Emotions, Rhetoric, Mechanics

I haven't updated this section in ages...since the last entry, I've pretty much finished my genre chapter, written some stuff about game rhetoric, and also about emotions that games potentially support.

The last two subject actually seem more and more interconnected, so we'll see if they will merge in the end. Still, during May and June, I hope to complete both. My game mechanics library also needs an attentive eye in the near future.

genre spotting

After a slow start, my chapter on game genres has progressed quite nicely. I'm nearing the completion of a proper first draft. I've promised to put my mechanics chapter online for such a long time now, so I won't make any promises about this one. Still, I'm supposed to move on to game rhetoric and case studies soon, so i will post the genre stuff sometime in spring.

I had to abandon an ambitious plan to analyse every nth game reviewed in Gamespot in order to find out whether there lurks some meta-game behind such popular genre categorizations that Gamespot, among others, uses. But as there does not exist public gaming libraries, the task seems impossible in practice. Alternatively, if I picked the games that I have access to, the premise would not be valid. Maybe future ludologists have it easier ;)

Anyway, the working title is "Three takes on genre: dynamics, theme, pleasure". I certainly think it introduces three useful perspectives to game genres.

genrification

FInally, I'm getting somewhere with the genre chapter. It is basically about genre definitions and their elusiveness, yet I'll present a thematic/dynamic approach to game genres, which is influenced by Rick Altman's theories on film genres.

I'm supposed to submit it for my post-graduate seminar next week - it'll end up there a bit half-baked but the stuff that I've had the time to write is quite ok, I think. Expect to see a PDF draft up some time in January, perhaps...

reschedule time

Ok, I'm ready to admit to the obvious fact. I cannot make my deadline. So, I will set a new one! The best, and most realistic candidate at the moment is March the 19th - just before GDC2004, which I plan to attend.

Single Player Academic Game

Reading about genre and different forms of fun can be a bit daunting. Therefore I've taken a short timeout and began writing the introduction to my thesis on an autobiographical note. I'm trying to document the changes in my ludological thinking from the first papers in 1998 to this day.

In this 'Single player academic game', as I've chosen to call it, I'm also treading through the different research literature that I've read and referenced during this time. Fittingly, I've promised to submit the intro to scrutiny in my post-graduate seminar on December 18th, a day before my 1st draft deadline.

Revision bites

As always, you find that you have to revise previously written stuff as you go along. Now, writing about mechanics, I realise that the rule paper needs a couple of revisions: one game element should be added (the interface) and, what is more significant, many things discussed under elements - especially procedures - are actually mechanics, I realise now.

Well, there will be a day when all things add up nicely...or at least add up, by force. Some say it's called a deadline.

mechanic, mechanics, mechanism...

First draft of the next chapter, 'Game Mechanics and Dynamics', is about 60% complete. I've reviewed existing (few) definitions of mechanics and dynamics, introduced my own definition, sort of reverse engineered some well-known mechanics...and working on an analysis method and categories for different mechanics.

I'm pretty pleased with how its going. As a non-native English speaker my biggest headache has been with the terminology and its proper grammatic usage...'mechanics', 'mechanism', 'mechanic' ?? :/

Anyway, the chapter should be up here at the site in about a month or so.

Content crisis

I did not think that I could write 30 pages on rules. Now I see that I can easily do the same with mechanics, dynamics and genres. This means that I have to revise my table of contens dramatically.

I already did that - away with the multiplayer'y and mobile thingies. I'm also thinking of changing the chapter on audiovisuality into 'game rhetorics'...which would mean that I'd have to learn what rhetorics really is.

*sigh*... I guess I'll update the TOC on the site in a couple of days anyway.

Anatomy of Games

Aubrey Hesselgren has posted an article titled "The Anatomy of Games" at Antifactory.org. Aubrey discusses game states, player's interpretations of them, and interaction patterns and feedback loops in multiplayer situations (among other things). It's a highly worthwhile read!

Games are their rules

"Making and Breaking Games: a Typology of Rules", the chapter I've been working on is now available as a PDF document. My theoretical take on what rules are - no more, no less. A trimmed down version will be presented at Level Up later this year. Comments are welcome!

Mechanics, Dynamics, Genres await.

I rule

...in Utrecht. I'm happy to say that my paper on rules was accepted for the "Level Up" DiGRA conference in November. I'm eager to see the full programme, supposed to be up at the site later this week. See you there :)

Rules, rules, rules

I've been working on a couple of things lately: rules, design patterns, and simulations.

This entry is about the first one. In practice, I'm working on a chapter titled ”Making and Breaking Games: A Typology of Rules”. It introduces a particular approach to the study of rules. As the title suggests: how rules make a game, and how games can be broken down by analysing rules.

In the chapter, different aspects of rules are studied: what are their functions, what do rules govern, what is a ruleset, and what kind of hierarchies do the rules of an individual game contain. By studying the relationship of game components (such as pieces or player characters) and the procedures associated with them (moving them on a board or manipulating them in other ways), I've come up with four types of rules: component rules, procedure rules, environment rules, and theme rules.

I believe this approach opens up a perspective for future studies regarding game genres as well: a rule typology provides incentive for approaches where game genres are defined by taking both the rules and the thematic content (subject matter, means of representation or simulation, audiovisual elements) of games into account. My plan is to continue onto game mechanics and dynamics from here, and build a genre typology based on what kind of procedures are the primary ones in particular types of games.