Creative Rules: restrictions and possibilities

Special Issue

Summer ‘08

CREATIVE RULES RESTRICTIONS AND POSSIBILITIES

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Table of Contents Creative Rules: Restrictions and Possibilities

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Marieke Hegeman 3076644, Taal- en Cultuurstudies

Alternate Realities: The Construction of Believable Worlds

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Lieke Mandemakers 3000680, Theater-, Film- en Televisiewetenschappen

GTAIV: Vrijheden en Beperkingen in een Virtuele Wereld

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Annemieke van Kerssen 0490865, Theater-, Film- en Televisiewetenschappen

Rules and Abilities: The Limits and Possibilities that Players bring to a Game Robert August de Meijer 3081842, Taal- en Cultuurstudies

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games, games on consoles, arcade games, games on mobile devices, varying from mobile phones to the PSP, Nintendo DS and Tamagotchi. It’s impossible to determine a universal characteristic that distinguishes videogames. object of investigation in this issue will be from nonvideogames, especially if I want to mark what the That’s why the narrowest definition of games that is useful is still pretty broad: ‘any forms of computer-based entertainment software, either textual or image based, using any electronic platform such as personal computers or consoles and involving one or multiple players in a physical or networked environment.” (Frasca, 2001, p. 4) This definition is convenient for the video-based aspect of gaming, but leaves a lot of questions. The most important in our perception is obviously: what defines a ‘game’? “A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome”(Zimmerman and Bradley, 2003, p.

89). While this definition still leaves questions (e.e.g. what

Creativity and rules. A paradox, at first sight. Rules form restrictions on possibilities for creativity. Hence, the title of the magazine before you. Right?

Not exactly.

Can rules function to construct creativity? We think so. In this thematic issue, we argue that rules can be a means for creativity. We even take this claim a step further and demonstrate that, at least in games, rules are a necessary condition for it.

Computer technology forms an indispensible part of our daily lives. Computer-based applications stipulate the way we communicate, the way we pay our bills, the amount of soap our laundry machine needs for our clothes, and also a big part of our leisure activities. This is the most obvious in the computer game industry. The Dutch video game industries turnover grew over 60% in the first six months of 1 2007 (GfK annual, 2008 ) and the business is still expanding.

Creative Rules Restrictions and Possibilities Marieke Hegeman

Apparently, judging on the national spendings on computer entertainment, it offers an appealing form of leisure time activity. This appeal might have several reasons. Perhaps people like video games because while playing them, they can escape their daily lives for an instant. Or maybe a enjoys being challenged, or… There is something in games that makes them attractive for leisure purposes, and we suspect it is the combination of creativity and rules.

The most important question we try to find an answer to in this magazine is: In which way do games offer possibilities to or impose restrictions on players to stipulate the game course with their own creative efforts?

Our main object of concern in this issue are games, video games as well as games in a wider perspective. This term, games, is not as logical as it appears. When you think about it, it is not so clear which exact elements make a game a game.

In this article I distinguish games and video games. This is because games form the covering theme, while in most articles the emphasis is on video games. Both concepts are problematic to define. What exactly is a game? What is a video game? What is the border between the two, or between games and other forms of entertainment?

Theorists do not agree on this subject. James Newman writes in Videogames: ‘For scholars of film theory, it is perhaps natural to view videogames as forms of ‘interactive narrative’, for example, while for scholars of play and games, they will be understood very differently” (Newman, 2004, p. 10.) He has a point in stating that everyone’s perception on what a video game (or actually games in general) implies can differ. However, everyone also has an idea of what a game kind of is.

It is an option to exaggerately describe games and video games. I chose not to do this because for our issue, the most important terms are creativity and interactivity. I would like to lay the emphasis on these concepts, and give a workable definition of both games and video games. The term video game is used for a range of totally different things. For instance, it can apply to (on- or offline) pc-

are ’player’, what is a ‘conflict’) it is convenient for our magazine. This notion suggests interaction between two or more players or a player and a platform for gaming.

Especially in our video game oriented articles, the notion of interactivity plays an important role, while, as we will see, interactivity is an necessity for creativity.

‘The term interactivity is overused and underunderstood,” states Chris Crawford in his book The Art of Interactive Design (Crawford, 2003, p. 3) Indeed, the word seems to pop up whenever something related to computer technology is involved, and sometimes even when the digital is nowhere in sight. Perhaps it’s your typical buzzword used to fancy up objects or concepts.

There is a lot to say about interactivity. A pleasing definition, one term that covers the entire concept is not available. What is available, is an endless list of different aspects and questions that are raised by answering other questions about the subject. However, for this magazine it is sufficient to narrow the perspective and to choose an approach that contains the most important issues that are concerned in our magazine. Andy Cameron describes interactivity in his Dissimulations essay: ‘Interactivity refers to the possibility of an audience actively participating in the control of an artwork or representation. […] interactivity means the ability to intervene in a meaningful way within the representation itself”(Cameron, 1998) For this issue this is a useful definition.

An important part of the play-element of videogames is the interaction between the human being and the technological device.

The understanding of interactivity in this issue (…)is indispensibly connected with another buzzword: creativity.

Another word you bump into everywhere, but the meaning is not exactly clear. According to Marc Tassoul the term should “not be pinned down to one single description or definition. For example, different geographical cultures will ascribe different meanings to creativity.” In addition, he remarks that “between professions, interpretations also differ.” (Tassoul, 2007, 9) He marks a few of many points

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that make the definition of creativity as problematic as the definition of videogames and interactivity. However, a returning point is that creativity is about creating something new, either with existing ‘tools’ or with new materials or 2 imagination.

As said, in this issue, creativity and rules form the guiding principle in the separate contributions, although it is not immediately visible in every article. E.e.g., Lieke Mandemakers’ article about the construction of gaming worlds, discusses the role of game environments as alternate worlds that have to maintain credibility during the game. The link with creativity is highlighted bij Annemieke van Kerssen in her Dutch contribution about Grand Theft Auto IV. She explains how the rules of a video game provide as much possibilities as restrictions for the player in gaming. Robert August de Meijer discusses rules and gamer abilities in a broader context. He explains how rules force gamers to apply skills and abilities in order to succeed. This requires creative input from the player’s side.

Notes 1

This information is taken from a business annual. In the literature this annual is noted in the alphabetical list with the name of the authors, Judith Manenschijn and Mirjam Hemker.

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For further reading: Jeffrey Maitland, Marc Tassoul, D. Partridge and J. Rowe Literature Cameron, Andy. “Dissimulations” 18 feb 1998, geraadpleegd op 09-06-2008. http://www.daimi.au.dk/~sbrand/mmp2/Dissimulations.html Crawford, Chris. “What exactly is interactivity?” in The Art of Interactive Design: A Euphonious and illuminating guide to building successful software (San Fransisco: No Starch Press, 2003): 3.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass A small example to clarify the link between rules and creativity forms the video game ‘The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass’ (Nintendo, 2006). In this game the player has to move an avatar throughover islands and a sea, visit temples and caves and defeat monsters in order to rescue a princess. The player earns ‘items’ through quest journeys, opening treasure chests and helping people.With these items, e.e.g. bombs, a boomerang or bow and arrows, he’s able to find rupees (money), jewelry which he can sell for rupees, keys for opening doors and other items among other things. The items, however, have to be used in a creative way in order to be any help. For example, the gamer can use bombs to defeat enemies or blow op walls. At one point in the game however, the player has to detonate bombs to open a door. This door stays open for only a few seconds and the switch is too far a walk to activate with the avatar. The gamer has to throw a bomb in an air column in order to make it float at the same height as a row of bombs leading to the switch. In the time between the explosion of the bomb (and therefore also activating the switch) the gamer can walk the avatar to the door.At another point, the player has to walk his avatar around an island and draw a rough map of it on the touchscreen in order to solve a riddle. This is a use of the console-specific touch-screen technology that has not been applied in an earlier stage of the game. It takes some further thinking to figure out how to solve the riddle. The game gives cues when the player dwells away too far, but the player needs to use his brain to figure out how to finish.

Frasca, G. (2001), ‘Videogames of the Oppressed: Videogames as a Means for Critical Thinking and Debate” Master thesis (Georgia Institute of Technology), available at http://siggraph.org/artdesign/gallery/S01/essays.html Maitland, Jeffrey. “Creativity.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 34, 4. (Blackwell Publishing, 1976): 397409.

Manenschijn, Judith and Mirjam Hemker, “Lezen en gamen favoriete vrijetijdsbesteding” in GfK Jaargids 2008 (online version) [2008]: 102-103. GfK Home Page, 19-06-2008 http://www.gfk.nl/publicaties/jaargids2008/GfK/Subjects/19 _Lezen%20en%20gamen%20favoriete%20vrijetijdsbestedi ng.pdf Newman, James “Videogames” (London: Routledge, 2004): 10.

