Exploring aesthetical gameplay design patterns: camaraderie in four games
Paper in proceeding, 2010

This paper explores how a vocabulary supporting design-related discussions of gameplay preferences can be developed. Using the preference of experiencing camaraderie as an example, we have analyzed four games: the board games Space Alert and Battlestar Galactica, the massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft, and the cooperative FPS series Left for Dead. Through a combination of the MDA model on how game mechanics give rise to game aesthetics via game dynamics, and the concept of aesthetic ideals in gameplay, we present gameplay design patterns related to achieving camaraderie. We argue that some of these patterns can be seen as aesthetic gameplay design patterns in that they are closely related to aesthetic ideals. Further, as a consequence, gameplay design pattern collections which include patterns related to all levels of the MDA model can be used as design tools when aiming for certain gameplay aesthetics.

Author

Karl Bergström

University of Gothenburg

Staffan Björk

University of Gothenburg

Sus Lundgren

Chalmers, Applied Information Technology (Chalmers), Interaction design

Proceedings of the 14th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments

Subject Categories

Human Computer Interaction

DOI

10.1145/1930488.1930493

More information

Latest update

11/5/2018