While some icons in video game history such as Super Mario, Pong and Pac-Man can be easily identified by many people, even those who play games infrequently or not at all, a notable title to put in this category is Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft 2: Beyond the Dark Portal, released in 1996. While it was a sequel in the franchise, Warcraft 2 was undoubtedly a major stepping point for the Warcraft world that has led up to the insanely-popular World of Warcraft and expansion packs. Memorable for its graphics, gameplay and sound design to name a few aspects, Warcraft 2 also served to revitalize the real-time strategy genre and I myself fondly remember many nights of playing through the campaign and skirmish modes.
Yet with its popularity and interesting set of game mechanics, how does it fit into formal game studies? Looking from the perspective of Roger Caillois, a form of play has the following elements: They must be free, separate, uncertain, unproductive, governed by rules and make-believe (Caillois, 128). Though this is focusing on a fairly small portion of the reading, Caillois's work and taxonomy of play forms is very well known and an important part of modern game studies.
Firstly, Warcraft 2 certainly free in the sense that it is an optional activity. Yet many people seem to want to play it regardless of the waste of time it represents, which would also satisfy the other aspect that Warcraft 2 is unproductive. It's highly unlikely that a player will improve his or her skills in warfare and combat even after years of playing, though at the very least their situation may change in the sense of being better with multitasking and strategy. Warcraft 2 is separate of course since most of its elements are fixed within the confines of a CD and a computer screen, with the gameplay set on the screen from an isometric perspective over the units and map.
However, what is uncertain about the gameplay in Warcraft 2 is that the AI player in the campaign or skirmish modes may do just about anything in its attempt to win over the player. This uncertainty increases further when the game is played with other players, adding to the number of possible strategies and tactics that can be utilized. Like many real-time strategy games, Warcraft 2 is also governed by a fairly strict set of rules, with units having particular statistics, certain tiles of the map being passable and a clear objective given to the player. Last, but not least Warcraft 2 is certainly in the realm of make-believe, and is well within the borders of a typical fantasy world, though this is a stark contrast to how addicted people can become with the more immersive World of Warcraft.
Moving to another aspect of Warcraft 2 from the perspective of Bernard Suits, an important point that Suits makes is that rules are not necessarily set in stone within a game or form of play. Playing a game like Warcraft seems to follow along this convention, especially with the example that Suits gives on a scenario involving himself, Snooze and a man-eating plant (Suits, 176). However, Warcraft 2 was also one of the first real-time strategy games to include a map and unit editor program, which basically allowed players to then change the rules of a map or even the game in order to create different experiences. While not limitless in options and a bad map could be made more easily than a good map, the change in the rules governs how much fun a particular map is to play.
Comments