How Games Move Us

Accomplished game designers use a range of subtle social cues from NPCs to produce feelings in players, putting NPCs into powerful and consequent social relationships with the player/avatar.

We would never lump Hollywood action films, Sundance winners, and nature documentaries together when discussing the impact of film. We see these as different kinds of works, using different techniques, for different audiences, to different ends.

Not only do our movements shape our own emotions, but they also affect anyone who’s watching us—emotions are, in a sense, “contagious.”

have begun to explore more systematically what sorts of movement styles lead to what sorts of feelings

researchers have found that player emotions are in fact different during movement-based play than during controller

Body-based emotional effects give game designers additional options for affecting players’ emotions

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with sitting down, focusing hard, and using one’s hands. In fact, modern schooling and office work depends on just that

In the last few years, both independent and mainstream commercial games have started incorporating the vigorous, coordinated movement of bodies as a key element of gameplay.

3 Bodies at Play: Using Movement Design to Create Emotion and Connection

players can become highly engaged, even transformed, when they inhabit avatars and interact in social gameplay, however artificial and fantastic their digital “virtual” surroundings may be