This assignment is due on Sunday, September 11th. (That is, before Monday, September 12th). Altough, any time before class on Monday is OK.
We’ve asked you to play a game. And we’ve asked you to read about what a game is. Now we want you to put those two things together to make sure you have an idea of what a game is!
If you haven’t done Assignment 1 and Reading 1, do those first.
Now: consider the definition of a game in whatever you read (either Juul or Schell). Does what you played really qualify as a game in terms of what those authors define a game as?
In a comment posted to this note, say what your game was (for Assignment 1), and how it fits the definition of the game. Consider either the 6 aspects of “gameness” in Juul or the 10 questions that Schell has. Please be specific as to which one you’ve read, and number the answers as they have.
Note: if you are making a long posting as a comment (as you will need to for this assignment), you might prefer to edit the comment in a text editor and then cut and paste it into the comment box. This way, less can go wrong.
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Zelda Ocarina of Time (N64)- Schell Reading
1- Ironically, I believe you guys have made the first question impossible to pass by mandating that we play a game for the first assignment.
2- Goal: Save Hyrule
3- Ganondorf is a jerk
4- The rules are built in to the physical limitations of the game (IE, a rule stating that you can’t use lightsabers is unnecessary, as I couldn’t even if I wanted to)
5- There is a win state (defeating Ganondorf). However, a ‘lose’ state is hard to define, because you can continue trying from wherever you last saved when you ‘die’ or fail to do something correctly. So maybe losing is giving up?
6- I control Link’s actions via an N64 controller
7- Water Temple
8- Rupees, Spiritual stones, Heart Pieces, Spirit Medallions, etc…
9- An active role is required if you want anything to get done
10- There is a rigid system to all of the things listed in #8, and all of those things are of no use outside the game.
Dragonage 2 – Schell Reading
1) To the extent that we chose the games we were going to play, this particular one was clearly entered willingly.
2) There are any number of goals and quests to complete throughout the game, and while the main overarching goal is hidden throughout play, it still exists and is revealed across the course of the storyline.
3) There are conflict aplenty – between groups of people throughout the world, between the player and his allies, his enemies – it’s everywhere. These conflicts form the basis for most of the goals.
4) Though the rules are not stated as such, the limitations and abilities programmed into the games form a set of unbreakable rules through which the game is played.
5) Although I have not finished the game yet, I assume there comes a time when the storyline culminates and the player can ‘win’. There is no clear way to lose other than to die and have to reload and continue.
6) If the game wasn’t interactive, the character would do nothing besides stand in one spot on the screen.
7) There are challenges throughout the world – large scale battles, bosses, differing difficulty levels. Even conversations can ultimately be challenges as your responses heavily influence the world around you.
8) At least for me, I very much enjoy watching a character level up throughout a game – so that is of value to me, even though it holds no value outside the game. The same could be said of watching your character progress through the game, collect powerful items, etc.
9) I sat down to play for a while yesterday and before I knew it many hours had gone by – the storyline was so engaging I didn’t even notice.
10) Since the game is programmed as a set of rules where only certain things are allowed (ie the battle, conversation, travel, physics, etc systems), the game as a result is a formal closed system to play in.
Sherwood Dungeon – Schell Reading
1) Yes – it is entered willfully.
2) Yes/No – players can follow quests to explore the worlds, do player vs. player games, chat with other users online, or simply use it as a sandbox. Each player is allowed to set up their own goals in the environment.
3) Yes – players need to learn how to use control keys, how the mobs will react, and level up for better equipment and skills to survive and satisfy requirements in each quest.
4) Yes – the settings of the characters, monsters, and NPCs could be considers as rules on this platform.
5) Yes/No – if players intend to solve quests or kill other players, they may win or lose. If they don’t, there are options for them to kill time in this virtual world with or without other players.
6) Yes – players will be interacting with the world, NPCs, and other online players.
7) Yes – there are some strategies to apply to efficiently level up and wipe out NPCs/players.
8) Yes – engaged players may be obsessed in exploring all islands, completing all quests, revenging in pvp games, trying out all weapons/armors/runes/pets, or some other goals in the virtual world.
9) Yes – there are plenty of ways this environment would engage a player.
10) Yes/No – outside the environment a player probably won’t be able to use sword and magic like they are in Sherwood Dungeon. However, the relationships between players may extend outside this online platform if they want to.
Battlefield Bad Company 2 – Schell Reading
1) I chose to play the game, so it was definitely entered willfully.
2) There are many different goals ranging from surviving waves of enemies to capturing command posts.
3) There is always a conflict between you and your allies and the enemies.
4) The rules govern everything from the amount of damage guns do to the fact that you need ammo to fire a gun.
5) Missions or matches can be won by completing the objectives. You can lose by dying or failing to complete the mission.
6) The player’s actions are controlled by the player and other characters react to these actions.
7) There are many challenges in the game such as having to destroy vehicles or surviving long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
8) Over the course of the game you unlock new weapons and abilities.
9) The atmosphere engages the player in the game.
10) The game follows a set of rules that doesn’t allow many things to occur.
