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Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Time to play a game

Within postmodern cultures all over the globe, games are highly accessible and played worldwide from various media platforms coming in a range of different genres. However, games are not a modern creation or discovery, they stem greatly from a time of struggle documented over three thousand years ago from ‘Herodutus’ story’ of an eighteen year famine. The ancient Greek, documented on how his culture survived starvation through solely playing games and diverting minds from food. Giving them more motivation to overcome the deprived time and occupying their minds and emotions with various activities played as a community.

As Jane McGonigal discusses in her book, ‘Reality is Broken’, “We often think of immersive gameplay as “escapist”, a kind of passive retreat from reality.” (McGonigal, 2011. P6)

This allows us to identify that with games comes a sense of escapism, as reality no longer seems enough for the modern age and more and more people all over world crave more out of life. Although in Herodutus’ time, they depended on games to live, that has now grown and developed into a surreal sense of a ‘meaning to life’ and as McGonigal discusses throughout her book, almost a way of life and a positive reality by stating, “We are starving, and our games are feeding us.” (McGonigal, 2011. P6)

Although games today almost take over the real of the world around us, people still identify their roles within society and within their own personal lives, while the game simply taps into the desires of fulfilling one’s full potential and allows individuals to explore at the very edge of their skill level.

The four traits of games allows us to explore the need for individuals to play relentlessly and while over the years the figures of gamers has increase, so has the demand for new and enhanced gaming experiences, these traits remain the same in order to sustain motivation and excel human emotions when participating as reality just does not appear to satisfy.

“Reality isn’t engineered to maximize our potential. Reality wasn’t designed from bottom up to make up happy… Reality compared to games is broken.” (McGonigal, 2011. P3)

Each of the traits McGonigal discusses relate to real individual needs and identify with reality, these include; the goal, giving gamers a sense of purpose, where if in reality this sense is not fulfilled, simply through standard jobs or not obtaining one’s own family etc. therefore games present themselves as having a key purpose - goal. Rules, these are unnecessary obstacles which allow gamers to show the creative side of their personalities and motivate strategic thinking. A feedback system which then provides a sense of motivation and encouragement and lastly voluntary participation, this establishes common ground and allows participants to feel a sense of comfort and control with a game.
These traits touch on typical human emotional needs for everyday life and although they are present within the lives of individuals, some crave the need for more and find themselves struggling through life without this fulfilment.
Brian Sutton-Smith, a leading psychologist once said “The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression.” (McGonigal, 2011. P28)

Overall, “A good game is a unique way of structuring experience and provoking positive emotion.” and as humans, individuals require this and turn to games for the ultimate realization of themselves, their capabilities and attributes to life. (McGonigal, 2011. P33)

“Game design isn’t just a technological craft. It’s a twenty-first-century way of thinking and leading.” (McGonigal, 2011. P13)

Bibliography
McGonigal, Jane (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York, The Penguin Press. (P19-34)

You'd Better Start Playing The Game

‘We’re afraid of losing track of where the game ends and where reality begins’ (McGonigal 2011, p.20)

Jane McGonigal starts her book, Reality is Broken, by giving what she believes is a true definition of what a game is. She defines a game by outlining four traits they must have to be considered as a game. These characteristics are ‘a goal, rules a feedback system, and voluntary participation’. (McGonigal 2011, p.21) McGonigal defines the goal by giving players a sense of purpose which directs the gamer on what to strive towards and what they should do throughout the game. The rules give the user boundaries on how to attain the goal. This means it pushes players to use their knowledge and work out how to do this. The third feature of a game is the feedback system which ‘tells players how close they are to achieving the goal’. (McGonigal 2011, p.21) The feedback system makes it certain that the goal is achievable and keeps the player interested in the game. The final attribute of McGonigal’s definition is voluntary participation. This ‘requires that everyone who is playing the game knowingly and willingly accepts the goal, the rules, and the feedback. Knowingness establishes common ground for multiple people to play together’. (McGonigal 2011, p.21)
Even though many players think that winning a game is the main aim and therefore a trait of one: winning does not apply to every game. Examples such as Tetris were the aim is to fit different shapes together with no gaps. The shapes come faster and faster and your goal is not to lose.
This definition of a game does not just apply to video or computer games, it relates to all sorts of games, from Call of Duty to Monopoly and even physical games such as tennis. Golf is an example which is a particular favourite of Bernard Suit. He believes that it is an ‘elegant explanation of exactly how and why we get so thoroughly engaged when we play’. (McGonigal 2011, p.23)

‘The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression’. (McGonigal 2011, p.28)


McGonigal goes on to talk about how games make us happy. Games are full of thrills and hard work which releases endorphins in the user’s brains, making them ‘addicted’ to playing. The work that is created in games is much different to that of our real lives. It doesn’t stress us out and cause us to feel unsatisfied. ‘We’re much happier enlivening time rather than killing time’. (McGonigal 2011, p.33)


___________________________________________________________
Bibliography
MCGONIGAL, Jane (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York, The Penguin Press.

