Aspects of playing
The Sheep
Four aspects of playing a computer game
As I see it, there are four things we look for in the games we play. Every
game will give us a mix of those for, a mix of unequal proportions.
I'll try to explain those four aspects, using different meanings of the
English word 'play'. I'm aware that there's possibility of making a fool
of me
with my knowledge of English, but still I want to try.
1. Play as in playing chess or poker.
The computer game may be viewed as 'game' in it's common sense, with it's
strict rules, a board, tokens, etc. Sometimes it will require thinking,
sometimes just luck (and sometimes good reflexes), but those can be very
abstract. It's important to remember that every computer game is a game
first.
In order to play such a game, first of all you have to know and comprehend
it's rules. There may be hidden information or gambling, but still the
player
should have enough information to make decisions. The overall looks of the
game isn't really important, as long as it's not interfering with the
players
view -- as long, as the board is visible, the tokens are distinguishable,
and
the cards aren't until they are face up.
2. Play as in playing dolls.
This is so called role-playing. It's no longer a game -- it's a world, in
which the players can operate using their characters as proxies. Many
games
skip this aspect entirely, but it's a strong part of roguelikes, so it
would
be unwise to leave it. What do you need for role-playing?
Not much, really. A setting, a background story, some descriptions, some
concept art, rules resembling those of the Real World.
But there are things that stand in the way. Too much detail, to narrow
path
will kill the role-playing, break the suspension of disbelief. Look at the
kid's dolls -- they are not realistic, even Barbie isn't. The important
parts
are exaggerated, everything else is left for user's imagination.
The books tend to be more immersive than movies -- remember that.
3. Play as in watching a play.
Ok, this metaphor is a little stretched. It should be rather like watching
a movie. Yes, there's still some immersion, you might even make several
decisions, but what you're most concerned is just watching. You may watch
because what you see is beautifully drawn, nicely animated, perfectly
calculated, but you might also watch because the story is entertaining,
the
characters are cute, the narration is atmospheric or you just want to know
what will happen next.
I think modern games go mostly in this direction, but there's not much
place
for it in a roguelike game. Yes, you can explore nicely-generated dungeon,
be
interested when you find certain item for the first time, feel emotions
when
you complete certain quest for the first time.
4. Play as in playing sports.
A competition. The simple satisfaction of winning, or the more complicated
triumph of being better than your friends. The games that want to deliver
this
much be challenging. Also, some mechanisms that will allow to compare your
scores will help. A winning condition is an absolute minimum.
Additional challenges, like ironman mode can help here too.
Those four won't cover everything the game might offer. There are
educational
games, that will learn you something. There are construction games that
will
give you the joy of creating. There are trading games, that will allow to
exchange goods with your friends.
But I think those 4 elements are the most common.
This article have been posted on roguebasin wiki.
--
Radomir 'The Sheep' Dopieralski @**@_ Bee!
. . x . (^^) 3
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The Quest for the Real World, try #2: goto -1
Twisted One
> Those four won't cover everything the game might offer. There are
> educational
> games, that will learn you something. There are construction games that
> will
> give you the joy of creating. There are trading games, that will allow to
> exchange goods with your friends.
It's no wonder first person shooters have exploded in popularity. Most
of them have all of these elements, aside from trading. 3d anything
trains visuo-spatial skills and thus is sort of educational. But they
are admittedly weak there. All have gameplay and nearly all have
competitive, online multiplayer gameplay. Your middle items amount to
whether the game supports role-play and whether it has a plot; the
Half-Life games are strong and Quake 2 is decent in these areas. And all
of them seem to double as construction games, because of custom content
creation and world building tools being available. There are even online
content creation competitions! (For Quake 3 and probably others.)
Throw in Diabloesque/Everquestish online item trading and more
educational elements into a Heretic III or some such, and you could have
them all in one game.
--
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Palladium? Trusted Computing? DRM? Microsoft? Sauron.
"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them
One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."
jasonn...@yahoo.com
the subject:
The medium of the video game / edited by Mark J.P. Wolf.
Austin : University of Texas Press, 2002.
konijn_
>exchange goods with your friends.
As an ex hard core card flopper, I can tell you I only played to win,
every single game till the last life point. Every single good player I
met thinks the same about MtG ( of course my definition of 'good
player' might be skewed )
T.
Glen Wheeler
"konijn_" <kon...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1117498826.5...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Yes; I am also an ex ``hardcore card flopper''. Very few games have
managed to completely kill roleplaying in a fantasy setting as well as MtG
:). That said, it's gameplay (IMO) rivals that of Chess and Bridge.
--
Glen
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Kornel Kisielewicz
> Yes; I am also an ex ``hardcore card flopper''. Very few games have
> managed to completely kill roleplaying in a fantasy setting as well as MtG
> :). That said, it's gameplay (IMO) rivals that of Chess and Bridge.
But for sure it's a lot more expensive gameplay then Chess or Bridge ;-)
--
At your service,
Kornel Kisielewicz (charonATmagma-net.pl) [http://chaos.magma-net.pl]
"It must be excellent code -- Mistress Compiler would not have
it any other way." -- Twisted One