GDCTV: 'Why We Play Games Together: The People Factor'

Gamasutra is proud to present GDCTV, a new section showcasing streaming high-quality video content of some of the notable sessions of this year's Game Developers Conference. In this latest session, in a format that includes streaming video with accompanying slides, we present player experience expert Nicole Lazzaro's "Why We Play Games Together: The People Factor", described as follows: "It's not the game, it's not the graphics, it's not the story, and it's not the AI. As XEODesign (which has worked with UbiSoft, LeapFrog, Sony Online, Sega, Roxio, and Maxis) presented at GDC last year; "Why We Play Games: 4 Keys to More Emotion Without Story," people play games for the experiences that games create. Creating more compelling experiences is the key to creating better games. Narrative, better art, and AI can increase player emotions, but they are not the only way. They may not even be the easiest way. Instead, this talk offers insight on how popular games such as World Of WarCraft, Halo, and Diner Dash leverage social interaction to increase impact without a lot of story, art, and code. Lazzaro presents results from XEODesign's latest Player Experience research on why we play games together. This new research on The People Factor identifies why people playing together feel more emotions such as Amusement, Schadenfreude, and Naches. Creating poignant game moments is hard, but almost everyone knows how to make a best friend laugh, get angry, or cry." You can now access the current GDCTV streaming lecture for 'Why We Play Games Together: The People Factor' (a brief, free registration process is required if you have not previously registered.)