Partridge D. en Rowe, J. Computers and Creativity 1994. http://books.google.nl/books?hl=nl&lr=&id=2XeveW7aPakC &oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=creativity+for+player&ots=pubkTQGbZ&sig=kQjQp_nHwEAojbftoNV1zsKQyU#PPA2,M1 Tassoul, Marc. “Creative Facilitation,” 2 VSSD, 2007): 9.

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edition (Delft:

Zimmerman, Eric and Salen, Katie (2003) "Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals". MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England 2003

The Zelda avatar in Phantom Hourglass

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the interface of these games, as well as the visual aspect of the worlds.

This article will attempt to explore the different techniques used by videogames to construct their own unique game-world. I will discuss how these alternate realities are made believable for players, and how they try to hold on to this credibility throughout the player’s gaming-time.

It was Huizinga who first focused on the aspect of gameworlds in all shapes and sizes. Huizinga had a broad definition of play, and was convinced all forms of play trigger a state of mind of the player that consist of stepping into a ‘magic circle’, as he put it. (Huizinga, 10-11) As he sees it, the “…magic circle defines the space where the game takes place. It is a finite space with infinite possibility where the learner is able to suspend all disbelief.” (Paras & Bizzocchi, 5) He describes these places as “…temporal worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart” (Huizinga, 10).

As mentioned before this magic circle can be seen as a state of mind for the player. While playing, the player situates itself in this magic circle. In gaming, we can say the trigger for stepping into this state of mind is the alternative world that gets created by the game itself. The atmosphere the game tries to ‘radiate’ and the alternate

The most basic ‘rule’ in Videogames.

Creativity in general is normally seen as a process in which something is ‘created’. This creation is perceived to be new. ‘Creation’ is the construction of something that was not there before, hence a novelty. In ‘computers and creativity’ some interesting notions are being made about creativity in humans. (Partridge & Rowe, 2) Creativity is something that can increase when humans get confronted with constraints. While dealing with constraints people

Alternate Realities: The Construction of Believable Worlds Lieke Mandemakers. teach themselves to come up with ways to create structures around these constraints.

Thus ‘creativity’ is a process in which a novelty is born, 1 often powered by different constraints or borders.

In order for a gamer to be able to exercise a certain form of creativity therefore, it is necessary that he or she is able to create a novelty, which means there has to be the possibility of a certain level of interaction with the game.

The player has to be able to do something with the game in order to create something new in it, hence we can see interactivity makes creativity possible.

reality it tries to establish. The first thing the player does is situate himself in the gaming world, and so establishes a connection between the magic circle and the explicit world that gets created by the game.

This alternative world the game creates is only productive if the player is gripped by it and continues to believe it for the duration of play. He would quickly lose interest if the world for some reason would fail to deliver its specific theme, atmosphere or ‘feel’. Murray feels that in order for the world to be believed, it must keep it’s immersive effect on people for the duration of the players gaming time. Paradoxically though, this immersive state of the world that the game creates stays believable by reminding ourselves it isn’t true.

(Murray, 100) “In order to sustain such powerful immersive trances, then, we have to do something inherently paradoxical: we have to keep the virtual world ‘real’ by keeping it ‘not there.’” (Murray, 100) This way, Murray sees immersion as ‘playing with the borders’ of that believable world, testing it, so to speak. This means in order to thoroughly analyze the techniques used to create the believable gaming world in my two case studies, we also have to look at the aspects that actually remind us (the players) that the world we are in is in fact not reality.

Some say rules stifle the possibility of being interactive in a game. Rules, after all, are in a game to stop players from interacting with the game in certain ways the developers decided are unwanted. One of the most important ‘rules’ in a game is the world in which the game takes place. This world can be seen as one big rule, which players have to obey. They do not have any power over the construction of this world. They do not get to say in what kind of world (fantasy, sf, racing, etc.) they’re going to be playing.

(Except by choosing a certain game at a store) It is therefore imperative to explore the construction of these worlds before we can further research rules and freedom in games.

Many games limit the player’s creativity by presenting them with this clear-cut world in which the player can navigate and play. This game world can either present opportunities for creativity (after all we did mention that constraints can lead to more creativity) or thwart them. (Too many constraints might lead to a diminishment of the possibility for interactivity.) It is beyond doubt that this world is important for the level of creativity that is possible in a game, and therefore I would like to explore the techniques used to construct it further. To do this I would like to make use of two separate game-phenomena in the form of the classic (western) RPG and the arcade hall racing games.

Both of these games construct a world of their own in a unique way. In the analysis I will be concentrating on the

Believable worlds; aim for immersiveness; Cinematic remediation.

Might and Magic (M&M) was a series of RPG’s developed

by New World Computing, which merged in 1996 to form 3DO. Might and Magic is seen as belonging to the first group of (western) RPG’s together with the Ultima and Wizardry series and Bard’s Tale. In my analysis I will primarily focus on the slightly newer parts of Might and Magic, namely Might and Magic VI, (Mandate of Heaven, 1998) VII, (For Blood and Honor, 1999) and VIII. (Day of the Destroyer, 2000) This because in my opinion these three have a very interestingly balanced construction of the alternative reality of the game world, which is a lot more apparent in these three than the previous five.

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gave the World an Extra Life’ (2004) in the newer RPG’s the characters and plots became more important than just gameplay. (Kohler, 90-96) He describes the way in which Japanese RPG’s evolved, but the same can be said for Western RPG’s. Very important for this genre of games is character development and plotline. They are seen as vital for the credibility of the game. Apart from this, the world that gets constructed by use of narrative also relies on some other visual cues to get the player to step into that medieval fantasy world. We can for instance see that the borders used to frame the playing field are made to look as if they are magical and medieval. (See fig.2) They can contain tribals, medieval shields, castle-like bricks, etc.

Also, Might and Magic makes explicit use of the first person perspective, to invite the player once again to literally step into the game world.

Might and Magic (1998-2000) is played on the pc. Players navigate through the virtual world using their keyboards and looking on their screens. Because the controls don’t offer anything directly related to the alternate reality the game wants to construct, (these controls get used for countless amounts of games and functions, and do not add anything to the atmosphere, or world of the game on itself) this construction must happen mainly in the game itself.

The controls are inferior to the narrative in the game. We will return to the matter of the controls as a way to remind players of the reality next to the gaming world later on.

When we try and focus on the techniques used to construct the immense fantasy-world that is Might and Magic we must begin looking inside the game itself.

Narrative can be a strategy for creating a world that is believable and stays believable throughout the gaming experience. Murray mentions that in order for a world to be believable, the player has to be able to go off in it. Because of the fact the players follow a (general) storyline, they get to explore into the world and interact with it. (Doing quests,

These aspects that we recognize as being responsible for a construction of an alternate reality are directly related to Bolter and Grusin’s concept of remediation. In their popular

“Narrative can be a strategy for creating a world that is believable and stays believable throughout the gaming experience.” paper ‘Remediation, Understanding New Media’ (2001) Bolter and Grusin explain the, in their eyes, essential ideas of Immediacy, Hypermediacy and Remediation. Especially remediation helps us understand these aspects of RPG’s that have just been discussed more fully. Bolter and Grusin quote McLuhan, who was the first one to remark, 2 “the content of any medium is always another medium”.

(Bolter & Grusin, 45) They then continue to delve further in this notion of media forms “borrowing” aspects from other media forms to define themselves.

Bolter and Grusin “…call the representation of one Fig.2 medium in another remediation…” and they argue, “…remediation is a defining characteristic of the new digital media.” (Bolter and Grusin, 45) They mention that all new digital media remediate their predecessors in a way. They can do this on three different levels. Remediation on the first level is a new (digital) form of media representing an old one without any form of critique. Literally a digitalized form of the old media. (Like for instance an online dictionary) The second way in which new media can remediate old media is in a stronger way. The newer media form will try to refashion the older one entirely, while still distinguishing the presence of the older form. And finally, new, digital media can try and absorb the older form entirely, minimizing any discontinuities. Might and Magic would be considered as a remediation of the third level. It tries to implement film techniques (such as sound/music, character development, etc.) in a way that it doesn’t break the experience of immersion by putting an accent on both media forms. It tries to absorb ‘film’ entirely. Bolter and Grusin even give the example of computer games as a

killing monsters, saving people, finding money, progress) The world becomes “real through use” (Murray, 111).

Narrative helps the players to feel that the world they’re exploring in is alive and reacts to them.

Might and Magic is a stereotypical fantasy RPG. This means the players walk around in medieval style landscapes and fight monsters that can be considered ‘standard’ in fantasy worlds. (Werewolves, dragons, zombies, etc.) The world constructed here is one of medieval fantasy. This world relies heavily on the abovementioned tactic of narrative to construct its identity. The players interact with NPC’s (Non-Playing-Characters) who tell them stories and send them on story-related quests.

