industry, but works as a policeman, although not an ordinary one.
The article is devoted to the behavior of a person who needs to act in a life-threatening situation.
... The Stress of Survival article by Bruce Siddle and Hal Bridlo also explains a lot.
The first serious studies of "Stress of Survival" (hereinafter referred to as ST), and how it affects the effectiveness of fighters on the battlefield, were carried out in the 30s of the last century. One of these studies demonstrates that the quality of a wireless telegraph operator (subtle motor skill) is noticeably deteriorating in combat conditions. Another serious study was conducted during the Vietnam War, and related to the location of instruments and controls in the cockpit of a fighter. According to the results of this study, the dashboards were redesigned taking into account the influence that the SV exerts on the coordination between visual perception and motor activity in combat conditions.
Although the early studies related to SV were conducted mainly by the military and in wartime, later, starting from the 60s, such studies began to be carried out in the interests of sports organizations.
SV arising in a combat environment, Siddle defines as: "... a state in which a stimulus, perceived as a threat, automatically activates the sympathetic nervous system. Consciousness is not involved in the work of the sympathetic nervous system, and therefore control over the process of its activation is hardly possible." Why is understanding how SV works so important when it comes to combat or self-defense? The answer is: this is important because the psychological and physiological effects of ST can make the threat assessment inadequate. Let us consider these effects as they are described in Siddle:
Heart rate
The intensity of heart failure is directly related to the heart rate
* At 115 beats per minute (y / m), most people lose their fine motor skills (precise finger movements, coordination between visual perception and motor activity, it becomes difficult to solve several problems at the same time).
* At 145 y / m, most people lose complex motor skills (three or more motor skills that should work simultaneously).
Vision
We consider vision as the most important sensory organ, because it provides the brain with most of the information necessary in battle and self-defense.
* Approximately at 175 u / m, the eyelids move apart, and the pupils expand. At the same time, there is a narrowing of the field of view, often called tunnel vision (narrowing can reach 70%). That is why it is human nature to move away from the source of danger in order to cover as much as possible with its narrowed field of vision. In addition, at the same heart rate, visual perception becomes extremely stereoscopic.
* At 175 y / m, visual tracking of objects becomes difficult. This is of great importance in the presence of several sources of danger. In this case, the brain requires the vision to capture a threat, which it assesses as the most direct. After neutralizing the danger, the following will be found. Such an unconscious sequential approach is often called the “lighthouse effect."
* At 175 y / m, it becomes difficult to focus on close objects. Under the influence of SW one of the first deteriorates the perception of depth. The fighter becomes farsighted. That is why those who are under the influence of SW so often incorrectly assess the distance to the source of danger.
Hearing
* At approximately 145 u / m, the auditory cortex almost ceases to function.
Consciousness
* At approximately 145 y / m, often in the aftermath it is not possible to remember what was happening, as well as your actions. This condition is called stress amnesia. After an incident that caused stress, it is often possible to recall about 30% of what happened in the first 24 hours, about 50% in the first 48 hours, and about 75-95% in the first 72-100 hours.
* At 185-220 y / m, a state of “hypervigilance” often arises, or, more simply, “the state of a hare running in front of a car in the light of headlights”. In this state, a person can continue to engage in a deliberately useless business, or behave irrationally, for example, leave the shelter. The victim of this condition cannot budge or scream. The state of “hyper-alertness” is a vicious circle from which it is difficult to break out. In this case, information about the danger is exclusively processed by consciousness, which increases the reaction time. The increase in reaction time leads to a deepening of stress, which, in turn, deepens the state of "hyper-alertness"
Does this material relate to computer games? The developers, one way or another, offer the player some form of reality, and the highlight is that the player has the ability to influence events. Thus, the player, joining the game process, involuntarily agrees with the proposed reality. Immersion in the gameplay in the future begins to affect the human psyche in the same way as reality.
Let me give you examples of side effects after the game, so that the theory looks better.
An example from folklore: a player is overly keen on an arcade game where, according to the rules, he should control a frog and overcome obstacles by jumping. After the game, he wanted to go to the store. Having reached the road, he began to figure out how many jumps it would take to overcome an obstacle street.
