Games
Genre
Mark J.P. Wolf’s The Medium of the Video Game
Representational surface phenomena
What is displayed on the screen
Interactivity
Related to the game's goals
Limitation
Vague system of categorization
Espen Aarseth
Limitation
Limited practical use
This method fits most if not all games.
uses a series of variables to classify video games
Ineffective to categorize games with solely one variable
Popular magazines and websites
Games are defined in a way that suits those magazines and websites.
No uniformity in the way games are categorized
Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al
Limitations
Single-player and
multiplayer role-playing games don't perfectly fit this definition.
Some games are not goal-oreinted.
Uses the game's goals and required skills for success to classify games
Action Games
include lots of combats and physical drama
Adventure Games
need logic thinking skills to solve challenges
Strategy Games
real-time strategy and turn-based strategy games
hybrid of action and adventure games
Process-Oriented Games
subgroup: simulation games
Main focus on exploring and interacting with the game
Definitions
No common definition
Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations
No common definition to fit all games.
Games at most exhibited family resemblances.
Limitations
Not enough empirical evidence to support this claim.
Ludwig's native language doesn't differentiate formal games from informal ones.
Pragmatic definition
Sid Meier
Elaborates on the element of choices for players
Players intervene and affect the game through their respective choices.
Limitation
Meier's definition suit strategy games best.
Robin
Hunicke et al
MDA model
Mechanics
Refers to the series of algorithms, the rules and basic code of a game.
Dynamics
Are the different actions that players can take in a game.
Aesthetics
Describes the desirable emotional responses when a player interacts with the game.
There are 8 types of emotional responses.
Sensation (game as sense-pleasure)
Fantasy (game as make-believe)
Narrative (game as drama)
Challenge (game as obstacle course)
Fellowship (game as social framework)
Discovery (game as uncharted territory)
Expression (game as self-discovery)
Submission (game as pastime)
A game can evoke multiple responses but not all of them.
Pinpoints that games are systems and focuses on the way games work.
Limitations
It's first and foremost a tool for designing games.
Many aspects of the game experience are excluded in this model such as context and culture.
Formal definition
David Parlett
Games consist of two parts
Ends
Games are competitions that have only one winner.
Means
These are the resources, tools and rules players must abide to.
Limitations
Focuses on nonelectronic games
Parlett’s definition is simultaneously too restrictive and wide-ranging.
Many games don't fit Patty's concept of a game.
Bernard Suits
Games should exhibit some conflicts
These conflicts are challenging but create excitement.
Chris Crawford
First one to define video games
Games have 4 common elements
Representation
Interaction
Conflict
Safety
Games might have some direct impact on the real world.
Katie Salen and Eric
Zimmerman
A game has rules.
A game has al least one conflict that challenges the player's skills and intellect.
There should be a quantifiable outcome.
Jesper Juul
Classic game model
Games - classic criteria
Fixed rules
Variable
outcome
Valorization of
outcome
Player
effort
Player
attachment to
outcome
Negotiable
consequences
Borderline
cases
Flexible rules
No valorization
of outcome
No player effort
Pre-negotiated
consequences
Pre-negotiated
consequences
Not games -outside the classical model
Variable rules
Fixed outcome
No attachment
Non-negotiated
consequences
Limitations
Some video games don't satisfy all the criteria of the classic definition of a game.
The process of the genesis of the self through social activity
George Herbert Mead - Mind, Self, and Society
Children develops the concept of self by mastering human social activity.
Social activity relies on communication
A shared system of symbols
Symbols are used to
exchange ideas with each other through play and games.
Make-believe
Children take on different roles they observe in society.
Communication
Gregory Bateson
Meta-communication
Nonverbal cues that carry meanings
Explains how information in games is meant to be interpreted
Alternate reality games
Blur the line between traditional game worlds(fiction) and the real world (reality)
Culture
Henry Jenkins
Games represent a new form of popular art
His work was inspired by Gilbert Seldes' book.
He argues against social prejudice directed at video games
The design and aesthetics of the game
are vital to its success.
Player control and the player's ability to influence the game are important features.
Brian Sutton-Smith
The omnipresence of games in many cultures
However, games are not necessarily ingrained in every culture.
Games reflect a society's political and social development.
Games are finite, fixed and goal-oriented.
A wide range of forms in games such as social, physical and theoretical games
Marshall McLuhan -Understanding Media
Game forms are shaped by culture.
Games are an outlet for tension.
Limitations
Superficial way of addressing problems
No empirical data to back up the idea of “catharsis”.
Johan Huizing - Homo Ludens
Emphasis on the status of play in cultures
No attempt to define games
The concept of Magic Circle
Edward Castronova
Crucial to keep the game and real worlds separated
No philosophical argument to substantiate the concept of Magic Circle
Critics of the Magic Circle
Thomas Malaby
Games are more than mere objects.
A game is a continuous process that can create new meanings and practices.
Mia Consalvo
Games shouldn't be considered as simply rule-based activities.
Other factors such as social contexts are important.
Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al
Games affect the real world
Time has to be allocated to games.
Games impact our moods.
Games are communication media.
Games influence our behavior.
Actions in games extend into the real world.
Jesper
Juul
The concept of Magic Circle is misunderstood.
Games are composed of 3 layers
Goal orientation
Experience
Social context
Magic Circle is a special place in time and space created by a game
Play occurs within the boundaries of this space and time.
The Magic Circle doesn't affect the real world.
Sociology of play
Roger Caillois - Man,
Play, and Games
Stressed four essential qualities of play
Agôn (competition)
Alea (chance)
Mimicry (imitation)
Ilinx (vertigo)
A game consists of several qualities of play
All games exist on a continuum
Paidia (playfulness)
Ludus (formal, rule-based game behavior)