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2 The Babyface Effect Sweet Tooth the Clown (of Twisted Metal: Black) is an unattractive character.Twisted Metal:Black is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. ©2001 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Link (of The Legend of Zelda:The Windwaker), like many of Miyamoto’s player-characters,has babyface characteristics.Image courtesy of Nintendo. O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 2 3 Leisure Suit Larry (of Leisure Suit Larry 7) makes use of the 1970s bachelor stereotype. Leisure Suit Larry is provided courtesy of Sierra Entertainment, Inc. Chapter 1 also includes a discussion of the babyface effect—the tendency to react to adults with babyish features as if they were childlike. The chapter examines babyface cues in detail and how they impact choices about character design. Stereotypes Chapter 1 concludes with a discussion of stereotypes—how they function psycho- logically and the benefits and limitations they impose. It covers ways character designers use stereotypes to make characters more immediately accessible, memo- rable, and surprising. Chapter 1 concludes with an interview of Gonzalo Frasca, a game designer who made interesting use of stereotypes in his online simulation titled September 12. Practical Questions:Friendliness,Dominance,and Personality Chapter 2 moves one step deeper into impression formation, addressing practical questions that arise when meeting someone new: Is “the other” a friend or a foe? Just where are they in the pecking order in relation to myself? And what sort of person are they to try to work alongside? The chapter discusses cues of friendliness, dominance, and personality in detail and offers tactics for making the best use of these important social signals. O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 3 4 Take-Aways from Part I After finishing these chapters the reader should have a good feel for the psychology of first impressions and will be better able to take apart just why characters in com- petitors’ games either do or don’t seize player attention artfully. The reader will leave with tools for making good use of these psychological principles in character design. A warning: Reading this section may have the side effect of making the reader curiously aware of what is happening when next meeting someone new—a form of double consciousness that plagues social psychologists as well. Jak and Kira (of Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy).Kira is acting friendly toward Jak.Like many heroic player-characters,Jak displays several dominance cues.Jak and Daxter:The Precursor Legacy is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Created and developed by Naughty Dog,Inc. ©2001 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 4 CHAPTER One Social Surface 1.1 What Is Covered and Why This book begins where players will begin with characters: the moment in a social encounter before the first word is spoken—the first glance—surface impressions. Human beings automatically and instinctively apply interpretive strategies from the moment they lay eyes upon one another. Players do the same with game characters. Knowing how and why the social surface works can help designers make wise choices about the physical appearance and early game behavior of characters. This chapter describes some powerful social biases that can have an impact on a player’s first impressions of characters. Surface effects discussed in this chapter include attractiveness, the babyface effect, and stereotypes, with illustrations of their use in games from various genres: Jak and Daxter, The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker, Twisted Metal: Black, and Leisure Suit Larry 7. The chapter ends with design tips for making use of social surface effects and an interview with Gonzalo Frasca, a game developer and researcher who explores stereotypes in September 12, a flash-based simulation “toy.” 1.2 The Psychological Principles 1.2.1 Reacting to Social Surface Appearance profoundly affects how a person will be perceived and treated by others. This sometimes uncomfortable truth is the subject of countless fictional works (Cyrano de Bergerac, The Elephant Man, and others). People cannot seem to help reacting to the surface of another person, in predictable and suprisingly enduring ways, even in the face of contradictory information emerging from ongoing interaction. The saying “beauty is only skin deep” would not exist if we did not think it necessary to struggle past this bias. Take a moment to look at Figures 1.1–1.3, considering the questions below each to directly experience the effects discussed in the chapter before reading further. 5 O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 5 CHAPTER ONE • SOCIAL SURFACE 6 Who would you rather work with on a project? What qualities do you think each would bring to their work? How would the interaction go? FIGURE 1.1 Who would you rather have as your doctor? What about as your nurse? Do you think these women would be warm in their interaction with you or not? How responsible would you hold them for their actions? FIGURE 1.2 O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 6 1.2 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES 7 1.2.2 Attractiveness A glance at any Hollywood movie poster seems to underscore the power of attractiveness—even when the subject matter is a gritty, everyday life situation, the cast members are extremely attractive. Studies have shown that many qualities are attributed to people with attractive features—sometimes referred to as the halo effect. These qualities include being seen as warmer, kinder, stronger, more sensi- tive, more outgoing, more socially persuasive and dominant, and even smarter than others. It’s even the case that attractive people get more lenient sentences in court, and they may get preference in hiring decisions. These effects occur not just for supermodels or movie stars