Game Design as Cultural Practice

Pokemon Gamespace

I received my first dedicated video game system for my ninth birthday while living in a three-bedroom apartment.  It was a game boy color, and the first game I played on it was Pokemon Red.  The original Pokemon games had a very simplistic representation of space—top down view, simple humanoid sprites, and a rather repetitive way of representing houses, trees, etc.  In the original red and blue versions of the game, there was only one basic color used to represent the world. 

 

However, it was a game that entirely drew my nine-year-old self in and absorbed hours of my time. 

Part of the reason for this was of course the popularity of the game at the time and the vast amounts of attention poured onto it.  However, I think now that part of the reason for the attraction of the game was the basic exploration properties present.  The player begins in a small town, but most of the game is spent exploring various outdoor areas: forests, caves, and pathways.  At the beginning of the game, the player has no way of knowing the areas ahead of them, and the game forces them to explore these areas “on foot.”

 

While I most likely would have picked up the game even when I lived in a house with a large yard and spent more time outside.  However, when my space was more confined, the exploration provided by Pokemon and subsequent games was certainly satisfying.

 

For the most part, the Pokemon games fulfilled several aspects of “boy space” as Jenkins calls it.  It focuses on exploration, the outdoors, and competition.  Although there are indoor spaces, homes are very minimalist and the more involved indoor spaces are mostly industrial.  Later games, such as Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire allowed for customizing a personal space, or “secret base.”  This secret base can be decorated with a variety of collectable game items, sometimes linked to achievements.  Even decorating this personal space becomes more of an opportunity to display achievements rather than an expression of ownership.

 

Later in the games, players are allowed to fly from town to town after they learn a specific move. Through most of the game the player is forced to walk from area to area.  As in the “Narrative Gamespace” essay, the pedestrian world makes the player interact with the world, and become more of a part of it.  Even the pixilated avatar moving through the city and traveling from place to place immerses the player into the fantasy world. 

 

This new fantasy world can be a kind of substitute for the more traditional child role-playing in the backyard. Although games cannot completely replace real-life interaction and play, they can help fill in where real-life play is limited.

 

-Anna Coley (acoley3)

Feed on Fractals

Game website: http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~gtg939u/GAME/Our_Game.html

Team members:

• Yan Xu
• Irina Nikiforova

Collective Casual Gaming

Puzzle pirates makes an inspired leap in creating a social network around casual games, acknowledging the cross-over between the audiences. I haven't played enough to give a comprehensive analysis of it's components, but my experience has revealed some interesting interaction methods. As a gamer on Bartle's scale, though I shift based upon the game, I'm primarily an achiever/killer. Unfortunately, this is not the intended community for this type of game. I've read about what players can do, from opening shops to waging battle on the sea, though I did not get the chance to experience those. What I did get to see was the general metaphor at work behind the gameplay, primarily the constraining of all player business into casual games. Sword fights are treated like spin-off of multi-player Tetris (with the garbage blocks) as well as all other tasks. It is relatively brilliant to take the grind tasks of games and replace them with similar tasks that people will voluntarily grind out. I at first was completely clueless as to how to go on and wasn't interested in talking with everyone to find my way, so I immediately jumped into games at a local tavern. I found myself in drinking game with money on the line, not knowing the rules at all. Still, in the chat box, my opponent gracefully explained the rules, giving me a chance to run off with his money. I'm personally used to very different kinds of interactions online, one involving excessive profanity and high-pitched youngsters on Xbox Live.

In presentation, the world is abstracted to Lego-man simplicity, and that goes really well for it. The casual games' color schemes work very well to match the work it abstracts, and they've created a diverse array of outfits players can work to achieve. A big downfall, however, is the isolation of characters during their chores. Quests in other games require much team work, whereas the maintenance of a ship in travel is represented by isolated gaming that breaks players apart. For a game that clearly is intended for a slower-pace more social group, more interaction in puzzles would add a lot to the experience. It was this isolation that kept me from really exploring the social aspects of the area. Also, I didn't want to invest myself into its rules. This may be an achiever mentality, but a game's starting hour is it's audition to me. If I didn't have to pay for it, I'm not going to invest my time to learn its intricacies it's not immediately fascinating. Just playing Bejewled in a new was wasn't enough to peak my interest at the time.

