Games Can Make You Trust

[Ekonk]

Bioshock kind of did that.

You mean System Shock 2 did that.

And quite nicely, too, but Bioshock kind of turned the whole "I do what I'm told because this is a game where shit works that way" and made it part of the plot.

 

[nathan-dts]

Bioshock?

 

[MasterSplinter]

Uhmmm. Can we see (or read) this dissertation anywhere online?

 

[BlindTom]

I thought Deus Ex (siiiiiiiiiigh) was all about that kind of shit but meh.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

First off, this guy has an AWESOME name. "Dr. Hazard" here should probably look into moonlighting as a super villain on his spare time, or at the very least work in politics. "And now to report his findings on the Gulf oil spill, Senator Hazard has the floor."

Second, this would be an interesting development in games. This could add a whole new layer to the dynamic between the player and his party member's A.I. in RPGs or shooters. As it stands, most people would probably go for the strongest or most unbalanced characters for the sake of combat, but a trust mechanic could not only bring the other characters to the forefront, but also add a new level to cooperation to the tea-tray shallow "Go there, stop, shoot that guy" approach.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

First off, this guy has an AWESOME name. "Dr. Hazard" here should probably look into moonlighting as a super villain on his spare time, or at the very least work in politics. "And now to report his findings on the Gulf oil spill, Senator Hazard has the floor."

Second, this would be an interesting development in games. This could add a whole new layer to the dynamic between the player and his party member's A.I. in RPGs or shooters. As it stands, most people would probably go for the strongest or most unbalanced characters for the sake of combat, but a trust mechanic could not only bring the other characters to the forefront, but also add a new level to cooperation to the tea-tray shallow "Go there, stop, shoot that guy" approach.

Oil company: "I guess you can say this oil spill is covered...
*slips on shades*
by a real Hazard..."

 

[Anarchemitis]

Cave Johnson told me humans cannot be trusted.

Cave Johnson also said it was a good idea to bring your daughter to work.

I would trust my human mind to say that it would be a bad idea to trust Cave Johnson.

Jonah J. Jameson is an entirely different person, however.

 

[rwn]

Deus ex ,deus ex2 and Tnm can be played and completed by doing decent and/or non violent acts .The game mechanics and ai support the banking of trust by the player via accurate information acquisition and right action. It's worth making the effort to think it through ( scaling up from easy to realistic). It's very difficult to do it.( quite a few attempts over the past 10 years I might add). I think these game designers aught to be celebrated and supported .I am hoping the new deus ex game will be similar and not just appeal to bed room psychotics , violence junkies,speed runners and cheat-freaks.
Realism with a "one life game option" would also encourage the player to value their choices and the consequences. Creating real emotive ( adrenaline dopamine serotonin responses to so called "philosophic choices" or actions/masterly inactions. Given the fact that many gamers and current affairs junkies (To name just 2 consumer groups ) become desensitised to the idiocy of the human condition it is essential to encourage some enlightened self interest in the gaming community. Games and online activities with a piss off outcome are appallingly cynical.
If trust and companionship ( a very scarce/rare commodity these days)are not valued by the game designers the whole thing becomes pornographic in the sense that more of the same devalues and deadens the relationship between designer and gamer.

 

[solidstatemind]

If we could do that, then I'd like to know what the formula is for love.

I don't know what's the formula for love, but here's the formula for alcohol:

I thought that was the formula for sex...

I can believe that a video game can evoke trust from a player, but please don't ask me to fall backwards and let a video game catch me.

 

[Drake_Dercon]

To be honest, most of Dr. Hazard's presentation involved complicated formulas and graphs that went over my head but that doesn't mean his work isn't valid. It just might not be for me. I mean, it's important for game designers to think about reputation and trust empirically so that it can be programmed into an AI, but for players it's more about a gut feeling. Dr. Hazard concentrated on the former, but I wonder if the focus should be on the latter.

In other words, I don't trust a formula that attempts to model a basic human emotion like "trust." If we could do that, then I'd like to know what the formula is for love. Or greed. Or both.

Permalink

Those formulae are well on their way.

As for the other part, trust and emotion are very thoroughly intertwined. His research is quite important for that, I think.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

What about Mass Effect? Once you have a teammate long enough, they will ask you to help them with their own problem. You complete that problem and you gain their loyalty (trust). So, that counts right?

 

[RainingCobalt]

Huh, well I can't think of any instance where character trust is really used as well as it could be, but the idea of "trusting the game" itself sort of goes into that, since narrators do have a character-like voice. Aside from Portal, it's probably been explored more in online games so far (eg. Loved, DepictONE). But yes, would be good to see more in full-length games.

 

[Shadowfury333]

Uhmmm. Can we see (or read) this dissertation anywhere online?

Oh yeah. I suppose I should have linked it. You can find it linked here [http://www.achrongame.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1031&p=8705&hilit=PhD#p11421].

 

[Hashime]

If we could do that, then I'd like to know what the formula is for love.

I don't know what's the formula for love, but here's the formula for alcohol:

A damn fine formula if I do say so myself. Probably very similar to the formula for love

This is the formula of love:

Beta-endorphin. It is one of the chemicals released by the brain responsible for "love".

 

[Lightslei]

What about Mass Effect? Once you have a teammate long enough, they will ask you to help them with their own problem. You complete that problem and you gain their loyalty (trust). So, that counts right?

I highly doubt that is along the same lines. It's easy to create a counter to measure a variable called trust, but to actually simulate trust in full is probably far more complex.

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

In other words, I don't trust a formula that attempts to model a basic human emotion like "trust." If we could do that, then I'd like to know what the formula is for love. Or greed. Or both.

Preposterous and nonsensical "humans are special and emotions are magic" blathering. You think emotions aren't quantifiable? Why? Humans are, as are all things, input-output devices. Certain inputs create emotional responses. The problem isn't that emotions come from some random magical place that can't be studied, it's that the black box is really really complicated. That said, we're a lot farther along than pop culture, which wants to hold onto the "humans are special and emotions are magic" viewpoint, would have you believe. We've got some pretty remarkable insights into the formulae for love and greed. If you8 want to know more about these formulae, you could, say, pick up an introductory psychology textbook. Or hell go to Wikipedia.

On the bright side, Dr. Chris Hazard has probably the best name I've ever seen in video games. Research qualifications aside (what the article describes is old, derivative, vague, and largely uninteresting from a psychological research standpoint), creating Doctor Hazard is easily motivation enough to hand the man a PhD.

 

[luckycharms8282]

This is the formula of love:

Beta-endorphin. It is one of the chemicals released by the brain responsible for "love".

Id make sweet lovin' to that molecule.