The Long and Winding Road Miguel Sicart Computer Game Theory Mid - semester summary

What have we learnt so far?

and now, more seriously

Computer games are rubbish

Innovation is an unknown word for the industry

Game analysis is not as easy as it might seem

Keyboard + Mouse / Dualshock are not the only controllers useful for computer games

More sistematically

What is a game? A game is a system with rules that are experienced by a number of players in a virtual environment created by the game. A game is playing rules in a virtual environment.

Classifying games We should classify games depending on how they are designed, related with the key definitional elements of gameplay

Playing...

... rules...

... in a virtual environment...

Transmediality Games operate as cross medial cultural devices. In a licensed world, we will find the Matrix effect much more spread and much more relevant. But also, games will spread within different technological devices, making new kinds of games.

Games telling stories? Games can tell stories, but that is not what they are built for. If a game tells a story (and doesn’t want to be Myst), then the quest structure will most likely be present The quest structure can seriously affect gameplay, and the obsession for telling a story (or seeing a story in a game) can damage the potential of games understood as games

The mysterious history of (computer) games

Game Analysis Games are complex cultural objects that are in dialogue with many different cultural “spheres” Our analysis depends very much on to whom we are talking to But we have to keep in mind always that games are a fundamental part of post-industrial culture, and that they are objects we experience. When we analyze game we have to keep in mind the fact that they are designed experiences: that is the way to make New Games Journalism, selling your ideas to a company, or analyze the rhetoric of a game from an academic perspective.

And now, for the one-liner

the answer to all these questions you should have learnt is...

I have no idea, but I’m thinking about it (and I know how to do it)

The Computer is your friend The Computer loves you You Love the Computer