The game does excellently with what it has, though. It uses a very low-tech framework and has a low file size, very encouraging traits for first time users.  And, the generally relaxed gameplay is less intimidating for new users. It also allows for much easier modification of the game, a frustration expressed in Taylor's "Multiple Pleasures" and "Intentional Bodies." It also displays many of the values female gamers would have, as he laid out, as well as Baby Boomer gamers. As evidenced by my experience at the tavern, the gameplay is a fun distraction, but people are there for the interactions. One article on the Daedalus Project shows how player class is chosen, whereas here choices are limited to male/female with 2 designs for shirt and pants, and several hairstyles.  This ignores the majority of players polled in their studies, appealing instead to the quiet majority of online gamers, the all-night puzzle players.

Online Marriage isn't Marriage

I've explored bits of Second Life before, and did more again in preparation for this post, and the experience has been relatively the same both times. I am not a fan of online social constructs. I would personally only use them for interacting with present friends of mine or people I was doing business with. It all comes from the commitment one must put into the experience, and I avoid these for my lack of enthusiasm in learning their rules and my potential for getting hooked into them, possibly neglecting other parts of my life already too thinly spread.

Second Life was very interesting at first, learning how to interact with the world I ran into other newbies trying stuff out and wound up on the first area. It wasn't so much the metropolis of the Metaverse, though it did have all the nudity described. Without a knowledge of anyone I was uninterested in breaking the ice with conversations about avatars and quickly became bored. I was also generally unfriendly, especially with my dinsaur-like avatar specifically designed to be a reptar-human hybrid.

My opinions on online cultures come mostly from past experiences. As an active member of a gaming forum, I remember the digital friendships and excessive drama, as well as the anonymity and occasional comical perversion. Bullying was rampant and often encouraged, with very rational "if you can't take the heat" type of arguments. I participated almost religiously in these groups during a time where I felt generally insecure towards my place in my RL social circles. The differences in etiquette, behavior, and social values between these worlds always fascinated and frustrated me. The groups organized to take advantage of the "social capital" mentioned by Taylor. Though here, there's no organizing principal other than "play nice." One symptom plaguing the community was the impermanence of user identity. Users would disapear when issues arose in their RL, and online friends would have no way of knowing their status if anything serious had happened to them. Also, alts remove accountability from actions. IP checking and general social value through post count and recognition scale these issues, but bring up new ones by preventing the cream to rise to the top when all new users are relatively ignored. Then, when Bartle's killer personality type appears, they exist only to frustrate other users, often creating totally false identities, the funniest of which lure users into simulated sexual experiences to just act strangely. "I put on my wizard's robe and hat" is perhaps my favorite quote of any cyber-sex encounter. In addition, sexual predators and identity thieves put real danger in these fantasy realms which may not be worth the risk.

These issues create a wall blocking potentially great users from interaction. This problem also exists in RL, though the scrutiny provided and actual consequences make for a more meaningful experience where more can be learned from. One can royally upset his group online as well as off, and though it feels just as bad when it happens, there is no absolute consequence on the user, he can just move on and continue the tantrum or start anew. It makes for less genuine personal ties in my opinion. Online cultures have connected people living thousands of miles apart, but has also distanced next-door neighbors, constraining them to the same systems. I hold a Ludist view that online relationships are inherently less valuable than face-to-face relationships, and they can only reach similar realms when we we no longer cross these lines of differing identity. I'm not saying to do away with them, I just don't believe they are of the same worth.

