Character design choices and its effect on player psychology
An exploration of varying ways that character design can introduce cognitive and perceptive biases into a game.
Different game types require varying skill sets and potential approaches which can be applied to solve in-game problems or reap rewards. A study (Nacke, Bateman and Mandryk, 2014) looking at player types identified several different types; achiever, conquerer, daredevil, mastermind, seeker, socialiser and survivor. These archetypes for play-tyle affect their different skill sets in a game. For example, a mastermind will strive to apply strategies to their problem solving and will enjoy that process, meaning their personal reward is deeply rooted in the satisfaction after achieving success in a puzzle or problem. The mastermind can apply themselves best to games which require that complex issues be solved by implementing a strategic method. In a tower defence game, for example, the mastermind will implement well thought out methods of proving a solution to a problem, be it an enemy invasion on a tower, lack of resources or a tower take over. Conversely, a daredevil thrives on the excitement of a game. This player type will consistently enjoy fast and dangerous in-game acts, sometimes basing decisions despite high reward risk. Their excitement comes with quick decision making as opposed to well thought out strategies such as those implemented by the mastermind. This makes fast and high paced games ideal for the daredevil, such as racing games like Driveclub (2014) or the platformer classic Sonic the Hedgehog (1991). The latter involves a character whose skill set is primarily an ability to move at fast speeds with increasing acceleration, which reduces the player's control on the character. (Nacke, Bateman and Mandryk, 2014) These different approaches to gaming have their merits and faults in different game types.
These various approaches to problem-solving can be influenced, not just by a person's innate incentives and ways of thinking, but also the design of characters and environments. In this essay, I’ll be exploring the ways that colours, presentation of characters and sex appeal amongst others can affect the bias of the human brain by exploring various psychological effects in non-gaming contexts and applying them to character design.
The colours used in design can have varying effects on human cognition, causing bias in a person thinking, emotion or approaches. For example, it's been shown that the colour blue has calming effects, causing people to feel at ease when they see blue hues. (Singh, 2006) In some areas in Japan, the government has implemented blue coloured lighting in its street lamps as a way of combating the ever-growing numbers of Japanese individuals who commit suicide in built-up areas of the country. The idea is that by exposing the eye to blue hues people are less likely to kill themselves, evoking stronger feelings of happiness and ease. (nextcity.org) This is a clear example of how colour psychology has been involved in evoking certain emotions; the same principle can apply itself way to the game design process, as by designing a character who is blue can make players feel happier and more comfortable in a situation. This leaves the potential for an altered strategy in-game; a player who feels more at ease might take a slower and more controlled approach as they are in a comfortable state. This could potentially reduce the number of aggressive acts the player commits (in a game which warrants such actions), potentially leading to the player achieving different endings in a morally based game, extending different dialogue options with an NPC or perhaps just interpreting the game's narrative in a different way. Red can be used to induce the reverse effect. Numerous studies have shown that the presence of the colour red incite more irrational and high-risk behaviour, even if the reward to lose ratio is low. In a study by Stark, Saunders and Wookey, 1982 the research’s looked at the difference a red or blue light has on non-regular gamblers gambling behaviour. Gambling in of itself is a high-risk low reward endeavour which takes advantage of some preexisting heuristics. The results concluded that participants who participated in gambling made more risky choices when exposed to a red hue, making larger and more frequent bets. By nature the more you gamble, the more risks you take in the late game. This outcome was more pronounced in the red light condition, meaning that those participants had intensely built-up bets. This experiment expresses how red incites riskier behaviour, with less regard for the preconceived rewards. In terms of a game, potentially the presence of red could cause players to attack enemies above their level, potentially reaping a reward but ultimately being a brash and risky decision which could be detrimental to the players progress. Potentially introducing the player to a character featuring a shade of red could incite them to choose a riskier action, dialogue option or approach. (Stark, Saunders and Wookey, 1982).
Another bias that can affect player psychologically is the use of a sexually attractive character or the use of sexualised costumes. Sexual arousal is a factor few consider aside from its prevalence and the warrant of such prevalence in modern media, however, it’s been shown to have a correlation with a person's cognitive function. A study by Laier, Schulte and Brand, 2013 concluded that exposure to sexual stimuli which incites sexual arousal has a negative effect on memory. They exposed a separate one set of their participants to pornographic stimuli, having them rate resonate levels of sexual arousal, then had them engage in a memory capacity test. They found that participants had a lower score on the memory tests when exposed to pornographic imagery, showing that increased sexual arousal had detrimental effects on their memory retention (Laier, Schulte and Brand, 2013). Although this is an extreme example similar principles can be applied to the media industry. Exposure to a sexually arousing character could cause players to forget parts of a game or narrative, reducing the impact it will have on them in other aspects of appreciation for the game. This could include the impact of the main narrative of the story. If a player’s memory is reduced they could potentially forget key plot points, previous interactions or emotive parts of the game experience, leading them to have reduced appreciation for other game aspects.