(See fig. 1) All three versions of M&M have a storyline that gets uncovered by players in the process of playing the game. This storyline guides their actions.

To construct this storyline and get players involved in this world Might & Magic uses already existing techniques of construction. These techniques strengthen the feeling of participating in a story for players. For starters there is a heavy use of music and sound. There is background music apparent throughout the game. This music changes when entering different zones you can explore. Like in cinema, there are different kinds of music Fig.1 for different occasions.

When a player is engaged in combat, the music changes to fit the mood at that time. (Becomes more gloomier and threatening) In cities it is more peaceful and calm. We can also see the tendency to give characters a background story, so that the player sees these characters as more realistic. As Kohler mentions in his book ‘Power Up, How Japanese Games

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third level remediation of cinema literally. (Bolter & Grusin, 47) Computer games are seen as “interactive films”. The players become characters in a cinematic narrative, they can discern themselves where to direct their gaze. As Bolter and Grusin put it: the player becomes both actor and director.

They make a lot of use of physical positioning in order to try and get the player to believe in the alternate reality the game is constructing for them. The techniques used for the production or construction of this world therefore are not narrative but physical.

In a lot of the cases of racing games in arcade halls the first thing that you notice is the fact that you ‘step into’ the game.

You literally need to get into a specially designed seat like you would a normal car. (See fig. 3) This enhances the feeling of Fig.3 actually stepping into the racing world. It literally simulates being in a car. Some racing games even go as far as to surround the player by their construction, almost trying to close them off from the rest of the world. (See fig.4)

In order to explore the ways in which the construction of a unique gaming world takes place it is necessary that we also look at the ways in which the player gets reminded of the fact that this world he or she is navigating in is in fact not reality. (See Murray at page 2 of this article) In Might and Magic there are a number of aspects that we can recognize as fulfilling this role. One of the most important ones in this respect are the controls. The player navigates and interacts with the virtual world by use of a keyboard and mouse. The fact that, for instance, moving forward in the game is accomplished by pressing the correct arrow-button reminds the player inexplicitly that he or she is not literally present in the game world, but

“They are literally physically immersed in the world of the game.”

reminds him there is a “real” world next to it as well. The lack of physical simulation reminds the player of the real world.

Also we can see the accentuating (in a way) of the screen.

The so-called border that is used to frame the playing field is square-shaped. (See fig. 1 and 2.) Because of the explicit presence of this border the player can’t fully distinguish himself from it. No matter how fully he tries to 3 immense himself in the world of the game , he cannot dismiss this frame because it functions as part of the interface and thus the player has to use it. The fact that this border is square shaped and thus almost traces the screen, the player gets reminded of the presence of this screen and that in turn reminds him of the existence of the ‘real’ world next to the game world.

This way the construction tries to almost ‘lock them up’ in the game world. They are literally, physically immersed in the world of the game.

Different from the RPG described before, the game does not rely on narrative or music, or any other film techniques for that matter to construct their identity. The player is not guided by a narrative, other than to race. The story is secondary to the physical effects that the game tries to use as a tool to make them believe the alternate reality of the game, and continue to believe it. Some versions of these racing games go even one step further, they also imitate effects on the body while driving. As we can see in fig. 5, some simulations have a vibrating chair that reacts to certain movements made by the player in game. (For instance if you would drive off the road into the grass) Combined with a steering wheel this is another direct physical implementation of the game-designer to try and get the player to Fig. 4 immerse itself into the reality of the game.

Physical simulation.

A racing game found in an arcade hall is a totally different story. This game likes to portray a certain aura, or world as well, but accomplishes this in a totally different manner.

Arcade games were first developed in the 1930’s. These were rather basic, and normally made of wood with mechanical scoring readouts. In 1971 students of Stanford University set up a coin-operated version of the famous Spacewar computer game. This was the first known example of a coin-operated video game. After years of progression on the level of graphics and technology, arcade games nowadays have minimized the immersive difference between the game and the “real” world.

These aspects of the racing games in arcade halls can easily be connected to Bolter and Grusin’s concept of remediation as well. As we have read before Bolter and Grusin see every form of media as a remediation of an older form. What we can see here is a remediation of the old ridefilm that was popular in the ’50 and ’60. The old- fashioned version of the ridefilm was seen as a spectacle. People were attracted (not unlike the effect of a rollercoaster) by the fantasy to see technology out of control and the pleasure of the shock from this. (Rabinovitz, 136) Modern ridefilms, as Rabinovitz puts it “…develop a triangulated relationship between the body and the machine, and the cinematic construction

The racing games in arcade halls deserve special attention.

These games have evolved into full-blown simulations of any kind of transport you can think of. For my case study I shall focus on the classic racecar games in these arcade halls.

As mentioned before these games have a completely different way of constructing their identity or world.

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of hyper-realism.” (Rabinovitz, 134) These “machines” replace the real in such a ways that they actually become reality itself. It is not merely a representation of it anymore.

We see these aspects of the ridefilm back in our racing games in arcade halls.

The racing games try and simulate the experience of driving a racecar, complete with physical stimulus. The arcade game tries to go beyond just being a representation of the real; to being it’s own reality. It tries to be realistic for the player to believe in in such an extreme manner that it seizes to represent something but becomes it’s own 4 hyperreal. In this quest for reality and credibility we can see a long lasting tradition in media, namely the search for immersion. The search for the ultimate believable reality.

It is Huhtamo who explores the fascination of media with immersion in his text ‘Encapsulated bodies in Motion: Simulators and the Quest for Total Immersion.’ (1995) he focuses on the term of encapsulated as an aspect of media that aim at immersiveness. He mentions the fact that

real. If you stop being able to ‘use the world’ the credibility of the world will diminish. In arcade racing games the possibility of going off into the world are not high. We can interact by driving around in circles on a track, but the exploring stops there. This is the aspect that reminds the player that he is in fact not in a real car, but in a simulated experience.

Restriction or challenge?

In both games we can see a resemblance in goals. Both are trying to construct a world that is not only believable, but holds on to that credibility throughout the gaming experience of the players. We could say they both aim for immersiveness, but the techniques used to construct the world that can cater to this demand differ. In the RPG Might and Magic we have seen that the accent lies upon narrative, rather than physical simulation to construct a world of medieval fantasy. In the racing games we can find in arcade halls however, the world gets constructed mainly

“The atmosphere the game likes to portray can’t be altered, and can be seen as the identity of the game.”

being in a capsule represents our aim to literally emerge ourselves in technology (Huhtamo, 159-160).

This search for literal immersion of the body into the medium in Huhtamo’s eyes becomes apparent in different examples in media history. What all of these examples have in common is the fact that they aim towards giving the spectator (or player, in this case) the impression that he or she falls through the screen and manifests itself physically in the world of the medium (Huhtamo, 159-160). This notion is not always to be taken literally, but the aim for ‘immersiveness’ is apparent in all kinds of media forms ranging from computer games to themeparks to movies, and, as we’ve seen before, also in arcade hall racing games.

As Murray said in her article, it is important to also look at what aspects remind the player that he or she is actually playing a game, and experiencing a world that is in fact not reality. This in turn makes the world more Fig.5 believable (Murray, 100-101). In racing games which are found in arcade halls, the aspect that reminds people that the world they’re experiencing as a racing-track is not reality can be found in the amount of things the player is able to do. As Murray mentions in her article, a world is not convincing when the player does not have anything to do in there. “The more we feel that we are actually there, the more we want to fly off on it and have adventures” (Murray, 109). We need to be able to go off into the world of the game and interact with it. By using it, the world becomes

by physical simulation. Narrative and visual stimuli are both inferior to this physical aspect.

The world that gets created by these games is fixed, and cannot be changed by players. The atmosphere the game likes to portray can’t be altered, and can be seen as the identity of the game. As we’ve mentioned before, this world can be seen as a rule or restriction; the most important rule in any videogame.

Creativity needs interactivity to exist. The player needs to be able to interact with the (video) game in order to be able to create something new. Seeing as the world is a restriction, something that the player does not hold any power over, can we by definition say this world stops the player from being creative? If this were the case, a lot of games would not have been as popular as they are. The world can work as a challenge for players to engage in creative ways with it. “… An increase of constraints can encourage creative thinking.” because “when restrictions are imposed, the thinker has to be more ingenious in making new structures.” (Partridge & Rowe, 2) It would seem therefore, that exploring creativity in these worlds is more complicated than would seem at first glance. The next article will attempt to tackle this problem by exploring the possibilities for players to navigate and be creative inside the worlds we’ve just discussed.