Strangely, comments left on a website actually bear me more psychological impact than those said to my face. With a person I can listen, respond, and create an understanding.  With comments, however, the dissenting opinion stands like engraved stone. And although many users are skilled at communicating clearly through text, quite often a messages intentions are never appreciated unless profoundly negative or positive. Perhaps my view is scaled by wanting to remain in a realm where i am successful rather than starting over anew. Regardless, there are definite benefits towards gaming and interaction in meatspace that virtual worlds can not provide (today). Solutions, in my opinion, all come from further established credibility and consistency in identity. Moderators do a decent job at upholding the community values. Yet, I don't believe the benefit is worth the cost in working one's way up in an online community.

Hitman: Blood Money

Hitman: Blood Money is a game that I have recently been watching my brother slowly navigate. As far as game space goes, I find it to be very interesting. The main character is an assassin who navigates about 13 separate levels that are linked only by the story line. The levels themselves are completely disconnected. In fact, they are spaces that are often meant to be in completely different countries. The main character is given twelve missions. One by one he appears at the entrance of these levels, silently finds and assassinated his targets, and sneaks to a boat, plain, door, etc. to escape. We have no idea where this character might live, sleep, or travel until later in the game. On the other hand, the plot is developed completely outside of the levels during the between-mission movies. During this time we are given a glimpse into the characters life and the reasons behind his actions. 

The interplay between story and game play is very interesting in Hitman: Blood Money. The levels without the movies would be a disconnected game to which the player would have trouble relating. The movies without the levels would not be a game at all. However, Hitman: Blood Money makes no attempt to weave the two completely together as games like Oblivion or Fallout 3 do. However, despite what might be expected, this method of game space building seems to be effective. The player gets both involved in the game play and interested in the story line. The game is both immersive and enjoyable to play. It is an interesting technique to separate the plot development from the game play to create a game space, but in this case an effective one. 

Gendered Game Spaces & SPORE

Virtual spaces hold potential for gendered and gender-free play. Mnookin (1996) calls virtual space "utopian space of possibility", "virgin place," "utopian dream-space." It is a place for rebirth and endless "self-fashioning" of unexplored, and perhaps of "suppressed aspects" of self. Creation of narrative spaces "has been a purview of those in power" (Pearce, 2007). But digital games hold a new promiss. Games can be used as story telling techniques, as narrative environments with thier "unique poetic structure[s]" (Pearce, 2007). Whereas theme parks created spatial narratives, expeience design, illusion of authenticity, immersion, digital games and networks create agency, identity, and persistent communities. Cetainly most MMOG are themed, but those that are not (Second Life, There, Kaneva) a guests are residents/ citizens and there to stay (Pearce, 2007).

SPORE is a cute cartoonish game centered around the idea of evolution. While most strategy games treat space as a "domain to be conquired" (Fullerton, Morie, & Pearce, 2007), SPORE treats space as endless frontier for exploration. Space is not a context for combat but a fasinating landscape of exploration. "Poetics of game space" (how space is conceptualized as a domain for play) is the universe. However, since the representation of space does contain the priorities and conceptions of prevailing culture (Fullerton, Morie, & Pearce, 2007), the activity of the game is conquest (space as soemthing to be captured) and hence it is still falls into the traditional Western, Cartesian, male, God game paradigm. SPORE is slightly different from toher male-gendered games as it does not have usual organizational structured and the ways of progressing though the ranks (but secrete knowledge, tactical mastery, and geographical domination are there). Being a female, I enjoy playing SPORE, but sometimes wonder what does gender bring or could bring to this game. Henry Jenkins comment that "girls need to learn to explore "unsafe" and "enfiendly" spaces; experience complete freedom of movement; develop self-confidence; learn to "run witht he wolves" and not just follow the butterflies" is rather offensive because of the assumptions that he made. Girls ways of exploration involves pointless following after butterflies? Nonsense! Just as Jenkins who feels nostalgic about the "spaces of boyhood," girls have thier own spaces from childhood. But somehow the game producers do not know and rather clueless of what those places may be. Female writers are right on track when they describe those places as secret places of "removed existence" created for retreat, intimacy, protection, ability to open portals into alternative universes, imaginative other worlds. Such worlds "are NOT a matter of "following the butterflies"" as they challenge "young women in complex ways with complex characters" (Fullerton, Morie, & Pearce, 2007). Research have shown that girls "like storylines and character development" (Fullerton, Morie, & Pearce, 2007), and hence they are more likely to like games that have such features. Constructing community spaces is another kind of games that attracts girls but that are not even considered games by some (Second Life, There). Thus, narrative-performing space can describe the femine features of space. Being raised in "highly restrictive and confined physical environments (Jenkins, 1998), children/teenagers flock to online games. I do not think many women will play SPORE because it lacks "richness, complexity, and depth" (Morningstar &Farmer, 1991) offered by multi-user social network environments.

