Through our explorations of information visualization we have been able
to identify some "game-y" characteristics. Some of the elements both
common to games and infovis include: the modeling of data,
investigating models through space, revisitability, experimentation of
effects, and discovery through participation with the system. We also
noticed that there are two general tracks for the representation of
data: guided and freeform. Guided information visualizations are
crafted to lead the participant to some sort of conclusion in a linear
fashion. Freeform representations are depictions of data that are open
to multiple readings. Looking for examples of each? Check out this
geology diagram from Alberto Cairo and the Sense.us website. Each of these
tracks have their own game element strenghts, but neither one is better
than the other for imagining infoviz as a game. The guided track is
often too linear and doesn't encourage procedural manipulation, whereas
the freeform track lacks direction.
Through our explorations of information visualization we have been able
to identify some "game-y" characteristics. Some of the elements both
common to games and infovis include: the modeling of data,
investigating models through space, revisitability, experimentation of
effects, and discovery through participation with the system. We also
noticed that there are two general tracks for the representation of
data: guided and freeform. Guided information visualizations are
crafted to lead the participant to some sort of conclusion in a linear
fashion. Freeform representations are depictions of data that are open
to multiple readings. Looking for examples of each? Check out this
geology diagram from Alberto Cairo and the Sense.us website. Each of these
tracks have their own game element strenghts, but neither one is better
than the other for imagining infoviz as a game. The guided track is
often too linear and doesn't encourage procedural manipulation, whereas
the freeform track lacks direction.
I believe that an informational visualization game is a special amalgam of these two tracks. It needs to be goal-based while embracing multiple interpretations of modeled data. An information visualization newsgame needs to go a step further and introduce editorial direction into the system. I may be alone in this opinion amongst my colleagues, but I feel that without these, we're stuck hoping that either emergent behavior arises from a system or that the guided visualization is more than hypercard fiction.
Adam has provided a nice example of emergent gameplay in Martin Wattenberg's NameVoyager. The NameVoyager, a companion visualization for Laura Wattenberg's book The Baby Name Wizard (interesting to think of piece of static physical media as a 'wizard'), cultivated a following of social play where "usage patterns are strongly social and seem more closely related to those of online multiplayer games than to conventional single-user statistical tools. Indeed, users seem to fall neatly into Richard Bartle's well-known categorization of online game players as explorers, achievers, socializers or killers. This stands in contrast to the traditional view of information visualization as a task-oriented problem-solving activity."
How did this happen? Users began making up goals. As Nick noted, one form of goal in the NameVoyager is "that I constantly have a question in mind that I'm trying to answer as I interact. In the BNV it has to do with thinking of names of people I know, and then asking the question of the viz: "what's the trend of this name?" which has added meaning to me because it's probably a friend or family member's name." But I believe this behavior is incidental--that the emergent play in this visualization was born not out of some special game-like elements of visualization but rather a more generic form of play based in social interaction. The average infoviz has the same amount of play potential as any other object in the world. A good infoviz game needs to be built with the game in mind.
As I mentioned before, I believe goals are important to infoviz games. Goals don't necessarily require a conclusion, nor should we be limited by a certain number of goals. But goals provide a structure to the exploration in the way--useful for the same reason a journalist writes a story rather than listing a set of facts. This means it is also an editorial process (not such a bad thing for a newsgame). The structure and organization help build stronger models around the dataspace and give the user directed activity in the system. I believe this is the first step in making visualizations more 'playable'.
I believe that an informational visualization game is a special amalgam of these two tracks. It needs to be goal-based while embracing multiple interpretations of modeled data. An information visualization newsgame needs to go a step further and introduce editorial direction into the system. I may be alone in this opinion amongst my colleagues, but I feel that without these, we're stuck hoping that either emergent behavior arises from a system or that the guided visualization is more than hypercard fiction.
Adam has provided a nice example of emergent gameplay in Martin Wattenberg's NameVoyager. The NameVoyager, a companion visualization for Laura Wattenberg's book The Baby Name Wizard (interesting to think of piece of static physical media as a 'wizard'), cultivated a following of social play where "usage patterns are strongly social and seem more closely related to those of online multiplayer games than to conventional single-user statistical tools. Indeed, users seem to fall neatly into Richard Bartle's well-known categorization of online game players as explorers, achievers, socializers or killers. This stands in contrast to the traditional view of information visualization as a task-oriented problem-solving activity."
How did this happen? Users began making up goals. As Nick noted, one form of goal in the NameVoyager is "that I constantly have a question in mind that I'm trying to answer as I interact. In the BNV it has to do with thinking of names of people I know, and then asking the question of the viz: "what's the trend of this name?" which has added meaning to me because it's probably a friend or family member's name." But I believe this behavior is incidental--that the emergent play in this visualization was born not out of some special game-like elements of visualization but rather a more generic form of play based in social interaction. The average infoviz has the same amount of play potential as any other object in the world. A good infoviz game needs to be built with the game in mind.
As I mentioned before, I believe goals are important to infoviz games. Goals don't necessarily require a conclusion, nor should we be limited by a certain number of goals. But goals provide a structure to the exploration in the way--useful for the same reason a journalist writes a story rather than listing a set of facts. This means it is also an editorial process (not such a bad thing for a newsgame). The structure and organization help build stronger models around the dataspace and give the user directed activity in the system. I believe this is the first step in making visualizations more 'playable'.