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Notes 1

G. Wallas first explored these constraints and borders.

Known for his work in the area of socialism and social psychology, Wallas, in his famous book the Art of Thought from 1926, explores the human mind, and the ways in which it can be guided to produce fruitful thoughts. He formulates a four-stage process for problem-solving to help analyze creative thinking, which is still widely used today.

Huhtamo, Erkki. “Encapsulated bodies in Motion: Simulators and the Quest for Total Immersion.” Critical Issues in Electronic Media. Edited by Simon Penny.

Albany: SUNY Press, 1995: 159-186.

Huizinga, J. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner. 1949.

Kohler, C. Power-up, How Japanese Games gave the World an Extra Life. BradyGames, 2004.

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McLuhan was seen by some as a theorist blinded by a technological determinism approach. He stated that the media was responsible for any change in society. The medium’s content is always another medium, which means in analysis we should look at the specific aspects of this medium, not the content. (McLuhan, 30-35).

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We use the word ‘trying’ here because of Murray’s definition of immersion. Murray sees immersion as something the player actively creates. It is not just a suspension of disbelief, we actually “exercise a creative faculty” when we enter a fictional world (Murray, 110). It must not be seen as a passive experience, but an active one.

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The notion of the ‘hyperreal’ has been used in countless articles. Baudrillard defines it in his ‘Simulacra and Simulations”, as well as Debord does, referring to it as the ‘spectacle’ in his work “The society of the Spectacle.” Both talk about a phenomenon preceding the real. “It is the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal.” (Baudrillard, 145) It does not refer to anything else but itself. Debord even sees the spectacle as being the ultimate ‘real’, seeing as it doesn’t claim to be a truth, and “In a world that really has been turned on it’s head, truth is a moment of falsehood.” (Debord, 143) There is no truth, just as the spectacle tries to show us.

Mcluhan, M. Media Begrijpen. De Extensies van de mens, Amsterdam: Niewesijds, 2002. 26, 30-35, 45-47, 82.

Murray, Janet. “Immersion.” Hamlet on the Holodeck.

Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1997: 97-126.

Paras, B. and Bizzocchi, J. Game, Motivation, and effective learning: an integrated model for EducationalGame Design.

Surrey, 2005. http://www.digra.org:8080/Plone/dl/db/06276.18065.pdf Partridge D. en Rowe, J. Computers and Creativity 1994. http://books.google.nl/books?hl=nl&lr=&id=2XeveW7aPakC &oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=creativity+for+player&ots=pubkTQGbZ&sig=kQjQp_nHwEAojbftoNV1zsKQyU#PPA2,M1 Rabinovitz, Lauren. “From Hale’s Tours to Star Tours: Virtual Voyages and the Delirium of the Hyper-Real,” Iris, A Journal of Theory on Image and Sound, no. 25, Spring, 1998.

Wallas, G. The Art of Thought. Harcourt, 1926.

Literature Baudrillard, J. “Simulacra and Simulations.” The visual Culture Reader. Ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff. Routledge, 2002: 145-146.

Bolter, J.D. and Grusin, R. Remediation, Understanding th New Media. 4 ed. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2001.

Copier, M. Connecting Worlds. Fantasy Role-Playing Games, Ritual Acts and the Magic Circle. Utrecht, 2005. http://www.digra.org/dl/db/06278.50594.pdf Debord, Guy. “The Society of the Spectacle.” The Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff. Routledge, 2002: 143-144.

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In dit artikel zal gekeken worden naar de regels en mogelijkheden binnen de videogame Grand Theft Auto IV. Hierbij zal zowel het design van de game geanalyseerd worden als ook de verschillende invullingen die de spelers hier aan geven. De rol van de regels van de game staan hierbij centraal.

Virtuele reizen vormen een fascinerend fenomeen. Er zijn talloze voorbeelden te vinden van fenomenen die als een virtuele reis beschreven kunnen worden, zowel historisch als ook binnen de nieuwe(re) media. Het is dan ook niet gek dat er al veel over virtuele reizen en aanverwante fenomenen geschreven is. Erkki Huhtamo laat in Armchair Traveller on the Ford of Jordan bijvoorbeeld zien hoe al e aan het einde van de 19 eeuw virtuele reizen worden beschreven in de vorm van reizen door middel van de

Hierbij staat de keuzevrijheid van de reiziger (gamer) centraal, en daarmee ook de grenzen en regels binnen de game die deze vrijheid beperken. Ook zal ik hierbij kijken naar manieren waarop de gamer zijn of haar creativiteit in kan zetten om de mogelijkheden die de game biedt naar eigen inzicht te gebruiken. Het eerste deel van de analyse bestaat uit een analyse van de game zelf. Hier staan vooral de regels, het design en de mogelijkheden die de game biedt centraal, de manier waarop de game gestructureerd is en de manier waarop de gamer de verschillende missies gepresenteerd krijgt. In het tweede deel staat de gamer centraal: de manieren die gamers hebben gevonden om de regels om te buigen en te omzeilen en de uitdagingen van de game wanneer de aangeboden structuur en regels niet worden gevolgd. Belangrijk is hier ook welke gevolgen het creatief omgaan met de game heeft voor het verloop van de game – of eigenlijk, het verloop van de virtuele reis door de wereld van de game.

GTA IV: Vrijheden en beperkingen in een virtuele wereld Annemieke van Kerssen stereoscoop (Huhtamo, 2006). Lauren Rabinovitz laat in From Hale’s Tours to Star Tours iets dergelijks zien aan de hand van zogenaamde ridefilms, waarvan de oorsprong e aan het begin van de 20 eeuw gezocht moet worden (Rabinovitz, 1998).

Een bijzondere categorie binnen hedendaagse mediafenomenen vormen computer- of videogames. In tegenstelling tot virtueel reizen door middel van de eerder genoemde stereoscoop en ridefilms, maar ook bijvoorbeeld televisie of film, is de reiziger hier niet langer slechts een toeschouwer. De speler wordt als reiziger in staat gesteld zelf actief in te grijpen in de wereld waar hij of zij doorheen reist. De route die wordt afgelegd wordt niet door een regisseur bepaald; de speler kan zelf bepalen waar, wanneer, hoe en hoe lang hij reist. Joost Raessens kijkt bijvoorbeeld in Computer Games as Participatory Media Culture naar de specificiteit van computergames en hoe zij, in tegenstelling tot televisie en film, een specifieke vorm van participatory media culture vertegenwoordigen. Hij maakt hierbij onderscheid tussen drie domeinen van participatie: interpretatie, reconfiguratie en constructie. Als een van de specifieke eigenschappen van computergames noemt Raessens virtualiteit: ‘the possibility to simulate virtual worlds a gamer can explore’(Raessens, 2005).

In de te volgen analyse zal ik kijken naar de mogelijkheden die de recent uitgebrachte game Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV, 2008) de gamer biedt om de reis door de virtuele wereld vorm te geven. Aan de hand van verschillende missies komt de gamer in aanraking met andere (non-playable) characters. Maar ook buiten deze missies om valt er genoeg te beleven in de virtuele wereld van GTA IV. De vraag die in deze analyse centraal staat luidt als volgt: Welke mogelijkheden biedt GTA IV om de virtuele reis naar eigen inzicht vorm te geven?

Game&Design In GTA IV wordt de speler aan de hand van het (enige speelbare) character Niko Bellic meegenomen door Liberty City, een stad gebaseerd op New York City. Niko, een personage met een Servische achtergrond, wordt door emails van zijn neef Roman verleid om het geluk te beproeven in Amerika – of meer specifiek, Liberty City, een stad gebaseerd op New York City. Eenmaal in Amerika komt Niko er achter dat de American Dream die Roman hem voorgespiegeld heeft meer weg heeft van een Amerikaanse Utopie. Het leven van Roman is lang niet zo mooi als hij Niko heeft doen geloven. Het is aan de speler het verhaal vanaf Niko’s aankomst in Amerika voort te zetten. Aan de hand van verschillende missies komt Niko in aanraking met verschillende andere personages. Het ligt voor de hand om als speler deze missies te volgen. Je krijgt regelmatig telefoontjes van characters die om hulp vragen. Door deze missies te vervullen ontmoet je steeds meer characters. Door het vervullen van de missies kan snel geld verdiend worden, hoewel het ook mogelijk is om, evenals in voorgaande versies van Grand Theft Auto, gewoon iemand op straat te overvallen. Naast het volgen van deze missies doe je er als speler in GTA IV ook verstandig aan om zo nu en dan een aantal sociale activiteiten te ondernemen. Zo is het bijvoorbeeld mogelijk om iemand mee uit eten te nemen of te gaan bowlen.

Daarnaast zijn er in Liberty City ook 200 zogenaamde ‘flying rats’, ofwel duiven, te vinden die geëlimineerd dienen te worden.

