computer games II

fdm 20c introduction to digital media

lecture 30.05.2007

warren sack / film & digital media department / university of california, santa cruz

last time

• computer games: how do they work?– how do they work “behind the screen”? i.e., how do

they work from the perspective of an engineer?• a simple example of pong in javascript

– how do they work “in front of the screen”? i.e., how do they work for the audience or participant?

• sherry turkle on computer games and processes of identification

• henry jenkins on computer games, gender and space

two issues to consider from film theory

1. identification: sherry turkle on identification

2. space: henry jenkins on space and gender

two issues to consider from film theory

1. identification:– how do people relate to the characters and action

on the screen?• e.g., what do women do/think when the hero is a man

versus when the hero is a woman?

– what does a designer or filmmaker do to facilitate the audience’s/players’ relations with characters and actions on the screen?• e.g., filmmaking techniques: POV, suture, the 180 degree

rule, etc.

2. space

two issues to consider from film theory

1. identification:

2. space:• what is the space of cinema/games? what can the

audience/player see or do there?• what can the designer or filmmaker do to increase,

decrease, or change the space?• e.g., montage and also think about the filming and editing

techniques llisted above concerning identification

outline

• what is (not) a game?– party games / theater games (johnstone)– language games (wittgenstein)– strategy games (von neumann)– games, contests and play (huizinga)

• what is (not) a (new) computer game?– agonistics: a language game (sack)– newsgames/september 12th (frasca et al.)– façade (mateas & stern)– pong/tank/combat (bushnell)

Party games

• Johnstone’s game: guess a tory in 20 questions

actress’ rules

• Think of a set of story types• Ask “yes” or “no” question• Depending upon response, eliminate some

story types, until story type and story of that type has been found

johnstone’s rules

• If the last two answers were “No,” then answer “Yes.”

• Else, if more than 20 total answers, then answer “Yes.”

• Else, if the question ends in vowel, then answer “No.”

• Else, if question ends in “Y,” then answer “Maybe.”

• Else, answer “Yes.”

wittgenstein’s language games

• 2....Let us imagine a language ...The language is meant to serve for communication between a builder A and an assistant B. A is building with building-stones; there are blocks, pillars, slabs and beams. B has to pass the stones, and that in the order in which A needs them. For this purpose they use a language consisting of the words 'block', 'pillar', 'slab', 'beam'. A calls them out; --B brings the stone which he has learnt to bring at such-and-such a call. -- Conceive of this as a complete primitive language. Philosophical Investigations (PI)

language games

• 7 (continued) • We can also think of the whole process of using words

in (2) as one of those games by means of which children learn their native language. I will call these games 'language-games' and will sometimes speak of a primitive language as a language-game.

• And the processes of naming the stones and of repeating words after someone might also be called language-games. Think of much of the use of words in games like ring-a-ring-a-roses. PI

language games

• (7 continued) • I shall also call the whole [of language],

consisting of language and the actions into which it is woven, the 'language-game.'"

language games

• 23...Review the multiciplicity of language games in the following examples, and in others:

• Giving orders, and obeying them-- • Describing the appearance of an object, or giving its measurements-- Constructing

an object from a description (a drawing)-- • Reporting an event-- • Speculating about an event-- • Forming or teasing a hypothesis-- • Presenting the results of an experiment in tables and diagrams-- • Making up a story; and reading it-- • Singing catches-- • Guessing riddles-- • Making riddles-- • Making a joke; telling it-- • Solving a problem in practical arithmetic-- • Translating from one languge into another-- • Asking, thanking, cursing, greeting, praying. PI

language games

• 23. (continued) • Here the term 'language game' is meant to bring

into prominence the fact that the 'speaking' of language is part of an activity, or form of life. PI

von neumann’s strategy games

• Morgenstern, Oskar and John von Neumann (1947) The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, Princeton University Press

example from game theory: prisoner's dilemma

• Two suspects, A and B, are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal: if one testifies for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both stay silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a two-year sentence. Each prisoner must make the choice of whether to betray the other or to remain silent. However, neither prisoner knows for sure what choice the other prisoner will make. So this dilemma poses the question: How should the prisoners act?

prisoner's dilemma

payoff matrix

games, contest and play

• Homo sapiens: man the knower• Homo farber: man the maker• Home ludens: man the player

• Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture (1938)

Culture and play

• Play is older than culture, for culture, however inadequately defined, always presupposes human society, and animals have not waited for man to teach them their playing. (p. 1 of Huizinga)

contest versus play

• See pp. 48-49 of Huizinga

agonistics

• \Ag`o*nis"tics\, n. The science of athletic combats, or contests in public games. Webster's 1913 Dictionary

• visualizing online conversations as competitive games rather than communications

newsgames/september 12th

• See http://www.newsgaming.com

facade

• See http://youtube.com/watch?v=GmuLV9eMTkg

Pong v. tank v. combat

• Consider ian bogost, unit operations: an approach to videogame criticism, pp. 57-58

next time: artificial intelligence