Ilovefunbees

What makes games fun?
The "fun-ness" of any activity (playing games included), is the perfect cross between one's skill set and the challenge that is presented. Also known as the "flow", this state of mind features time passing at a strange pace that to the player seems nonexistent. The player is given just enough challenge to their skill set that they do not feel discouraged by their inadequacy nor do they feel bored by the lack of challenge presented. This is where the most "fun" happens. Hours or perhaps days can go by without interruption as long as the player is presented with that which is slightly above their skills. As they learn, the challenges must become harder to compensate for the higher rank of skills knows by the player. It is games like Tetris which present fun in such a way. The game begins "easy", simply asking players to complete one full row of blocks, but as the pile of unfinished rows grows taller, they player must face the new challenge of less time available for thinking or the speed of the blocks falling. The saying "practice makes perfect" is applicable to games such as this, where the practicing of each level increases the players skills so that what once seemed impossible to the player now has a more likely chance of being playable or even beatable.

Ilovebees.com: Fun?
The game I Love Bees began very easily and very simply: as a website url. The first "level" in this game was that of getting to the game itself. Because the only advertisement for it was a blip of url at the end of the Halo2 trailer, those beginning the game had the challenge to get themselves to a computer and type in the words from the screen. That step can be done by the vast majority of those who would have witnessed the trailer. Once the challenge of level 1 had been completed, the rules were "there are no rules". There was no written levels to the game, nor was there a specific way to play it. But because all minds have their own way of gathering information, learning, and deciphering, I Love Bees was available for any and all to participate in. It was this open-ended way of forming the game and the allowance of any skill set to help in "beating" said game that made it "fun". To discover what had happened to the website, (the main objective of the game as asked on the website), people from all ages, locations, and educations could apply what they knew about the world in general to help fix the game. No one person could solve the game because no one person had all the knowledge in the world to choose what the possible outcomes of the game were. Through the forming of groups with those who had similar mind sets, each group would "have fun" using their own skill sets to formulate all possible ways and meanings that the website had been overtaken and what would happen when the countdown had finished. By posting their ideas and responding to others ideas, all possible outcomes were discussed so that when the final countdown ended, players were ready for anything, at the coordinate locations, with groups and phones and instant connectivity to others at other locations. It was because the players were overly ready for the ending of the countdown that the creators were able to extend the game by giving new chances for things such as combining pieces of heard information played out on the payphone, or delivering a spontaneous 5 worded message through all the coordinates. As the challenges grew harder, the players became more prepared and were able to handle the challenges as they approached. And even if one person's idea on what would happen at the end of the countdown was wrong, that player's contribution became part of the process through which the true answer was found, thus without their contribution the preparedness of the players would not have been up to par. It was the "fun-ness" of having all people from all skill sets able to contribute their ideas to the objective of the game that made I Love Bees fun.