- 1. FromSalen Zimmerman,Rules of Play , Unit 2 RULES AND SCHEMA
MontanaTech
2. Primary Schemas of Games
- PLAY (experiential schema)
- CULTURE (contextual schema)
- This lecture looks at the schema of RULES, where schema is,
according to Plato important rather than exhaustive information. In
other words, schema are a way of organizing and framing
information. aka a model.
3. Primary Schemas of Games RULES: Formal Schema
PLAY:Experiential CULTURE: Contextual Rules Play Culture 4.
Characteristics of Schema
- Have variables: They provide a framework/architecture to
integrate new information.
- Can embed: They can contain other schemas inside of
themselves.
- Can represent knowledge at many levels of abstraction. Allow
many points of view of same object or phenomenon.
- Represent knowledge rather than definitions: encyclopedic
rather than definitional.
5. A Word or Two About RULES
- Rules are what differentiate games from other kinds of play.
Probably the most basic definition of a game is that it is
organized play, that is to say rule based. If you dont have rules
you have free play, not a game.
- Marc Pensky, Digital Game-based Learning
6. Defining Rules
- When we talk about rules of a game the formal identity of a
game we are not referring to aesthetic qualities or
representational identity.
- Looking purely at the rules of a game means repressing many
other fascinating qualities of game play and game
culture.ERGO,
- Rules are a *formal*, closed-system framework as opposed to
experiential or cultural framework.
See example A Deck of Cards on page 120 7. 8. Six Qualities of
Rules
- Rules limit player action.Rules are sets of instructions and
following those instructions means doing what the rules require and
not doing something else instead.
- Rules are explicit and unambiguous.Ambiguity has to be cleared
up before you can begin to play.
- Rules are shared by all players.If one player is operating
under a different set of rules, the game breaks down.
9. Six Qualities of Rules, Continued
- 4.Rules are Fixed.Rules do not change as a game is played. Rule
changes are highly regulated.
- 5.Rules are binding.Part of the magic of the magic circle is
that the rules contain their own authority. If players do not feel
rules are binding, they might cheat or leave the game as spoil
sports.
- 6.Rules are repeatable.Rules are repeatable and portable
between sets of players.
10. Related Levels of Games
- SZ usenon-digitalSnakes and Laddersas level egs.
- Constituative Rules Primary concern here is to guide the
behaviour of players. These are the abstract, core mathematical
rules.Pg 132.
- Operational Rules Instructions for players, eg On your turn,
spin the spinner and move your player, square by square, by that
number.
- Implicit Rules (for the most part) unwritten rules of etiquette
and behaviour eg, place the board in a place everyone can see.
- Formal meaning of a game emerges through a process that bridges
these three levels of rules.
11. Elegant Rules
- As a game designer you want players to befocused on the
experience of play rather than having to make sense of the
rules!
- An essential part of designing rules is creating experiences
where elegant rule design maintains proper player focus.
- Elegant rules allow payers to focus on the experience rather
than the logic of the rules.
- Designing meaningful play is about building discernable and
integrated relationships between action and outcome into all levels
of the rules of a game.
12. Non-Digital vsDigitalGames
- In a general sense the rules of a digital game are also
concerned with the actions players take and the outcome of the
actions (interactivity).
- Most or all of the program code that makes up a digital game
directly or indirectly affects the experience of the game,
however,
- The overall rules of digital games are related to the program
code, but are not the same thing. Rules are abstract tools for
thinking and are not necessarily manifest in the code.
13. Related Levels ofDigitalGames
- Constituative Rules: similar to non-digital games. They serve
as core logic and are usually contained in the code.
Handleinternalevents.
- Operational Rules: Concerned with both internal and external
events of a game player input and game output.
- Implicit Rules: Eg taking a reasonable amount of time on your
turn still applies but what about glitches? Questioning implicit
rules can be a powerful source for design ideas.Pg 148
14. Schema (Models) of Rules
- We can look at rules within these
frameworks/models/schema/taxonomies:
- Games as Emergent Systems *
- Games as Systems of Uncertainty
- Games as Information Theory Systems
- Games as Systems of Information
- Games as Cybernetic Systems
- Games as Game Theory Systems *
- Games as Systems of Conflict
15. Games as Emergent Systems
- This schema builds directly on the discussion of systems from
Week 2.(See next slide).
- In this schema, we deepen our appreciation of games as systems
by looking at them in terms of complexity complex systems.
- Researchers in complexity study many different types of
systems, from computational systems of pure information to
biological systems such as cells and organisms to natural
ecosystems and human society.
16. Definition of a Game System A system can be thought of as a
group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements
forming a complex whole. As systems, games provide contexts for
interaction. Example, the game of soccer where the players, the
ball, the goal nets, the playing field, the fans are all individual
elements.Review from Week 2. Page 51. 17. Four categories of
systems
- Fixed systems. Remain the same forever, relationships between
elements never change. Eg A black TV screen.Pg 155.
- Periodic systems. Simple systems that repeat the same patterns
endlessly. Eg. Messenger system.Pg 153.
- Complex systems exhibit patterns more complex than repeating
periodic systems.
- Chaotic systems behave in a completely random fashion. Eg. TV
screen full of static. Each point uncorrelated with any other
point.
Emergent Systems 18. Fixed Periodic Chaotic Complex Four
Categories of Systems 19. Dietrich Dorner
- A planning and decision making scenario simulated on a computer
[game] may be less complex than on in the real world, but it has
the great advantage of letting us run our experiments in
fast-forward and so of bringing us face to face with our
mistakes.FromThe Logic of Failure: Recognizing Error in Complex
Situations.
- Dorner is a cognitive psychologist.
Emergent Systems 20. Meaningful Play
- When a game lacks complexity, it also lacks meaningful play.
When meaningful play is present in a game, some aspect of the game
has achieved complexity
- Complexity ensures that the *space of possibility* of a game is
large enough to support meaningful play.
Emergent Systems 21. Emergence
- Systems that are emergent systems generate unpredictable
patterns of complexity from a limited set of rules.
- IN EMERGENT SYSTEMS, THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF THE
PARTS.
- Eg. In linguistics, the limited set of rules of grammar cannot
account for all the possible statements that might be made in a
language.
Emergent Systems 22. John Holland
- Emergence is above all a product of coupled, context dependent
interactions. Technically these interactions, and the resulting
system, are nonlinear. The behaviour of the overall system cannot
be obtained by summing the behaviours of its constitutive parts.
FromEmergence.
- Holland is a computer scientist known as the father of genetic
algorithms.
Emergent Systems 23. Emergence
- In an emergent system, interactions between objects in a system
arecoupledandcontext dependent.
- Coupled interactions affect the overall space and pattern of a
system as each interaction links to others, and in turn to yet
others.
- Context dependent interactions change from moment to moment
depending on what is happening in other parts of the system.
- Think about this in terms of your game you studied.
Emergent Systems 24. Coupled interactions affecting the overall
space and pattern of this game system would be the ball leaving a
flipper and then hitting a bumper (scoring)? Context dependent
interactions would be the alternative energy targets opening up
when the ball gets successfully hurled through the alt energy
pipeline chute. 25. Lori Shyba Acknowledging the Power of Surprises
A emergent, complex system of research design made into a game of
Phronetic Pinball. By Lori Shyba 26. Rules and Formal System
- Although a rules-based approach is not the only way to
understand games, it is an indispensable part of a game designers
conceptual toolset.
- By defining rules and framing games as emergent systems, we lay
the groundwork for thinking about games in structural terms.
- The other game design schema all offer approaches about
thinking about and designing games as formal systems.
Closing word about Rules (for now)