Week 1 Game Studies - Lecture notes 1 PDF

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Ben Unterman...

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3 approaches to game studies 1. Social science - How do games do to people? 2. Humanities - What meaning are made through games? 3. engineering - how do we create better games - What makes a game good? Game Concepts 1. Play vs rules 2. Challenge vs flow (game immersion) 3. Ludology (structure and concepts) vs narratology 4. Casual vs hardcore (spending a large amount of time on 1 game) Playful activities (including games) can be placed along a continuum between paidia and ludus. Paidia: Unstructured play Ludus: Structured play with specific rules - Lusory attitude: accepting the rules of a game A Game is a series of interesting and meaningful choices in pursuit of a clear and compelling goal - Consists of meaningful play A game is: 1. A rule-based formal system with 2. Variable and quantifiable outcomes, where 3. Different outcomes are assigned different values, 4. The player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome, 5. The player feels attached to the outcome, and 6. The consequences of the activity are optional and negotiable Common elements Non-anthropologists (game designers, philosophers, etc.) tend to agree on at least two elements: - Games have rules - Games have goals Attitude - People accept rules of the game to make the game possible - “Make believe” is at the heart of playing a game, regardless of the supposed role of the player - Rules are treated as if they are real and have real consequences

4 types of interactivity 1. Cognitive interactivity (interpretive) - Psychological, emotional, and intellectual participation between a person and a system - Ex: complex imaginative interaction between a player and an adventure game, emotional attachment 2. Functional interactivity (utilitarian participation) - Functional, structural interactions with the materials components of the system (real or virtual) - Ex. interface, buttons, response time, legibility of text. 3. Explicit interactivity (participation with choices) - Obvious, intentional interactions like clicking a link. Working with choices, programmed events. - Ex. following the rules of a board game, using a joystick to move Pac-man 4. Meta-interactivity (Participation within the culture of the object) - Interaction outside the experience of a single designated system. - Ex. Fan culture, creating community...