Is the Left 4 Dead developer suddenly taking an unhealthy interest in cranial anatomy?
The folks at Valve may not want to eat your brains, but they sure seem interesting in what's going on in your noggin. In an essay published in Edge today discussing development of the popular zombie-laden first-person shooter, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell divulges his desire to make even better games by studying players' brain activity and bodily responses.
Newell explains human play testing was a crucially important component of the development process in Left 4 Dead. However, the team can only conjecture how design decisions in a game affect a player, by watching how they react. While that's helpful, there's a more effective way to track the results: hooking players up to machinery.
"Right now we have to filter our observations of players by simply by watching them, and then we have to guess as to how certain things are affecting the player," he said. "But there are new technologies where we can wire players up with EEGs and actually have direct exposure to their physical reactions to the games. We can know for sure of something is actually frightening the player - their heart rate is going up, their respiration stats are peaking, appropriate parts of their brains are being activated."
The prospect of measuring a player's responses to in-game activity is "super exciting," he said. This will allow the team to develop elements within a game to intentionally create specific reactions in players. Spooky.
Spook and awesome. I'd get hooked up to machines while I playtest games if it means they're more effective at doing what they're trying to do (scaring, exciting, joking etc.)
stompy: Now that's dedication to making a great game. As long as they don't assimilate me into some kind of hive mind, I'm up for it.
Life is simpler as part of the hive mind. Join now and recieve a free complimentary Overmind T-shirt.
I'd choose bing a brainless minion over a free individual anyday. Plus, Im a sucker for free stuff. Count me in!
On topic, I like how Valve are really looking into other ways of making their games better. If it was any other commpany I'd think they where crazy. But Valve are already Crazy, or High, judging by some of the core ideas behind there titles. Who was the sick fuck who came up with the Boomer?!
Amnestic: Life is simpler as part of the hive mind. Join now and recieve a free complimentary Overmind T-shirt.
I dunno... what about free-will and all...
Free will ends in pain. The humans in the Matrix chose free will and as a result the robots murdered most of them and stuck the rest in tubes. Submit to the Overmind. You know it's the right way to go.
Who was the sick fuck who came up with the Boomer?!
Some guy who thought vomiting fat zombies who explode are hilarious. I have to agree with that guy too. Blowing up a boomer with the auto-shotgun is very, very satisfying.
This must be expensive, but they do know what they're talking about. Way better than a control group in any case. Although you'll still have people being scared of different things so it's not flawless, but it's way better than the overall standard.
Reminds me of Doom3. From what I heard about Doom3's development, the team making it consulted with psychiatrists and other such people who specialize in messing with peoples's heads, in an attempt to make the game play on deep rooted fears most people have.
Pervert game testers beware. If you have an unhealthy attraction towards visceral violence, virtual characters of either sex &/or animals/mutants etc; Valve will know about it :-D
Khell_Sennet: Reminds me of Doom3. From what I heard about Doom3's development, the team making it consulted with psychiatrists and other such people who specialize in messing with peoples's heads, in an attempt to make the game play on deep rooted fears most people have.
That sure worked out great for them, didn't it? I guess it must mean people really fear demons jumping out of closets at you. Over and over and over again.
It is awsome that they are bringing more science to the art of play testing. From what I hear valve does very high quality play testing as it is. This can only make their games better.
Khell_Sennet: Reminds me of Doom3. From what I heard about Doom3's development, the team making it consulted with psychiatrists and other such people who specialize in messing with peoples's heads, in an attempt to make the game play on deep rooted fears most people have.
That sure worked out great for them, didn't it? I guess it must mean people really fear demons jumping out of closets at you. Over and over and over again.
Well Doom3 freaked the fuck out of me quite often. The demonic mirror in the first bathroom makes you expect the same thing in the second, but instead when you look directly at the second mirror, a pinkie is behind you. The imps that crawl out from the pit you were assuming to be inaccessible (and it is to you) background. The part where you must follow a lit stasis tube through a pitch black zone filled with imps, zombies, and the odd bigger baddie. Imps crawling out through the floor plating. Yeah, especially the first time through the game, Doom3 had me on edge.
Who was the sick fuck who came up with the Boomer?!
Some guy who thought vomiting fat zombies who explode are hilarious. I have to agree with that guy too. Blowing up a boomer with the auto-shotgun is very, very satisfying.
I'd say it was originally Monty Python. "Just one waffer thin mint?"
Khell_Sennet: Reminds me of Doom3. From what I heard about Doom3's development, the team making it consulted with psychiatrists and other such people who specialize in messing with peoples's heads, in an attempt to make the game play on deep rooted fears most people have.
That sure worked out great for them, didn't it? I guess it must mean people really fear demons jumping out of closets at you. Over and over and over again.
Well Doom3 freaked the fuck out of me quite often. The demonic mirror in the first bathroom makes you expect the same thing in the second, but instead when you look directly at the second mirror, a pinkie is behind you. The imps that crawl out from the pit you were assuming to be inaccessible (and it is to you) background. The part where you must follow a lit stasis tube through a pitch black zone filled with imps, zombies, and the odd bigger baddie. Imps crawling out through the floor plating. Yeah, especially the first time through the game, Doom3 had me on edge.
Well, I suppose it did have it's moments. However, you want screwy? Condemned: Criminal Origins has more screwy than Johnny Depp on a bad acid trip.
