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The Number One Educational Resource for the Game Industry

Session Name: Level Design Workshop: The Illusion of Choice
Speaker(s): Jim Brown
Company Name(s): Epic Games
Track / Format: Design

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Overview: Designers often discuss the importance of player autonomy and the importance of choice in games, but in practice we often use subtle methods to influence our players' decision making process or provide the illusion of choice where none actually exists. These influences, however well intentioned, start early in the design process and carry through to impact our players' experiences at almost every level.
This talk will briefly examine the psychological and biological underpinnings of how people make choices, and pull examples from shipped games to show how and when we use these "rules" to impact our players, intentionally and otherwise. With a better understanding of the "theory of choice" we could leverage that knowledge into better designs and better experiences for our players.

GDC 2016

Jim Brown

Epic Games

free content

Design

Design