Gaming is hard work!

According to McGonigal the concept of a game can be defined by four core elements; The goal, the rules, the feeback system and finally the voluntary participation. The gaming industry is set to grow to a total valuation of $83 billion by 2016
, making it one of the most lucrative industries in the world. So why is it such a popular industry when, as Bernard Suits states, a game is fundamentally “the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles”. (Bernard Suits, p55, 2005) 

McGonigal further questions our romance with games; “Why do unnecessary obstacles make us happy?” (McGonigal, p27). The short answer is humans love hard work, especially hard work chose for ourselves. Immersing ourselves into a game creates all types of positive emotional response. The journey towards the “goal” is an exhilarating rush of interactivity, focusing our energy that we are working hard at to succeed whilst getting both better and positive reinforcement, we actively shift towards the positive side of the emotional spectrum. As McGonigal states “gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression.” (McGonigal, p28). The most successful games evoke a strong engagement of optimism, we are activating all the neurological and physiological factors that make us happy, “We are actively conditioning our minds and bodies to be happier.” (McGonigal, p28)

You may consider not many like hard work in reality, but this is often work we have to do. It usually has negative emotional responses, and does not evoke the “fiero” that voluntary hard work does, or as McGonigal puts it “the craving for challenges that we can overcome, the battles we can win and dangers we can vanquish.” (McGonigal, p33) 

Games have the ability to inspire numerous amounts of people. Humans would rather work hard than relax or chill-out, as Tal Ben-Shahr put it, “We’re much happier enlivening time rather than killing time.” (McGonigal, p33) In short games can inspire people to work harder. “If we actively surround ourselves with people playing the same game that we are, then we can stop being so wary of “players” playing their own game.” (McGonigal, p34)



Bibliography



McGonigal, J., (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC, (P.19-34)

Game of Life?

It is undeniable that games take up a large amount of peoples's free time, whether it be video gaming or a simple game of cards. Using the four traits of games that Jane McGonigal discusses in Reality is Broken: Why Games Make us Better and How They Can Change the World we can see the appeal of it all. Using factors like a goal, rules, feedback system and voluntary participation only increases this appeal as "playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles" (Suits in McGonigal, p22, 2011) meaning that gaming has become more important and appealing than life itself.

McGonigal's idea is that games fulfill "our need for better hard work" (McGonigal, p29,2011) presenting the idea that everyday hard work simply isn't enough. Works like high stakes, physical and mental are some of the ways in which McGonigal describes different emotions we feel while playing certain types of games. One type of work, discovery, "help us feel confident, powerful and motivated" (McGonigal, p30, 2011) because we take pleasure in interacting with unfamiliar objects and spaces. This can be seen in games such as Professor Layton and the Curious Village "a glorified brain trainer" (IGN, date accessed 13th November 2013) which focuses on puzzle solving in various environments, gradually getting more difficult as the story develops. Another work may be that of teamwork, were satisfaction is taken in having a specific role within a team, like in the game Castle Crashers. Different games portray different sense of accomplishment, which, according to McGonigal, may be missing from our everyday lives, stressing the need to find them elsewhere.

If this kind of ideology is to continue, soon any emotional reaction will be based on gaming alone, as life seems to have been replaced by that of a more digital kind. Life is becoming a game, were we relay on them for any emotional reaction or we simply have the need to keep playing "the game" as "compared with games, reality is too easy" (McGonigal, p22, 2011)

Bibliography
McGonigal, J (2011) Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change The World, Penguin Press HC, (p19-34)
IGN (http://uk.ign.com/articles/2008/11/07/prof-layton-and-the-curious-village-uk-review?page=2, date accessed 13th November 2013)

