Skip to main content

The Neuroscience of Games: One Weird Truth About Learning Styles That Will Change Everything You Know About Play

Are you Timmy, Johnny, or Spike? A Gamist, a Narrativist, or a Simulationist? Gud, or a filthy casual? These handy stereotypes can help designers clarify what experiences their games create, but may also lead to creative choices that predict and restrict player behavior. This workshop discusses why modern neuroscientific theories of learning, personality, and emotion have mostly abandoned categorical thinking about individuals, and why that change is important for game design. We will argue that games can provide players with divergent means to self-express within the bounds of the magic circle—roles and mechanics that encourage players to reveal, renegotiate, and reinforce their unique identities.

Event Timeslots (1)

Monday
-
Natalie Mesnard and Patrick Watson

Sign up for the IndieCade Newsletter

Subscribe

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from IndieCade:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

If you are having trouble with this form, you can also send your name and email information to outreach@indiecade.com with subject line "Sign up for the IndieCade Newsletter".

Alumni Signup

Are you an IndieCade Alumnus? We want to know! If you've been a speaker, organizer, juror, or presented your game at IndieCade or any IndieCade-related showcase (ex. IndieCade @ E3, IndieCade @ SIGGRAPH, etc. - doesn't need to have been a finalist) we'd like to be in touch.

https://www.indiecade.com/alumni-signup/