Otoshi Poetry

* editing in progress *

I’m out for tonight @ 11:17 pm. I’ll finish the notes tomorrow.

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Theory

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What is a game?

Differences between video games and non-electronic games

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Classical                      |

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Ludwig Wittgenstein - German Philosopher

- No common features of the things we call games:

- We can only identify family resemblances:

- Primarily focused on philosophy, not specifically games: 

Problem - He doesn’t distinguish between types of play, and some of his theories may have been lost in translation from German to English

Johan Huzinga - Dutch Historian and Theorist

- Playing a game … means setting oneself away from the outside world, and surrendering to a system that has no effect on anything which lies beyond the circle.

- Advocate for play in light of the destructive influence of the Protestant work ethic:

- Games create a “magic circle”, which separates the game from the outside world

- His intention was to praise and project the act of play.

Problem:

Other activities fall into the magic circle (work, family life, weddings, school, etc.) And, like Wittgenstein, he fails to define what games actually are

Edward Castronova - American Economist and virtual world theorist

As meaning seeps into these play spaces, their status as play spaces erodes. As their status as play spaces erodes, the laws and expectations and norms of contemporary Earth society will increasingly dominate the atmosphere. When earth’s culture dominates, the game will be over; the fantasy will be punctured, the illusion will be ended for good.

- As meaning seeps into game play, the boundaries between life and the magic circle erode

- Games and society should erect boundaries so that game worlds remain unique spaces to play.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE REAL WORLD CONSEQUENCES OF GAMES?

- Games require time

- Games affect our mood

- Games are communication media

- Games affect of behavior

- Games may directly affect the outside world

- Social Life

Roger Caillois - French Philosopher

4 Essential Qualities of Play

- Performed Voluntarily

- Uncertain

- Unproductive (not work)

- Consists of make-believe

4 Categories of Games

- agon: Contest/Competition

- alea: Chance

- mimicry: Imitation

- illinx: Vertigo

                 Game Continuum

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Paidia (playfulness)                       Ludus (formalized Rules)

Problem: Play will always have ludus elements since even the most simplistic games have a few rules.

Jesper Juul’s Critique: Rules are not always limitations, and often, rules can bring more playfulness by allowing more complexity and creativity from the player

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Cultural                        |

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Marshall McLuhan - Canadian Media Theorist

Media is the message, concept of global village, technology as the extension of the body

- Games as popular art

- Extension of social man and of the body politic

- A way to adjust to the stress of being in a social group

- Dramatic models of our psychological lives

Two Theories

- Games are tied to culture and reveal its meaning: (GTA, Chess):

questioning aspects of life

- Games release tension and allow for catharsis (football, halo):

resolution through competition

Gregory Bateson - British Anthropologist, Social Scientist, Linguist, Semiotician and Cyberneticist

- Theory of meta communication:

- In games, what we do is not taken at face value

- We are not fighting, but playing at fighting:

- Actions hold different meanings in different contexts

EXAMPLE: ARG/LARPing blurs the lines between the magic circle and reality

George Herbert Mead -  American Social Psychologist 

- Play is an important part of the genesis of self:

- Requires an involved understanding of other player’s roles

- Games are mirrors of the way people organize themselves

Henry Jenkins - Comparative Media Studies 

- Game Designers are the Artists of the 21st century

- Social prejudice against games mirror early stances on film and photography

- Admits that many game are banal and supports innovation in games that move away from emulating other media

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- Sees play as performance, allowing the immersion of player control

- Immersion is established through effective design, therefore, design and aesthetics are crucial

Expressive Amplification: Actions are exaggerated so players feel more pleasure in carrying out these actions. Designers should therefore explore the aesthetics of actions.

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Formal                         |

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Chris Crawford - American Game Designer, Theorist, Creator of GDC

4 features common to all video games -

- Representation

- Interaction

- Conflict

- Safety

Two formal definitions - Salen/Zimmerman VS Juul

Salen/Zimmerman - A game is system in which players engage in artificial conflict, defined by rules, that result in a quantifiable outcome

Juul - A game is a rule-based formal system, with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome, the player feels attached to the outcome, and the consequences of the activity art optional and negotiable.

Jesper Juul - Game Theorist - Denmark

- Rule-based formal systems

- quantifiable and variable outcome

- players exert effort to influence the outcome because they feel invested

- consequences are optional and negotiable

Grapefruit diagram

Games are transmedial: games are not tied to any one medium or any one set of tools or objects, and rather, games can travel between different mediums (card games, sports, chess).

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Pragmatic                    |

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Sid Meier - Dutch-Canadian Programmer/Designer

- “A game is a series of interesting choices”

Alexander R. Galloway - Programmer, Artist, and Professor

- “A game is an activity defined by rules in which players try to reach some type of goal.”

- video games are actions

- games can’t be read or listened to, they must be played.

MDA Model - Robin Hunicke, Marc Leblanc, and Robert Zubeck 

Mechanics (rules and basic code)

Dynamics (way the game plays based on the function of the mechanics)

Aesthetics (pleasing emotional responses)

Aesthetics that attract us to games -

- Sensation (sense-pleasure)

- Fantasy (make-believe)

- Narrative (drama)

- Challenge (obstacle)

- Fellowships (social framework)

- Discovery (uncharted territory)

- Expression (self-discovery)

- Submission (past time)

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HOW ARE VIDEO GAMES DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL GAMES IN TERMS OF RULES?