All work and All Play-McGonigal

The majority of people that were brought up in the 1970's/80's/90's and perhaps even the 2000's have played, or know someone who has played a video game. They are part of everyday life, and are a massive part of the entertainment sector, with $65 billion spent on video games in 2012. However, they are still a source of entertainment with many negative connotations-for example there is a post on debate.org which has the question "Are video games bad for children?".  However, McGonigal explains that this bias is ingrained into our culture- 

"We frequently use the term “player” to describe someone who manipulates others to get what they want. We don’t really trust players. We have to be on our guard around people who play games..." (McGonigal, 2011, p19)

McGonigal goes on to talk about the definitions of a game, what makes a game, a game. She raises a valid point when quoting Bernard Suits-

"Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles."
(McGonigal, 2011, p.22)

This does sum up everything about games, no matter what game is mentioned. Certain video games such as Super Meat Boy seem to be made with the intention of being nigh impossible to play through without quitting. Metacritic describe it as "a tough as nails platformer" and one of the critic's review starts with "Super Meat Boy's difficulty will likely turn off some gamers..." Why do people play it? What is the attraction? As McGonigal said it is the "goal" that the gamer works towards (in this case, saving Meat Boy's girlfriend). On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is Minecraft. It is a sandbox game, where there isn't an obvious goal as there is not any narrative. However, there are many little achievements that the user gets-for example, building a house, surviving the first night, finding diamond etc. This coupled with the "rules" of not being able to fly (unless in creative) and the voluntary participation with the game to create a world that comes straight out of the users imagination means that it's no wonder the game has 33 million users.

The four concepts are present in the majority of the biggest selling games and although they seem simplistic, they work and perhaps help us understand games more, by being able to relate them to "real life" ideas. 




References

McGonigal, J., (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC,

Statistics- http://www.vgchartz.com/article/250966/65b-spent-on-gaming-fastest-growing-entertainment-sector/ (date accessed; 13.11.13)


Meta Critic Super Meat Boy Review- http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/super-meat-boy (date accessed; 13.11.13)

Coherence in games: "Is this real life"


Convergence within our social relationships emanates our cultural development. As we manufacture the awareness of public space, the possibility of events becoming permanently captured on camera increase. (Jenkins, 2008, p.3) Videos of profanities become viral through user generated content, the production and consumption of which become modes that are unpredictable in outcome. Whilst manifests of indemnification surface our culture; we re-educate cultural understandings of what defines the 'real'. Drawing from this concept, how has the employment of games transpired as a predominant factor in the mass consumption of media? Whereas previous discussion dictates a shift in behavioural conduct; due to the mass distribution of New Media, how has New Media, such as the development of the gaming industry, altered our former understanding of the world around us? What are the “Defining features” (McGonigal, 2001, p.21) of games?

In relation to what is frequently misinterpreted as stereotypical “hard work”, (McGonigal, 2001, p.28) games are usually coherent with the notion of being an active procrastinator; source of diversion. A contradiction from this would be that 'games make us happy because they are hard work that we choose for ourselves, and it turns out that almost nothing makes us happier than good, hard work.' (McGonigal, 2001, p.28) Although enjoyable as a medium, games are by no means a lethargic leisure. “The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression.” (McGonigal, 2001, p.28) Players strive to improve their ability, and although this may not involve movements which are as vigorous or demanding as authentic scenarios, participants are diligent to advance or maintain usability in that particular virtual space. 'When we don’t choose hard work for ourselves, it’s usually not the right work.' (McGonigal, 2001, p.29)

“Compared with games, reality is too easy. Games challenge us with voluntary obstacles and help us put our personal strengths to better use.” (McGonigal, 2001, p.22) This “voluntary” inhabitation being key in what makes virtual “hard work” (McGonigal, 2001, p.28) an enjoyable platform in contrast to conventional understandings. 'Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.' (McGonigal, 2001, p.22) The inability to engage the audience as a passive consumer is 'why gamers spend less time watching television than anyone else on the planet.' (McGonigal, 2001, p.33) Presented with thorough entertainment, we are en-captured within a virtual dimension. We are furthermore open to opportunity; capabilities that are extended from what our biological identity can compete with. 'We aren’t experiencing [the] fear or pessimism.' (McGonigal, 2001, p.32) associated with the use of out biological identity. 'We’ve generated the stressful situation on purpose, so we’re confident and optimistic.' (McGonigal, 2001, p.32) 'within the limits of our own endurance, we would rather work hard than be entertained.' (McGonigal, 2001, p.33) By doing so, our brain is 'trained through tremendous repetition', (Highland, 2010, 16:13) bleeding into the 'real', creating an authentic “panic response” (Highland, 2010, 16:20) to real life distinguishable attributes from the game. “Real life... is starting to look more and more like a video game.” (Highland, 2010, 14:33)


