Video Game Theory Definitions

Game Feel
Definition - Real-time control of virtual objects in simulated space with interactions
emphasized by polish and contains:

Aesthetic sensation of control.

Pleasure of learning, practicing and mastering.

Extension of senses.

Extension of identity.

Interaction with a unique physical reality within the game.

They could also contain the following:
Intuitive Controls:

Allows players to do what they want and when.

A good game is easy to learn and difficult to master.

The player does not need to think about what they are doing.

Gives players enjoyment with the perfect balance of skill and challenge.
Physical Interactions with Virtual Objects:

Timing.

Making players feel the impact (somatosensory).

The number of frames each move takes.

Interactions are polished.

Example - In the Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass is easy to playon the Nintendo
DS as it follows what could be thought of as a traditional handheld gaming device layout
even with the addition of a stylus, which is used just as a pencil. Players feel a
somatosensory connection with Link as they play because of the intense focus and when
he receives damage, the player experiences it and its manifestations, such as swearing in
frustration or recoiling from witnessing his harm.
Agency
Definition - Is the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our
decisions and choices - Murray, J.H (1997) Hamlet on the Holodeck.
Example - Agency can be felt after making strategic decisions to attack a temple boss
which is brings a successful defeat.
Web 2.0/Third Places
Definition - The third place which exists when we are playing a game or surfing the
web. It does not exist in real life but in an intangible form on the web for example or a
game. It encompasses our lives.
Example - The magic circle in which I exist within as part of playing the Phantom
Hourglass. As the game is played in real life using the Nintendo DS and as my mind is
focused upon the character within the game, I create a third place is which both coincide.
Simulation & Representation (Discuss the difference)
Definition of Representation - It is anything that stands for or describes something else.
They are at a distance, whereas games are immersive, we are in the game.
Example - Link from the Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass is a representation of
an adventurer by the actions he has to undertake, the situations he is involved within and
by his visual representation, for example his rugged, self-crafted look and also by the
actions he takes as an individual, for example the sounds he makes, the way he walks or
runs.
Definition of Simulation - A reproduction or imitation of an environment or condition of a
particular context or situation.
Example - In the game the Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, the simulation of the
gusty environment on the Isle of Gust has been created and presented to the player by the
sounds (of strong winds) and the effect it has on the movements and appearances of the
character (Link has to walk against the strong wind, he can be blown off platforms by it.
His hair and hat flutters strongly because of it).
Ludology
Definition - The study of games. It is important as games are not only aesthetic objects but
also important in terms of learning contexts and cultural phenomena.
Example - In terms of the Phantom Hourglass, it is not only a game. As it is discussed
between other players, it becomes a social phenomenon.
Rules
Definition - Rules are made to limit player action, they are explicit and unambiguous, are
shared by all players, are fixed and binding and are repeatable
They limit player action and create challenges.
Example - Links health allows him to receive a limited amount of hits from an enemy. If
he runs out of health the game ends momentarily.
and they set up potential actions (affordances)
Example - In the Temple of Courage Link acquires the Bow and Arrow, in which it allows
the player to shoot at distanced targets.
- Prof. Jim Whitehead (2006) Game Rules & State Machines.
Genre in relation to games
Definition - Refers to the classification of game which divides and defines them. The
problem is that the conventional classification of video games rely too much upon
representational characteristics - what they look like or the space they create. They are
more than the representational as it factors interactivity and immersion. Most are
borrowed from other media.
There could be four ways in which to categorise games, such as:

Platform - Hardware or physical interface.

Mode - Game types (2D or 3D, open or closed).

Genre - Game types (Categories).

Milieu - The games iconography (the symbolic pictures, images, or figures used to
represent a particular game theme).
Example - The game Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass could come under the
categories of Role-Play, Strategy, Puzzle and Adventure to name a few genres but this
classification present in this form will change if it is compared to the fan-fiction, perhaps
just into an Adventure-themed fiction.
The Magic Circle
Definition - A place marked off from reality both spatially (the game world is physically
distinct) and temporally (has a beginning and end).
Example - The Magic Circle happens when a player is in an intense state of focus whilst
playing a game, losing consciousness of time and of self.
Narrative Parameter (Game narrative vs narrative in other media)
Interactivity
Definition - Allows the user to interrelate with and at least partially determine their course
of action. The way in which the game is played, rather than watched and is a non-
representational feature common to all video games.
Four phases of human-computer interaction:

Electrical (early computational computers) - Calculators.