Deze selectie van mogelijkheden is verre van compleet.

GTA IV biedt ontzettend veel mogelijkheden binnen het design van de game. De speler is relatief vrij in het kiezen van zijn eigen pad. De missies volgen elkaar niet direct op; er staan meerdere missies tegelijkertijd ‘open’ om gespeeld te worden. Daarnaast kan ook het reizen door de stad op zichzelf al heel vermakelijk zijn, zelfs nog zonder een duidelijk einddoel te hebben.

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Toch wordt ook in deze videogame de vrijheid van de speler op een aantal punten beperkt en dient hij zich aan een aantal regels te houden. Geoff King en Tanya Krzywinska bespreken in Gamescapes: Exploration and Virtual Presence in Game-Worlds verschillende niveaus van vrijheid. Ze stellen vervolgens dat het beperken van deze vrijheid niet per definitie negatief hoeft te zijn: ‘Restriction should not be understood only in negative terms, however. It is also the basis for many key gameplay effects that result from channeling the player or playercharacter in particular directions.’ (King en Krzywinska, 2003) Laurie N. Taylor stelt het in haar essay over de game Civilisation als volgt: ‘The game rules code and limit video game space and these enforced limitations set the rules for how the game may be played and for how the in-game space may be manipulated in terms of territory acquisition and territorial growth.’ (Taylor, 2004)

In de beginfase van de game kan de speler slechts over het eerste eiland reizen; de brug naar het tweede eiland is nog afgesloten en wordt door de politie bewaakt. Wie toch probeert deze grens te overschrijden wordt direct door deze agenten op de hielen gezeten. Terug gaan naar het eerste, enige toegankelijke, eiland is de enige manier om hier aan te ontkomen. Het voltooien van meer missies geeft ook toegang tot bijvoorbeeld winkels waar nieuwe, mooiere kleding gekocht kan worden.

King en Krzywinska verwijzen in hun artikel naar verschillende videogames wanneer ze het verkennen van de virtuele wereld bespreken. Het verkennen van de spelomgeving kan een belangrijk deel uitmaken van het spelen van de game, maar andere activiteiten kunnen niet achterwege worden gelaten. Zo zeggen zij bijvoorbeeld dat ‘Players of games such as EverQuest or Morrowind can choose to emphasize exploration over other activities, but not absolutely. Some engagement in processes such as fighting enemies and taking on quests is required if the

Een (video)game heeft regels nodig om de vrijheid van de speler te beperken en deze in een bepaalde richting te

Zonder regels – en dus beperkingen – blijft er weinig over sturen. Zonder regels – en daarmee samenhangend, beperkingen – blijft er weinig meer over dan slechts een virtuele wereld waar de speler in rond kan lopen. King en Krzywinska maken binnen de manieren waarop de game de mogelijkheden van exploratie beperkt onderscheid tussen zogenaamde ‘hard boundaries’ en ‘soft boundaries’, waarbij ‘hard boundaries’ een absolute beperking van het gebied waarin gespeeld kan worden met zich meebrengen, terwijl ‘soft boundaries’ meer als een tijdelijke begrenzing functioneren die onder bepaalde voorwaarden opgeheven kan worden. (King en Krzywinska, 2003).

capabilities and equipment necessary for survival are to be obtained.’ (King en Krzywinska, 2003) Ook bij GTA IV kan de speler op een gegeven moment niet meer om de missies heen, wil hij zichzelf niet tekort doen. Om de eerder genoemde ‘soft boundaries’ te doorbreken moeten bepaalde missies voltooid worden.

Wanneer deze missies niet voltooid worden blijft een groot deel van de mogelijke gamewereld voor de speler verborgen – of op zijn minst ontoegankelijk. Ook King en Krzywinska signaleren dit, al spreken zij over GTA III: ‘[…]the design encourages a balance of activities rather than any exclusive focus of attention. The same is true of games such as Grand Theft Auto III and The Getaway.

Each offers a progressive, mission-based structure located within an extensively explorable contemporary urban gamescape.’ (King en Krzywinska, 2003) Zowel het verkennen van de spelwereld als het volgen van verschillende missies, het uitvoeren van opdrachten en andere mogelijkheden maken deel uit van de game als geheel. Een game als GTA IV, maar ook voorgaande delen van deze serie zoals het door King en Krzywinska besproken GTA III, biedt de speler een structuur waarbinnen gekozen kan worden voor het spelen van verschillende missies, het ogenschijnlijk doelloos rondreizen door de spelwereld, het ondernemen van meer sociaal georiënteerde activiteiten als bowlen en darten of het elimineren van ‘flying rats’.

In GTA IV zijn beide vormen van beperking terug te vinden.

‘Hard boundaries’ vinden we bijvoorbeeld in de vormgeving van de spelwereld. Liberty City bestaat uit een aantal eilanden die onderling via bruggen met elkaar verbonden zijn. De spelwereld wordt zo rondom begrensd door water.

Op deze manier wordt de spelwereld gelimiteerd zonder afbreuk te doen aan de ‘echtheid’ van de omgeving. ‘Soft boundaries’, aldus King en Krzywinska, ‘are usually given justification through the fictional-world activities in which the player-character is involved’. In GTA IV vinden we deze ‘soft boundaries’ onder andere terug in het feit dat bepaalde missies eerst voltooid moeten worden om toegang te krijgen tot nieuwe omgevingen.

Ian Bogost kijkt in Unit Operations: An Approach To Videogame Criticism ook naar GTA. Hoewel hij hier GTA III bespreekt, is veel van wat hij zegt ook van toepassing op GTA IV. Ook Bogost noemt de verschillende manieren van spelen die mogelijk zijn binnen Grand Theft Auto. De door King en Krzywinska genoemde ‘balance of activities’ komt ook in zijn boek naar voren: ‘nothing compels the player to

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follow the game’s mission-based storyline or to take on any of the side missions’. Verder stelt hij:

Capnpooh is niet de enige die meer wil dan alleen missies volgen, bowlen, darten of rondrijden door de straten van Liberty City. Bitchgotcurbstomped? opent een topic met de titel ‘Fun things to do in GTA IV’ en vraagt daar wat anderen zoal doen in Liberty City:

‘GTA does not just provide several different styles of gameplay, it also allows free-form transitions between those play styles. […] While player decisions do have consequences within the game, the core characteristic of GTA is not the varied types of acts the player can carry out, but the rationale for transition between these acts.’

(Bogost, 2006, 154)

‘Lately ive been getting kinda bored with the game because i have already beat the story. So whats some fun stuff you guys do when bored?

One thing i like to do is to take random cups,rocks,bottles and run around and throw em at people on the streets and

GTA stelt de spelers niet alleen in staat om de game op verschillende manieren te spelen. Kenmerkend is ook de mogelijkheid om snel te schakelen tussen verschillende vormen van gameplay. Er hoeft niet gekozen te worden voor het spelen van missies ten nadele van het vrij rondreizen door de stad, of andersom. Na het voltooien van een missie kan een speler direct verder gaan met de volgende, maar hij kan er ook voor kiezen om even rustiger aan te doen en wat andere activiteiten te ondernemen.

see the reactions i get and its hilarious throwing them at cops. (Bitchgotcurbstomped?, 2008)’ Er zijn blijkbaar genoeg ‘fun things to do’ in Liberty City.

Bitchgotcurbstomped? krijgt veel reacties op zijn (?) vraag.

Een willekeurige selectie:

Ook binnen de regels biedt GTA IV veel mogelijkheden Gamers&Creativity

‘Usually I call dwayne for backup and do vigilante missions,its fun. I also run into cars,thats more fun’ (blitsie, 2008)

Binnen de regels en ‘boundaries’ van GTA zijn er veel mogelijkheden om een de reis door deze virtuele omgeving vorm te geven. speler kunnen verschillende paden kiezen, elk met andere doelen en uitkomsten. Er zijn zo ook zonder de regels te overtreden oneindig veel mogelijkheden om de virtuele reis naar eigen inzicht vorm te geven. speler weten elkaar ook te vinden op het internet, getuige het grote aantal fora dat te vinden is met betrekking tot GTA. Op deze fora vragen zij elkaar bijvoorbeeld om hulp met lastige missies, maar ook het delen van zogenaamde easter eggs, bugs en cheats maakt een belangrijk deel uit van de vele discussies, evenals het delen van wetenswaardigheden, interessante plaatsen om te bezoeken en minder voor de hand liggende acties om te ondernemen. Zo post ene capnpooh op GTAForums.com een topic onder de titel ‘Intersting place to kill people’ het volgende bericht:

‘Watch the physics. Just get drunk or run as fast as I can and jump in a oncoming car, just to see Niko flying.

