The Design and Psychology: How different mediums can use psychology to create better experiences + One of the greatest short video games ever made

Yesterday I shared some content on video game development. After seeing a video shared by @durzo I thought it would be nice to share some stuff about psychology and video game design. The big devs and publishers have tons of neurologists, psychologists etc. on their staff. This is especially true when it comes to those (mostly) wretched mobile games. Skinner box is pretty much the most basic use of this and any game that put significant emphasis on Skinner box is not just somewhat sinister, it's just lazy and uninspiring mediocrity.

The big budget AAA titles actually try to go for more advanced and even constructive methods. You can't build a franchise on just one trick. Sometimes these tricks vastly increase the value of the product. Think about going to a shop where everything is well arranged. You don't want to see vegetables or meat products near the beauty product. You don't want to see cheese at one end and ice cream at another end. It's not the smoothest experience. Psychology can be used to improve the UX. Just think about the amount of people who stood away from cryptocurrencies (even Bitshares) because the UX sucked for them.

The Placebo Effect

Games can at times become a great motivator. It can become inspiring. I've heard about many people who plays games almost as a form of therapy. Games are an interactive medium. Interactions are psychological. Things that games tell people affect people's minds. Here is an interesting study:

In the first round, the group were told that the map would be randomly generated as they progressed, while in the second they explained that the map would be the product of an "adaptive AI", which would implement changes based on their behavior and apparent skill level.
As anyone who's familiar with the game will know, the maps in Don't Starve are always random. After being fed the false information, however, some players revealed they thought the AI controlled maps made the game more immersive and engaging.
Others believed the game was easier when the maps were randomly generated, while there were those who thought the AI deliberately made the world safer. Not one of the 21 participants thought the game played the same both times.
Source

Games can be used to bring awareness to many things. If you have just 5 minutes to spare and few MB worth data. Please visit the link below. It will be one of the most impactful video game experiences in your life. It says everything it needs to say about the society with a simple mechanic, few words and simple but effective artwork. I assure you that the following free browser game has more value than most $60 games. It's a genius case of simple game design that tells a powerful narrative through a simple mechanic and visuals.

https://www.kongregate.com/games/nutcasenightmare/we-become-what-we-behold

http://www.psychologyofgames.com/archives

The above site is one of my favorite places to learn psychology. It explores many video games and the tricks they use. The website also discuss the pitfalls in game designs. I've learnt a great deal about psychology from what I roughly counted to be 200+ articles. I've learnt great stories about some really interesting experiments including the one that was mentioned in the clip @durzo shared with me.

When you read about all the thinking that goes into the designing of these video games, you will naturally develop sort of a respect for all the work these designers, psychologists, neurologists do. Nothing sells without something solid behind them. Lots of people scoff at COD. But it does have some really good stuff to it. This video helped me realize some of that.

Other Mediums

Good designs that involve a good understanding of psychology isn't just important for the video games. They way certain things are done may be unique for one medium. The difference is mainly in the way people consume these content. A book may approach a scene vastly different from a movie. A movie may focus a lot on a characters actions to tell what that person is feeling or may have to use the so called "cheap trick" called narration. But a book at simply explain and info dump everything onto you.

Some methods are more effective or easier to implement than others. This is what leads to formulas. COD 4: Modern Warfare did many great things. It was revolutionary. I still prefer Crysis which was release around the same time. But COD has an easy to implement formula. The same has happened with films. Most blockbusters just have this formula.

The same goes for many superhero films (mostly MCU). They get stuck in a formula. They tend to rely/depend or certain things too much. For an example, there is an obsession with humor that is very unhealthy. One of the reasons I found the Airport fight in Captain America: Civil War to be mediocre was the humor. The movie didn't take itself seriously. Even though BvS had a short and less amazing fight compared to The Dark Knight Returns part 2 it was at least different. Now as an exercise, let's see if you can dissect the pacing and designing of the following scene which is straight out of the 1986 comic book.

That's it for today. See you later :-)