Psychonauts: the most obvious and genius example of space crafting the experience

In Psychonauts, players navigate the dimensions of the mind, wrestling with psychological demons on their playing field. Using psychic powers, they navigate mazes and solve puzzles to unwrap a conspiracy at the psychic summer camp. In the level I'll refer to as "the milk-man," Raz, the main character, navigates a relatively sterile environment. The world is essentially a standard, suburban neighborhood floating in space connected by a road that twists and contorts in mid air. Everything appears in order, other than the physics defying contortion of the road, yet surveillance cameras appear from all areas, popping out of garbage cans, mail boxes, and fire hydrants. Also spread about are men in coats, presumably government agents, trying to remain incognito by utilizing props to denote a different identity despite their obtuseness. Here the developers create a clear message about this mind; the standard leave-it-to-beaver space has been warped by paranoid delusion with an obsession with surface appearance. Here they create a fascinating parallel between obsession and oversight. Presumably, to the natives of this mind, the in-order presentation of the houses present the most suspicion, evidenced by the overwhelming amount of surveillance.  However, the world is inhabited by secret agents who all appear identical except for one prop that separates their costumed identities. Men with road signs are clearly construction workers, men with rolling pins are clearly housewives, and men with guns are clearly assassins. Certain areas of the world are off limits to commoners, however. Only construction workers are allowed on construction sites, and only housewives are allowed in certain kitchens. We also see an irrational yet common submission to authority types at play here. Construction workers can obviously have free range in construction sites, yet neighbors cannot be trusted. I read a similar RL anecdote in a psychology text book. A therapist is called by his patient who is threatening to jump off a cliff. The therapist pleads with him unsuccessfully to reconsider. Then, a policeman notices that the jumper had illegally parked his car, and without realizing the situation, shouts that if whoever owns that car doesn't move it immediately, he's going to tow it away. Right then, the suicidal patient comes down from the cliff and moves his car as a submission to authority. "The milk-man" level plays off of this same categorization in the mind. The level is a very slow-paced area with little to no action. It would be a meditative area if not for the feeling of things not being as they seem (or the obviousness of it, also enhanced by the sound track). I wouldn't characterize it as patently male or female, judging from the examples in "A Game of One's Own." The road follows a meandering, curvy path, designed for a happy, boring American family, yet slight variation from the rules has incredibly strict directness as sirens fire and a cut-scene shows your interrogation. It's essentially a world standing on thin ice, and beautifully crafted to create that sensation with a comic twist, though not presenting any time-limit related issues or approaching danger except at the moments of revelation and confrontation.

Interestingly, every level of Psychonauts is a private theme park dedicated to the character whose mind the player progresses through. It even holds to the same metaphor of Disney World, being a guest within the mind rather than a resident. Inside the mind of an ex-soldier, one relives Saving Private Ryan but as a fantasy, fun-filled quest. Inside of the mutated lung-fish, Raz acts as a Godzilla character destroying the city of the brainwashed lung-fish speaking in profoundly clear English. The game deserves an entire class as a means of understanding psychological connections to gameplay. Everyone go buy Psychonauts, it's available on Xbox Live.