Bibliography:

Highland, M. (2010) 'As Real as Your Life'

Jenkins, Henry (2008) 'Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide', New York University Press

McGonigal, J., (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC, (P.19-34)



Time to play the game


‘Gaming’ isn’t just the physical motion of playing on a console or hardware, nor is it being able to communicate online or with a gaming community. Jane McGonigal talks about how it is not just the physicality of gaming but the ideological meaning behind ‘gaming’ that works its way into every single gamer. Gaming is a huge influence on new media audiences and could arguably hold more ideologies than any other media as it can completely consume a person’s mind, “This bias is part of our culture, part of our language, and it’s even woven into the way we use the words game or player” (McGonigal, 2011. P19)
Because of this everyone is a gamer in this culture not just in a digital culture perspective but as an attitude toward advancement. “you’d better start playing the game. What we mean is, just do whatever it takes to get ahead.” (McGonigal, 2011. P19)

McGonigal uses expressions and phrases to explain how these ideology’s better.
“We use the term ‘player’ to describe someone who manipulates others to get what they want. We don’t really trust players.” (McGonigal, 2011. P19)
Every game has certain rules which give its players the ability to play within these boundaries. These rules don’t need to necessarily have to follow any protocol and so can manipulate players into abandoning their own rules and morals to follow an already lead out path. McGonigal sees how we tell the difference between reality and imagination through the language we use. “This isn’t a game!, What we mean is that someone is behaving recklessly or not taking a situation seriously.” However it is not the game itself that bring across these ideologies but the fact that it is getting harder and harder to tell the difference between games and reality. The escape that games once offered and the ideology to ‘winning’ at a game is on the verge of spilling over to reality as people are now players and as Jane McGonigal said…”we don’t really trust players.” (McGonigal, 2011. P19)




Bibliography

McGonigal, J. 2011. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Penguin Press HC. p19-34.


This isn’t a game.

‘We’re afraid of losing track of where the game ends and where reality begins’. (McGonigal, 2011, p19)

Games can lead us to somewhat abandon our own morals and ethics in favour of someone or something else’s rules, whether it is games you play on a personal computer, game console, mobile phones or board games. People play games became they want to accomplish a winning, but they never want the game to end.

There is something essentially unique about the way in which games are structured and the experience it creates for the user. Take Tetris for example. When playing Tetris you are guaranteed to lose because the game has to end at some point. It only gets harder when you’re playing well, creating a perfect balance between hard challenge and achievability.

James P. Carse once wrote that there are two different kinds of games: finite games that we play solely to win, and infinite games that we play in order to keep playing as long as possible. Tetris is a prime example of an infinite game because we play Tetris for the only purpose of continuing to play a good game.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." (McGonigal, 2011, p29)

We can forget the impacts that our efforts have on anything so we generally feel unsatisfied with our efforts of work. But when we are in virtual world of video gaming or any game we are rewarded by winning at the end even if there is no external reward.

There is an emotional attachment that comes with the playing or addiction of games. As society is so evolved into gaming designers know to try to create games that will create emotional highs and not lows.

 

McGonigal, J., (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC, (P.19-34)

Fun Work


The fact that we use games to relax form the hard works of life is fantastic even though games are work as well, as they set obstacles for us and give a way to over come them. “Compared with games, reality is too easy Games challenge us with voluntary obstacles and help us put our personal strengths to better use.”(McGonigal, J.,(2012) p.g.32) Games create different forms of work weather that is busywork, mental work, physical work, discovery work, teamwork, and creative work each giving us different senses of enjoyment. 

The reason we love this type of work so much it that this form of work is work that we have choose for ourselves. The ability to choose your own work is amazing; we can finally pick work for ourselves that play to each of our individual strengths, however this form of work is usually none productive and is an escape of life’s reality.  We find enjoyment form this type of work because it is good hard work that has been done based on your ability’s and strengths. 

Ok now lets break down a game and look at how someone can find enjoyment from completing work. For example if we take a look at Star Trek online. Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer online game producing different forms of mental and team working work as your player progresses through the Star Trek universe. Mental work revs up our cognitive faculties for example in Star Trek online there are a number of different puzzles to be carried out with in the given time scale. This rush is the feeling of accomplishment when we put our brains to good use. Teamwork emphasizes collaboration, cooperation, and contributions to a large group. For example in the twenty people team assaults in Star Trek online, we take great satisfaction in knowing we have a unique and important role to play in a much bigger effort.