Okami – Schell Definition for a Game
1. I bought this game when I was bored some summer, I like the Legend of Zelda, and I heard this game was similar, so I decided to pick it up. Nobody forced me to play this game.
2. The goal of the game is to get rid of evil beings and “cursed areas”, investigating their origins and obtaining “brush techniques” along the way.
3. There is conflict between many characters in the game that involve the character you control. There are enemies that get in your way, and you must keep attaining brush techniques to progress to different areas in the game.
4. Your character is fast, and agile, but limited in its jumping ability. You are limited to a certain amount of health, money to buy items, “ink jars” for using brush techniques, and other various things. You work with these rules when figuring out where to go next.
5. This definition is pretty simple: you die if you lose all your health, you win if you defeat the final boss.
6. You interact with the world with your brush techniques. The Wii version of the game requires wagging the controller and nunchuck in certain ways to control the main character.
7. Not all enemies are created equal. Some are more aggressive than others, and to defeat them you often have to do more than just attack. Figuring out where to go next can be very difficult, and you’ll also have to put together clues from villiagers, merchants, and story characters in order to figure out what to do.
8. The game is fun, and while you’re playing it you realize that you want to know what happens to the main character and the world she’s trying to save. You want to get more weapons, because they’re cool and they ultimately help you defeat enemies easier. Money is an important part of this. Everything is interconnected, and because they all work towards attaining the same goal, they all have some kind of value.
9. The game itself is very engaging for many reasons. The music fits the mood of the game well and seems appropriate in most of the game situations, the art style is pleasing to look at, the story is interesting (more than I thought it would be for sure), and the problems you encounter in the game are easy to care about.
10. The rules of this video game, along with its goals, make it a “closed, formal system.”
Bioshock (PC) – Juul reading
1. Fixed rules
The player can interact with the environment of Rapture in a limited number of ways:
-fight using weapons and plasmids
-scavenge the environment and corpses for equipment
-purchase equipment from vending machines
-create new weapons or items at “U-Invent” machines
-hack cameras, turrets, safes, door locks, and vending machines
-take pictures with your research camera
-stealthily move to avoid detection
2. Variable and quantifiable outcome
When fighting Splicers or Big Daddies, you can succeed at killing them or die, only to try again. Hacking can lead to many benefits such as turrets turning on foes, safes revealing their contents, doors allowing entry to locked areas, or vending machines selling items at a discount. The best example is how you decide to interact with Little Sisters once freeing them from their paired Big Daddy: kill them and harvest a great deal of ADAM, or to save them and gain a smaller amount. This moral decision impacts the storyline and how difficulty the game will be for the player.
3. Valorization of the outcome
As the player-character Jack, your plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean. The only survivor, you make your way to a nearby lighthouse. You enter submersible vessel and are taken to the underwater city of Rapture. Upon arrival you are contacted via radio by a person named Atlas who requests your help to overthrow Andrew Ryan, business magnate who originally created the now-dystopian metropolis. The desired outcome is to figure out what is happening and escape with your life.
4. Player effort
Anyone who has played Bioshock will agree that fighting a Big Daddy is one of the most taxing efforts they have encountered in a video game.
5. Attachment of player to the outcome
I have become quite attached to the story and feel an internal drive to progress forward, if only to learn more about the world I have entered.
6. Negotiable consequences
These can include the moral dilemma of interacting with Little Sisters and just the amount of time that I have invested in playing.
Answering the questions for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
Q1. Yes, I willfully played this game, and I would have played this game with or without the assignment.
Q2. The goal of the game is to carry out your job as Head of Security and find those responsible for breaching the company while also searching for the truth behind the many conspiracies.
Q3. The interactions with other characters whether it is through discussion or physical hostility, the decision to spare the opponents or kill them, and the level design which creates small puzzles all culminate into conflict.
Q4. The physics engine is the main ruling for throughout the game. If you take a more detailed look at the game, there are also rules governing things like line of sight, alarm length, and augmentation options that limit the freedom within the game.
Q5. The game has a failure system that mostly depends on the player’s ability to stay alive, resulting in failure upon death, or completing objectives. A win is determined when the main story is completed and the player unlocks the final cutscenes.
Q6. The game is interactive through the use of the xbox controller. To further emphasize the interactivity, the outcome of the game is dependent on the player’s choice (to a limited degree).
Q7. The game is driven through the completion of challenges and puzzles. The player cannot simply observe the game as one would a movie (with the exclusion of cutscenes and other non-playable events). The game must be overcome for the rewards.
Q8. This game is very entertaining. I felt a range of emotions while playing the game that made me forget about the monetary cost and feel invested in the game emotionally. There is a rush during takedowns and hacks, and a sense of betrayal through character interactions.
Q9. Deus Ex is a very engaging game. The is story told through cutscenes, readable tablets scattered throughout the game, and through the actual gameplay. Players experience a sense of immersion, as though they are actually living the life of another person and searching for a resolution to this story that they choose to explore.
Q10. This game is very closed. As defined by most of the above answers, there are rules governing how far the player can go and what sort of experiences the player can feel.
Fruit Ninja for iOS
Answering the Schell questions
Q1. Game was entered willfully (and also as a class assignment), but I would have played it regardless.
