Game Theories:
- Games are active
- Games as work
- Games as learning
- Games as social interaction
- Games as a study of rules or Games bound by a system of rules
- Games without goals (it's not a game with a goal, so they say)
- Games as spaces or Games as story worlds
- Games as an "Unholy" alliance of designer and player
- Games as art (a bonus one from my head)
Yes, I'm sure I've missed the point but this is what I have gotten out of the lecture so it's going to be different to whatever is in your head. The hard part of picking one of these theories is finding one that I'd agree with 100%. Games are complex constructions that have a whole lot of elements that I find difficult to pigeon hole as one 'thing'.
Nearly all games fit within these theories it depends on what aspects you decide to concentrate on. I'd could go on all day about it but that would be digressing into a giant pile of blah blah. I'm going to concentrate on "Games as story worlds" and "Games as work".
I like games that have worlds that are fully (or try to be) immersive and are about having to work within the confines of the story. A lot of the time this fails, the story is bad and the game mechanics are boring or don't work. A game that has a story world has to work hard to get the player to stay in the world for a long time.
Let's take Japanese RPG's for example. J-RPGS are all games that run on 2 theories, games as a story world and games as work. The story and world is there to suck you in, the work is used to stop it from being one giant visual novel. The kind of work you do is leveling up (grinding).
Why level up:
- To stop getting killed
- To get powerups/gain abilities
- Collect items (you collect items for many reasons)
- OCD (you're compelled to get as much stuff as possible)
- Bragging rights (the internet is a strange place where bragging on how little you level up will earn you 'cred')
Case Study:
Let's look at an example of how the story world and working(level) work together.
The JRPG works on having a story and characters that make the player/audience want to progress the story or spend time with the character. The get further in the story, you more you need to level up.
Persona 3:
A dungeon with 250 levels, characters, social relationships and your personality that require leveling up? Welcome to Persona 3, a J-RPG that puts you in the life of a Japanese teenager who has to deal with demons, the apocalypse, soul searching and exams.
Levelling up requires you to fight monsters that appear in the dungeon, standard fair. What makes this different is that if you need to get to certain floors of the dungeon by certain days. That's right, it's got a calender cycle. Okay, strange but possible until you find out that your party members are digital humans; work them too hard and they get tired and catch colds. Your main character has these weaknesses too, work him too hard and he won't be able to fight.
There are some incentives for levelling up, you get access to new summons, magic powers, money and the thrill of not dying in the randomly generated dungeon. Don't forget, you're saving the world. How's that for extra curricular activity?
The story of Persona 3 does make the fighting and levelling bearable, sometimes enjoyable. You're going to save the world, making sure you don't die while doing it is a powerful incentive. Another incentive is Hard Mode, you die and there aren't no magic items to bring you back to life.
The game has moments that do make you feel a part of the world. Team members will tell you enthusiastically when they level up or when they land a critical hit. Exclamation marks pop up when you character answers a question correctly, is charming or stands up for himself.
The social relationship leveling up? Strangely investing time in NPCs does reap some benefits, being best buds or having a relationship will net you more powerful summons. Having friends also helps you save the world from doom. You get bonus content as you get closer to your friends, finding out why a monk hangs out at a night club is one of the highlights. JRPG's are notorious for making character interaction a must, I don't know if these skills will carry over to your real life.
Unlike real life, if you level up aspects of your personality, you can meet new people or impress the ones you know. Somehow it's worked into the story; a creepy man from a dimension that only you can access tells you to make friends as part of your contract that you've signed with some strange ghostly kid... It makes sense in the world of Persona but no where else.
The game world does have a lot of extra things to do but they are geared towards levelling either relationships or your own stats. Singing karaoke makes you more courageous.. The main character is pretty bland, giving you lots of opportunity to give him a personality. The game's also great at getting people to micromanage the character's life. Not that's a bad thing when you get to the stage of juggling 3 girlfriends..
It's best to say that this particular story is work, you work to save the world and better yourself. Working to save the world involves levelling up and trying not to die. Well, at least you've spent over 50 hours getting through a really intense story, surely that's worth it?
Pretty sure I've failed getting any form of a message across. Better luck next time.