Kaneva

Kaneva, a social network and a virtual world featuring 3D entertainment, can certainly learn from the lessons of earlier multi-user social game-worlds. Kaneva is marketing entertainment which consits of experience ("fun and exciting things to do") such as shopping, dancing, chating, playing, and hanging out with friends; interaction(chatting with people from around the world), attending online events and connecting with others); and creative activities (the users can decorate their 3D home, design and sell clothing, build community hangouts). Kaneva's advertising appears to unleash the power of imagination with slogans such as "Imagine What You Can Do." Well, what can you do? Below follows the suggestions intended only to provide a fresh breath of criticism and the direction for improvement.

1. Exdend the conceptualization of culture. Some may be ready to dismiss virtual worlds and particularly social networks by arguing that they are neither games nor they are productive activities. Using Pearce (2006) notion of "creative production for its own sake," I would argue that players experiences can be improved by expanding the universe of assets what can be produced by players. By producing players generate their own entertainment (Pearce, 2006). Such form of cultural production is a form of "folk art" (Pearce, 2006) of that social community. In Kaneva currently players can produce clothing, decorate their apartments, build their own living space and community hangouts. These experiences can be extended by offering the players the experience of creating clothing for NPCs, creating parts of the town, creating their own shops and world objects for entertainment and shopping (besides clothing and shoes, and home decorations). It is these new objects: cars, hovercrafts, bags, banners, ticklers that can push players imagination.

2. Implement better ways of communicating human behavior. One of the main lessons one can learn from games such as Lucasfilm's Habitat, is that "cyberspace is defined more by the interactions among the actors within it than by the technology with which it is implemented" (Morningstar & Farmer, 1991). Game-world designers need to provide the means to communication human behavior. Kaneva at the moment offers extensive and well implemented repertuare of Emotes, Gestures, and Dance moves, and even voice chats(for $s). Morninstar's and Farmer's (1991) lesson for other developers is to define "a virtual environment in terms of the configuration and behavior of objects, rather than their presentations." In comparison with Habitat from 1980s and 1990s where players could play games, go on adventures, fall in love, get married, get divorced, start businesses, found religions, protest agains religions, self-govern (Morningstar & Farmer, 1991), Kaneva offers limited set of behaviors (create specific things, dance, shop, play limited number of games, talk/interact). As such, the message for Kaneva is to focus more on behavior of avatars than on their looks. Looking good is certainly important as evidenced in the variety of good-looking, well-dressed avatars. But what do they do? Run from one hang out to another, look cool and show off themselves with a series of dances? While it may work for teenagers and cross-dressers, it is less likely to work for more mature or demanding players. And this brings us to my last point about the difference between the players.

3. Allow the exploration of the boundaries of possible, emergent rules of behavior. Any sociologists would tell you that deviance is normal and functional for society. Deviance defines, clarifies, and outlaws certain behavior. Deviant acts help to bond, unify society against such actions. LambdaMoo, for example, offered a chance for imaginative space in terms of social structure and legal mechanisms to control deviance (Mnookin, 1996). Management of behavior and community life in Kaneva (as in many other social worlds) worlds appears to be static, under the eye of the godly providers, and hence, not evolving and not allowing the community to unite. Certainly, abuse, verbal and text-based rape are serious matters and have to be prevented. World keepers are dreading the appearance of Mr. Bungle/Dr. Jest and committing the crime against the "emotional true," dirty crimes against the minds of others (Dibbell, 1993/1998). Yet, little can be done to prevent it. The sacred privacy of players and insistence on "a strict separation between real life and LambdaLife[in our case, KanevaLife]" (Mnookin, 1996) is indispensable. This privacy makes possible "creative self-fashioning". Tough, socializing, dancing provocatively next to another avatar who may be very young or very old is rather uncomfortable experience. Many players in Kaneva have RL profiles, yet, who knows how real they actually are. To summarize, Kaneva's new direction can be to offer activities for all age groups. The challenge of community and behavior management, I'm afraid, is there to stay.