A physically attractive and aesthetically pleasing looking individual, with disregard for sexual arousal levels, can affect people in terms of perceived judgements. There’s a fairly well know phrase deemed the ‘halo effect’. It refers to the idea that typically attractive people are originally perceived immediately as better in terms of moral quality and positivity (Grcic, J., 2008). Many studies have discovered that ratings of attractiveness contribute to higher ratings of positive attributes such as competence, assertiveness and helpfulness (Lewis and Walsh, 1978). This suggests that overall perceptions of aesthetically attractive people are more positive than less attractive individuals, expressing a bias which benefits the beautiful. This can affect a multitude of life events, such as job interviews were to an employer is there to judge the potential candidate. On a more extreme level, it’s been noted that this bias actually can affect judicial proceedings in court. A study by Stewart, 1980 found that of 74 real-life defendants the people who were rated more attractive also were rated as having committed less serious crimes compared to their unattractive counterparts (Stewart, 1980). This is an incredibly important finding as it clearly indicates that perceived attractiveness can cause an interruption of a valid judiciary system, having a bias within a jury can make the consensus of a trail inaccurate and unfair to particular individuals. If moral decision making in this real-life scenario is effected the effects will carry in into the digital realm. Effects to the narrative and potentially associated choices have already been discussed in relation to colour presence and sex appeal, but the same principle can be applied to the ‘halo effect’. If an NPC (non-playable character) is typically considered attractive then that could cause the player to perceive them as better people, with less attention to their immorality seriousness. This may cause certain actions of the character to be seen not as bad as they would usually be considered, meaning that the player will approach certain actions differently which could affect how the story plays out.
Additionally, it could be argued that the attractive characters actions, if not taken as seriously, have less of a bearing on the game, de validating the character itself. Primary protagonists such as Lara Croft (Tomb Raider, 1996 - present) have often been criticised by media outlets and bloggers for “sexualising the presentation of women” due to her pronounced curves, despite in the 1996 version being made up of extremely low polygons, and large breasts and scantily clad clothing (Digital Spy, 2016). The evidence suggesting an attractive individual removes a focus from the negative actions or decisions they make in the minds of an observer supports the claim that oversexualisation is an issue within the gaming community, as in an action-packed game like Tomb Raider the character will be shooting, killing and taking down establishments the actions the player takes as Lara Croft needs to be taken seriously to show the extreme action and thrillingly aggressive things that she does. By not taking these elements seriously it defeats the point of an action game in which the focus needs to be on said action.
As well as affecting the overall perception of seriousness in a player and their subsequent actions a study by Koukounas and Over, 1999 provided evidence correlated reduced attention spans in heterosexual males and exposure to heterosexual erotic content. It could be insinuated then that by the sexualisation of a character the player's attention span is compromised, again potentially leading to a reduction of interest or attention to the overall tonality of the game, narrative or character perceptions. This becomes an issue in game which require quick time actions or decision making, such as player vs player (PVP) games like Mortal Kombat, 1992 where two players aim to fight and impart offensive and defensive actions on each other in a quick environment where to every frame matters. Anything which imparts on a players reaction time and response time immediately will cause an impact on their quality in game. This becomes an issue when its taken into account that this causes a bias in heterosexual males since they are more influenced by a character designed in a sexual way or one who wears typically sexy clothing. Many games such as Dead or Alive, 1996 frequently use costumes deemed as sexy by the gaming community, providing them as in-game rewards or downloadable content (DLC). Although an objective list, a GameFAQ message board titled ‘sexiest costumes’ listed some sexual outfits examples in the Dead or Alive costume roster. This included overalls, swimsuits and school costumes. As previously expressed the use of such ‘sexy’ costumes in a match may provide a bias to a heterosexual male in the match as his attention span may be compromised.