An example from personal experience. In 1994, I became interested in one wonderful game, a space arcade flying game. After I flew about 3-4 hours, I had to go away on business. Without thinking twice, I get in the car and press on the gas. The car is playful, so it flew to the traffic light in a few seconds, and then red turned on like luck. Naturally, I ... there’s no brakes, I’m steering the wheel, and it doesn’t take off ...
Later I found out that this happened with pilots.
Hence the moral: immersion in the game process is deep enough to leave an imprint on the psychophysiological processes, and the “shift in perception” persists even after the game is stopped.
The conclusion suggests itself that in critical situations developing in the game, the very mechanism of “stress of survival” is activated, which works in reality, and then, quite naturally, the player begins not only to get confused in controlling the keyboard or gamepad, but also loses its spatial orientation ( watch the fights on the grid).
Motor skills
* Upon reaching approximately 115 y / m, complex motor skills (handling the trigger of a pistol, possession of melee weapons) begin to deteriorate, while actions requiring brute force are simplified.
As Siddle’s work shows, the higher the heart rate, the greater the degree to which SV affects the perception of the threat. The perception of a threat, in turn, determines the response to it.
In the course of research conducted by Dr. Alexis Artvoul from 1994 to 1999, 157 police officers who participated in the shootings were interviewed. The following perceptual shifts were observed:
* In 84% of cases - dullness of hearing
* 79% - tunnel vision (deterioration of peripheral vision)
* 74% - “autopilot” (action without consciousness)
* 71% - increased visual perception
* 62% - slowing down time
* 52% - partial memory loss
* 46% - partial memory loss about own actions
* 39% - a sense of unreality
* 26% - obsessive extraneous thoughts
* 21% - distortion of memories
* 17% - acceleration of the passage of time
* 7% - temporary paralysis (loss of ability to move)
Similar results were obtained by other researchers (Solomon and Horn, 1986, Hoenig and Roland, 1998 , Klinger, 1998).
Note that in combat conditions, the heart rate can jump from 70 y / m to 220 y / m in less than half a second. The question arises: in what interval of heartbeat frequencies (SV intensities) do fighting qualities reach their maximum? Siddle claims this is between 115 and 145 y / m. He also claims that the highest reaction rate is observed in this range. In other words, a heart rate of 115 - 145 y / m is optimal in terms of combat skills (rough motor skills) and quick response.
It should be noted that SV is an unconscious, and thus difficult to control, reaction.
Mostly familiar, isn't it?
From the above, we can draw the following conclusions based on Hicks law:
Hicks’s law states the following: let the average reaction time of a person to a certain stimulus, provided that there is only one reaction to this stimulus, be X seconds. If there are two possible responses to the same stimulus, the response time will increase by 58%. In battle, you should have a minimum reaction time. If you give several methods of counteracting a certain threat, the brain will inevitably spend some time choosing an option, and increasing the reaction time may turn out to be the difference between life and death.
For the developer, these issues are not so acute, life and death are considered from a philosophical point of view. This is a certain convention that does not have inevitable physical consequences. But even virtual death, especially in desatch games, is often experienced very deeply. I watched with my own eyes a situation in which one individual broke his favorite claudia ...
It is noteworthy that Siddle's work on motor skills, published before 1995, was based on research by leading experts in the field of sports physiology and psychology. In works on motor skills written before 1995, the heart rate was almost always used as a physiological indicator, since it was extremely difficult to use other indicators.
Back to the games. Within one game, for example, a real-time strategy, the load on the player at different points is different. In the beginning, he builds and develops the base, and for some time does not expect active actions of the enemy. In the future, the tension gradually increases, and in difficult moments and rolls over. In a difficult psychological situation, the player uses only a mouse and a few hot keys. He can’t master more than that (of course, this is an average player). The task of the developer is to give the player that control, which in an extreme situation will allow you to win the battle, and therefore the game. By the way, no one noticed how in a difficult moment for some reason they press the buttons harder than necessary?
Depending on the expected voltage at different points in the game, the developer must take care that a person in a difficult situation can use the necessary and sufficient minimum buttons to resolve the situation.
Continued: LINK