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- Non-negotiable rules in video games - (the rules are governed by the internal system)

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History

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Non-Electronic Games   |

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- Egypt, Senet 2600 BC (backgammon)

- Mesopotamia, Royal game of Ur (dice)

- Go, 2000 BC

- Chaturanga - precursor to chess

- Kriegsspiel and Mansion of Happiness - games based around doing real-world activities

- Landlord’s game was a precursor to monopoly, released in 1930s

- Risk and diplomacy  came after WWII

- J.R.R Tokien’s LOTR - led to DnD and the rise of fantasy in games

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Video Games and Technology  |

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On August 6th, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped in Japan, Hiroshima - essentially ending the war against the Axis. With the end of WWII led to further development of technology.

In 1972, the microprocessor was developed, which greatly accelerated the development of computers and newly emerging arcade units (especially for Atari). In 1976, Sony introduced the CD-ROM, which greatly increased the amount of storage memory available.

In 1983, Atari released a series of poorly received titles (Pacman Advert, then E.T.), which ultimately dropped them out of the home console race for good and brought the home console industry to halt.

It wouldn’t be till 1986, when Nintendo released the NES, an adaptation of its popular Famicom, which would jumpstart the home console industry once more, and pave the way for the home console market we live in today.

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Genre - Action, Adventure/Fantasy, Strategy, process-oriented

Action: Motor skills and hand-eye coordination

Adventure/Fantasy: Deep thinking and patience, unfolding narrative, themes in which character developer is one of the goals.

Strategy: between action and adventure, micro/macro management of resources, RTS (real-time strategy) and TBS (turn-based strategy)

Process-Oriented: A system with to play, success involves mastery complexity, but possibly with no explicit goals, simulation

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60’s and before            |

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- Carthode Ray Tube (CRT) + Radar Technology

1950 - Bouncing ball simulation (1st real time text/graphics, using memory)

- EDSAC (1st virtual calculator)

1952 - tic-tac-toe, 1st graphical computer game

1958 - tennis for two (maybe 1st game with a knob and controller w/ a button)

1962 - space war (possibly the 1st video game, depending on the lens of analysis)

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70’s                             |

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- Magnovox’s Odyssey was the 1st home console was released in 1972.

- Microprocessor was created in 1972 and aided to the development of arcade machines and home computers.

- Dungeons and Dragons was released in 1973, which introduced a new form of gameplay and fantasy in the form of pen and paper games.

Action:

1970 - Computer Space was the 1st arcade machine, largely inspired by Space Wars!. While it wasn’t commercially successful, it paved the way for …

1972 - Pong, which jump-started Atari’s revenue in the arcade industry and essentially began the arcade era.

Night Driver - 3rd person driving perspective was new and was one of the first games to challenge the traditional top down approach to arcade games

Death Race - 1st controversial game, with critics and media believing that player’s goals were running over people (when developers called them “gremlins”).

1978 - Space Invader - New approach to gameplay was very simple and popular, which helped boost arcade popularity.

1979 - Asteroid - Vector graphics game which was simple and genrated more revenue than the popular Space Invader.

1979 -Galaxian - 1st True color game

Adventure/Fantasy:

1972 - Hunt the Wumpus - One of the 1st adventure games

1972 (distributed in 1976) - Adventure - One of the 1st adventure games

1977-1979 - Zork - Similar to Adventure, it was one of the 1st titles to travel the ARPANET, precursor to the Internet.

1979 - Mystery House - 1st text w/ graphics game

Strategy:

1978 - Empire

Process-Oriented: 

MUDs (multi-user dungeons), began to emerge, allowing for cooperative play on a server, and would eventually lead the way to large titles like Everquest.

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80’s                             |

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1983/1984 game market crash - resulting from a poor release or Pacman Advert, then a terrible release of E.T. for the Atari 2600. In just two years, Atari and the home console industry almost ceased to exist.

It wouldn’t be until Nintendo released its NES in 1986 that the console market would jumpstart, and home consoles would begin being produced again.

Action:

1980 - Battle Zone - 1st pseudo 3D vector environment, and was also accepted by the army to be used as a training device for tanks

1980 - Defender  - 1st horizontal side-scrolling game

1980 - Pacman - best selling arcade game of all time, 1st game with an identifiable main character, power ups, and cut-scenes

1981 - Gorf - 1st boss battles, different levels, and synthetic voice

1981 - Donkey Kong - 1st successful platfomer, Mario introduced, began Seguru’s career

1982 - Moon Patrol - 1st game with parallax scrolling

1982 - Zaxion - 1st game with isometric view

1982 - Pole Position - racing game

1987 - Street Fighter

Adventure/Fantasy: 

1984 - King’s Quest

1986 - Legend of Zelda - Takashi Tazuka, Kojikondo

1987 - Maniac Mansion - multiple endings

1987 - Final Fantasy

Strategy:

1982 - Utopia

1982 - Legionnaire - Chris Crawford

1985 - Balance of Power - anti-war game

1989 - Herzog Zwei - 1st RTS

Process-Oriented: 

1982 - Microsoft flight Simulator 1.00

1983 - Elite - Polygonal, wireframe graphics 

1987 - Sid Meier’s Pirates - Sid Meier

1989 - Sim City - Will Wright

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90’s                             |

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Action:

Adventure/Fantasy:

Strategy:

Process-Oriented:

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2000’s and After         |

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Action:

Adventure/Fantasy:

Strategy:

Process-Oriented:

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Aesthetics

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Rules:

Geography:

Representation:

Number of Players:

Perspective:

Dimensions:

Space types:

Off-screen space:

Scroll and exploration types:

Time and graphical styles:

Sound:

Emergence:

Artificial Intelligence:

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