but for regular people with “attractive” features. Most people would prefer to work with the man on the left in Figure 1.4. Why? Because he has the more attractive features of the two. His healthy, symmetrical face and body and straight profile are features that have been shown to produce higher attractiveness ratings. His strong chin is a mature facial feature often associated with attractiveness in men. His counterpart on the right, with asymmetry in body and features, a snaggle-toothed smile, unhealthy skin, Which of these men is most likely to be a successful executive? Which would you want running a company that you worked for? FIGURE 1.3 O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 7 CHAPTER ONE • SOCIAL SURFACE weak chin, and convex profile is loaded with cues that have led to lower ratings of attractiveness. Why do human beings have such a powerful bias toward those who are attractive? Some researchers feel it may be a part of the evolutionary process—that attractiveness is an indicator of healthiness. A person with asymmetry, obvious signs of disease, or a profile that indicates they may have trouble keeping their teeth in the long run would be a less attractive companion. Other researchers point out that gazing at attractive features puts people in a positive frame of mind from which they are more likely to evaluate anything about the person, or even what’s happen- ing in general, more positively. Whatever the reason, it is the case across cultures that myriad traits considered positive tend to be associated with more attractive people. Of course, what is considered attractive, beyond the basic traits listed above, can vary widely across cultures as shown in Figure 1.5. From eyebrow piercings to lip plates, human beings have evolved culturally and historically specific modifications of what “ideal” beauty is, and these traits also come into play when making an attractive- ness judgment. 8 Healthy, symmetrical face and body Strong chin Snaggle- toothed smile Weak chin Asymmetrical features and body People with more attractive features (like the man on the left) get many positive qualities attributed to them that may not really be present. FIGURE 1.4 O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 8 1.2 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES 9 FIGURE 1.5 Notions of beauty can vary widely between cultures. Jak and Kira (Figure 1.6), from Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, are good examples of attractive characters—healthy, and with symmetrical features and straight profiles. Jak’s strong chin and relative height are additional markers of masculine attractiveness. It is important in this game that the player identifies with Jak, as he is the player character, and that the player finds Kira attractive, as she is Jak’s love interest. Making them both conventionally attractive improves the odds of this happening for the player. Most videogame heroes and heroines are attractive, and this encourages the player to see them as smarter, stronger, kinder, and more socially skilled—all benefits of the halo effect. (a) Kira and (b) Jak (of Jak and Daxter) are attractive characters.Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. Created and developed by Naughty Dog,Inc. ©2001 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. FIGURE 1.6 ab O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 9 CHAPTER ONE • SOCIAL SURFACE Contrast Jak and Kira with Sweet Tooth the Clown from Twisted Metal: Black (Figure 1.7). His unhealthy complexion, puffy eyes, enlarged teeth, and sparse (and flaming) hair are quite unattractive. Sweet Tooth is the worst of the cast of evil murderers in this game, all of whom are meant to be delightfully awful for the player. Here, cues of unattractiveness are used to create repugnance in the player, which is instrumental in creating the proper mood in the game. Sweet Tooth’s appearance also helps underscore his dissociation from everyday society—he is visually frightening and unappealing, making it plausible that he would become an outcast and an evil figure. 1.2.3 Babyfaces Most people assume that the woman on the left in Figure 1.8 would be a better nurse than a doctor. They see her as likely to be warmer, and perhaps less accountable for her actions. Why? She has classic babyface features. Her large eyes and pupils, small chin, high eyebrows and forehead, small nose, and full lips and cheeks, all resemble the features of an infant. The woman on the right has smaller eyes, a stronger chin, lower thicker eyebrows and lower forehead, larger nose with promi- ment bridge, and thinner lips—all qualities of a more biologically mature face. The human bias is to assume that those who have babyfaces will be warmer and more trustworthy but also may be more dependent, less responsible, and more submissive and manipulable. Psychologists call this an overgeneralization: attribut- ing traits of a child to adults with childlike features. The babyface bias has been shown to affect judgments of people from infancy to old age. The babyface effect transcends cultural and even species lines—people find baby animals just as cute and nurturable as baby humans. 