Q2. Yes, the goal is to slash as many fruit as possible, with the best combos.
Q3. The conflict is trying to get the highest score in one scenario, the other is not dying by not hitting bombs.
Q4. The rules are if you hit a bomb you lose your combo, or you die, depending on scenario. Other rules are just specific scoring guidelines.
Q5. You can win or lose. Yes. Most useful in multiplayer, when a player either wins or loses.
Q6. Interactive, yes. To the user input via touchscreen. Or during multiplayer against your opponent.
Q7. Challenging, yes. Beating a very high score can prove quite challenging and sometimes frustrating.
Q8. The internal value is possibly achieving highest score, pride, and bragging rights.
Q9. It engages the players. The music intensifies as your combo grows, and speed increases, keeping you on your toes.
Q10. Game is closed, and cannot be modified in any way by the user.
Halo Reach – Schell Reading
Q1) Seeing as I picked up the game and played in (instead of doing other things that needed to get done) I would say I willingly played it!
Q2.) There is one goal to Halo Multiplayer – Kill all the other players before they can kill you.
Q3) The main conflict would have to be that you want to kill the other players, and they want to kill you…
Q4) The rules of the Halo vary from free-for-all (none) to games such as capture the flag or griffball (where you have a big hammer and have to smash the other teams ball). Overall I would say the rules of Halo are the physics engine that keeps you [loosely] in the realm of reality and the missions that are given at the beginning of each level.
Q5) Either you kill the bad guy (win) or they kill you (Lose)
Q6) Lots of effort is put into make interactive bad-guys, through the use of AI and multiplayer.
Q7) The best part about playing halo is the challenge of multiplayer. No matter how good you think you are, there is always someone out there that is better!
Q8) The longer you play the higher your rank becomes. You also get cool new armor and effects as you level up.
Q9) It is amazing how you think you will just pick up the controller to play one game and an hour later you find yourself saying “I can’t end on that game!”
Q10) The world of Halo is completely contained in itself and fully defined by the Programmers who created it. Nothing you do in the game affects the real world and nothing you do in the everyday life changes the state of the game. Therefore it is a closed, formal system.
Diablo II – Juul Reading
1. Rules: The game clearly has fixed rules hard-coded into the programming of the game itself. However, these rules are often bent or broken by players (e.g. use of Bots, maphacking, etc.).
2. Variable and Quantifiable Outcome: This is more difficult to determine. On one hand, you have the outcome of you either beat the game, or you die enough times to give up and stop playing. However, most players keep playing after “winning” meaning that beating the final boss doesn’t appear to really be the outcome. Instead, I would say the outcome is getting the best gear for your character, however this isn’t entirely quantifiable as there is no firm consensus on the best (there are several “top tier” items).
3. Valorization of the Outcome: This goes back to the item idea, certain items are definitely better than others. However, since there is no end to item collection, anyone who wants better items can just keep playing.
4. Player effort: There is certainly quite a bit of player effort in terms of time involved to beat the game and even more if you want to get top gear.
5. Attachment of the Player to the Outcome: There is a fair amount of attachment of the player to the outcome, as there should be in any sort of RPG game as these allow the players to play through their characters. Players will want their characters to “look cool” by outfitting them with the best equipment.
6. Negotiable consequences: This is also a tough one. On one hand, clearly when your player dies you can simply re-spawn (unless playing on “hardcore” mode when you get only 1 life for the entire game and when you die you lose). On the other, the consequences are always the same, they are not negotiable or variable in any way, and you cannot optionally assign real-life consequences to player death.
I played Starcraft 2. Applying the 10 criteria from Schell:
Willfull: No one is forcing you to click the icon on your desktop to launch the game, so generally it is played freely.
Goals: The goal is to destroy all the structures in the enemy’s base (or beat the other player’s army so bad that they surrender)
Conflict: The conflict are the battles that occur between the two players’ armies ie – a simmulated war in space.
Rules: You can only build a certain number of units based ob how many resources you have gathered. You must build certain structures or research upgrades in your base to make some units available to build. Units can only move in specified ways, at specified speeds. Each unit does a certain amount of damage to other units.
Won or Lost: You win a game when your opponent surrenders or has all their buildings destroyed and lose when that happens to you.
Interactive: You make the decisions of what units to build, what to research, where to build structures, and how to command your army (such as where to move and who to attack).
Challenge: In multiplayer, players are matched against others of the same skill through a matchmaking system. This ensures that there is always some measure of challenge in winning.
Internal Value: You get a higher ranking in the game for winning and can get in-game rewards such a moving up into a more advanced “league” or getting new portraits to use for your character.
Engage: The visuals, dialogue, sounds, and mechanics all attempt to engage the player. Whether it works or not is entirely up to whoever is playing, though I think they generally do engage the player.
Closed Formal System: I think this is more of a feature of all computer games in general. While you are playing, you aren’t going to mistake it for doing anything else, so it’s boundaries are well defined. Also, every thing except pressing “Quit” will keep the game, so it is closed (insofar that any piece of software the doesn’t hijack your computer can be closed).
Age of Empires Online – Schell reading
Q1. Games are entered willfully.
