Game Design
What is a Game Anyway?
After completing a reading of What is a game anyway? by Ian Schreiber, it is evident that several points where raised by the author of the paper. These points include the lack of a universal definition of what a game is, the weakness of definition and how simple making a game really is. The following blog will address these points in greater detail.To begin with the author explains what his definition of what a game is, it being "a play activity with rules that involves conflict" direct quote What is a Game Anyway? by Ian Schreiber. He then goes on to states even though his definition was adopted by the IDGA Education SIG there are still many different definitions out there some of which disagree with his.
He then brings up a point of how some games are the same concept but are executed slightly differently, they are different because of different rules and names. The example he used was that of Three to Fifteen compared to Tic-Tac-Toe. He also states here that it entirely depends on what you define a game as, to whether or not they are the same game.
He states how no definition for what a game is, is perfect and every single one has its flaws. He states that if you were to come up with your own there would be a flaw in it somewhere. For example a Puzzle may be considered a game by some definitions but not others.
Finally he asks the reader to make a game and how he hears a lot of students say they can not because their afraid they can't make a good game. Then he gets the reader to make a simple game. He states how it may not be good but it's still a game and that coming up with coming up with the idea and developing it shouldn't be long drawn out process.
The organic nature of game ideation: Game ideas arise from solitude and mature by bouncing
On completion of reading of The organic nature of game ideation: Games ideas arise from the solitude and mature by bouncing by Annakaisa Kultima it raised a few very interesting points, those points being that people in the game developing industry have different views on the idea of forming ideas and there are different views on what makes a game idea.For this paper there were interviewees that participated in both 2005 and 2007. They where asked on their opinions on how they come up with their ideas and what they think works better. Some stated that they come up with ideas on their own usually while doing a task that is solidarity in nature, while others said they came up with ideas in groups and preferred this approach. Then they were asked about the approach on team "brainstorming" sessions and some stated how informal techniques such as bouncing ideas off one another was great for there process. Then they spoke of formal techniques and most expressed how they disliked this as they either found it to time consuming among many other issues.
When it came to game ideas some expressed how they would have good ideas that survived the entirety of the production phase, while others would have ideas that didn't making for very different experiences when it came to the view on what a game idea is. However all game idea are prone to being changed during the design process with some being drastic and others being minor. Most of the interviewees did not welcome drastic changes during this time.
Caption: a brainstorm forming a idea
A link to a third paper that may be of use 
Hi John! I really enjoyed reading your summary on the different articles. I feel like a game can be anything and there are no right or wrong definitions but that's just my personal opinion. Your academic style writing is clear. I think coming up with ideas in relation to games can be as bizarre as you want them to be, you just need a good team to make those ideas come to life! - Anna Zurawska
ReplyDeleteHi John . No one really knows what is able to go under the game genre and what isn't, however after reading these articles it gave a bit of a guide what a game needs to be called a game. When first thinking of how is someone going to make a game is a bit overwhelming however with the right team and a open mind these ideas can start to become something! - niamh
ReplyDeleteHi John! I was reading your blog post here on Games Design. For the first and second paper in this blog post you wrote about, I like how defined the papers down to a short few paragraphs so it is easy for the reader to read and understand. The picture you used was also very well chosen as it is very colorful and is a good visual design. Well done John :)
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