{"id":3815,"date":"2014-03-08T09:07:23","date_gmt":"2014-03-08T16:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/?p=3815"},"modified":"2014-09-12T11:56:48","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T17:56:48","slug":"big-fat-phoenix-the-most-important-game-design-lesson-i-ever-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2014\/03\/08\/big-fat-phoenix-the-most-important-game-design-lesson-i-ever-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Fat Phoenix: The most important game design lesson I ever learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span><p>This is key.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bigfatphoenix.co.in\/2014\/03\/the-most-important-game-design-lesson-i.html\">Big Fat Phoenix: The most important game design lesson I ever learned<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><b>The action that your player performs most frequently should feel like fun all by itself.<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Far FAR too often, the action that the player performs most often in an educational game is clicking on buttons or closing dialog boxes.<\/p>\n<div class='wp_likes' id='wp_likes_post-3815'><a class='like' href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(3815);\" title='' ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-likes\/images\/like.png\" alt='' border='0'\/><\/a><span class='text'>Be the first to like.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='like' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.like(3815);\">Like<\/a><\/div>\n<div class='unlike' ><a href=\"javascript:wp_likes.unlike(3815);\">Unlike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Approximate Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> &lt; 1<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minute<\/span><\/span>This is key. Big Fat Phoenix: The most important game design lesson I ever learned. The action that your player performs most frequently should feel like fun all by itself. Far FAR too often, the action that the player performs &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2014\/03\/08\/big-fat-phoenix-the-most-important-game-design-lesson-i-ever-learned\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,12,14,24],"tags":[41,127,76],"class_list":["post-3815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational-technology","category-games","category-general","category-teaching-learning","tag-education","tag-game-design","tag-serious-games"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Hsb6-Zx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2125,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/04\/16\/question-of-the-day-what-do-you-think-what-is-the-most-important-ingredient-to-create-and-sell-a-successful-educative-video-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":3815,"position":0},"title":"Question of the Day: What is the most important &#8221; ingredient&#8221; to create and sell a successful educative video game????","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"April 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a discussion that recently started on one of the LinkedIn lists I'm on. It's a really good question, but one without a simple answer. Suggested answers have included: There isn't one thing - games are complex. Must be fit for purpose. Must be engaging. Appropriate interface design. Must\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Educational Technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Educational Technology","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/educational-technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ViPER","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Rover-01-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6029,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/11\/09\/games-you-cant-win-online-first-springer\/","url_meta":{"origin":3815,"position":1},"title":"Games You Can\u2019t Win &#8211; Online First &#8211; Springer","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"November 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Dana\u00a0Ruggiero, Katrin\u00a0Becker Abstract A common notion in games for learning is that the player must win the game. But is it always necessary for the player to win in order to \u2018get\u2019 the message that the game is trying to portray? When we think back on our most memorable learning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ID-100283345-300x2251","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/ID-100283345-300x2251-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6501,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2017\/08\/05\/5-mistaken-differences-between-education-games-and-the-gamification-of-education\/","url_meta":{"origin":3815,"position":2},"title":"5 mistaken differences between education games and the gamification of education","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 5, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"And 12 ways in which these ideas are problematic. Gamification is generally defined as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts. Fair enough. But this is pretty much where the article goes off the rails. (She's not alone). Source: 5 differences between education games and the gamification of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Academia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Academia","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/academia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pearsoned.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Education-games-or-gamification-of-education.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pearsoned.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Education-games-or-gamification-of-education.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pearsoned.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Education-games-or-gamification-of-education.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5309,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2015\/08\/14\/where-is-the-line-between-good-instructions-and-hand-holding\/","url_meta":{"origin":3815,"position":3},"title":"Where is the line between good instructions and hand-holding?","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"August 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the great things about games is their potential for delivering just-in-time instruction. Most games require some sort of user assistance,\u00a0whether it be instructions, in-game tutorials, or a help system. Many games\u00a0integrate help and tutorial information into the gameplay as much as possible. As designers, how can we know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/computers-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollowmedia.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/viper1-300x187.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2765,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/09\/13\/theories-of-games-and-interaction-for-design-2-3-responses\/","url_meta":{"origin":3815,"position":4},"title":"Theories of Games and Interaction for Design (2: 3 Responses)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"September 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These are public postings of my writings for the first course of the Graduate Certificate Program in Serious Game Design and Research at Michigan State University. Each week, we are required to post three responses\/reactions to queries posted by other members of the class in the previous week. These are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/computers-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2951,"url":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/2012\/10\/09\/theories-of-games-and-interaction-for-design-5-3-responses\/","url_meta":{"origin":3815,"position":5},"title":"Theories of Games and Interaction for Design (5: 3 Responses)","author":"Katrin Becker","date":"October 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"These are public postings of my writings for the first course of the Graduate Certificate Program in Serious Game Design and Research at Michigan State University. Each week, we are required to post three responses\/reactions to queries posted by other members of the class in the previous week. These are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Computers&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Computers","link":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/category\/computers-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/minkhollow.ca\/books\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/ch10f009-2-231x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3816,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3815\/revisions\/3816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/minkhollow.ca\/beckerblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}