Elements of a System Formal system Experiential system Cultural system Objects Pieces, board, cards The players The whole game Attributes (properties) Rules: moving pieces, win, draw, capture Pieces player controls; state of game Designed elements (Tolkien’s books) Internal relationships Actual positions in the board, location of sauron, Strategic interaction, psychological Heroes (hobbits), mages, bad guys (sauron) Environment Actual game play Context of play: I rather see u loose! Book, movies, games

Play, Game, System Play: jumping System: highway system (no artificial conflict) Game: Rules are the most common element Least mentioned characteristics: “Art” Conflict or contest

Digital Games, non Digital games Automated complex systems: capability to maintain and execute sophisticated processes (e.g., maintaining the state of the world in Civilization) Semi-automated non-digital complex systems: Dungeons and Dragons. Board, cards are used in a clever way to maintain lots of information Anatomy of choice: What happened before the player was given a choice? How is the possibility of a choice conveyed to the player? How did a player make a choice? What is the result of choice? How affects future choices? How are the results of choice conveyed?

Meaningful Play Meaningful play: player’s actions have a discernable and integrated outcome Example of meaningful play: Tekken Discernable: When Nina lands a hit you see it Integrated: Opponent looses hps; when hp reach 0 Nina wins Example of non meaningful play: Squashing rodents in Diablo, Word of Warcraft Relation between Lusory Attitude and Meaningful play If there is no meaningful play, player will not be willing to overcome artificial obstacles in the game. Therefore, looses the Lusory Attitude

Game as Open and Closed Systems As a closed system (no interaction with outside environment), rules are the formal schema of the system Playing is an experiential schema. Play can be both closed (following the rules of the game) and open (social experience) Culture is the contextual schema of the game (word: “zerging”. From here) Magic circle is the time and space where game occurs Separates the game from the “real” world Contains everything relate dot the game as a closed system And the experiential part of the game as an open system

Final Words Average: 79/100 This time I took a ‘lusory attitude” correcting the test For Test # 2 and Final exam, I’ll be looking for clarity and precision in your answers