JANE McGONIGAL (2012). Reality Is Broken. New York: THE PENGUIN PRESS. 32.

Flow and Fiero

 Fiero is "a craving for challenges that we can overcome, battles we can win, and dangers we can vanquish." (McGonigal, p33). Ultimately the importance of which is crucial to the concept of a game as McGonigal defines it. Fiero is what gives us the gratification we need to participate in games, and is the answer to the question asked, "Why are we collectively spending 3 billion hours a week working at the very limits of our ability, for no obvious external reward?" However in doing so, another question is raised. What determines the level of return we get from 'fiero' by participating in a game?

The answer to that question is flow, "(...) the clearest sign of flow is the merging of action and awareness. A person in flow has no dualistic perspective; [they are] aware of [their] actions but not of the awareness itself." (Csikszentmihalyi, p38). The better the flow a game has the better experience of fiero you gain. This can be said to be true even with the external influence of a reward. For example, taking a coin toss as an example, if one was to toss a coin for a reward of £1 how much would they pay attention to the coin itself? Not very much. However if one was to toss a coin for £1 million the coin would become the single focus of the participants while in air. Through this example we can see that even external rewards that are 'outside' of the game only serve to enhance the experience of flow, and ultimately heighten the experience of fiero.

Fiero is demonstrably not a core element of a game however, the four core elements of a game as McGonigal defines are, "goals, rules, feedback, and voluntary participation." (p27). Fiero is only experienced upon success, it is strictly a reward for winning or completing an objective. It cannot be said that a man who has gambled his life earnings away experiences fiero. To conclude, McGonigal's definition of a game in terms of the four core elements is logically sound and cannot be intruded upon even by a core experience such as fiero.

 


Bibliography

McGonigal, J., (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC, (P.19-34)

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 2000. Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: Experiencing Flow in Work and Play. 25th Anniversary Edition. Jossey-Bass.

Games at the core

Mc Gonigal says " When you strip away the genre differences and the technological complexities, all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system and voluntary participation" (McGonigal, J., (2011) p.g.2)

 
Every one plays a game in some way or form. it could be a very phsyical game like football or basketball, these games require great physical fitness and skill. You could play a board or computer game, these games are often more mentail and require alot more stratage and can be very simaler in there baseick rules and structure. An example of this is chess, this games goal is ti get from one end of the board to the other there and take out the opponents king, the rules are simple each peace can onlt move in a certion way i.e. a pawn can only move two spaces forward its first go but any go after that it can onlt move one. Assasins Creed is a game for new gen consuls such as the PS3 and Xbox 360, the goal of the game is to get threw a fort and army to the objective and take him out, the rules are that you have to try and be stealthy, plus you have a setion number of weapons some bosses can also only be killed certion ways. this shows that these games have the same four traits, but dont forget about the more physical sports. When you take football apart it has a very simaler set of traits. The goal is to get the football in to the other team goal, there are many rules but the main one is tht you can only use your feet to gide the ball and that you can not hurt the other players physicaly, the feed back system are the points and the recognaition from fans and team mates along with wining. the main point is that all of these games may have a diffent fan base and are all on diffrent platfroms but they all are the same when tripped down to the traits. ths shows that most if not all games are boarn from these traits and that they are all the same.
 
 
Bibleography
 

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

3 billion hours gaming for no external reward

When we talk about playing ‘the game’ we are abandoning our on morals and following someone else’s rules. The designer gives you freedom to work and discover new things but the player is still following the characteristics and rules of the game. The player is someone who follows others to complete a goal and will do what ever it takes to achieve it. The game matters in the player’s eyes, and we become this player when we interact with any game. 

 Bernard Suits writes, “ Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.”

“Any well-designed game is an invitation to tackle an unnecessary obstacle.” What define games are the structures behind it. The goal, the rules, the feedback system, and voluntary participation are the fundamentals that hold it together. Things like animated graphics; competition, interactivity, narrative or the idea of winning and getting rewards is all to boost the player’s attention.

Addictive is a word that best describes games. We know that finite games are played to win. Infinite games are games that keep the user playing for as long as possible. High feedback games show how much the user engages with a game and this is found pleasurable and reassuring. 

