Games are played by people of all ages and across all cultures because they are fun. However, we have long separated ‘play’ and ‘fun’ from learning and behavioral change. When games are fun, they are powerful tools because games have strengths strengths that reinforce positive development in human behavior. Two things are critical to successful games: flow and fun. Fun provides the motivation to play. Flow provides the intrinsic motivation to keep playing and facilitate the learning of new skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Games can do reinforce all kinds of behaviors, from teaching content and improving health management to staving off cognitive decline. Like any other psychological intervention, the problem is compliance. Video games and game design support learning, behavior change and problem-solving when they are designed to engage. Creating “Flow zones”: 1) challenges balanced with skill that lead to exploration and problem-solving, 2) immediate and accurate feedback that reward the player’s accomplishments; 3) a sense of engagement and presence; and 4) no “flow break points” where we fall out of fun. Gaming experiences that achieve flow have multiple benefits far beyond any content. They increase self-efficacy, mastery and control, improve resilience in the face of setbacks and encourage problem solving, creativity, and learning. Game-based experiences that are fun lower stress, strengthen social relationships and improve overall psychological wellbeing. Case study: The mobile game BattleKasters was created to as part of a literacy project. It is a transmedia extension of the world created by author Alane Adams in the young adult series “The Legends of Orkney.” Kids today, especially young adults, don’t read enough. BattleKasters is a way to intersect with young readers and provide an entry point to the exciting characters and adventures in Orkney, igniting their curiosity and motivating them to explore the rest of the world and characters through reading. BattleKasters game was designed to be fun whether or not you read the book. This presentation describes the theory of flow, gives an overview of the game BattleKasters, designed to promote literacy and the adjustments in development that enhanced flow and immersive experience.

1. PLAYING IN THE
FLOW ZONE
Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA
Fielding Graduate University
Symposium: Only a Game?
The Promise of Games to Advance Health,
Education, and Longevity
August 6, 2015
2015 APA Annual Convention AUGUST 6-9, 2015 TORONTO, ONTARIO

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The promise of games

3. Problem Intervention Outcome
GAME
GAME

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Is it ?

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All games are fun
If It’s a Game, It Be Fun. Right?

6. Positive Games – Preaching to Choir
Wrong

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Put Games Where Your Audience
Can Find Them

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Design for Flow

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Flow is the
theory of
optimal
engagement
Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi

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In the Flow Zone
• Challenging activity requiring skill
• Clear goals with feedback
• High concentration on activity
• Merging of action and awareness
• Sense of control
• Effortlessness
• Loss of self-consciousness
and time
• Doubly rewarding

11. Challenge
Skill
HIGH
AROUSAL
LOW
AROUSAL
Flow Zone
Boredom
Anxiety
USER
PATH
Flow: User Path

12. Challenge
Skill
HIGH
AROUSAL
LOW
AROUSAL
Flow Zone
Boredom
Anxiety
Decreasing
Challenge
Less
Demanding
Skills
Increasing
Challenge
Increasing
Skills
Flow: Game Design

13. Challenge
Skill
HIGH
AROUSAL
LOW
AROUSAL
Flow Channel
Boredom
Anxiety
FLOW EXIT POINTS
Flow Exit Points

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Flow is Motivating
• Competence
• Autonomy
• Relatedness

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Social Capital: Gamers Have Kids

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Case Study: Legends of Orkney
Transmedia Literacy Project

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Literacy Bridge
• Collaboration
– Author Alane Adams &
Artifact Technologies
• Target
– Young adult non-readers who love
games
• Goal
– Create entry point to reading
– Link storyworld to mobile game
– Allow players to join book’s characters in story-
consistent quests that motivate exploration

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Location-Based Game Using
Beacons Technology
• Bluetooth-enabled sensors deliver
content as players pass by
• Encourage a range of social interactions
in specific locations
• Recognizes players via mobile devices
• Players collect virtual cards, solve
quests and cast spells
• Activities link with
action in books
• MixbyTM Technology allows
live enhancement

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Game Play
• Each quest is at a new
location in Orkney
storyworld
• Quests teach about
native people and
creatures
• Goal: collect all wisdom
cards and learn secrets
to cast Stonefire spell

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• Game board size and large
number of players created too
long between quests
• Lack of cognitive continuity
• Non-interactive upper navigation
bar buttons created confusion
• Violation of mental models
• Quest banner information not
fully conducive to strategy
• Narrative inconsistency
• Font size and readability
• Perceptual constraints
• Developmental match
Development: Testing
for Exit Points

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• Target core psychological needs
• (Self-Determination Theory)
• Autonomy: Increase Player Control
• New Collection screen to offer card
sorting animation
• New Journal offers click-to-zoom full
screen
• Swipe to view journal content in gallery
• Easier navigation
• Mastery: Enhanced feedback
• New Spellbook offers snapshot of
progress
• Spell unlocks and casting options
visualizations
• Connectedness: Improved game play
• Less time between quests increases
player interaction
Solutions

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Integrating User Feedback
• Highlight audience-character resonance for
better identification and narrative immersion
• Who doesn’t love a bear with a sword?

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25. Goal Achieved: Young Players Can’t
Wait to Read the Rest of the Story

26. Thank You
Pamela Rutledge, PhD, MBA
Fielding Graduate University
prutledge@fielding.edu