Social Mode

I’m interested in spelling out a general theory for gameshows.

Why: It’s fun.  It seems to be possible.  Its worth a lot of money.

What Makes You Think Its Possible: 50 years of gameshows and we seem to have a handful of models that work well.  Work well => stay on the air => audiences find it interesting => advertisers want to spend money.

What is the Structure of This General Theory:

• Enumerate the basic types of games
• Enumerate the gaming environment
• Identify and Classify the game playing behaviors
• Identify and Classify the game outputs
• Enumerate the game playing strategies and classify their outcomes
• Vet against upcoming shows
• Summarize and conclude
• Produce show based on theory

What Does My Intuition (previous experience) Tell Me Already:

• There are 2 main types of games: skill and no skill (“luck”)
• There are 5-8 variants on those two types in each One Player, Two Player, and Multiple Players
  • One Player
  • Two Player – sometimes the “house” is the other player
  • Multiple Players
  • Variant Breakout
    • Skill
      • Physical Skill – speed strength
      • Knowledge/Factual Skill – huge base of facts needed
      • Reasoning/Logic Skill – no prior knowlege required (Gambling strategy games included)
    • No Skill
      • Physics
      • Probability
  • We’re left with 15-24 actual game engines (there will be all sorts of environmental variations that turn these 15-24 games into a near infinite variety)
  • The outcomes/stakes at play can all be consider environmental factors (yes, they may change how the game is played but the rules of the game engine won’t change)
• The Environment can be classified easily
  • Host
    • Famous
    • Non Famous
    • Involved in Game/Vs. Player
  • Audience
    • Big
    • Small
    • Live
    • Involved in Game Directly
  • Music
    • In studio
    • Added in after
    • Ambient
    • Part of Game
  • Lights
    • Involved in Game directly
    • Spotlight
  • Time Limits
    • Time limited game
    • Timing based game
  • Stakes/Risk
    • Risk to player
    • Risk to vs. player
    • Large Stakes (define)
• Game theory will be useful in picking out strategies
• List of Gameshows
  • http://www.faqs.org/faqs/tv/game-shows/usa/ (pre 2000s)
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Greatest_Game_Shows_of_All_Time_(TV_Guide)
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programs_broadcast_by_Game_Show_Network
  • http://www.tvgameshows.net/winners.htm
  • http://userdata.acd.net/ottinger/compendium/
  • …
• The stimuli and operants and schedules can be identified and classified
  • audience feedback
  • lighting and music
  • real money present
  • touches from host
  • interaction with family
  • ….

What the heck would I do with all this?

Use it to come up with new shows and improve existing shows!

Get published!

While I work on this, check out all these papers.