Emergence and playfulness in social games

Social Games, built and played on social networks such as Facebook, have rapidly become a major force in the world of game development, and the top social games today claim more players than any other online game on any format. As social games begin to mature from their roots as simple playful social toys and into the products of big business, the patterns and mechanics used in the design have begun to be formalised. In this paper, it is argued that experimentation and playfulness is still a very important part of the play experience and a valuable source of fun. As game designs explore the space opened by the new genre of social games, it is vital for designers to leave “gaps” in the design to allow for playful and serendipitous experiences to emerge from the activities of the players. To support this argument, Caillois’ classification of play is used as a lens through which social games can be examined. Examples of paidic, playful and emergent play are presented from popular social and offline games, and a detailed case study of paidic play in a new social game is presented from the designer’s perspective. Interviews from participants to an open trial are discussed, and their experiences in creating their own playful experiences and goals within the formal structure of the social game design are explored

“Get lost, GetLostBot!” annoying people by offering recommendations when they are not wanted

This brief paper outlines the experience of releasing a purposefully contrary recommendation service for Foursquare called GetLostBot. GetLostBot works differently than most recommender systems since it is responsive to behaviours rather than user requests. The system automatically monitors Foursquare behaviour and intervenes with suggestions when users fall into a routine. These interventions take the form of mysterious walking directions that challenge the user to visit somewhere new. Importantly, these suggestions are explicitly not informed by traditional metrics such as popularity, high ratings, or friend activity, and instead act as prompts to explore unknown places. This paper discusses the reception to the application, highlighting the apparent disconnect between users’ good intentions around becoming more serendipitous, and the reality of those interventions as they are experienced in the wild

Tribal metaphors in social game design: creating conflict and camaraderie through context

This paper briefly explores the emergence of tribal patterns in social play. The formation of community groups is not just a result of game design, but a fundamental part of the social nature of the species. Tribal effects, such as favouritism towards fellow group members, have been studied by social psychologists for decades (e.g. [22,15,7]). We highlight some specific existing mechanics that enable and encourage this kind of behaviour in social games, and identify the importance of social feedback in generating tribal feelings. An experiment is described, that explores the minimal conditions of tribal behaviour player groups in social games. Specifically, it identifies the importance of feedback on social context in supporting the emergence of in-group favouring tribal play

Hipsters, trendies and rebels: if fun is cool, is game design cool design?

Recent discussions within the HCI community around designing software and devices for “coolness” have identified the importance of playfulness as an aspect of cool products. Game studies, as a field of inquiry, has long been occupied with understanding playfulness, so it stands to reason that findings from this field might also support playfulness and therefore coolness outside the context of games. In this paper, we briefly explore potential overlaps between the research into designing for coolness and that of designing for playfulness. An example of an overlap in terms of motivation is presented and potential future directions are discussed

Learning in agent based models

This paper examines the process by which agents learn to act in economic environments. Learning is particularly complicated in such situations since the environment is, at least in part, made up of other agents who are also learning. At best, one can hope to obtain analytical results for a rudimentary model. To make progress in understanding the dynamics of learning and coordination in general cases one can simulate agent based models to see whether the results obtained in skeletal models translate into the more general case. Using this approach can help us to understand which are the crucial assumptions in determining whether learning converges and, if so, to which sort of state. Three examples are presented, one in which agents learn to form trading relationships, one in which agents misspecify the model of their environment and a last one in which agents may learn to take actions which are systematically favourable, (or unfavourable) for them. In each case simulating models in which agents operate with simple rules in a complex environment, allows us to examine the role of the type of learning process used by the agents the extent to which they coordinate on a final outcome and the nature of that outcome.Learning; agent based models; simulations; equilibria; asymmetric outcomes

Never mind the bollocks, I wanna be anarCHI: a manifesto for punk HCI

This paper presents two fingers to the HCI establishment. We reject the status quo that defines what language and forms are appropriate “contributions” for this staid “community” of quasiscientific poseurs. We argue that CHI in particular is a tool that serves to reinforce the political and ideological status quo, favouring sell-out researchers wielding arcane verbiage and p-values, all paid for by corporate and government interests that reward the building of systems that distract, subdue and subjugate. We present our manifesto for Punk HCI, which celebrates principles of anarchy and freedom in exploring the impact of technology on human culture, values, social structures and psychology. We encourage research motivated by passion and dissent over patents

Familiars: social gaming with PASION

The PASION (Psychologically Augmented Social Interaction Over Networks) project is designed to research social presence technologies and their effect on individual and group behaviour within mediated collaborative environments. A mobile multiplayer social game called Familiars is being designed, where the success and rank of a player within the game is directly linked to the qualities of the player's in-game social network. By examining the structures of the game-wide social network generated through playing the game, the aim is to identify patterns in the interactions which can be used to direct further studies and build future versions of the game that will enhance the game experience, bringing more of the face-to-face social value to technologically mediated games and hence mediated collaborations in general

Walras' Unfortunate Legacy

What I argue in this paper is that the direction economics ,and particularly theoretical economics, took in the 20th century was to a great extent due to Walras' influence. This was not so much the result of his own results but rather a reflection of his vision. He was convinced that economics should have “sound mathematical foundations” and his concern for this is reflected in his correspondence with his contemporaries such as Poincaré. However, his specific vision of the nature of equilibrium became the benchmark for modern economic theory and led us to the Arrow-Debreu model which is characterised by its lack of institutional features, and the lack of any proof of stability under adjustment, as later to be shown by Sonnenschein, Mantel and Debreu. Above all there is no place in this framework for out of equilibrium dynamics. Whilst Walras is to be lauded for his insistence on the interdepence of markets, we should also be aware that he set us on a path towards economic models which, while admirably internally consistent, seem to be unable to match the empirical evidence. I fear that Walras would not have been unhappy with this outcome.Walras; mathematical foundations; equilibrium; Arrow-Debreu model; interdependence of markets

Sistem Pendukung Keputusan Pemilihan Jurusan Di SMA Muhammadiyah 4 Kota Bengkulu Menggunakan Metode Saw

In choosing a major at Muhammadiyah Public High School (SMA) Bengkulu City, there are several factors to consider. This assessment is carried out in several stages, namely National Examination (UN) scores, Competency Test scores, and Color Blindness Test scores. In this case, the purpose of building a decision support system is to determine student majors according to their abilities using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method. Where the assessment criteria of students are compared with one another so as to produce a decision support system that provides an assessment in the selection of students in choosing majors. The decision support system helps in determining majors, making it easier to make decisions related to the selection of majors by using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method, so that students get majors that match their competencies. &nbsp