Yes, I enjoyed playing Age of Empires long back and so I decided to give this online version a shot.
Q2. Games have goals.
I suppose it had an ultimate goal of building the strongest empire and reaching the iron age from the stone age(I think, I haven’t played all that much) but also mini-goals/missions in the form of quests, which help you get acquainted with the gameplay.
Q3. Games have conflict.
Conflict is in the form of opponents and their armies or rival empires etc.
Q4. Games have rules.
The rules are in the form of restrictions that govern how you build your empire.For example, it takes some time for a new person to appear in the city, etc. You do not have unlimited resources and unlimited power.
Q5. Games can be won and lost.
Yes, you win when you reach the goal.
Q6. Games are interactive.
You control your empire and are actively involved in building it.
Q7. Games have challenge.
It is a strategy game that tests your wits; you have to be smart about building your economy as well as in battle with an opponent.
Q8. Games can create their own internal value.
Ruling the world as a leader of an epic empire is pretty strong motivation and successfully strategizing to beat the computer(or any other players) makes you feel smart, so yes , it does have internal value.
Q9. Games engage players.
It is definitely engaging to be strategizing about building an empire, however, I thought that the online version was not as addictive as the original Age of Empires because it sort of lacked the flow the older one had. The quests interfered with the gameplay a little bit and I liked the way it was earlier.
Q10. Games are closed, formal systems.
This is interesting because when you’re immersed in the game, the real world rules don’t apply and you’re really in the virtual world now. You will wage war in the game and build things and think about economy and politics even though in real life war horrifies you and you have no knowledge of or interest in economics and politics. Definitely a magic circle.
Nba 2k11
Q1. Games are entered willfully.
Yes I wanted to play it
Q2. Games have goals.
The main goal is to beat your opponent. In other game modes there are statistical goals that you have to reach with certain players in order to achieve points or unlocks.
Q3. Games have conflict.
I dont really see much conflict besides playing against different teams. Each team is different. Another conflict that I did find is in myplayer mode when you start as a rookie and try to make it into the league.
Q4. Games have rules.
Yes rules of basketball
Q5. Games can be won and lost.
All games are played to win
Q6. Games are interactive.
Yes you control the entire team, one player at a time.
Q7. Games have challenge.
Each game is a different challenge. Each team has their own great player.
Q8. Games can create their own internal value.
In myplayer mode you start as a rookie and make your way to a superstar. After every game you get points to improve your character.
Q9. Games engage players.
I can play this game for hours, switching between game modes.
Q10. Games are closed, formal systems.
Yes uses the rules of basketball
I played Castle Crashers for the Xbox 360. Castle Crashers is an arcade style game where you control a knight and fight through a series of 2D comedic levels. I am using Schell’s 10 questions to explore how Castle Crashers fit the definition of being a game.
1) This one should be obvious. No one came into my house and forced me to turn on the Xbox and play this game. I chose to play through this game (for the 30th time), just because I think it is fun and enjoyable to do so.
2) This game has several simple goals. You need to save the princesses, and you need to get a giant crystal back that was stolen from the king. As for whom any of these characters are or what their background story is, you simply do not know. Because the game never gives you any real incentives to rescue the princesses or help the king, I believe the goal is simply to beat the levels. The game also has secondary goals to unlock new players, weapons, and animals. This idea of playing through the game to unlock new elements of the game is one of the major aspects of the game that keeps bringing me back.
3) Castle Crashers has conflict in a very basic way, kill all of the people that are trying to kill you (or get in your way)! As you walk through the levels, a wide array of enemies will try to attack and stop your party, and you must overcome them in order to continue through the level.
4) The rules in Castle Crashers are also pretty basic, but also present. You have three basic attacks in which to deal damage to enemies, a physical weapon attack, a magic attack, and a bow and arrow. Once an enemy loses all of its life, it dies. Once all the enemies are dead in an area, you can proceed, once you defeat the boss of a level, you beat the level.
5) Castle Crashers can be won and lost. If you make it through a level alive, you win. If all the players in the level die, you lose. There are also secondary ways to win and lose though. For example, every time your party rescues a princess, all of the party members fight against each other to see who will “win” the princess. Also depending on the people you play with, you can compete against each other to see who will get the loot and spoils from the armies you just slaughtered.
6) Yes, Castle Crashers is also interactive. The players respond to the buttons pressed, and you are given the ability to destroy objects in the game.
7) There are many challenging parts to Castle Crashers. Besides killing enemies, you are presented with many mini-games and enemy fighting styles. Throughout the game you will race on deer with bladder problems, get fired from catapults, and even play volleyball. Then after you beat the game, you are given the option to play through it again with your high level character against almost impossible enemies.
8) I believe this is what makes Castle Crashers an amazing game. Everything in Castle Crashers is enjoyable on its own merit. First off, the sound track to this game is second to none, it’s fast paced, epic, and exciting. The enemies are also unforgettable. You fight giant cats, a dragon with a sock puppet, and Medusa, who is overly concerned about her hair. No matter where you look in this game, whether it’s the enemies, the background, or the art style in general, this game is made to be incredibly entertaining and enjoyable.