Certain psychological biases present themselves more dominantly in the case of different types of games, relating to the various game strategist types outlined previously. The blue and red paradigm is prevalent in strategic games in which your type of decision making will affect the kinds of rewards gained and success in your strategies. A paper by Hill and Barton, 2005 collates the results of a number of Olympic sports results where the blue or red uniform in competitive fighting sports such as wrestling are randomly assigned. The results found that sportsmen in red won more rights than those in blue across a number of aggressively driven competitive sports. Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games experience this particular character design bias prominently as they combine both defensive and offensive skills in order to win a match (Ferrari, 2013). Games such as League of Legends, 2009 fall into the MOBA category. League of Legends uses the colours of blue and red to define the teams in a match, determined at random pre-match. This becomes an issue when the blue and red bias is applied. As previously expressed in the study by Stark, Saunders and Wookey, 1982 red has the ability to incite humans to act out higher risk (without the higher reward) behaviours. This could work in favour or disfavour, depending on the individual play styles of each player as well as the collective average of playstyle. As previously outlined most players can be categorised as different types of gamer; the achiever, conquerer, daredevil, mastermind, seeker, socialiser and survivor. The daredevil will have a more pronounced reaction to this bias. Since they thrive on risky behaviours a colour that emphasises high-risk acts will do just that; emphasis. This could be an issue as greater risk doesn’t work to increase rewards significantly, their effects are even less likely to be beneficial to the team. If the team includes other less susceptible play styles to the red bias than the overall success team-wise could be compromised. In terms of LOL, this may involve the red team being more likely to take risky strategies such as tower diving. This involves attacking an enemy with higher protection than your own. If you conduct a failed tower dive not only will you die in game, but you will lose 20 minions, which are able to impart damage on the other team and make the enemy gain another 20 minions. On top of this, the enemy team will achieve an experience points (XP) advantage. The strategies implemented within PVP fighting games can also be affected by the use of high-risk actions. Many characters in Dead or Alive, 1996 have costumes with heavy reds in them. If a player decides to use a red outfit it may cause either or party to impart more risky moves or combos on the other. In terms of a PVP fighting game such as Dead or Alive, 1996 this could actually be more beneficial as in a quick time environment where every move counts imparting riskier and stronger moves with little active decision making will allow for quicker moves to be implemented. In modern iterations of a PVP fighting game players are actually being rewarded for more aggressive and riskier behaviour, allowing these kinds of players to impart better combos or speed up their movements and actions even further (syfygames.com, 2015).
As well as being affected strongly by the colour red in character design player psychology PVP fighting games are greatly affected by sex appeal and the use of sexual costumes. The bias in the use of sexual clothing (and ‘sexy’ character models in Dead or Alive, 1996) has been outlined previously. The reduced attention span and memory in heterosexual males could be considered an issue when it comes to esports and competitive play in which gamers engage in the game in a competitive environment. In —- a prolific esports event organiser The HuBBS for online organisation FreeStepDodge decided to impose a soft ban suggesting certain ‘over-sexualised’ be banned from competitive play (eurogamer.net, 2018). Articles detailing the ban insinuate that the reason behind the soft ban lies in the stereotype of Dead or Alive being overtly sexual, taking away from the quality and skill in game. Koukounas and Over‘s study of sexuality and attention span in straight men found that attention span deteriorates with exposure to sexually explicit content. In terms of competitive play and tournaments, the validity of a match relies on the removal of bias and anything that could alter and taint results. The presence of sexual content provides a bias towards those who consider the content sexual, providing invalid results. This sets up a debate, however, to at which point do biases apply themselves to competitive gaming. It could be argued that if a player is truly skilled in a fighting game then that counts as their ability to remove themselves or overcome any bias in the game, of which the opposing player may choose to impart on their character choice. Esports in of itself is a skilful endeavour, requiring professional gamers to play to the best of their ability, train themselves in brain processing and the efficiency of such. Skill building in esport training often involves improving input times and keyboard practice, improving reactions to problems in order to impart more moves more quickly. This involves any cognitive biases including ones imparted by character designs (curiosity.com, 2017). This relates back to the ethics of the use of blue and red team colours in competitive MOBAs, it could be argued a skilled player has the capability to push past the red risk inducing incentives, sticking true to their original play style. To completely dismiss this bias in the character colour designs popular shooter Overwatch, 2016 has implemented a mechanic where to the player is always blue, and the opposition is always red. Therefore, a bias for playing on a red team, imparting riskier behaviours, is essentially removed.
The consensus reached in this exploration of the biases and possible exploitative cognitive principles in character design is that they can be used to influence players psychology, affecting the quality of their play, reactions to characters in a game and attention. For example, using a sexually designed character has been shown to directly impact problem-solving in heterosexual males, causing them to be worse at both memory (Laier, Schulte and Brand, 2013) and attention tasks (Nacke, Bateman and Mandryk, 2014). This can relate to their problem solving and quick time decision making, skills which are needed for success in a number of game types such as PVP fighters in which offensive and defensive actions need to chosen and executed quickly to win. Game designers must be aware of their biases as they design them, however in terms of competitive play the skill of a player should outweigh presence of cognitive manipulations.