Symbolic (programming languages across machines) - Actionscript 3.

Textual (Code: The origins of interactivity - talking to computer -shift from

representation to representation participation).

Graphical (replacing words with icons - shift from one dimensional to two (and 3D space
- the origins of virtual space - Quake.
Example - The game the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass promotes interactivity in
the way that the monsters gravitate or react to the player as they explore dungeons,
temples, seas and paths.
Immersion

Definition - Immersion means the player is caught up in the world of the games story
(the diegetic level), but it also refers to the players love of the game and the strategy that
goes into it (the non diegetic level). - Alison McMahan (2003) Immersion, Engagement,
and Presence: A Method for Analyzing 3-D Video Games
Example - In the game Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass the player is immersed by
the way of being interested in the storyline with laser-like focus (the diegetic level) and the
strategies needed to overcome the temples (the non diegetic level).
Intertextuality/Transmedia
Definition - Cross-platform play, links to other media platforms and contexts. Games share
many features to other media but is also distinct and separate.
Example - The whole Legend of Zelda series has expanded from just being a video game.
It has grown from those beginnings into a part of a subculture of gamers (otaku) where
people may dress up as their favourite characters and create comics or fan-created stories
using the existing characters.
Embodied interaction
Definition - The study of interaction between people (users) and computers as they occur
at the user interface, which includes hardware (peripherals) and software (determining
which, and how, information is presented to the user on a screen).
Example - Research concerning the creation of the Phantom Hourglass as a game using
various methods such as:

Research (genres, interfaces, user-logs).

Doing paper prototypes.

Thinking about user scenarios or user-types.

testing prototypes on actual people etc.

Staged encounters.

Player testing etc.

They user scenarios, which are short fictional narratives that describe a use situation and
the interaction between users and proposed systems, and can be used to discuss and
picture different kinds of future-use situations of technology. - Laura Ermi and Frans
Mayra (2005) Player-Centered Game Design: Experiences in Using Scenario Study to
Inform Mobile Game Design..
Affordance
Definition - An affordance refers to a physical property of something that influences how
it can be used... the possibilities of action - Dourish (2008).
Example - The map system in the game Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, like a map
made of parchment it can be taken out of the players inventory and sighted. It can be
altered by the use of the stylus and eraser. The stylus and eraser also has the affordances of
the real object it is a simulation of. The stylus is held and used like a pencil to draw,
highlight, underline and take notes with. The eraser is rubbed to remove previous notation.
The Player-Character Relation
Definition - Is the relationship between the character and the player which is formed
through the use of exposition (fiction in which the background to the main conflict is
introduced) but this is being too heavily reliant to the dialogue is dangerous because it
takes up actual playing time, so instead the players opinion of the character should be
formed through their actions and opinions. - James Portnow Game Design: Archetype Bs.
Stereotype).
Example - In the example of the Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the players
opinion of Link has been formed through the completion on previous games within the
Zelda series, mainly the Legend of Zelda:The Ocarina of Time. As such, Link seems flat
as a character in this instalment.
Spatial storytelling/Narrative Architecture
Definition - It is a technique used by game designers that creates the preconditions for an
immersive narrative experience in at least four ways:

They evoke pre-existing narrative associations across media.

They provide a staging around where narrative events are enacted.

They embed narrative information within their mise-en-scene.

They provide resources for emergent narratives.

- Henry Jenkins (2006) Game Design as Narrative Architecture..
Presence
Definition - The state or fact of existing, occurring, or being present in a place or setting,
the feeling of being there.
When perception is mediated by a communication technology, one is forced to perceive
two separate environments simultaneously: the physical environment in which one is
actually present and the environment presented via the medium . It also depends on all or
some of the following factors;

Quality of social interaction.