9) This game is able to draw players in. Thus even through there are no complex problems about this game, it is still able to engage players and get them to care whether or not they can beat the level or top the other party member’s scores.
10) Castle Crashers can easily be seen as a closed and formal system. It emulates old style arcade games very nicely and therefore is very linear. You only have one path to follow throughout the game. You deal damage based on the combination of your skill level and weapon strength and enemies have similar formulas for damage. In short, there are boundaries in every part of the game, and they do not do much to push them. The argument could also be made that every piece of computer software is a closed and formal system because computers run based on a closed system.
From Dust- Schell Reading
1- I tried the demo and based on what I saw, I chose to purchase the game
2- The goal is to colonize all of the totems and bring your villagers to the exit of the level.
3- You must use your powers to protect the villagers from the elements as you try to reach your goal.
4- You have the ability to pick up and drop dirt, water and lava, but you are limited in the amount that you can pick up. Also, you can only pick up one resource at a time.
5- The win state is helping a sufficient number of villagers reach the exit to the level. The lose state is having so many of your villagers die that it is impossible to complete the level.
6- You control “The Breath” a mystical entity that can shape the land. You interact with the geography of the level.
7- Each level has a “catch”, or game changing condition (such as periodic tidal waves) that you must use your powers to work around.
8- Each totem that you colonize grants you an additional power such as grabbing additional resources or causing all of the water on the level to gelatinize. Each level adds a new and interesting element to play.
9- Each level adds a new and interesting element to play. These elements are quickly and easily absorbed into the player’s repertoire.
10- There is no outside source that can affect the outcome of any given level. Only input from the player and mechanics that are programmed into the game.
I played Monster Hunter 3. According to Juul‘s defnition,
1. Fixed Rules:
Monster Hunter 3 (MH3) has a very huge set of rules. For example the character has a certain amount of Health Point (HP). HP decreases whenever the character gets bitten or hit by a monster, and when it reaches zero, the character cannot go on fighting the monster. All the rules are hard coded into the game so that the player cannot change it unless he uses cheating softwares.
2. Variable and quantifiable outcome:
MH3 has many goals for the player to achieve. In a typical MH3 mission the player has to control the character to kill a monster. Monster’s do have their HP as well, and their HP gets decreased as the player hit them. If the Monster’s HP reaches 0 before the character’s does so, then the player win the game. Otherwise the player loses the game. The outcome of the game is therefore quantifiable in such a way.
3. Valorization of the outcome
Of course, killing the monster and winning the game sounds more positive than being killed by the monster and losing the game.
4. Player effort
The player need to make decision about questions like when to attack, where to attack, when to dodge, etc all the time when playing the game. Also, the player has to train himself to be familiar with different fighting styles of the monsters.
5. Attachment of the player to the outcome
Whenever the player kill one monster, he receives certain items from the monster that can be used to forge more powerful weapons. More powerful weapons enable the player to challenge even stronger monsters, and get even better items. This particular positive feedback process describes the attachment of the player to the outcome of MH3.
6. Negotiable consequences
MH3 is a multi-player game. Usually I don’t ask anything for covering my teammate. But sometimes they will agree to treat me a meal.
World of Warcraft – Schell reading
Q1. Yes, as world of warcraft is so well-known, I entered willfully after being told repeatedly how exciting it is.
Q2. There are always countless small short-term goals such as trying to accomplish a mission, also some long time goals as honor achievement.
Q3. Conflict is obvious in WOW as there are two hostile parties, alliance and tribe. In some server players from different parties are encouraged to kill each other for rewards. There are also conflicts inside one party as sometimes players will compete for resources such as herbs and gold mines.
Q4. World of Warcraft has huge number of rules, given countless configurations of different magic and supplement; it is trying to make this world realistic so people can devote themselves in it without feeling awkward.
Q5. Event of winning and losing happens all the time. In small battles players will end up killing the opponent or being killed. When a monster is killed by a team, team members will roll a dice to determine who wins the captured equipment.
Q6. Yes, players interact with NPCs for deals and missions; we also interact with each other when it comes to team battles.
Q7. Yes, WOW is definitely one of the most challenging games ever. Some tricks are so deliberately designed that it requires both skill and creativity.
Q8. The first thing a player needs to do in WOW is to create his/her own character. There are different ethnics and talents to choose from, even hair styles. Just like everyone in this world, a character needs to go through lots of experiences and hardships to become successful, internal value will definitely be built in this process.
Q9. Wow is not only to aggressive players who are eager to compete with others, it’s fun to those who just want something relaxing. You can go fishing, learn cooking, even train animals in WOW, those activities are just as attractive as battles when you are doing these in such majestic wonderland.
Q10. A formal, closed system is a key element that makes WOW successful, in a world that competition is so intense, it is necessary to keep everything balanced so it is fair for everybody, players will lose interest if the formal order is destroyed.
Deus EX: Human Revolution – Using the Schell reading
Q1. Games are entered willfully.
I would agree that Deus Ex was entered into willfully seeing as I decided to pick up and play the game myself. However, I would disagree that the converse is true. People have different play styles and just because I did not willingly play a game (say it was assigned or I’m playing it for research purposes) doesn’t mean it’s not a game.
