Chapter on Game Elements available
Chapter 4, ‘Theory of Game Elements’ is now available as PDF. It is a seminal chapter for the thesis, as most of the following chapters adapt the ideas outlined in this chapter for different purposes, whether the subject is the psychology of player experience, or the rhetoric devices and figures used to communicate and embody rules. Here’s a visual teaser about the chapter’s contents:
The chapter itself as PDF (1.65M):
Theory of Game Elements: From Game Systems to Their Contexts
Coming soon: Chapter 5 - Key Concepts in Psychology in Terms of Ludology
April 23rd, 2006 at 19:52
*Applause*
Very cool diagram. Funny. I was thinking something almost exactly like this in the shower this morning, what with the players communicating through the game state, AND above the game mechanics.
Makes one wonder if communicating outside the game state is infact only an implicit allowance of the game rules that don’t specify otherwise… some games, for example, can insist on silence, or an economy of communication. You’d snip the player’s line of communication! It’s not *always* there, and therefore, isn’t player-to-player communication a part of the GAME interface?
Oooh, it’s a tricky one! :D
April 23rd, 2006 at 20:33
Thanks for the comment!
This might be an easy way out, but I’d say that the line of interaction between players is a generic one describing any kind of interaction, whether it is communication, holding hands, or whatever. This interaction is possibly acknowledged by the game system, i.e. it is a game mechanic of some kind - or not, when it’s informal ‘off-game’ interaction. It is true that it is not always there (at least in the formal sense), but the diagram is built on the principle of what there _can_ be…as it is meant to describe pretty much any kind of game.
According to my definition there is an interface to the system only when players do not have direct access to the game elements, such as other players. So, in MMORPGs, for example, the line of interaction between players is via an interface, i.e. via chat channels, emotes, etc. But with board, card, etc. games one has direct means to engage with tangible elements.
April 24th, 2006 at 11:51
Oh, I see what you mean now. Interaction between players won’t directly affect the game state.
But indirectly, through the magic of politics, it can skew people’s strategies in new directions.