Some people are experientialism. For these guys, theories like desserts, they occasionally eat some, but they don’t care in most cases. They won’t pay attention to theories themselves, let alone iteration of theories. But for other people, like me, who use theories as methods to evaluate our works, or even use them to help us make design decision, theories become much more important. They are like flags which guide our way.
Sometimes, when I tried to use theories in my work, I know how to choose the right part and leave the improper parts behind, because I have enough experience about both this work and this theory. But what if I just started to understand a theory which is new to me? What if someone who just start creating games? It’ll be cool if you utilize theories in a right way, but if not, it’ll be a disaster.
I want to take FLOW as an example, but I need to study FLOW theory for more details, so that I can find out more evidence to support my point. For now, I can say that I don’t think that FLOW becomes an all-powerful theory in game industry. There are some different kinds of immersive experience, some you can use FLOW as a theoretical basis, some you can’t. For example, in game Clash of Clans, I think FLOW doesn’t work well. It didn’t encourage you to play for eight hours. Instead, the optimal experience is that play ten to fifteen minutes each two or more hours.
When I say iteration, it doesn’t mean change. Maybe we can simply add some limitation to this theory, to tell people when you can use it, when it could not.
Sometimes, when I tried to use theories in my work, I know how to choose the right part and leave the improper parts behind, because I have enough experience about both this work and this theory. But what if I just started to understand a theory which is new to me? What if someone who just start creating games? It’ll be cool if you utilize theories in a right way, but if not, it’ll be a disaster.
I want to take FLOW as an example, but I need to study FLOW theory for more details, so that I can find out more evidence to support my point. For now, I can say that I don’t think that FLOW becomes an all-powerful theory in game industry. There are some different kinds of immersive experience, some you can use FLOW as a theoretical basis, some you can’t. For example, in game Clash of Clans, I think FLOW doesn’t work well. It didn’t encourage you to play for eight hours. Instead, the optimal experience is that play ten to fifteen minutes each two or more hours.
When I say iteration, it doesn’t mean change. Maybe we can simply add some limitation to this theory, to tell people when you can use it, when it could not.