Q2. Games have goals.
In Deus Ex there is a definite goal. You are given missions and you must complete them. That said, I’m not sure that this applies to all games. Say, for example, a player plays GTA in the sandbox format. Here there are no set goals for the player to achieve, still, it is a game. Minecraft also falls into this category as the goals are not defined.
Q3. Games have conflict.
Deus Ex does have conflict between the protagonist and antagonist. There is always something for the player to do. Now, in terms of the word “conflict” I’m not sure this necessarily has to be a “You against them” format. Take for example Flower where there is no real conflict UNLESS you consider the loss of your petals to be a conflict.
Q4. Games have rules.
Deus Ex certainly has rules, as, imo, do all games.
Q5. Games can be won and lost.
Deus Ex does have clear win and loss states, however, I’m still unconvinced that all games must. For our purpose, this seems to work for all classic games, however, I’m not sure how well it applies to games such as MMOs. Can you really win a Massive multiplayer online game like WOW? Same for Minecraft’s current build, can you beat Minecraft?
Q6. Games are interactive.
Deus Ex is certainly interactive. This definition, I feel, fits all games and often determines how fun they will be. It’s often very difficult to consider a game fun if it is not interactive.
Q7. Games have challenge.
I feel that this is a more accurate description of what a game is than win loss states. In all games there is some sort of challenge, this is true of the nontraditional games such as MMOs and Minecraft. Deus Ex is no exception.
Q8. Games can create their own internal value.
This is very true. There is no reason to care for a virtual object if there is no value created for them. This applies to in game credits, power ups, and lives. A good example of this is the fact that “Gold farmer” is a profession in some parts of the world. Someone values in game gold enough to pay other people to get it for them.
Q9. Games engage players.
I believe this to be true of good games. However, I would still say that you cannot say something is not a game simply if it does not engage you. FPSs are a good example of this conflict. Some people enjoy first person shooters while others see them as a waste of time. Obviously, this type of game engages some players while not engaging others. I found Deus Ex to be engaging, others may not.
Q10. Games are closed, formal systems.
Curiously, this depends on how you define the game. If you define it simply by the code generated to create a video game, then yes it is a closed formal system. This is also true of board games etc. Now, If you choose to see the societal impacts of the game (how people experience and interact with games) then no, games are not a closed formal system. They are systems that may change depending on the context that they are played in. I would say Deus Ex on the very basic level fits the description simply because it is compiled code that doesn’t change (unless you could dlc etc at which point it is no longer static).
I played Age of Empires Online. According to Schell:
1) In this case no, but I would probably play it willfully too.
2) The game has subgoals (levels) but no real ultimate goal (apart from ‘keep leveling’)
3) Yes, almost all missions include an enemy that you should (partly) destroy.
4) There are definitely rules. Examples are ‘this type of unit hits this hard’, ‘this type of resource produces that product’ and ‘you can only have x people at a time’.
5) Most levels can be lost, although some of the (easier) levels are just introductions and very hard to lose. All levels/missions can be won.
6) You give commands to your people and you receive feedback.
7) Yes, some missions need more work/are a bigger challenge.
8) Yes, there is equipment and there are resources that can be traded to other players and are wanted.
9) Without the player, there would be no way to win a level.
10) Yes, there is no way to play AoEO outside of AoEO.
(I published this comment to the Reading 1 post. Sorry about that.)
First off, is this a game? Undeniably.
1. Games are entered willfully.
Mass Effect 2 is certainly a game I purchased on my own, without anyone forcing me to play it. Further, the player has voluntary control over Commander Shepard, their avatar in the game world. I received no financial compensation or “benefit”, to borrow from academic consent forms, as a result of playing this game.
2. Games have goals.
Mass Effect 2 has macro- and micro-level goals. The overall macro goal of the entire game is to build a team and lead a potential suicide mission to stop the Collectors, an agent of the Reapers (the big baddies of the Mass Effect series). The micro-level goals apply to a specific game mechanic or a specific mission—for example, the goal of the planet mining mini-game is to gather enough resources to build ship and equipment upgrades, while the . Further, the game has social goals—the current mission’s practical goal might be to eliminate an adversary or to protect a family member, but the social goal of completing the mission is to earn the loyalty of a squad member.
3. Games have conflict.
Of course, it seems like half the galaxy wants Shepard dead (or would prefer if Shepard had stayed dead…). There are internal conflicts, too, that apply to character relationships and even the player’s direct experience of the game. The game features memorable moments of inter-character conflict where Shepard’s decision results in the loss of a squad member’s loyalty. Further, the game has an ethics mechanic—Paragon/Renegade—that forces the player to define their experience and effectively live with a tough decision they make. This projection of moral conflict onto the player is an effective tool that makes the game a truly visceral and personal experience for each player, if only in what seems like a small detail (that’s up for debate, I think).
4. Games have rules.
From ammunition and fuel limits to experience points, physical boundaries, maneuvering limits (Shepard can’t jump!), Mass Effect 2 enforces several core mechanics, though in a flexible way, to the point that the player has a high degree of freedom when exploring the world through these rules.
