Persuasion. Within the context of video game design, it refers to how experiences can be crafted, as a means of producing specific reactions from participants - this is the core focus of the second module.
7 Persuasive technologies in video game design
Situated within the context of Ian Bogost’s 7 types of persuasive technologies – reduction, tunneling, tailoring, suggestion, self-monitoring, surveillance, and conditioning (Bogost, 2007), this module also introduces video game play as an interactive method of connecting with Bogost’s theories, requesting participants to play through the 7 types of persuasive technologies in the video game, Limbo. The semiotics and cultural models in this module are of significance to the instructional design discourse, particularly because the engagement of participants, as it connects to a multimedia platform which can afford interactivity, is a critical aspect of the 7 types of persuasive technologies.
Reduction. Reduction refers to the simplification of tasks in an interactive environment, as a means of simplifying tedious tasks for users. For example, in most video games that involve walking, walking is usually reduced to pressing a single directional button or moving a joystick in a single direction in order to walk. In this example, although walking consists of using two feet, it is not feasible to call on players to separately press a button for the use of each foot. Additionally, it is not feasible to do so because as an experience designer, one would hope that players are able to absorb other things as part of the experience, rather than get bogged down, cognitively, trying to simulate walking as part of the experience - unless, of course, the simulation of the difficulty of walking is part of the intended design. Ported into instructional design, the reduction of simple tasks may help in the same regard. For example, selecting an
online publishing platform that affords designers the ability to embed images, text, and video, may be more effective than a site that does not afford the aforementioned, but links away to different third party sites. While on the surface, this example may seem effective; web browser limitations for external links are almost impossible to account for. To clarify, if a single-
contained experience begins for the participant, it is likely that the end result will appear the same on the user-end, as it did in the testing phase of the instructional materials. In this example, the simple task of viewing an image, reading text, or watching a video, is contained within a single online environment, removing the need for participants to concern themselves with navigating, locating, and playing content themselves once moving to a third party site.
Tunneling. Tunneling refers to guiding participants down a specific path, as a means of getting them through multimedia content, in conjunction with connecting to specific objectives. In video games, this is often done through the various parts of the game, as part of its design including, but not limited to, animation, text, and sound, within the context of user interface, control, and design. Ported into instructional design, and much like the Gaming, Interactive, and
Multiplatform Media course, there is a specific path that participants must take in order to finish the course. Although the course is built to be asymmetric in nature, participants can quickly see, in the authentic engagement sections of the course, that it is linear in nature.
Tailoring. Tailoring refers to connecting participants with informational content that leads to a change in behavior, as it pertains to the created experience. In video games, this is often done via on-screen prompts, when players are missing experience pertinent concepts. For example, setting up a system that allows for users to attempt to complete a web-based jigsaw puzzle a fixed number of times and, if players are unsuccessful after a specified variable (i.e. Time delay between attempts, incorrect moves, etc.), then an on-screen prompt may show players what the
designer intended them, as a player, to accomplish with a specified number of pieces. Ported into instructional design, giving participants examples of intended results as part of instruction is one way to implement tailoring, where there is a clear example of exactly what the designer wishes to see accomplished by participants.
Suggestion. Suggestion refers to ways that designers can create experiences that teach, without participants necessarily realizing that they are being taught. This can be done through the design, using multimedia, and the way that it is composed. For example, a two dimensional side-
scrolling video game that requires players to walk to the right, can teach a player this through design, by starting the moveable character on the far left, and leaving potential items-for-
interaction to the far right. In this example, if the player wishes to explore, they must move to the right, and, if they attempt to move in the opposite direction, the video game camera can be set to not be able to move back, once the player advances to the right – this will absolutely teach that the player, in order to advance through this particular experience, must move to the right, without the use of on-screen text, which may take the player away from the intended experience goals. Ported into instruction, experiences can be designed in ways that call for certain actions, without actually calling for those actions. For example, asking students to enter a wiki and write about the seven types of persuasion, but, creating each wiki so that only a specified maximum of students can enter each wiki, will ‘suggest’ to students that only a certain number of participants can engage in the discussion of one of the seven persuasive technologies. In this example, students are told to be autonomous but, in fact, because of the imposed technological limitation, they will align with the intended outcome of the module.
Self-monitoring. Self-monitoring refers to the kinds of multimedia that designers use as a means of connecting players with the knowledge necessary to observe how well they can and are
performing within the context of a designed experience. For example, most golf video games will show the player the details of the course, the details of their chosen club, the wind speed, ball strike angle, shot strength, and optimal power indication – many of the core components which allow players to play golf within the context of the video game. These elements allow participants to see their own performance within the context of the designed experience. Ported into instructional design, it is possible for instructional designers to display progress, display assignment percentages, and even module progression in real time.
Surveillance. Surveillance, in video game design, refers to the ability that participants have, to monitor their progress in comparison to other necessary in-experience elements. For example, many flying games that involve a plane flying through aerial space, usually include some kind of on-screen radar, which shows the position of the player, and other pertinent waypoints, obstacles, or objectives on the radar, so that players can monitor experience pertinent elements. Ported into instruction, it may be useful for instructional designers to include course-based elements such as top assignment examples, course progress indicators, including all participant progress, as a way of allowing participants to see progress and course navigation in relation to all participants. Conditioning. Conditioning, in video game design, refers to the way that the design of an experience steers participants to do things correctly, by allowing them to also do them
incorrectly a specified number of times, giving feedback every step of the way. For example, in PacMan®, a game that calls for the avoidance of ghosts as part of navigating the game, the player only needs to collide with a ghost once in order to see, via an animation, sound effect, and on-screen ‘number of tries’ indicator that it is not desirable to collide with ghosts. Ported into instruction, the Gaming, Interactive, and Multiplatform Media course conditions participants by allowing them, each week, to work on a separate part of a completed game design document.
Each week, they are given feedback on, and are graded based on the final intended output for what the course wishes to convey. The final submission is a redeveloped combination of all of the different sections of the game design document, submitted as one cohesive document. Participants are required to make changes along the way, but are allowed to make mistakes on the first pass at each section, particularly since this may be the first time that participants encounter the theories and media production-based information that is part of the course. Selecting, curating, and using multimedia within the context of engaging participants should take into account exploration, navigation, and education, in a way that allows for
designer-led autonomy as part of the consumption process. For multimedia instructional design, this second module is a call for instructional designers to consider curating experiences that afford users interactivity, with guided autonomy. The semiotics and cultural models of the persuasive technologies, within the context of interactivity in video games, are explored in this module, as participants are required consume online course content, and play a video game; process information through mind mapping, spreadsheet usage and charting, and completing an online form; and generate content to by posting content in a module specific online wiki.