Realism in the environment (graphics, sound, etc.).

From the effect of transportation.

From the degree of immersiveness generated by the interface.

From the users ability to accomplish significant actions within the environment.

The social impact of what occurs in the environment.

From the users responding to the computer itself as an intelligent, social agent.
- Alison McMahan (2003) Immersion, Engagement, and Presence: A Method for
Analyzing 3-D Video Games
According to Heeters more specific definition (in Nitsche, 2008, Page 205) there are three
different forms.
Personal Presence - The extent to which and reasons why you feel like you are in a
virtual world.
Social Presence - The extent to which other beings (living or synthetic) also exist in the
world and appear to react to you.
Environmental Presence - The extent to which the environment itself appears to know
that you are there and react to you.
Example - In the Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass, the sound and consistent
visuals of the game makes the player feel that they are within a virtual world. The island
folk and the monsters react to the character whilst the game is being played and the
environment reacts to the movements and actions of the character.
Game Balance
Definition - Is the equilibrium state if playing a particular set of strategies produces a
simulation where no player can benefit from changing his strategy and that all
interactions are balanced - Nielson et. al. (2008) Video Game Aesthetics.
Example - Some elements of game balance within the Phantom Hourglass include the
weapon that will be needed to defeat bosses or particular enemies will be available before
Link encounters them, allowing the player to defeat them before being able to access
places with such enemies.
Gaps
Definition - They are the obstacles... or gaps that effectively provoke the work that is
required to play the game - Aarseth (1997).
They can be:

Static or dynamic. Static ones can be overcome and dynamic must be avoided.

Gaps may be determinate or indeterminate, they may not function in the same way every
time.

They may be transient or intransient, meaning they could have a time limit or not.

Personal gaps are specific to the character; impersonal may apply to all.

Controlled gaps appear depending on the players progress and skills whereas random
gaps can appear any time.

Linked gaps are dependent upon or connected to other gaps, while unlinked are not.
Example -
Static - Enemies can always be defeated.
Dynamic - Their attacks must always be avoided.
Determinate - The player can determine the gap each time, like if the player encounters a
room that seals up and spawns previously unseen monsters, the player must destroy the
monsters before the barriers to the doors lower.
Indeterminate - The player cannot determine how to the defeat a new boss before
encountering them.
Transient - The time it takes to complete the three main temples.
Intransient - The time a player can walk around the Temple of the Ocean King.
Personal - Link can fall of a platform due to his movement in the game but monsters
cannot without player interaction.
Impersonal - All figures in the game can move or be moved.
Controlled - Link cannot defeat an electrified monster before stunning them by acquiring a
Boomerang.
Random - The exact point a monster spawns to the player appears random every time.
Linked gaps - The progression the player make to the furtherest levels of the Tempe of the
Ocean King is dependant upon the completion of the first three temples.
Unlinked - The player being able to control Links walking patterns. This is an automatic
feature granted to the player.
- Markku Eskelinen and Ragnhild Tronstad (2003) in Studying Computer Games by
David Buckingham.
Player positioning
Definition - Is the reinforcement of how the player views their character.
Players as participants shape the discourse but not nescessarily as actors who aim to
express a belivable dramatic role in a performance. Like readers of a book and viewers of
a film, participants in games are capable of changing their position.
- Michael Nitsche (2008) Players in Video Game Spaces.
Example - The Phantom Hourglass has enforced the player positioning of the player
being an adventurer within the game by using an isometric perspective and scrolling to
reveal new areas within the game. A more specific example of this is when the player has
to decipher puzzle combinations within the temples. The answers are either derived from
the deciphering of riddles nearby or otherwise the correct combination is attained from a
sign, poster or pedestal within the same level of the temple. This is more of the action-
orientated enforcement of player positioning. There is also the visual enforcement of
this positioning. This example lies within the representation of other characters around
Link within the game, which is altered depending upon the type of game. As the Phantom
Hourglass is a pirate-themed game, the game takes place across the sea, within temples
upon islands and features NPCs and enemies with a visual appearance which reflects this
seafaring-themed adventure.