5. Games can be won and lost.
In two ways, in fact—not only can Shepard die in a mission (or fail to satisfy some condition, resulting in a “Critical Mission Failure”), but if the player makes poor enough decisions throughout the entire game, Shepard may actually die during the suicide mission at the end. According to the developers, this prevents the player from importing their Shepard and his or her choices into Mass Effect 3, bringing a uniquely decisive end to the player’s character. Of course, Shepard can also survive the end mission with his entire squad intact. The player can otherwise “win” the game with any other combination of surviving squadmates.
6. Games are interactive.
With the exception of cutscenes, the player has full control of Shepard’s movement, actions and decisions. Furthermore, the environments within the game feature stores, non-player characters and other non-static objects.
7. Games have challenge.
Combat in Mass Effect 2 is certainly a challenge—in particular, I have really enjoyed my in-progress playthrough on the hardest difficulty level because it forces me to consider tactics, positioning, and all sorts of other factors that, if left neglected, will assuredly result in character death. Also, to return to a comment on Mass Effect 1, there are pivotal decisions in the game that challenge the player’s sense of justice, and may leave them wondering if they made the right choice.
8. Games can create their own internal value.
Mass Effect 2’s character development and relationship system gives players a reason to emotionally invest in the experience. Further, like any good story, movie or piece of writing, the themes of Mass Effect 2, such as xenophobia, ends and means, and loyalty, offer the player a chance to consider moral issues, learn “life lessons”, and gain insight into themselves and their own human experience outside the game.
9. Games engage players.
One need only visit the Bioware Social forums to see how passionate players are about Mass Effect. Many people devote their time and thought to discussing these games as games themselves, as works of art, as social commentary, and so much more. The satisfyingly flexible designs behind the combat, navigation, relationship and conversation systems in the game drive this engagement.
10. Games are closed, formal systems.
With regards to Schell’s idea of being “mentally in the game”, it’s entirely possible (encouraged, even) to make decisions in Mass Effect 2 that no sane or otherwise charitable human being would make in real life. You can be a badass, a saint, or somewhere in between, and you can completely divorce your Shepard character and his/her decisions from your own personality if you so choose. Meanwhile, the game’s various mechanics are clearly inter-related—while the planet mining mini-game may be distasteful for some, its purpose can be made very clear when the player loses a third of their squad on the way to the final mission, simply because they didn’t mine enough resources to adequately upgrade their ship. There are rules with interrelated consequences in this system, and each piece has a purpose in the whole.
Also, this is in reference to Mass Effect 2. Ugh, apparently it’s my first day on the Internet.
I played the game Minecraft.
Q1: I wanted to play the game even before the assignment.
Q2: Minecraft doesn’t really have any strict goals. There’s an inherent goal to not die at night, but that’s about it.
Q3: Trying not to get killed by the monsters at night is the conflict.
Q4: There are rules as to how things work in Minecraft, but there are not as many rules that are just made up “because”.
Q5: You can die, but you’ll always respawn.
Q6: Your character responds to your actions.
Q7: It’s challenging to make complex circuits and things.
Q8: Allowing players to use their creativity adds the value.
Q9: You get caught up in what you’re building as you’re building it.
Q10: Minecraft is completely separate from the real world.
Left 4 Dead 2 – Schell reading…
Q1) What’s more fun than shooting up a horde of zombies?
Q2) The goal is to get from one safe room to the next and then to a final safe destination to be rescued before the zombies get to you.
Q3) The zombie apocalypse is occurring and all the zombies want you and your friends to be one of them.
Q4) Well there’s limitations on guns and ammunition. Hunters are the only zombies that can pounce. Smokers are the only zombies that can shoot out their tongue. And if you startle a witch, you may want to run, because she’s probably going to kill you.
Q5) If the zombies kill you before you reach your destination, you lose. Otherwise, you win.
Q6) You can pick up weapons, open doors, start car alarms to awaken a horde of zombies, and pick up health packs to heal up later.
Q7) When you run into a tank, you and the other three guys better be ready to unload on this guy, because if your not coordinated enough as a team, he can kill all of you in a matter of seconds.
Q8) This game involves a lot of strategy. For example, if you light a tank on fire, over time he’ll eventually die. Also, when playing online as zombies, it’s best to all attack at once so the other team gets confused, panics, and dies.
Q9) Playing online can get very competitive and it’s interesting to see what other teams do as strategy for each map.
Q10) There aren’t zombies just running around the streets trying to infect you in the real world, nor is this even an accurate simulation of how the zombie apocalypse might occur, but its fun to think that it could be. However, there is a very difficult game type called realism that’s a more accurate simulation.
Age of Empires Online – Schell reading
Q1. Games are entered willfully.
Yes, for me it’s almost a bonding experience that I have had/continue to have with my roommates.
Q2. Games have goals.
There are two general types of games, victory point and annihilation. One you control the victory point marker for a set amount of time, and the other is you completely wipe out the opposing side.
Q3. Games have conflict.
It’s a game about World War II, of course there is conflict. :)
Q4. Games have rules.
Certain players can do certain things, you can only have a limited amount of population, you get a certain number of resources based on the territory covered.
Q5. Games can be won and lost.