10 Sweet Tooth the Clown (of Twisted Metal: Black) is an unattractive character.Twisted Metal:Black is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. ©2001 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. FIGURE 1.7 O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 10 1.2 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES Why is this so? As with attractiveness, some researchers posit that there are powerful evolutionary forces in play—it is very important to nurture infants, so humans have adapted to have powerful and immediate responses to baby features that encourage them to care for babies and to inhibit any aggression toward them. It has been demonstrated in other species that a baby with mature features does not get cared for as well as other babies and may be rejected. Research on premature infants—ones who are born with smaller eyes and less chubby cheeks—has also shown that nurturing impulses and liking are lower when looking at a preemie’s face than at a full-term infant’s face. In any case, there is documentation across cultures showing that those with babyface features evoke more nurturing and trust, and are more readily absolved of responsibility. This extends even to granting babyfaced people more lenient sentences in criminal convictions. Many game characters have exaggerated babyfaces. Here are two examples in Figure 1.9: Daxter, from Jak and Daxter; and Link, from The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker. Both have the large eyes, small chins, round cheeks, high eye- brows, and large head size typical of a baby. Early videogame designers used these proportions so that players could still make out a face onscreen, despite limited res- olution. But these designs have persisted into the era of high polygon count 3D 11 High eyebrows and forehead Large eyes and pupils Full lips and cheeks Small nose Small chin Thicker eyebrows Thinner lips Lower forehead Smaller eyes Stronger chin People with babyface features (like the woman at left) are perceived as warmer and more trustworthy,but less responsible. FIGURE 1.8 O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 11 [...]... the videogames he or she has played and try to find examples of characters that could be considered unattractive by the standards discussed in this chapter Bring a screenshot of the character to group discussion, and be ready to talk about what role this character plays in the game Is the character’s unattractiveness appropriate and effective in the game? How so? 1.7 Further Reading On Babyface and... sense A designer wants players to get a positive feeling from playing the game Even villains can add to this effect through their attractive features Use unattractive features sparingly, and be aware of their effects on the player’s social impressions of characters 1.3.2 Use Babyfaces to Inspire Care and Warmth, Not Respect Babyfaced characters will be seen as socially warm and appealing and will evoke... will have the same motivation and tactics, thereby forming a working, in -game stereotype Jak and Daxter:The Precursor legacy is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc Created and developed by Naughty Dog, Inc ©2001 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc Some games take advantage of stereotypes, while remaining fresh for players, by importing unlikely types into the gaming environment... the game s opening scene, with both characters in action.) Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc Created and developed by Naughty Dog, Inc ©2001 Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc *Cut-scene: Cut-scenes or cinematics are prerendered animated sequences used in games to help frame the story and motivation for the player of the game. .. these tactics (See http://www.newsgaming.com/games/index12.htm to try it out.) September 12 created and developed by Powerful Robot Games 17 O921-Ch01.qxd 5/10/06 10:31 AM Page 18 CHAPTER ONE • SOCIAL SURFACE (or not shoot) terrorists depicted wandering among civilians in a village Here is what he had to say about the use of stereotypes in September 12 Q: Many games make use of stereotypical qualities... the players understood what the game was aiming at, many kept playing with it just as a little fun shoot-them-up I think that that is natural, too, and does not go against the goal of editorial videogames Of course, most of the criticism was because many players thought that the game was taking sides It certainly was, but not the side of terrorists The problem with this game is that it does not show... me, then I kill you back, and so on) Q: Who do you want the player to empathize with in this game? How did you control this with choices you made about the characters (if at all)? Maybe I could say that there are some Brechtian elements in the game I wanted players to be able to take a critical distance from the game This is why we didn’t want to have graphics that were too “videogamy”and that influenced... constantly This pisses off a traditional player, but during those few seconds, I hope that he is able to think about what is going on in this game And based on all the feedback that I got, it worked as expected This is my favorite comment about the game, posted by somebody at GameGirlAdvance.com: Interesting I found myself first thinking “Wow, this is a lot of work to go to in order to say one ‘little’ thing.”... between the two characters, but we felt it was not clear enough The technique that we ended up using flashes back and forth between the two characters, and I think works pretty well We certainly wanted to avoid written text It had to be done with visuals and audio Q: Have you gotten responses to the game from anyone in the Muslim community? If so, did they comment at all upon the figures in the game the depictions... (even though, since the game is open ended, each player will fill in the blanks by herself) That is quite funny, because when I started thinking about the game, in late 2002, what I had in mind was basically the War on Terror in Afghanistan But a lot of people saw in it a depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the current war on Iraq Another interesting thing is that the game s launch (late September) . do the same with game characters. Knowing how and why the social surface works can help designers make wise choices about the physical appearance and early game behavior of characters. This chapter. also build memorable characters by taking well-worn stereotypes and crafting characters that have a few traits that go against type. Consider these two examples of pirate characters that break. about what is going on in this game. And based on all the feedback that I got, it worked as expected. This is my favorite comment about the game, posted by somebody at GameGirlAdvance.com: Interesting