Emotional Requirements

Emotional requirements must contain at least two elements: the game designer's intent (that is, the target emotional state) and the means by which the game designer expects (requires) the production team to induce that emotional state in the player. We can consider an emotional state such as happiness as universal, but the way you induce happiness isn't. Emotional requirements need context: classic pratfalls from vaudevillian theater can induce gales of laughter in a viewer who also feels horror at seeing a loved one fall. Unanticipated interactions between what the player sees, hears, and feels before or during the game can also affect the player's emotional response to stimulus, which is further conditioned by the individual's personality, culture, and life experiences.