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GDC 2010 Keynote
Sid Meier
Director of Creative Development and Co-Founder, Firaxis Games
"The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong)."
Friday, March 12, 10:30-11:30am
When designing a game, particularly one based on real-world or historical topics, it might seem that hard facts, physical principles, painstaking research, and mathematical formulas would provide the foundation for a successful game. Wrong. These and many other seemingly useful tools will have to take a back seat to the real driving force in game design: the psychology of the player. Gameplay is a psychological experience: it’s all in your head. The vagaries of human psychology define your game more than the laws of physics or algebra. Egomania, Paranoia, Delusion - these are tools to be wielded with precision and care. For the player, perception is reality and the center of the universe is right here. As we follow this reasoning to its logical conclusion we discover a number of amazing things, among them: everyone is above average, 2/1 is not equal to 20/10, and the player is his/her own worst enemy. Using actual examples from Civilization Revolution, Pirates!, and other games we’ll look at how including player psychology as a fundamental part of game design can lead us to some strangely counterintuitive places and save us millions of dollars in time and resources. Along the way we’ll learn why AI’s should not be too smart, how nuclear weapons are like knocking over a chess board, and why gamers can’t be trusted.
Biography:
Sid Meier, Firaxis Director of Creative Development, is heralded as "The Father of Computer Gaming." In his extraordinary career of over twenty five years, Sid has created games that have captured the imagination of tens of millions of gamers spanning the globe. Throughout his career, Sid has constantly endeavored to "push the envelope" in computer gaming. In 1982, Sid co-founded MicroProse Software. At MicroProse he created a number of popular and innovative games, including: F-15 Strike Eagle, one of the first successful combat flight simulators (selling well over a million units worldwide), and Silent Service, a ground-breaking submarine simulation. Sid's breakthrough game, Pirates!, was a unique blend of historical simulation, arcade action, strategy, and role-playing. Sid brought the definitive strategy game to the PC in 1991 with the launch of Sid Meier's Civilization. Once again, Sid challenged his players on many levels: city-planning, economics, education, military strategy and global diplomacy. For 18 years, Civilization, now in its fourth version having sold over 9 million units worldwide, has been widely recognized as one of the greatest gaming series ever created. Throughout his career Sid and his games have been recognized with virtually every major award in gaming, landing him in the 2008 Guinness World Records for the most videogame awards received in the history of the industry. In 1999, Sid was the second person ever to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Science's Hall of Fame and recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Game Developers Conference presented at the Game Developers Choice Awards show. As Director of Creative Development at Firaxis, Sid continues to deliver the most addictive gameplay on the planet - most recently, Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution and Civilization Network for FaceBook (currently under development).