Also, crashing bikes in the skate park’ (VinnyGouveia , 2008) ‘Drop grenades at traffic jamsPush hookers off train platform-

’(SA_FUGITIVE, 2008)

‘Making buses explode in Star Junction’ (GeneticallyDiffrent , 2008) ‘i like to push people trains....’(Passenger37, 2008)

into

oncoming

subway

Veel forumbezoekers verstaan onder ‘fun things to do’ het uitvoeren van gewelddadige, criminele activiteiten. Gezien de aard van de game is dit ook niet heel vreemd; de activiteiten die in de game zelf zijn geprogrammeerd (de missies, maar ook het stelen van auto’s of het overvallen van onschuldige voorbijgangers) zijn vaak ook nogal gewelddadig.

‘In the industrial part of Bohan, near where you find all of the whores, there is an entrance ramp up to the above ground train tracks. If you kill someone on it they often get stuck on the sides and have crazy seizures it is very fun to watch and when you kill one person the rest waiting for the train come running at you and give you more ppl to kill. Its not a once every so often thing either, id say it happened to about 7 out of 10 ppl i murdered.’(capnpooh, 2008)’

Enerzijds lijkt de activiteit op het forum te duiden op aanwezigheid van creativiteit, of in ieder geval creatieve omgang met de regels van de game, bij de spelers. Men deelt ervaringen in de game met anderen, er worden filmpjes gepost waarin beelden van minder voor de hand liggende activiteiten in de game te zien zijn. In het geval van Bitchgotcurbstomped? is niet zo zeer de topicstarter die zijn creativiteit ten toon spreidt; deze doet als het ware een beroep op de creativiteit van andere spelers, mogelijk om zo de game voor zichzelf interessanter te maken, of zijn ervaringen te vergelijken met die van anderen.

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De forumleden die reageren en vertellen welke ‘fun things’ zij doen in GTA IV zijn al meer bezig met een creatieve, eigen interpretatie van de regels van de game. Creativiteit lijkt echter ver te zoeken: de antwoorden lijken veel op elkaar. Veel ‘fun things to do’ komen neer op het op één of andere manier ombrengen van onschuldige voorbijgangers of het vernielen van zo veel mogelijk objecten. Ook al omdat het gewelddadige karakter een kenmerk van de game is, en veel van de activiteiten hier mee te maken hebben: speler sworden wellicht door de aard van de game aangespoord tot deze activiteiten. Het vermoorden van zo veel mogelijk huishoudsters in The Sims bijvoorbeeld lijkt veel minder voor de hand te liggen, en kan daarmee wellicht eerder als creatief worden aangeduid.

De creativiteit van de speler kan vooral worden ingezet door het vormen van eigen doelen binnen de game. Juist door de vele mogelijkheden die de game biedt wordt de speler in staat gesteld zijn creativiteit te uiten in het reizen door de wereld van de game en het plannen van deze reis.

Het ontbreken van een sturende werking – zoals dat bijvoorbeeld het geval is bij games die gebruik maken van verschillende levels, waardoor de speler bijna gedwongen wordt bepaalde doelen te halen om verder te kunnen spelen – maakt GTA IV zeer veelzijdig en zorgt er voor dat de speler bijna volledig vrij wordt gelaten in het maken van verschillende keuzes. Het maken van bepaalde keuzes geeft toegang tot nieuwe mogelijkheden, maar kan tegelijk ook andere mogelijkheden afsluiten. Zo wordt de speler op een bepaald moment voor de keuze gesteld character A. of character B. te vermoorden, zonder te weten wat de gevolgen van deze keuze zullen zijn voor het verdere verloop van de game. Hoewel het maken van deze keuze niet zo zeer te maken heeft met regels en creativiteit laat

Terug naar de mogelijkheden GTA IV biedt volop mogelijkheden om een unieke, eigen reis te beleven. De game biedt de gamer veel vrijheid en keuzemogelijkheden.

dit wel zien hoe GTA IV al op basis van slechts één keuze voor elke speler een totaal andere ‘reis’ oplevert.

Het idee, in navolging van King en Krzywinska, dat beperkingen niet per definitie als negatief gezien moeten worden maar ook een belangrijke rol spelen in het sturen van de speler in bepaalde richtingen speelt binnen GTA IV geen grote rol. Er zijn weinig beperkingen en daarmee wordt de speler ook nauwelijks in een bepaalde richting gestuurd, wat maakt dat de game veel vrijheid biedt. Het spelen van missies heeft ontwikkeling van het karakter tot gevolg en opent nieuwe mogelijkheden, maar ook buiten de missies om is er veel te doen en te zien in Liberty City.

Ook het niet spelen van missies kan een keuze van de speler zijn. Het feit dat de missies elkaar niet een op een opvolgen opent ook een breed scala aan mogelijke routes.

Een missie niet halen hoeft niet direct te betekenen dat er geen vooruitgang meer is; de speler kan er bijvoorbeeld voor kiezen een andere missie te gaan spelen en de verloren missie op een later moment te herhalen.

Van de drie in domeinen van participatie van Raessens zoals aan het begin van dit artikel aangegeven lijkt in het geval van GTA IV reconfiguratie het meest van toepassing.

Reconfiguratie bestaat in zijn ogen uit het ontdekken van het onbekende in de werelden van computergames. De gamer heeft de mogelijkheid zich door de wereld van de computergame te bewegen, maar kan deze wereld op zichzelf niet veranderen. Er kan slechts gekozen worden uit verschillende voorgeprogrammeerde mogelijkheden. Van constructie lijkt in het geval van GTA IV nog niet echt sprake te zijn. Constructie bestaat, in tegenstelling tot reconfiguratie, uit het wezenlijk veranderen of het toevoegen van compleet nieuwe game-elementen. Wellicht heeft dit te maken met het feit dat deze game vrij recent is uitgebracht waardoor reconfiguratie alleen nog genoeg voldoening biedt. Uiteraard is het voor de mogelijkheden om de reis naar eigen inzicht vorm te geven ook niet noodzakelijk om gebruik te maken van aangepaste of nieuwe elementen; ook binnen de bestaande elementen en mogelijkheden kan de gamer alle kanten op.

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Literatuur:

Overige bronnen:

Bogost, I. Unit Operations: An Approach To Videogame Criticism. The MIT Press, Cambrigde Massachusetts, 2006. 154

Bitchgotcurbstomped?. “Fun things to do in GTA IV, Tell me some stuff you do for fun” Online posting. 26 mei 2008. < http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=351631>

Huhtamo, E. “Armchair Traveller on the Ford of Jordan: The Home, the Stereoscope and the Virtual Voyager.”

Mediametic.net, 2005 Beschikbaar via http://www.mediamatic.net/article-5910en.html

blitsie. “Fun things to do in GTA IV, Tell me some stuff you do for fun” (reply) Online posting. 26 mei 2008. < http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=351631> capnpooh . “Intersting place to kill people, seizures!!!”

Online posting. 2 juni 2008. http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=353910

King, G. en Krzywinska, T. “Gamescapes: Exploration and Virtual Presence in Game-Worlds.” DiGRA, 2003. 109 - 113 Rabinovitz, L. “From Hale’s Tours to Star Tours: Virtual Voyages and the Delirium of the Hyper-Real.” Iris: A Journal of Theory on Image and Sound, n.25, 1998.

GeneticallyDiffrent. “Fun things to do in GTA IV, Tell me some stuff you do for fun” (reply) Online posting. 26 mei 2008. < http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=351631>

Raessens, J. “Computer Games as Participatory Media Culture.” Handbook of Computer Game Studies, Ed. Raessens, J. en Goldstein, J. The MIT Press, Cambrigde Massachusetts, 2005. 373 – 381

Passenger37. “Fun things to do in GTA IV, Tell me some stuff you do for fun” (reply) Online posting. 26 mei 2008. < http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=351631> VinnyGouveia. “Fun things to do in GTA IV, Tell me some stuff you do for fun” (reply) Online posting. 26 mei 2008. < http://www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=351631>

Taylor, Laurie N. “Toward a Ludic Model: Smooth and Striated Space and Sid Meier's Civilization.”

Gameology.org, 2004. Beschikbaar via http://www.gameology.org/node/706

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This paper is a call for a typology on abilities needed to play games. Besides a game having rules that determine the possibilities of a game, I shall discuss how the player's abilities are also of importance for the possibilities. I shall include my own typology and explain what they are. I shall also explain why I chose them. and using its terms, I shall analyze the games Street Fighter and Street Fighter II: The World Warrior.

With a better idea of what types of abilities are part of games, and what they mean, players and designers wil have a better grasp of how a game is played and what is possible for players to do in a game.

rules: “operational” (guidelines), “constitutive” (formal structures) and “implicit” (etiquette) (2003, page 129-130).