Yes, you either get annihilated or you annihilate someone else.
Q6. Games are interactive.
You have constant control of your army be it controlling the macro movements of them with the mouse and keyboard or thinking what doctrine you will chose. There is constant interaction.
Q7. Games have challenge.
The computers AI is a bit limited, but they adjust this by giving the computer stronger stats in the game, thus making the user need to overwhelming outsmart the opponent on the hardest difficulty. Further the online multiplayer aspect adds for unlimited challenges.
Q8. Games can create their own internal value.
The campaign takes place during one of the most critical moments in our recent history. Trying to stop Hitler from taking over the world is a pretty critical mission.
Q9. Games engage players.
The games on average are 45 minutes long and they seem to take about 15-20, it’s a very captivating game.
Q10. Games are closed, formal systems.
This is very true for CoH, it’s a realistic RTS game, it does its best to give as realistic a representation and historically accurate as it can.
Q1: Building a civilization from scratch is satisfying.
Q2: The goal is to build a great civilization. You build a great civilization so you can win. You win by various means common to empire-building games: by world domination, by diplomacy, by extreme technological superiority, or a few other things.
Q3: There are barbarians, warring factions, city-states, and great empires. Some of them are trying to win the game themselves, while others are just a nuisance.
Q4: You can’t move your guys two times in one turn. You can’t build too close to another empire or they will get mad. You can’t have your scientists build a chariot before you invent the wheel.
Q5: I haven’t won a game or lost a game yet, but according to the tutorial it’s possible. You win by winning. You do that by doing the stuff from Q2. You can lose if you make other empires mad at you and go to war and find that you’re much less powerful than they are.
Q6: This is a turn-based game, so the interactivity is very structured. At the very least, you have to hit “Next Turn” a bunch of times or nothing happens. Hopefully you also click on other things, and in so doing orchestrate scouts, armies, and cities.
Q7: In many strategy games, it’s possible to just dominate everything if you play well enough. It looks like Civ 5 is different: you have to pick your battles. In that way, it is differently challenging from other strategy games; instead of refining your techniques until you can crush everything, you have to refine your techniques, dominate a few things, and maintain peaceful terms with everything else.
Q8: It’s satisfying to build a civilization from scratch.
Q9: This is a sticky one for Civ 5 so far. The games are very long. I haven’t finished one yet because I always start a new game when I play it. Now that I know how the heck the game works, I’ll try to save a game and come back to it in the near future. What I see now is some monotony. You build workers, tell your workers to build farms, tell your scouts to explore…. your workers finish the farms so you move them to adjacent tiles and have them build quarries… until every tile in your empire is filled, and then you buy more…. Hopefully as a game continues the set of things that the player does on a turn gets significantly larger. At least this isn’t Assassin’s Creed, though. My opinion is that Assassin’s Creed utterly failed at captivation. You go to three cities three times each to kill people. Nine total missions. Each mission consists of pretty much exactly the same steps. The entertainment in that game came only from climbing up walls and complaining loudly to other people in the room about how uninteresting the game was, besides that you can climb up walls.
Q10: I took math 571. I know all about formal systems. Games are definitely formal systems. A small set of rules (the source code, or even the set of processor instructions, depending on how deep you want to go) causes all sorts of emergent behavior (little colored dots appear on a surface, and they change colors in interesting ways whenever someone bangs on some buttons or moves around a hunk of plastic with some optical equipment on the bottom). I wonder if games are turing complete.
(very late, oops. still going to do it)
Schell’s Questions applied to Bastion:
1. Games are entered willfully.
Yep downloaded the game to try it out and to entertain myself for a while.
2. Games have goals.
The goal of the game is to restore the world you inhabit after its recent destruction as a result of “the calamity.” This involve collecting items at the guidance of and old man you find at the Bastion.
3. Games have conflict.
It is you (the kid) vs. the creatures of the post apocalyptic world you now inhabit.
4. Games have rules.
The post pronounced rules of Bastion have to do with the survival of the kid. You have a collection of stats that are applied when fighting against enemies.
5. Games can be won and lost.
As with most modern games, loss in a true sense is not really possible. You can face detriment through delay when you main character dies, but much of your progress is retained and you get to repeatedly try to conquer the challenge that bested you. Winning would be completing the game, and losing i guess would be coming to a challenge to great to overcome that would force you to stop playing.
6. Games are interactive.
The game is almost constantly in the control of the player. Similar to half-life, you are not removed from control when story is being exposed. Most of the story is given to you via an omniscient narrator, that comments on your actions as well as unveils plot elements.
7. Games have challenge.
This game has a rich and challenging combat system. Battle requires skill and strategy.
8. Games can create their own internal value.
This game has several RPG elements that are developed through the increasing stats of you character. The stronger you become the easier it is to defeat difficult monsters. This create a desire to better your character, which gives value to things in the game that are not tangible in the real world.
9. Games engage players.
I found my short stint with this game to be extremely engaging. The combination of dynamic narration and interesting story coupled with rich combat was successful at engaging me on different levels.
10. Games are closed, formal systems.
As with most video games this applies in the nature of how you play it. It is a single executable program that maintains state that is change according to hard code that you can not change.
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