What is Fun?

Sooo whats fun..... okie I am lazy.. so i am just going to past the defination from a dictionary.

adjective
–noun
1.something that provides mirth or amusement: A picnic would be fun.

2.enjoyment or playfulness: She's full of fun. –verb (used without object), verb (used with object)

3.Informal. joke; kid. –adjective

4.Informal. of or pertaining to fun, esp. to social fun: a fun thing to do; really a fun person.

5.Informal. whimsical: flamboyant: The fashions this year are definitely on the fun side. —Idioms

6.for or in fun, as a joke; not seriously; playfully: His insults were only in fun.

7.like fun, Informal. certainly not; of doubtful truth: He told us that he finished the exam in an hour. Like fun he did!

8.make fun of, to make the object of ridicule; deride: The youngsters made fun of their teacher.


..... WoW thats like the defination of fun there... okie to be serious since I am a game developer , more or a programmer wanna be and avid gamer. So what do it find fun in computer games. Firstly we need to know what are computer games or games for that matter. A Game is pretty much a puzzle. A puzzle where the player has to solve. ( or as my lecturer calls it... noise and where the player has to reach the goal thru the noise )

If you do not believe me, that a game is pretty much a puzzle. Picutre this in your head. A game of chess , the puzzle will be being able get into your opponent's mind , and the goal is to win him. Compare this with oh lets say.. Warcraft 3 ( online fighitng against and other player ). Is'nt the puzzle the same? to get into your opponent's mind and see his moves. And the goal is to beat him. So games are pretty much the same. There is a puzzle and the players tries to solve it. ( or master it )

But this will eventually creates a new problem. If everyone who plays the game manages to master the game, won't it get to start to be boring? Yes it will. The player will not longer find a challenge in the game. ( a human characteristic )

So as a game developer / designer / programmer how do we ensure the game we are making will be able to keep the fun factor, or maybe juz prolong it as long as possible so that a new game can be created. The answer is simple really. Create a puzzle that always create a new puzzle by itself. Example , PVP ( player versus player ) element into online multiplayer games. With this human element added they can cause unpredictable challenages now and then , like how to kill the other player, or how to ambush him and so forth.

So overall computer games are puzzles that players need to solve and players in turn get fun and satisfaction once they have solved it.