Following on from the ‘Lighthouse’ test, this test is going
to see if signs of society or other man-made structures have an effect on what
areas the player finds important. It’s a simple level where the player needs to
collect a white orb and head for an exit.
The level starts in open area with a statue with some
benches around it placed on the left hand side.
Just past the bridge is a fork in the path, with a house, a
ramp and a red beam on the left, a corridor leading to the exit in the middle, and
a thin nondescript pathway on the right.
Players will at some point need to go to the left side fork
in order to collect an orb, which is needed to unlock the exit.
My hope was that players will come to associate the left
side with things that are interesting, and when they come to the fork in the path,
they will take the left.
The majority of players did go to the left hand path,
however, after asking players why they chose the path they did, it seemed to be
a combination of the eye-catching nature of the red beam, and the fact that
some players saw an association between collecting the orb and going up the
ramp, as the orb was placed on a high area. One player said that they felt that
the middle path was the correct way to go, but because of that, they decided
that they wanted to go down either of the other paths first beforehand. They
ultimately chose the left path, as they felt that the right path was ‘creepy’.
After this test, I changed the map slightly by moving the
red beam on the left path over to the right path, to see how much effect it was
having on the player’s decisions. This time it was a 50:50 split between both
the right and left paths, with the exception of one player who dove into the
water. Players that chose the left this time cited the ramp and the feeling
that the middle path was the ‘correct’ way to go as the reason they chose it.
Those that chose the right do so because they though the thinness of the path indicated
that there may be something hidden down there.
So in conclusion, social artefacts alone aren’t really going
to be enough to persuade players over one path or the other. However, it seems
like it can make an entry point seem like the ‘correct’ way to go. Something
that all the players did was look at the statue at the beginning, showing that
they can grab the player’s attention. What was surprising about the test was
how some players reacted to the house. Previous experiments have shown that house
and other buildings with visible entrances are attractive to players, players
who chose the left path did attempt to enter the house, but it wasn’t an
attraction to all players. This house didn’t have a visible entrance, so I
think that if it did, player would become interested in finding out what was
inside. I think I have enough evidence to suggest that social signifiers do
have an effect on players, but they are just part of a larger roster of techniques
to be used in conjunction with one another.
