Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals

Design and Meaning

When coming up with an initial design many designers take into consideration the basics of human interaction like “What happens when I push this lever” etc. This is due to the fact that we engage with all of our surroundings, interpret and construct meaning from. This is a very human movement toward meaning form and interaction between other people, objects and context.

When designing a game you have to take into consideration how to appropriately interact with other component such as greeting somebody, this can be as simple as saying “hello” a hug or to the more complex light punch to the arm, all are different but meaning the same concept of greeting somebody, so when designers must make the appropriate gesture and respond in the correct manner. If the designer fails to make sense of these scenarios then they have failed in understanding the overall interaction, especially since the game designers have designed the systems for the interactions with other online characters.

Another question that has been brought up over the years is the understanding of objects and how a user makes sense of them, this has led to designers in recent years borrowing insights and expertise from other fields, mostly in the field of semiotics. Semiotics is the study of meaning and process by which a meaning is made. Also the signs and questions that concern to the central field, for example if a high society dinner was being taken as a semiotic system, we would be interested in understanding the meaning and different elements that actually make up that dinner party, so you could look at the overall layout of the table and the space for eating. We might also look at elements that represent how important the event is and what it represents e.g. “power,” “elegance” or “fine dining.” Each of these perspectives contributes towards our overall understanding of the dinner party as a system of meaning.

Semiotically people use signs as ideas as a sign represents something other than just its self e.g. when you smell smoke (The Sign) you get the concept of fire. Also that sign means something to that person.     

Virtual Worlds Don't Exist: Questioning the Dichotomous Approach in MMO Studies

Virtual Identity vs. Real Identity

I decided to look into the virtual world of MMO’s (Massive Multiplayer Online) this is because before entering the world players in modern MMO’s such as World of Warcraft players get to choose and customize their character according to how the player may want themselves to look like in this world.  For example in World of Warcraft you can choose to play as either the Alliance (who fight for the good) which consist of; Humans, Dwarfs etc or the Hord which consists of Orcs, Trolls etc.

Also players in the MMO world can be whoever they want to be as there is such a wide range of freedom to the player “virtual worlds give you a freedom that no one has on Earth: the freedom to whomever you want to be.”

Many players who play RPG’s or MMO’s tend to also bring along their attitudes into the game or world such as their education or knightly values of who they actually believe themselves to be or who they want to be e.g. A player who has been taught the morals of right and wrong would usually play as the hero or play with a heroic meaning making the kind choices, compared to somebody who hasn’t would normal play as the bad person. This also suggests that the two identities are never disconnected and that both of them are the same person in both worlds.

However this may not always be the case because some players who know the correct morals may want to be a different person in the game and break the rules which in the real world would be considered a sin because it doesn’t affect them in society.

“Identity also flows in the direction: Identity- forming experiences in an online game can shape one’s character.”

Another way of looking at the real identity against the virtual identity is that it is outlined as a “mirror” as the avatar is a reflection of the player’s body through which they express their identity through the world. This was shown as in Yee (2007) reported that player’s age and gender are linked to certain MMORPG character creation choices. This is due to most players wanting to create a digital double of their body. Although players tend to have many different avatars which are constantly at conflict with each other to maintain different peer groups which they all hide behind.

Relationships in a Virtual World vs. Relationships in the Real World

Along with players creating a new identity on MMO’s is the chance to be widely accepted in computer communities as it has been believed that friendships on the computer network can also be as deep and meaningful as in the real world face-to-face. However it can be equally recognised that distinguishing between “real world friends” and “virtual world friends” can be difficult. Due to the fact that MMO’s players interact in guilds and other community events such as raids helping create bonds in teams, players can also now invite you to join groups with a team leader and you can privately chat to them.  “Friends, family members and relatives spend time together on MMO’s”

It also was shown by Pinckard that business members socialized on WoW in their free time to discuss business terms and build a network similar to how some businessmen play golf to socialize and how relationships move freely between online and offline environments.

One specific reason to why some participants expand MMO relationships to the offline world is to do with the matter of trust and this also reduces the risk of co-operating with strangers. The example used in this case is EVE, which is a high- stakes game to where allies may possibly want to get intimate before they can rely on one another.

Such relationships are not easily described as either real or virtual. Another class of relationships that can expand outside the MMO are antagonistic


Resource : http://gamestudies.org/1001/articles/lehdonvirta