MetaBroadcast Blog

One of my favorite talks today, Robin Hunicke’s Loving Your Player with Juicy Feedback went deeply into what I call (for lack of better words, though juicy surely qualifies now) shiny or sexy when I speak of design, online or not. Perhaps I got even more excited as she comes from the world of games, and I’ve been waxing lyrical for a while that the perfect designer for our services must have built successful games.

Not having been into gameism, though = gamers who insist that a game MUST HAVE 1. goals 2. a need for skills, old or newly acquired 3. challenges and 4. a story. According to that view, Monopoly, one of the most successful games of all times, should not work: its mechanics prevent the user from being in control.

Introducing MDA: Mechanics –> Dynamics –> Aesthetics. A model still to be enhanced and refined as it doesn’t include juiciness clearly enough = the juicy feedback a gamer receives from the game.

Recently, Hunicke designed Flower for PS3, a game of no challenges and goals, proven juicy by its sales, however. Her explanation: it was build from the start to allow the gamer to be free and reach a state of zen, if you like. The game, with graphics and sounds, responds to one’s actions, but that’s all there is to it. No arbitrary rules or restrictions.

Other examples of good juiciness: Prius, for giving the driver feedback on consumption (and not only) in real time, to the point where it’s reported that drivers change their driving style. The iPhone. Robots, be them cuddly dinosaurs we get for our kids, or that portrayed in the movie Moon. Online, Mint, for its explanatory, friendly sliders. For that reason, Excel could me made juicy, too :)

What if a game is not about winning, but about enjoying being, enjoying other things being, and enjoying the relationship/ interaction between you and them?

Potential application of MDA juiciness: building services online with real-time desktop components. Advice for b2b services/ products? Remember that efficient should not exclude fun.

Robin Hunicke, originally uploaded by gorgeoux.

Tags: linkedin

This entry was posted on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 15:57 and is filed under events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.