What I call for can be seen as a fourth kind of rule: the “individual” rules. What separates this rule from the other three is that they are not shared by all players. Each individual player brings different possibilities to the game. I do not suggest that this “fourth rule” be added to Zimmerman and Bradley’s list, since it does not fit in their definition of a rule (page 122-124), but I do mention it because it shows that there are other types of rules that are also part of the game and are worth examining.

What is an “ability”?

Each player of a game has certain abilities that are used to play the game. For instance, in Tic-Tac-Toe, a player can use its knowledge of the game to make sure they never lose. If a player did not know enough possibilities, they could still calculate the possibilities in order to

Rules and Abilities The Limits and Possibilities that Players Bring to a Game Robert August de Meijer If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution -Emma Goldman With the amount of games continuously increasing, whether they are sports, board games, computer games, role-playing games, etc. players have a cornucopia to choose from. Besides the different genres, which are determined by the rules of a game, we have also come to label games by the players’ attitude towards them, such as hardcore, casual, family, competitive, etc. While there has been work written on what types of rules are within the game, my article suggests a typology of “rules” instead within the players. And that these player based “rules” also determine how a game is played. When a player chooses a game to play, I argue that the player is not only concerned with the possibilities of the game, but also with the possibilities of the player.

Games offer players goals to be achieved and in order to delay players from obtaining them, challenges are constructed. These challenges are overcome by the player by using their abilities. But the types of abilities that are demanded from games lack a discourse. The way of looking at games I suggest will give us a better idea of what games we are making and playing. For instance: what makes a game "casual"? I believe that games become casual by having a limited demand on the player's abilities.

But while some might demand only a few abilities, but demand them intensely (such as Sudoku, which requires numerical calculation), others might demand a plethora of abilities, only none of them to an extreme extent (such as Monopoly, in which expression, numerical calculation and acumen are abilities used, but none must be mastered to enjoy the game).

Eric Zimmerman and Katie Salen describe three kinds of

achieve the same results. Memory and numerical calculation are also abilities for Chess. The Deep Blue computer that defeated Gary Kasparov in 1997 used a database of previous chess games (memory) and computing power (numerical calculation) as its two abilities to win. A game of Darts requires different abilities, such as dexterity. Different games call for different abilities. For my definition, I shall use "what a player can do according to their personal limits". This differentiates from my definition of rule as "what a player can do according to the game".

With this definition, I hope to highlight the important difference between the game-based rules and the playerbased abilities. When it comes to Tic-Tac-Toe and Chess, the rules determine that a player can only win by using cross and circles, not with triangles. The rules determine that a player must checkmate the King using the procedures of the pieces, not by juggling three balls. And within these rules, the player must use certain abilities (memory, numerical calculation), and others not (expression, dexterity, strength, etc.).

Roger Caillois writes in Man, Play and Games that games of “agon” (competition) are "always a question of rivalry which hinges on a single quality (speed, endurance, strength, memory, skill, ingenuity, etc.)" (1958, page 14).

But I believe that all forms of games, not necessarily competitive ones, demand certain abilities. And that games can persist of multiple abilities. By looking at games in this way, we can have a better grasp of the challenges that games offer us, no matter how competitive or casual they are.

Typology of abilities Other theorists have written typologies of skills/contents/challenges/traits as part of larger works, going into more depth than Caillois. But I believe that none of them have exactly focused on playing abilities

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or not have had a broad enough definition to encompass enough different games. But I shall list them for they give a good insight to what games can demand from players and offer a decorum of what I needed for my typology.

Sandra L. Calvert in Cognitive Effects of Video Games asks "What kinds of skills are needed to extract information from these games, and what kinds of skills does game playing cultivate" (2005, page 126-129). The skills she names are "Perception", "Visual Attention", "Representation and Memory" and "Output". But her analysis is limited to skills improved by computer games.

There are also skills that are a part of computer games that do not improve (such as endurance). And there are skills in other types of games not found in computer games (such as expression). Finally, my typology is focused on "abilities", which I consider different in that it is necessary to use abilities to execute "skills" (such as the "ability" strength is

David Sirlin has the least academic approach to player abilities, but I admire his amount of personal experience in these matters (as a game designer and a tournament champion). Also, his question come the closest to what I am working on: What traits make the best player? He lists: "familiarity with tournaments", "deep knowledge of the game", "love of the game", "mental toughness", "mental attitude toward winning, losing, improving", "technical skill", "adaptability (versus planning", "knowledge/ability in other games of the genre", "yomi" and "appraisal". His terms are more focused on what makes the best player, not necessarily a meaningful player. Also, he describes "traits", which are unlike "abilities" because they constitute more than personal limits (such as attitude towards winning).

Still, he uses terms that are immediately recognizable and features some (such as Yomi) which I have not encountered elsewhere.

Different games call for different abilities necessary for the "skill" to lift weights).

Marc Prensky uses in Computer Games and Learning: Digital Game-Based Learning (2005, page 112-115) a typology of "contents", which are the types of learning that computer games can offer. They are "Facts", "Skills", "Judgement", "Behaviors", "Theories", "Reasoning", "Process", "Procedures", "Creativity", "Language", "Systems", "Observation" and "Communication". Like Calvert, Prensky is concerned with the skills that players can train using games, but he uses a broader spectrum of such skills. The terms he uses are linked to the abilities that players need for games, but his definition is that of what players learn, not need. This excludes abilities that cannot be improved (size), or seem arbitrary for teaching (reaction time). Some of them (such as behaviors and language) are skills that players can learn from games but are not part of playing games.

Chris Crawford, in his book On Game Design (2003, page 41-53) concentrates on what type of challenges can be parts of computer games. He lists "cerebellar challenges", "sensorimotor challenges", "spatial reasoning", "pattern recognition", "sequential reasoning", "numerical reasoning", "resource management" and "social reasoning". This list he makes for game designers so they have an idea what types of challenges they can include in their games. This is closely related to what I want to achieve. Unfortunately, his typology is limited to computer games. Also, his terms are hard to work with because some are composed of scientific words that do not immediately translate to everyday meanings. For instance, I would rather use the term "technique" for "cerebellar challenges". Finally, I believe that some challenges he lists (such as pattern recognition and sequential reasoning), are in practice both part of the same ability.

Now that I have presented what other writers have written, I shall present the typology I find best for describing player abilities and how each of these typologies used in games.

-Memory: Games can require players to memorize. The clearest example is the game of Memory, but it is also an important part of card games where cards are revealed and hidden (such as Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re bluffing/Kuhhandel). Another example is Pi memorizing contests. Chess players willing to achieve master status often memorize many opening strategies. Memory is part of games that present and hide information, or in games that have such complex possibilities it is fruitful to memorize them so they become more familiar. One could make a distinction between memorizing within the game (short-term) and memorizing outside the game (studying). Both are easier by those that have a good memory.

-Reflexes: Any game played in "real-time" requires reflexes of some sort. Dodgeball requires reflexes to avoid being hit.

Dragon's Lair (the laser disc arcade game) tested the player's reflexes to press one of five buttons. When playing Dance Dance Revolution, a player can use her or his reflexes to accomplish the task of hitting the right arrows (although dexterity and memory will help). A Soccer keeper needs fast reflexes to prevent goals. Reflexes are part of games that feature unexpected possibilities and the player must react to them in real-time.

-Numerical Calculation: Often part of puzzle games (such as nonograms), this requires the player to use math to determine possibilities. It is required in games that feature resource management (such as Starcraft and Monopoly), where players have to calculate how to

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spend their resources. Numerical Calculation is part of games that offer information that must be calculated in order to be revealed.

communication with animals, such as horseback riding.

(Theoretically, computer games would allow these types of challenges, but currently the technology limits the player to choosing pre-determined options. (such as the dialogue trees in Planescape: Torment). This is a reasoning process on the player’s part because they must interpret the rules the game presents for communicating). Expression is part of games where players can have information that others do not, which would preferably be shared.

-Spatial Calculation: Often part of what people call "strategy games", where objects in a field relate to each other. Aki Järvinen (2003, page 68-79) analyses games by their "components" and their "procedures", i.e. the objects in a game and what they can do (in a role-playing-game, the actors are the components and their roles determine the procedures possible). He mentions that many games can feature an environment, which is the physical boundary of the gameplay. Some games will use the environment as a component of the game and demand the player to calculate the procedures possible with it. This is obvious in strategy games, such as Starcraft, but also part of games such as auto racing, where the player must calculate how the automobile relates to the track. It is also part of fighting games

-Acumen: David Sirlin describes the term "Yomi" in his book Playing to Win (2005, page 74), which he defines as "knowing the mind of the opponent". In Poker, players may "bluff", hoping to deceive other players. There is no logical certainty to these choices, but time and time again, players have been able to fool other players into mistakes by more than mere chance. To represent both the ability to fool opponents and the

Different players bring different abilities to the game where avatars can have different spatial values (hit boxes) at different times. Spatial Calculation is part of games that offer objects that relate to each other in different ways determined by their spatial status.

