Conditioned to PlayAs people play, theorists have explained

the nature and classification of games.

Important constituents of games include the

way elements reinforce or punish actions

and trigger desired behaviours. The question

then arises of how games are constructed to

induce behaviours and condition us.

by Vandana U.Photo Credit: Rage.com.my

Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 07

“Come, there’s no use in crying like that!’ said Alice to herself, rather sharply; `I advise you to leave off this minute!’ She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people.`But it’s no use now,’ thought poor Alice,`to pretend to be two people! Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable person!”

All the world is a game. Or at least it is starting to seem that way. The only reason people play is to have fun. There is no conscious attempt to do any other function other than having fun. While playing, unconsciously we end up performing several other functions: realize a few traits, behaviours, think rationally, apply ideas, fasten thought process, improve dexterity, presence of mind, get an adrenaline rush, derive pleasure, create an adventure, face a mental challenge, get relief, and even create alternative identities, but none of these are a part of the primary motive of playing. A game’s value proposition is how it makes its players-customers think and feel. We devote a great deal of our time into playing games consciously. Unconsciously we are all the time stepping into or creating game-like situations. Therefore a game is not a surprising source of inspiration for marketers. We play all the time. Plus, we are conditioned to play. When marketers convert customers into players, the level of involvement they are seeking for customers is tremendous. This article attempts at a better understanding of the

Campaigns

methods of reinforcement being utilized in order to examine how and why people naturally return day after day to play games. It goes back to conditioning: primarily operant conditioning. The objective is to shed light on the practical as well as ideological use of conditioning in constructing games.

What is Play?Writers, researchers, scientists, and psychologists all stress on the need and significance of play. To explain play is to describe its “meaningfulness” for the players. According to Johan Huizinga, “Play is the primary formative element in human culture.” His book Homo Ludens describes play as “A free and meaningful activity, carried out for its own sake, spatially and temporally segregated from the requirements of practical life, and bound by a self-contained system of rules that holds absolutely.”Robert Caillois describes play as a free and a voluntary activity. He adds, “The spirit of playful competition is, as a social impulse, older than culture itself and pervades all life like a veritable ferment. Ritual

Photo Credits:Lego Batman: floodllamaSoccer Fans: MonteismToy Blocks: Ryk Neethling

grew up in sacred play; poetry was born in play and nourished on play; music and dancing were pure play… We have to conclude, therefore, that civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play… it arises in and as play, and never leaves it.”While playing, rules may not pre-exist. When I think of times when I would play with toys such as dolls or made origami shapes, there were not existing rules I would go back to but I conjured them based on my observation of surroundings, interactions, experiences, perceptions. I made my own set of rules, which made feel bad if I flouted them; just as how Alice (Wonderland) did going to the extent of punishing herself.These definitions do not make play a simple voluntary activity, but a complex one. When semantically we would consider play as the opposite of serious, play can intensely absorb the player and unconsciously making the play rather significant and serious. Let us take a step back and look at how we are inclined to play as well as how Operant Conditioning affects the way we play. While playing people get angry, excited, and on occasions even cry.

Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 07

conditioned to be able to perceive themselves as complying with the more desirable behaviours. Now that the conditioning affects our performance and behaviours so well, what adds to it is the level of dopamine activity, stimulating the appetite to play more. The neurotransmitter in the brain plays significant roles in a variety of behaviours such as movement, cognition, pleasure, and motivation. It is released when one has a reward-based experience. Robert Sapolsky, Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University, in his research concerning dopamine release in the brain when rewarded and when anticipating a reward, talks about how “near misses” motivate and it is at this point dopamine level rises. These near misses are effectively used in games. With an element of risk added to games, as in Battlefield or in World of Warcraft, risks and rewards become triggers for the release of dopamine, which definitely gives a sense of satisfaction and is motivating enough to willingly indulge in more risks and continuously perform risky and rewarding actions. While both environment and genes are responsible for increased dopamine activity and stimulation this is reason enough for the high statistics in the number of players for each of the popular games. Farmville has 14,200,000 plus monthly active users. From videogames to Facebook and social games, millions play them. People maintain their game statistics, leader boards, and seriously take the grades given on their performances. Playing games can be highly social, interactive, and stimulating experiences. Elements of conditioning characterize the engaging nature of games. These can make a player happy or unhappy; can boost one’s ego or hurt it. If we define activity and feelings of success or failure restricted to the fictive world then my argument would collapse. Play and games blur the lines between perception of fiction and reality. Perhaps, this becomes a key characteristic for marketers to use play to condition us with stimuli and even our responses. Not winning can go the extent of making one feel incompetent. No wonder we give in to being conditioned to play because even by instincts we are bound to play.

ReferencesSalen, Katie and Eric Zimmerman. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play

Anthology. Massachussets: The MIT Press

“Operant Conditioning.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

“Dopamine.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

Nacke, Lennart. “Reward anticipation – A powerful tool for game design.” The

Acagamic. 10 March 2011.

“FarmVille Facebook Statistics.” Socialbakers.

The term Operant Conditioning was coined by a B F Skinner, psychologist of the behaviourist school. Operant conditioning features two key tools: reinforcement and punishment. Both of these can either be positive or negative in nature. Reinforcement is a consequence that causes a particular behaviour to occur in greater frequency. Punishment is a consequence that causes a behaviour to occur in less frequency. While I took upon the tasks of playing games as well as comparing my experiences of shopping online and offline, taking part in promotions, etc., I realized rewards was a great component of the game design. The premise is that a person is highly likely to engage actively in an activity when there is bound to be a reward for taking part. Also, many a times in the expectation of a reward we do many actions even though they would not always yield a reward. The more early successes we experience, the more we are likely to continue the same set of actions even as the levels of difficulty mount and rewards become fewer. We do of course have a need to be recognized and commended for a job well done. Maybe unlike Watson or Skinner whose animal subjects had food as the reward, for humans rewards are in form of cash, kind, status, etc. These work as reinforcers. It is quite obvious then, rewards are persuasive. They work on aspirations. Any game-like context will already set a goal. Although, it may not be coherent with what one needs, the design can create an illusory belief of “I want it” in the very moment.Popular games, such as Farmville, Cityville, Mafia Wars, and their sequels all go back to operant conditioning or Skinner’s box. The farming simulator game “Farmville” consists of a player being taught how to plant crops by clicking on fragmented pieces of virtual land. With only a few crops alone available easily, others need to be unlocked. After a few hours or even days for some crops, people can harvest these crops and gain Farmville currency, experience points, and gradually move levels. Although the process sounds rather simple, there is a great deal more to it. The earning of Farmville currency gives rise to aspirations of users to purchase different farm tools, even clothes for the farmer to look more attractive as well as “unlock” different items. Such accessibility is responsible for the behaviours the game wishes to induce. However, if crops are not harvested in a certain amount of time they will wither and players will not receive any rewards for planting them. This works effectively as a punishment. The entire cycle makes one go back time and again. As some crops require only a few hours to be harvested, one can only wonder how much time people spend on such a game and be absorbed by it. Moreover, the more people one gets in to play, the more cash and “XPs” one can get. It has been effectively designed to get more people to play, even get addicted, along with a horde of social obligations of helping on others’ farms, sharing rewards, etc. These impose conditions of continuous game play. Furthermore, as playing gets more social, people modify behaviours on their own accord to match the desired behaviours. In this way, people are