Players want the satisfaction of the game ending but also don’t want their enjoyment to end. People spend 3 billion hours gaming for no obvious external reward what’s the point? 

Busywork is a phrase used to talk about focused activity in games. It falls under four different categories, mental, physical, team and creative. We would rather work hard than be entertained. This is why gamers spend less time watching television than anyone else. 

Fiero is the Italian word for pride and it is linked with hard work. It best describes the feeling that the player gets when achieving something. It makes the player happy by completing the hard work that we choose for ourselves provoking positive emotion. Games say you don’t have to do anything but if you want you can upgrade and get better if you try. 

Bibliography:


McGonigal, J., (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC, (P.19-34)

A Game by Definition

Almost everyone, in some way, plays games in their life. Be it physical games like Football or Rugby, strategy games like Candy Crush Saga or Angry Birds, story orientated games like Bioshock or The Last of us, or multiplayer games like the Call of Duty or Halo Franchises.  There are many different examples of what a game can be, but all can be identified by four main traits that McGonigal outlines.

“The goal is the specific outcome that players will work to achieve.” (McGonigal, 2011, P21) In some games the goal is clear, in Angry Birds for example, the goal is to complete all the levels.  In other games the goal could be driven by the story, an incentive to find out more about the virtual world you are playing in.  The goal can also be set by the player, for example reaching a maximum rank, or completing an individual challenge in the popular Call of Duty Franchise.

“The rules place limitations on how players can achieve the goal.” (McGonigal, 2011, P21) The rules are in place to remove the obvious and tedious ways of reaching a goal.  Rules are more obvious to players in physical games such as Football, because the players have to enforce them.  Whereas in computer games the rules are defined by the game code.

“The feedback system tells players how close they are to achieving the goal.” (McGonigal, 2011, P21) This can be in many forms, a score, a rank, a progress bar, or simply the player’s knowledge of a goal. The Feedback system ultimately makes reaching the goal more satisfying.

“Voluntary Participation requires that everyone who is playing the game knowingly and willingly accepts the goal, the rules, and the feedback.” (McGonigal, 2011, P21) Voluntary participation at a basic level ensures the game will be carried out in a fair and fun environment.  These four outlining definitions are simply the base criteria for games.  New techniques are allowing for games to become more competitive, more immersive and ultimately, more rewarding.

Bibliography

McGonigal, J., (2011). Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC, (P.19-34)

Monday, 11 November 2013

Games


Gaming has become increasing popular within society. "Games today come in more forms, platforms, and genres than at any other time in human history." (McGonigal. 2011. p20) There is such a wide range of games, such as digital games played on computers and consoles and non digital games, such as board games or cards. A game invites a gamer to tackle unnecessary obstacles which involves hard work and optimistic engagement. Jane McGonigal (2011) believes there are four defining traits of games. They are the goal, the rules, feedback system and voluntary participation.

McGonigal states that winning and competition are features which enhance the gaming experience but they are not seen as defining traits. The defining traits of games are as followed: The goal is the purpose and the outcome that the gamers is trying to achieve. The rules are the limitations that the gamer must follow in order to achieve their goal. Feedback system is the process of the gamers performance which include levels and scores. A gamer must be willing to follow these traits in order to play the game correctly, this is known as voluntary participation. Every game, whethers its a digital or non digital, all of these four traits are relative. 

Gamers feel a sense of achievement, happiness and hard work when they play games. They enjoy how games give them the opportunities to explore learn and improve their skills. Gamers care about their games and the outcome matters to them. James P Carse explains how their are two types of games, finite and infinite. Infinite games are played to win, for example, Mario Kart. The goal is to finish the kart race whereas, a game such as Temple Run, is an infinite game. Infinite games means gamers strive to play the game long as possible. Infinite games are also known as unwinnable games. There is no chance that an individual will win Temple Run, it is a constant game to stay alive and not get caught by the demons. It is about beating the highest score. Some gamers would rather keep playing a game instead of winning because "..the state of being intensely engaged may ultimately be more pleasurable than even the satisfaction of winning" (McGonigal, 2011. p25)

Games are so popular today because of the emotions they are producing. 'Fiero' is a Italian term meaning pride. This term has been adopted into the gaming world describing gamers emotions towards the sense of success they feel when they overcome a challenge. Scientists believe that "fiero is one of the most powerful neurochemical highs we can experience."(McGoniga, 2011. p33) 


Bibliography:

McGonigal, J. 2011. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Penguin Press HC. p19-34.