Poster Information
| Title | Losing Ourselves in the Game: Moving Towards an Understanding of Loss and the Development of Tools for Analyzing the Loss Experience |
| Presenter(s) | Justin Tokarski |
| Session | Conference Reception, Game Exhibition, and Poster Session |
| Time | Thursday, October 16, 7:00p-10:00p |
| Location | Ballroom |
| Format | Poster Presentation |
| Description | Loss is one of the most recognizable and essential elements of games, yet there exists a distinct lack of qualitative work on Loss as the sole subject of inquiry. Beginning from the perspective of Object Oriented Ontology, an ontography of Loss was conducted to incorporate as many facets of being as possible to create a full understanding of this abstract concept. As a result of this investigation, four dimensions of Loss were singled out as the most informative and useful in understanding the concept of Loss; The Digital, The Design, The Value, and The Experience. The Digital dimension, initially inspired by McKenzie Wark's analysis of the intersection between analog and digital in Gamer Theory (2007), contains the base conditionals which determine the state of the player within the game with respect to their status as a winner, a loser, or a continuing player. The Design dimension draws most heavily on traditional elements of game design, particularly the Design, Play, Experience framework developed by Brian Winn, and is concerned with the translation of loss conditionals into gameplay moments which are understandable to the player. The four dimensions of Loss and the ontography of Loss within Mega Man will be presented. The capability of co-opting these techniques for future qualitative analyses of games, and the usefulness of such analyses, will be explored. We will also examine the applications of Loss analysis on design with particular focus being given to comparative analysis in the design of games for entertainment and the utility of Loss analysis in choosing, or designing, games for research. |