Deceptive Game Design

Drawing from narratology and design studies, Prof. Stefano Gualeni will introduce the ideas of the “implied designer” and “ludic unreliability”. Those two fundamental notions will then be leveraged to present the idea of “deceptive game design”, a subset of the wider category of transgressive game design. This talk will discuss deceptive design not only understood as an intentionally manipulative practice, but also as one that aims to provoke specific experiential and emotional responses that are in the interest of players. Several examples and strategies for deceptive design will be examined during the talk, which will conclude with the proposition of a taxonomy for deceptive design decisions on the basis of their shared qualities (overt, covert, ludic, and paraludic).