2004). Chapter 2, “What is a Videogame?” pp 9-
28.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/94833797/James-Newman-Video-Games-Routledge-org
Notes:
What defines a video game?
Elements of a video game
Graphics
Any images that are displayed and any effects performed on them. This includes 3D objects, 2D tiles, 2D full screen shots, Full Motion Video (FMV), statistics, informational overlays and everything else the player will see.
Sound
Any music or sound effects that are played during the game. This includes starting music, CD music, MIDI, MOD tracks, Foley effects, environmental sound.
Interface
The interface is anything the player has to use or have direct contact with in order to play the game. . . it goes beyond simply the mouse/keyboard/joystick {and} includes graphics that the player must click on, menu systems that the player must navigate through and the game control systems such as how to steer or control pieces of the game
Gameplay
Gameplay is a fuzzy term. It encompasses how much fun a game is, how immersive it is and the length of playability.
Story
The games story includes any background before the game starts, all information the player gains during the story or when they win and any information they learn about characters in the game.
Source: Adapted from Howland 1998a
Classifying Videogames
The best tool the gaming industry had for classifying the thousands and thousands of different games was with genres. Genres are split into seven main game types:
1 Action and Adventure
2 Driving and Racing
3 First-Person Shooter
4 Platform and Puzzle
5 Roleplaying
6 Strategy
7 Sports and Beat -em-ups.
Newman talks about famous designers like Shigeru Miyamoto who made Super Mario and other famous titles as well as Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid) and Sid Meier (Civilization) and their unique inventiveness). For example Each of the Metal Gear Solid series both used actual in game advertising. His argument was whether or not the implementation of this in game advertising was to influence their games aesthetically or whether the game designers themselves were attempting to gain credibility by association with the respectable media.
Coin-op VS Home Systems
Majorities of studies focus on the use of home consoles or PC's. Whereas little consideration is given to arcade systems. Lets think about home systems. There are no limitations other than its playability for how much of the console is played but lets think about the arcade machine. The arcade machines focus is to make money and so this brings other considerations into scope. Like the games throughput and ease of access. Where on consoles certain games can require hours upon hours of gameplay as for the arcade its primary time length is going to be around a few minutes. The general gameplay on arcade machines is also intense and loud.
An example he goes on to explain in Gran Turismo. The actual console game consists of intricate gameplay where you can tune up your cars with many upgrades earn the currency to get better and bigger cars and so on which would itself be impractical for arcade machines however Gran Turismo offers an arcade mode and cuts out all the intricacies and allows a player to jump straight into a souped-up car that would normally take hours of gameplay to aquire.
It may sound negative to some hardcore solo gamers but this arcade mode has its benefits. It allows for a much richer socail interaction allowing players to quickly jump into 3 lap races with eachother and battle it out which can be fun and rewarding and opens up a whole new type of fun gameplay to the game.
Another distinguishing factor betweeen the two system types is its peripherals i.e things like light guns, dance mats and hydrolic rigging. Consider the game Daytono USA . The games themselves are identical however one you are sitting in you comfy chair at home with you joypad in you hand and probably alone or with family around and the other you sit in a mock up car chassis that throws you around every corner you take. This certainly does not imply that a home console version cannot offer excitement and playabilty rather that the experiences can vary quite differently. Quite different in these examples is the game location aswel. Just being in another location can alter the game experience.
What a video game isn't?
A videogame is not just a bunch of fancy graphics. Graphics however are still important. The audio-visual composition of a gameworld has a massive impact on players. However still just focusing on an audio-visual masterpiece can still fail for a game take dragons lair for example or Myst which have fantastic visuals but fail in the amount they allow a player to interact with the gameworld. On the other hand take games like Pacman and Tetris which have minimal audio-visual experiences but instead offer rich engaging and absorbing gaming experiences.
Why do players play?
So what do users want from a gaming experience? There are three notable areas
- Challenge
- Immersion
- Players expect to do, not to watch
So games must also provide novel and exciting experiences, stimulating puzzles and interesting environments to explore. More still a sucessful game must offer abilities that can be earned, honed and perfected. Players want to work for their rewards and not obtain them effortlessly. Players actualy expect to fail at some point or another it is part of the challenge. Pleasure of gameplay can be achieved from the failure then refinement and practice.
Once a player is into a game, she is in a level, she has a good understandingof the game’s controls, she is excited, and she is role-playing a fantasy; shedoes not want to be snapped out of her experience ... the player does notwant to think about the game’s GUI [graphical user interface]. If the GUI isnot designed to be transparent and to fit in with the rest of the game-world art, it will stick out and ruin her immersion ... If the player comes toa puzzle, figures out a perfectly reasonable solution to it, and that solutiondoes not work, the player will again be reminded that she is ‘only’ playinga computer game.(Rouse 2001: 12–13)
A short and powerful statement describing what a player likes in their game is to have the feeling of being there rather than playing a game. To completely immerse a player in the game is important as not to break up their gameplay with non intractable cut scenes for example.
Rules, winning and losing: Videogames as games
Paidea - Simple rule mechanics
Ludus - More complex rules
Paidea and Ludus
many flight simulators include different missions (particular goal-orientedactivities where the player has to accomplish a certain task, such as bombinga city or landing under bad weather conditions). These
ludus
are hard-codedwithin the program: the program includes a ludus rule and it will tell theplayer if she has succeeded or not at the end of the session. However, thesame mission-based simulator could also be used for
paidea
: the playercould simply not follow the rule and would just play around with the airplane... It is the player and not the designer who decides how to use a toy, agame, or a videogame. The designer might suggest a set of rules, but theplayer always has the final decision.(Frasca 2001a: 13–14)
So what exactly is a videogame?
any forms of computer-based entertainment software, either textual orimage-based, using any electronic platform such as personal computers orconsoles and involving one or multiple players in a physical or networkedenvironment.(Frasca 2001a: 4
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