Defining Games
“The word [game] is used for so many different activities that it is not worth insisting on any proposed definition.” – David Parlett, The Oxford History of Board Games.
I can see the relevance of this statement as it can be difficult to draw the line between a game and just some other activity as what someone perceives as a game can vary from person to person. This is similar to how people can often have different ideas of what’s fun and what’s not.
However in Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman’s ‘Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals’ they say it’s important to define what a game is if you wish to “formalize the field of game design”.
I agree that finding a definition of a game would help separate game design from other design methods and practice. It will also help anyone wanting to create a game understand what is needed to make that game appealing as it would define what a game consists of and what is expected from a game.
It would also be useful to define ‘play’ and what it is in relation to the word ‘game’. In ‘Rules of Play’ the author has raised the point that ‘play; and ‘game’ may be separate in English but in other languages they are not. However using the fact English separates the two is useful to define exactly what ‘play’ and ‘game’ are and how they relate to each other. There are times when games are a subset of play and play is a component of games as mentioned in ‘Rules of Play’. For example not all forms of play would involve what we might call a game, such as a child playing on a swing or playing with a puppy. It would seem the play is less organised then a game and doesn’t necessarily follow any rules, have structure or an end goal. A game on the other hand cannot exist without play as games are created for players and have no purpose without them.
Another way of looking at the relationship of ‘play’ and ‘game’ in the field of game design is that games contain play as one of their components. As said in ‘Rules of Play’ “The experience of play is but one of many ways of looking at and understanding games”.
John Huizinga a Dutch Anthropologist published a study in 1938 of the play element in culture.
He defines play as:
· Outside ordinary life
· “not serious”
· Utterly absorbing
· Not to be associated with material interests or profit
· Takes place in its own boundaries of time and space
· Proceeds according to rules
· Creates social groups that separate themselves from the outside world
My comments on the definition in the order they appear above.
· Outside ordinary life- I agree that play does take place separately from any ordinary or constructive activities.
· “not serious” – The whole idea of the play and gaming is that it is not serious. It’s meant to be a fun casual activity done out of your own free will.
· Utterly absorbing- Play and gaming is very absorbing as you are doing it of your own free will so if you choose to play you are doing it because you enjoy it and it is easy to get lost in the activities you enjoy.
· Not to be associated with material interests or profit- When you play a game you are doing it for your own satisfaction not to increase your wealth or material possessions. However if you include gambling activities such as poker under play or gaming then there is an aspect of desire to make a profit.
· Takes place in its own boundaries of time and space- It’s true that when playing a game you make time for it and it almost seems to take place in another world entirely as it is not strictly part of the real world.
· Proceeds according to rules- As I mentioned earlier play doesn’t necessarily require rules in my opinion but in relation to games it does. Games have to follow rules and restrictions to function even if they give the impression of giving the player fee will there are always rules set in place.
· Creates social groups that separate themselves from the outside world- Play and gaming can definitely cause people to separate themselves from the outside world. When you play a computer game you are in the games reality, for example if you are playing a single player game like Fallout 3, whilst you are playing the decisions you make don’t affect the real world just the world that hypothetically exists in the game itself. It’s obviously an option to play multi-player games whether they are computer games or another type of game you may be interacting with other people but you are doing so through a game. So instead of being separated from the outside world alone you are doing it in a group.
Comment on Lecture
Are Games still Primitive
It would seem wrong in a way to suggest games are primitive given how advanced and impressive digital games are in how they look and their content. Digital games are displaying brilliant and realistic graphics, as well as the capability to include massive environments and storylines extending the gameplay time of some games. Good examples of this are Oblivion: The Elder Scrolls IV and Fallout 3 both made by Bethesda, both have very good graphics, large and complex environments and a vast amount of content for the player to interact with.
However as impressive as this is digital games haven’t been around long enough for anyone to say with conviction that they have reached their true potential. Digital games are obviously limited by the technology around at the time so it would make sense that the more powerful the consoles get the more impressive the games become. Games haven’t been taken as seriously in the past as they are now. It’s only recently that some people consider games as a form of art and still not viewed like this by everyone. So looking from this perspective games potentially have a long way to go and there will surely be many new ideas on how they work and what they contain in the future. This would mean games are in fact still primitive despite appearances.
What makes a Game?
Goals and Objectives in Games
Games need to have a goal for the player to aim for otherwise the game would have no purpose. The reason goals are so important to games is that everything the player does will ultimately be connected to achieving a goal. A game can be made up of many goals or objectives some of which can be put in place to complete larger objectives such as mini or optional objectives. For example say the goal is to get through a door and in order to do so you have to get a key, and someone gives you the key for completing a mini objective or as an optional objective you can kill them and take the key.
A goal or objective should be considered carefully by the designer as it can reflect what sort of game they make. The objective should, where applicable, hold relevance to the story of the game. For instance if an objective is integrated properly it can improve the impact of the story as the player will feel as if they are involved directly in the story as appose to the story taking place in cut scenes and the player completing meaningless objectives. A game designer can also use goals or objectives to convey a feeling of freedom in a game. for example in Fallout: New Vegas there is a main storyline objectives but also many side quests that are optional and often have no fixed outcome giving the feeling of freewill and control in the outcome of the game.
An example of a game where the player is free to set their own goals is The Sims where the only set objective is to keep your household alive as you manage the lives of the character you create in the game.
Rules
All games are made up of rules that the player has to keep to and whilst playing has to accept those rules. Rules are a crucial element to games as they determine how a player completes the objectives of the game. Some games have very rigid rules such as Crash Bandicoot where you often travel in one direction of a set path to reach your goal on each level. Other games like Oblivion: Elder Scrolls IV you are given the illusion of freedom as you have a large varied environment to travel where you wish with hundreds of different objectives for you pursue and can even choose how you complete most of them. However, the player may feel free but is far from it as all games, Oblivion included, have set rules that cannot be broken. There is always a limit to every environment and a character may seem to be customisable in anyway but you always have to work within the limits in the game. Rules are also there to ensure the success of the game. For instance rules can be put in place to ensure a game doesn’t end too quickly or last too long, as well preventing a stalemate or giving one player an unfair advantage. An example of which would be in Monopoly when a player rolls three doubles in succession they go to jail and don’t pass go collecting £200. This stops players from travelling around the board too quickly and collect money or properties too fast.
Decision making in Games
Games are made up of many decisions made by the player even if they don’t realise it. Decision making is part of what makes a game fun such as how you want to defeat an enemy, what weapon to use or what rout to take through a level. A game without decision making would be extremely dull as the player would have no say in what was happening and wouldn’t feel involved.
I did a play test where I played Fallout: New Vegas for 20 minutes and saw how many larger decisions I made like what direction to travel, whether to search a room, what weapon to use or how to engage an enemy. I found in 20 minutes I made 19 decisions almost one a minute. This helps show that there is a lot of decision making involved in games to keep the player interested by keeping them active.