Games and Space: Second Life

I felt it was appropriate to look into the cultural significance of games and space in Second Life because its unique nature where there's no real end goal (unless you count making money), but rather it is a "place" where people go to create a virtual world which may or may not parallel their own lives. As mentioned in the Pearce essay, the new trend of a fourth dimension of gaming is emerging where "In these worlds, players are not merely citizens of someone else’s fantasy world, but actually have a hand in constructing the fantasy themselves." It is no longer about winning a game, but creating one. Players have the chance to create their own home, coffee shop, restaurant, store, or even their own island. The possibilities of the world go beyond what can happen in the real world.

First person shooters and massively multiplayer online games are often associated with being a primarily male-dominated world. Virtual worlds, on the other hand, target the female population by introducing aspects that females are more interested in. For example, as pointed out in the Fullerton, Morie and Pearce essay, fashion becomes a controllable factor in the game. In Second Life, just about every aspect of the characters appearance is modifiable -- hair, body type, eyes, nose, mouth, height and even clothing. The clothing is not only limited to what has been provided by the creators of Second Life but rather can be created by any user. Architecture and design are also shown to be dominated by females in both the real world and the virtual world. Jenkins argues that video games are often used to escape "the often drab, predictable, and overly-familiar spaces of their everyday lives." Second Life is a perfect place to do just that by creating obscure clothing, objects or places.

I find it fascinating how people have made a living -- not just a living, but becoming a millionaire -- off of Second Life. People want to show off their virtual spaces by buying virutal things. It becomes a my virtual house is bigger and better than yours and people are willing to pay a lot of money to make that point. While I, myself, have never really seen the appeal of entrancing myself in a virtual reality, spending counteless hours walking around in a virtual environment, I suppose it's not too different than chatrooms and forums in the online world. But even then, I'm one to meet people in real life rather than online.

As with all good things, comes a counterpart. With the openness of Second Life, unforunately, comes adult entertainment, pornography and sexually explicit content. I guess this is something that cannot be escaped because it's such a prominant part of today's culture. Whether it be online or in real life, it seems pornography and sexuality is an issue that arises in all forms of entertainment mainly because, in this perverted world, it is an industry that makes billions in profit.

Webkinz: A Virtual Worlds for Kids

Webkinz is a great example of a company trying to create a virtual world for kids. This is a hard task to tackle, as we all know that virtual worlds do not come without their dangers. This becomes more obvious when we read an article such as "A Rape in Cyberspace," by Julian Dibbel in which she discusses sexual assaults that occurred within a virtual world. It is natural for parents to have fears in regards to their children exploring the internet and in particular participating in virtual worlds. 

Webkinz does a great job or trying to tackle these fears while still allowing kids to express themselves within this world. Children who participate in Webkinz must first create their own account. A webkinz account asks for such information as first name (used when the virtual world addresses the user), gender, birthday, and the country and state in which the child lives. In addition, the child gets to choose a screen name (used to represent the child as they interact with other users) and will have a Webkinz animal (likely also of their choice) to represent themselves. (Though it is not required that a child specify a gender) As Curtis states in “Mudding: Social Phenomena in Text-Based Virtual Realities," players can express themselves through a choice of name, gender, and self-description. Webkinz is clearly trying to allow children to express themselves despite having to interact in what needs to be a very closed and monitored virtual system, as children are able to reach two of these three objectives. Each child is able to use his or her own name and his or her character to represent themselves in this virtual world. In addition, the child gets to use a screen name which they can use to express themselves (ex. soccergrl8 baseballboy12), and the world sends the users 'gifts' on their birthdays. 

All in all the world seems very personal to the children while maintaining,  but must also stay secure. It does this by severely restricting what children can do in the virtual world. Children are able to interact with each other in three ways: your friends can come in your 'room' and each or your pets can play, you can play games with your friends, and you can 'chat.' The only way in which the kids are allowed to chose the content is in 'chat,' which is severely restricted. Webkinz allows young children to chose only pre-set questions and answers in chat. Older kids are able to choose what they say, but there are extreme filters placed on their input. 

Over-all Webkinz is able to provide children with their own identity, their own virtual space, and the ability to interact in a safe and effective manor. It tackles the difficult task of creating a webspace for young children in a very effective manor.