Association for Behavior Analysis International

To ensure we offer contemporary continuing education opportunities, the CE credit associated with this video is no longer available, however, the video remains available for viewing.

On one hand, games are a creative medium full of incredibly nebulous, fluffy concepts like "fun," "storytelling," and "adventure." At the same time, modern games produce terabytes of exquisitely detailed behavioral data, letting us analyze everything from how our players respond to contingencies to the substance of their in-game conversations. The games industry is driven by a unique mix of talented designers who work by instinct and experience and analysts who use rigorous behavioral testing methodologies, battling and collaborating with each other to produce fun experiences for our players. This talk will cover some of the ways research has been incorporated into the game design process, from small-scale lab studies to beta tests with millions of active participants. The talk will cover why behavioral approaches have been so unexpectedly successful in games and cover the secret methods used to persuade stubborn designers to listen to data. Finally, Dr. Hopson also will discuss some of the ways that behavioral analysts are still way ahead of game designers and what the games industry needs to do in order to catch up.