Players play games to express themselves, among other reasons. So as game designers, we often strive to create experiences that provide players with opportunities for self-expression. But what makes an experience expressive? This talk will present Information Theory as an analytical tool for evaluating the expressive power of a player choice. We'll see how the concept of "costly signaling" emerges from this model, and what it means to games, their players and their designers. We'll discuss the tension between self-expression and other play aesthetics, such as mastery.

Presenter: Marc LeBlanc has been working in the game industry since 1992, and lecturing about game design since 1999. He has contributed to notable game titles such as Thief: The Dark Project, System Shock, NBA2K and League of Legends: Wild Rift. In 2004 he won the grand prize at the Independent Games Festival for Oasis, which he developed with Andrew Leker. Throughout his career, Marc has passionately explored the intersection between technology and play, and advanced our understanding of game design. He is the original creator of the Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics (MDA) framework, a foundational tool developed for his annual Game Design Workshop at the Game Developers Conference. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from MIT.

IMPORTANT: There will be a remote viewing room at UCSC Campus, in room E2-399.

Hosted by: Christina Chung

Location: Silicon Valley Campus 3218, or on Zoom: https://ucsc.zoom.us/j/99369775934?pwd=sbgzJLLb3Nqi7wTypOoybXkYauaYiK.1
Meeting ID: 993 6977 5934
Passcode: 613961