Values at play
New Games movement of 1970s
How we play the game may be more important than we imagine, for it signified nothing less than our way of being in the world" (George Leonard, Ultimate Athlete)
tools and technologies of commercial games have proliferated out, and are being used to understand complex sociopolitical issues
wrapping game mechanics in existing situation creates empathy
procedural rhetoric is the art of persuasion through rule-based representations and interactions rather than the spoken word, writing, images or moving pictures (Ian Bogost)
but games create meaning at multiple levels - not just rules
they create meaning in action, so you can't just "bake in" meaning - you have to embed the values you think they want, but they may or may not emerge in play - you have to test it
understanding formal elements
the least understood part of games - people usually think about "running around a screen"
but how do you get to that?
games are for players - not for designers
how is the interaction between the players organized?
one person against a system?
multiple players?
ex: Ruth Kettler's three-person chess game
what goals structure the play
what rules guide or limit the players' actions?
we constrain action so play is possible
how does the play proceed? (can be like rules)
actions of play
what resources are available to players to accomplish their goals
resources: anything that is scarce and has utility
what do we provide? take away?
how things are given, traded, emerge, fade away
what are the boundaries of the experience?
Huizinga's magic circle, etc
how will it end?
Fullerton: games must be uncertain in tension with striving for closure
Flanagan: well, Salen and Zimmerman def of play includes win state and lose state
the core mechanic is the essential nugget of game activity, the mechanism through which players make meaningful choice and arrive at a meaninful play experience (Salen and Zimmerman, Rules of Play)
the coalescing of rules into experience
classic strategy games - like go
fairness
positing the rational universe
strategy can overwhelm numbers
modern strategy games
modeling modern warfare
hidden information
multiplayer
first person shooters
individual
hostile world
direct combat is only mode of expression
honorable war
how could a game be designed to simulate a social conflict, psychological conflict, or interpersonal conflict? These are truly tough design challenges...part of the challenge lies in the fact that simulations require radical simplification and stylization. (Salen & Zimmerman)
phases
discovery
(definitional activity): translation
operationalization into action/decision
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