Aki Jä[email protected]
http://www.gameswithoutfrontiers.net
Introduction to theTheory of Game Elements
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Contents• Games as systems
• Game states and game system behaviour
• Game elements as parts of game systems
• Game element attributes
• Definitions and examples element by element
• Examples of an analysis method
• Gamegame: theory meets design meets play
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
All kinds of games allowed!• All games, regardless of the
media or technology they employ, contain certain elements
• They are not all the same
• Or implemented in the same manner or technique
• Yet there are underlying similarities: goals, objects to be manipulated, environments, players, etc.
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Same but different
• How to conceptualise this ‘same but different’ qualities of games?
• One needs to conceptualise the qualities
• And build a framework that brings them together, as in individual games
• The notion of System
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Games as systems• System is
‘a dynamic whole with interacting parts’
• In game systems:
1) game elements equal the parts
2) elements have relationships, they interact
3) when players engage with the elements, it gives birth to another kind of interaction: game play
• game play gives birth to dynamics; ‘the run-time behavior of the system’ (LeBlanc)
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
The Theory of Game Elements• Conceptualises possible different configurations
of game systems
• i.e. the difference between one game and another is due to the fact that their systems are configured differently
• configuration of football vs. the configuration of Prince of Persia
• The theory is a form of Applied Ludology
• Which provides solutions for practical game analysis & design
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Element categories: overview
• A game system in operation, i.e. a game being played, puts these elements into interaction
COMPOUND
ELEMENTS
game play
SYSTEMIC
ELEMENTS
BEHAVIORAL
ELEMENTS
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Game elements: overview
• players• contexts
• components• environment
• rule set• game mechanics• theme• information• interface
COMPOUND
ELEMENTS
game play
SYSTEMIC ELEMENTS BEHAVIORAL ELEMENTS
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
• All game elements have an ownership attribute
• There are three kinds of ownership attributes:
[game element]-of-self
[game element]-of-other(s)
[game element]-of-system
• Ownership attributes often create inherent tension and competition to a game
• Thus, many games revolve around ownerships shifting back and forth
Game elements: overview
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Components• Components are usually objects that the
player is able to manipulate in the course of the game.
• What ‘moves’ in the game, in one way or another (physical movement, transactions, etc.)
• Components provide a source of identification for the player, usually in the shape of possessions, resources, and/or representatives (characters/pieces)
• The goals of the game are often embodied into components (’collect 100 rings’, etc.)
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Types of Components• There are three types of
components:
• components-of-self: components possessed by oneself and controlled by oneself (e.g. your monkey)
• components-of-others: components possessed and controlled by other players (e.g. the others’ monkeys)
• components-of-system: components possessed and controlled by the game system (Bananas, NPCs, AI, etc.)
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Environment• It is not mandatory yet it is very
common (boards, etc.)
• The environment element sets specific spatial boundaries for components and players.
• Environment embodies rules that specify the spatial and geometric arrangement of a game.
• In some cases, components make up the game environment.
• Typical environment attributes: state, scale, vector
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Types of Environments• Game environments can be broadly classified
into two following types:
• Boards/fields: Static individual environments; which mainly function to embody rules by visualising them into a grid with geometrical relations, for example.
• Setups: Even if no particular environment is needed (as in, e.g., many card games), the other elements need to be arranged in a fashion that communicates the game state to the players.
• World(s): Often these kinds of environments are divided into parts or levels, but game-worlds also exist as seamless, simulated ecosystems. Function shifts towards thematic purposes.
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Rule set• Rules constitute the fundamental compound
element, rule set.
• Rule set is the glue that keeps a game system together and enables play with the other elements in the first place.
• Rules make it possible for the system to function in a way that is meaningful for players. Rule set uses other elements as its embodiments.
• Usually the rule set states procedures or algorithms, such as how to set up the game in order to start playing, or how players are rewarded for completing a goal.
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Game mechanics• ‘The means’, i.e. always there in relation to goals, ‘the
ends’
• Best described with verbs; game mechanics imply (inter)action
• Core mechanics (Salen & Zimmerman): what players do in a game, repeatedly
• Running and kicking the ball are the core mechanics of football; moving a piece in Chess is its core mechanic
• digital games may have multiple mechanics that correspond to the actions and the fantasy world the games simulates: Horseback riding, sword-fighting, running, jumping, etc.
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Types of Game mechanics
• generic mechanics classes
• that can be actualized in various ways
• for example, a Physical mechanic in the ’Contact’ class could be kissing/hugging/etc!
• and combined into sequences and relations: trading is achieved by kissing, etc!
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Theme• theme equals the subject matter of a game
• if there is no theme in a game, the system does not represent anything other than its ruleset
• theme functions metaphorically, enabling the players to understand rules and goals in terms of another subject matter
• the essence of metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson) : ‘understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another’
• Themes employ schemas: restaurant schema in Diner Dash
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Information• Game systems contain information
• The main function of information is to store data about game states
• How and to what extent the information is communicated to the players are questions of game design:
• Games of perfect information vs. imperfect information
• The information element makes games suitable for computers
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Interface• In case players can not access
the game system directly there is need for a tool to enable that
• i.e. an interface
• prominent in digital games
• is found also in mechanical games, such as Pinball, Fussball tables, etc.
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Players• There would no games nor play
without Players
• Players are arguably highly complex psychological entities
• Erving Goffman (1961): games as focused gatherings
• i.e. certain types of social arrangements that occur when persons are in one another’s immediate physical presence.
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Players in focused gatherings• focused gatherings involve for the participants the
following ‘communication arrangements’:
a single visual and cognitive focus of attention
a mutual and preferential openness to verbal communication
a heightened mutual relevance of acts
an eye-to-eye ecological huddle that maximizes each participants ’s opportunity to perceive the other participants’ monitoring of him/her
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Qualities of Players• For the purposes of analysis players have to abstracted down to
a handful of crucial aspects:
• Players have• Player possessions: ownership of elements, components in particular
• Player strategies: players’ preferences in relation to goal hierarchy
• Player agency: player affordances in relation to elements, embodied into game mechanics
• Player knowledge: information available for players to use
• Player organisation: players’ relation to each other, possibly via different roles
• Player abilities and skills: sets of cognitive, physical and psychomotor abilities
• game systems - i.e. game designers - try to set normative constraints to player qualities
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Contexts• There are several contexts to any game
• E.g., the context of football is a cluster of factors having to do both with the game’s popularity, tradition, players, national histories, and the sports industry with its media coverage.
• The context of a game can be endlessly expanded to surrounding cultures...
• in order to be useful, the line has to be drawn somewhere when embarking on a concrete analysis of a particular game.
• Where actually to draw the line is a question of perspective.
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Game elements: summary
• players• contexts
• components• environment
• rule set• game mechanics• theme• information• interface
COMPOUND
ELEMENTS
game play
SYSTEMIC ELEMENTS BEHAVIORAL ELEMENTS
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
What ludologists do
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Another visualization
Games without FrontiersA Resource for Game Studies & Design
Further resources• http://gamegame.blogs.com
• Card game / brainstorming tool for game design, based on the theory of game elements
• http://www.gameswithoutfrontiers.net
• Aki’s Thesis chapters & online analysis tools
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