-Reasoning: Games have their own rules and in order for players to play them to their fullest, they will have to come to understand how the rules work. The rules of games have their own logic, which may take more or less time to figure out. An example is that in Final Fantasy games, ice spells are effective against fire monsters. Identifying monsters as the fire type would require figuring out how the game pictures them. Maniac Mansion presents challenges to the player to combine inventory items with the environment.

For instance: the player must give waxed fruit to the green tentacle because (apparently), green tentacles love eating waxed fruit. Using knowledge extracted from the game and using it overcome challenges is a hallmark of adventure games, where the challenges are less focused on action and more on thinking. Reasoning is part of games that offer the players seemingly unrelated possibilities that must be connected.

-Expression: games where players communicate with each other always require the ability to express your thoughts. Because many games have their own set of rules, the possibilities of communication are often so narrow that interpreting them should not be a problem. But some games focus on this aspect, such as Pictionary, where players must draw something recognizable to others (this in turn, demands reasoning from the other players).

Role-playing games feature much communication between players, but often limited by the roles of their character.

How a player manages to express her or himself with those limits depends on their ability to express themselves. Some games feature

ability to read opponents, I use the term “acumen”. RockPaper-Scissors uses this ability, as do many card games (Magic the Gathering), strategy games (Advance Wars) and computer fighting games (Virtua Fighter). Because computers work strictly with logic, playing these games with computers demands other abilities (usually numerical calculation and memory). Acumen is part of games where players can have information that others do not, which would be preferably not shared.

-Dexterity: Games can feature manually difficult tasks. In fact, many competitions are built around doing a single one of these tasks, like Darts, Kanji writing, Jenga and Footbag.

Computer games can also require dexterity if games require difficult inputs, such as Eye-Toy: Play, where the player must precisely move their hands to certain places in front of a camera. Some computer games have such difficult inputs that dexterity becomes an important ability (such as Street Fighter, which I shall detail later). Dexterity is part of games where players are challenged by their physical preciseness in order to achieve possibilities.

-Size: Although this might sound arbitrary, some games favor those of bigger or smaller size. Basketball at professional level is mainly played by tall people.

Horseback riding prefers smaller jockeys. Competitive boxing has different weight classes. Size is part of games where physical dimensions have an impact on the possibilities.

-Endurance: Games can test how long a player can contribute before deciding to stop. Long foot-races are the clearest example. But many sports require players to work on their condition because they can become tired. Even computer games, with interface devices such as the Wii Balance Board, can require a player to have

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physical stamina. Endurance is part of games that require physical tasks that can become demanding over time.

-Physical Power: Running is an essential part of many games. Being slow can be a major handicap for them.

Consider field sports such as Handball and marathons, but also less competitive games such as Hide and Seek and Pacmanhattan. Also consider games in water that may require fast swimming, such as Marco Polo. Some games require the strength to move objects, such as Bowling, Wrestling and Weightlifting.

The choices I have made for these selections were made by these criteria: All of them are part of all sorts of games, whether they are sports or are played sitting down, are played alone or with others, are played only with your body, with props or with computers, etc. The abilities I present do not significantly overlap each other

screen, but with different characters, one character might have certain advantages from certain angles and vice versa. This leads to a much more dynamic game strategy and tactics-wise.

Acumen: With more characters and more moves, reading and fooling opponents became more diverse. To exemplify what I mean by this, one could compare the original Street Fighter to a game of Rocks-Paper-Scissors, and the sequel to something like Rocks-Paper-Scissors-Water-Fire-WindChainsaws-Confetti. Players have a broader spectrum of choices for their mind-games, which leads to less repetitive play.

Dexterity: Street Fighter features two press-sensitive buttons with rubber cushions, one for punches and the other for kicks. By pressing the button softer or harder, different moves are executed by the player. This requires precise hitting of the button in order to get the move intended by the player. In some ways, this makes

Street Fighterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s special moves require excellent dexterity and are in their own way unique. Finally, all terms are easily recognizable and usable by designers and players. It is my ultimate goal that everybody that uses games can quickly analyze their game to see what types of abilities are required from them. This list is not definite; every ability I list can probably be more properly defined into more precise abilities (for instance, physical power could be split into arm and leg strength). I chose not to as I wanted a list that would not take too long to review. At the same time, I also wanted a list that would be broader than simply dividing games into mental and physical (par example).

I also welcome anybody else to add whatever they like to this list if they find that ability of importance. Most importantly, this list is to give people an idea of how games function by the abilities they demand. Imagine a game of Chess placing pieces on the board required balancing them upside down (in other words: a Chess that requires dexterity).

A case study: Street Fighter and Street Fighter While the original Street Fighter (1987) was not a smashhit, its sequel, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991), became immensely popular, leading to a revolution of its genre, many sequels and many ports to home-based consoles. By analyzing the abilities the two games demanded, I want to point out how the two games differed so greatly in popularity.

Spatial Calculation: Street Fighter II allows players to choose between seven different characters with different moves, while the original only has one character (discounting the palette-swap characters). This difference leads to more or less demand of spatial calculation. In the sequel, players can use different characters, meaning different combinations of moves opposing another. When players control the same character, they have access to the same space on the

the game more like real fighting; a "skilled" player is able to do precise punches and kicks like a "skilled" martial artist.

With Street Fighter II, Capcom abandoned these buttons for standard digital arcade buttons. This means that a player always get the desired move he presses. Another change is the special moves. The original Street Fighter has certain moves that requires "special" inputs (such as pressing down, down/toward, toward and then punch, all with split second timing), and they grant the player moves that were different than the standard kicks and punches (in this example: a fireball shot from the avatar's hands).

These moves are difficult to perform and doing so requires much practice. In the sequel, special moves are much easier to do. The designers even designed special moves that require different types of inputs so that if a player finds one type of button combination difficult, they can use another (EGM 150, 2002, page 150). Both these examples show how dexterity as an ability becomes less important for playing Street Fighter II. Altogether, Street Fighter went from a game more determined by doing skilled techniques (dexterity) to one more determined by strategy and psychic trickery (spatial calculation and acumen). I believe that more people enjoy Street Fighter as a game based around playing intelligently and cleverly than a game where more focus is based on being able to execute a move.

Conclusion David Parlett states that a game is its rules (1991, page 3).

I completely agree with him, but I want people to realize there is more to a game than just the game itself. A game is also its players. With my definition of player abilities, how they relate to games and the examples I have given, I have shown how important it is for players and designers to look at games this way. Having a full understanding of abilities and how they coincide with

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the rules of games, it is better possible for players and designers to create meaningful play. With a current trend of computer games leaving the player the freedom what to do within the game (such as Grand Theft Auto and the upcoming LittleBigPlanet), players should realize what types of challenges they can create for themselves. Those working on game design can use this typology to further realize what players will be able to do with their games.

And those who still enjoy the unlimited possibilities of the playground; this just might help you realize which games you should play if you want to be picked first.

This player does a Dragon Punch… and misses!

Perhaps because of a bad spatial calculation?

(Street Fighter, Capcom, 1987)

The games we play are the ones with the abilities we enjoy using the most Literature: Cailois, Roger (1958) "Man, Play and Games". University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago 2001 Calvert, Sandra L. (2005) "Cognitive Effects of Video Games". In Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein (ed.)

Handbook of Computer Game Studies, MIT Press Cambridge, Massachussetts, London, England 2005 Crawford, Chris (2003) "On Game Design". New Riders Publishing, Indianapolis 2003 "Electronic Gaming Monthly #150 January 2002" (2002).

Ziff Davis Media Inc. Interview with Akira Nishitani

This player does a Dragon Punch… and hits!

Perhaps the opponent did not expect this attack?

(Street Fighter II, Capcom, 1991)

Järvinen, Aki (2003) "Making and Breaking Games: A Typology of Rules". In Marinka Copier and Joost Raessens (ed.) Level Up Digital Games Research Conference.

Utrecht University, Utrecht 2003 Parlett, D. (1991) "The Oxford HIstory of Board Games", page 3. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991 Prensky, Marc (2005) "Computer Games and Learning: Digital Game-Based Learning". In Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein (ed.) Handbook of Computer Game Studies, MIT Press Cambridge, Massachussetts, London, England 2005 Sirlin, David (2005) "Playing to Win: Becoming the Champion". www.lulu.com, USA 2005 Zimmerman, Eric and Salen, Katie (2003) "Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals". MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England 2003

This player already has the poker face, but it might need better numerical calculation.

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