This reminds me a little bit of an episode Boston Legal did back in their second season. Brad Chase defended a video game company that had used dopamine blood tests while play testing their MMORPG to tweak it so that the user would never want to stop. In the episode a child died from exhaustion while playing the game for days straight. The fictional lawyer on the fictional show covering a fictional case argued that the game had been tweaked so well to affect players dopamine levels that it rivaled the effects of illegal drug use.
If Valve got access to the brain scanning technology they refer to here it brings up some very interesting ethics questions.
Amnestic: Free will ends in pain. The humans in the Matrix chose free will and as a result the robots murdered most of them and stuck the rest in tubes. Submit to the Overmind. You know it's the right way to go.
Amnestic: Free will ends in pain. The humans in the Matrix chose free will and as a result the robots murdered most of them and stuck the rest in tubes. Submit to the Overmind. You know it's the right way to go.
You both put up very good arguments... hmm, who am I to say 'no' to a free T-shirt?
Awaken my child and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind, and you have been created to serve me.
I'm suprised no ones tried this already. It's as simple as rigging equipment up to people while they playtest. Hell, alot of college science departments would be glad to do it for minimal cash because it's an interesting thing to study.
Amnestic: Spook and awesome. I'd get hooked up to machines while I playtest games if it means they're more effective at doing what they're trying to do (scaring, exciting, joking etc.)
Amnestic: Free will ends in pain. The humans in the Matrix chose free will and as a result the robots murdered most of them and stuck the rest in tubes. Submit to the Overmind. You know it's the right way to go.
You both put up very good arguments... hmm, who am I to say 'no' to a free T-shirt?
Awaken my child and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind, and you have been created to serve me.
I'm suprised no ones tried this already. It's as simple as rigging equipment up to people while they playtest. Hell, alot of college science departments would be glad to do it for minimal cash because it's an interesting thing to study.
The problem is its still likely to be tainted. Because, and this might be the key thing, game testers ussually don't play while they are actually hooked up to a machine scanning their brainwaves. Generally that freaks people out. While it can be controlled for simple tests with a recongisable response, like a lie detector, in a scenario to determine an emotional reaction, the data will be tainted.
I see no problem with this (honest opinion). I would gladly submit to having my brain scanned during testing if it meant improving the quality of a game.
EDIT: As long as EA wasn't in charge of that. Gotta have some level of standards.
ElArabDeMagnifico: Well, this will make the AI director even more deceiving.
I can't find that bastard no matter how hard I look. Cheapest final boss evar.
AI director isn't AI at all. Its just some evil guy at Valve sat their on a computer watching your game.
"So? Your doing fine are ya? Finished off that zombie horde fine didn't ya? Well, I suppose you wont mind a Boomer, a smoker, and a tank then will ya? Oh, you awoken the witch have ya? Well thats just too bad. Mahahahahahahah. MAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Amnestic: Free will ends in pain. The humans in the Matrix chose free will and as a result the robots murdered most of them and stuck the rest in tubes. Submit to the Overmind. You know it's the right way to go.
You both put up very good arguments... hmm, who am I to say 'no' to a free T-shirt?
Awaken my child and embrace the glory that is your birthright. Know that I am the Overmind, and you have been created to serve me.
I'm suprised no ones tried this already. It's as simple as rigging equipment up to people while they playtest. Hell, alot of college science departments would be glad to do it for minimal cash because it's an interesting thing to study.
The problem is its still likely to be tainted. Because, and this might be the key thing, game testers ussually don't play while they are actually hooked up to a machine scanning their brainwaves. Generally that freaks people out. While it can be controlled for simple tests with a recongisable response, like a lie detector, in a scenario to determine an emotional reaction, the data will be tainted.
Surely it'd be tainted the first few times while it's a new thing, but after that the subject would be used to being hooked up to the machine and they'd get proper useable data. If there's any correlation between spikes in the first few tests and later things, well, that's just a bonus, but while I see your point we'd have to assume Valve (or other people) would have considered this and will seek to get the data as pure as possible, even if it's through slightly most costly repeated testing.
Kwil: How long from when they start this til it's automated and the game comes with a headband?
And.. would it be a bad thing?
I hope very soon, and no. I think it'd be pretty cool.
AceDiamond: I see no problem with this (honest opinion). I would gladly submit to having my brain scanned during testing if it meant improving the quality of a game.
EDIT: As long as EA wasn't in charge of that. Gotta have some level of standards.
Ha, talk about a hive mind. EA's EEG will probably kill the playtesters when they're finished testing. It's the only way to stop piracy.
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Valve Wants Your Brains...Scanned
Is the Left 4 Dead developer suddenly taking an unhealthy interest in cranial anatomy?
The folks at Valve may not want to eat your brains, but they sure seem interesting in what's going on in your noggin. In an essay published in Edge today discussing development of the popular zombie-laden first-person shooter, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell divulges his desire to make even better games by studying players' brain activity and bodily responses.
Newell explains human play testing was a crucially important component of the development process in Left 4 Dead. However, the team can only conjecture how design decisions in a game affect a player, by watching how they react. While that's helpful, there's a more effective way to track the results: hooking players up to machinery.
"Right now we have to filter our observations of players by simply by watching them, and then we have to guess as to how certain things are affecting the player," he said. "But there are new technologies where we can wire players up with EEGs and actually have direct exposure to their physical reactions to the games. We can know for sure of something is actually frightening the player - their heart rate is going up, their respiration stats are peaking, appropriate parts of their brains are being activated."
The prospect of measuring a player's responses to in-game activity is "super exciting," he said. This will allow the team to develop elements within a game to intentionally create specific reactions in players. Spooky.
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