Game Fun

For this week's reading, the articles were about fun. Two articles I've read are by Noah Falstein and Richard Bartle.

The first article by Noah Falstein is about fun and what makes a game fun. Fun is described as a source of amusement or enjoyment. A paraphrase used is "we may not be able to describe fun, but we know it when we have it". Each person has their own way of having fun. The article talked about how human evolution over the last thousands and how humans maintained their place in their families and communities.

There are different types of fun explained and why people may like these.

Physical Fun
There may be a connection between our evolutionary heritage and games and entertainment in physical form. Our primary urge of survival instinct. Anything that threatens our survival gains our attention. Anything that involves threats to survival and countering those threats will gain an audience. Hunter gathering is compared to fitness sports today as they involve body fitness and good coordination.

Social Fun
This is about meeting new people. Online multiplayer and even single-players games in group settings have helped. New technology devices like phones have helped put people in contact with new people that is also likely to further the social aspects of video games.

Mental Fun
This would involve using our intelligence to focus on mental fun. We practice and improve our mental abilities. Our ancestors would think of how they would survive, what animals would that hunt for food and how will they hunt them. They learn from their experience and use for future events and us humans today learn new things that may benefit us in our future.

The second article by Richard Bartle was about MUDs which I have never heard of. MUDs have been active since 1978. From the reading, it discusses four types of players who play MUD games. These approaches may arise from the inner-relationship of two dimensions of playing style.

Achievers 
Regard points-gathering and rising in levels as their main goal.

Explorers
Like exploring the world to discover new locations.

Socializers
Interested in meeting new people.

Killers
Prefer to kill instead of focusing on a objective.

I enjoyed reading Noah Falstein's article as I liked it discussing how people from thousands of years ago are compared to people today. Richard Bartle's article was interesting at first but my interest declined through reading.

Noah Falstein Article Link
Richard Bartle Article Link

                                                                   

                                                           
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