VGD INDS Play and Game (2025) PDF

What is a Game? What is Play? “DO YOU Why Should You WANT TO Care? PLAY A GAME?” An Examination of Game Design, Creativity Immersion, Minigames, and Walking Simulators To Begin: Why Should You Care? Because defini...

What is a Game? What is Play? “DO YOU Why Should You WANT TO Care? PLAY A GAME?” An Examination of Game Design, Creativity Immersion, Minigames, and Walking Simulators To Begin: Why Should You Care? Because definitions influence (for better or worse) the style and conventions in the games one creates/plays. Limiting: “A game can’t be that!” Expanding: “Of course that’s a game! Maybe not in the traditional sense, but…” Consider the limitations placed on other art forms (ie: music) Consider how these definitions affect innovation and expectations Gone Home (2013): A Case Study Subtitled “A story exploration video game” Kicks off the whole “game/not a game/walking simulator” debate. Universally praised by all major (and minor) gaming publications Universally criticized by many ‘gamers’ for not being ‘a true video game.’ Gone Home: A Story Exploration Video Game “Walking Simulators” Pejorative descriptor for games requiring little player interaction or having few mechanics. Popularized in 2013. Also, a narrow-minded way to approach video games and game design. Typical Gone Home Hater (at the time)  So! Is Gone Home a game? …let’s come back to that in a bit… What Is Play? On Play’s Importance Play develops physical and intellectual capacity: Language Imagination Empathy Facing fears Play instills basic social cues such as reading faces, determining when someone is hurt, and how to take turns. Play Defined (again) Play is an activity that one partakes in that is considered to be enjoyable or has an element of “fun”. The element of fun is fundamental to play. While it can be repetitive if one chooses, it typically has no defined structure or end goal beyond simply enjoying the activity Play must be voluntary: you cannot be forced to have fun. George Herbert Mead (1863- 1961) Social Psychologist Theorized that children go through certain stages as they develop a sense of self: imitation, play, game, and generalized other. Claimed play is important to the “genesis of the self” via make-believe or role-playing. Johan Huizinga (1872-1945) In 1938 publishes landmark book examining the importance of play. Concludes that play is intrinsic to many species (not just humans) and play is an essential element to the formation of culture. “Play is free, is in fact freedom.” “Play is connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained from it.” Play Is Instinctual: Innate He’s right! Think of all the crazy stuff that animals do with no purpose other than to have fun. Like those crazy otters! Yes, sometimes these actions mimic actions in their lives (ie: hunting) but in other instances, it’s just spontaneous nonsense. Roger Caillois (1913-1978) Theorist who set PLAY and GAME at opposite ends of a spectrum: PLAY: An enjoyable activity entered into voluntarily with no defined structure or end goal beyond simply enjoying the activity. GAME: A structured activity that has defined rules and a set goal but that has an essence of play. Typically, games have rules and consequences, outcomes, goals, and effort by the participants. Examples of Game: SPORTS Any sport is a game as sports have defined rules, goals, and consequences. Professional sports teams are more like “work” since their play is for profit, and they must play. Examples of SPORTS Video Games A rich history of titles. Remember EA’s original slogan “If it’s in the game it’s in the game?” MADDEN NFL is a consistently best-selling title year after year EA-FIFA used to be huge as well, but EA and FIFA split in 2022 over rights issues, so now it’s EA SPORTS FC (Football Club) Examples of Game: TABLE-TOP GAMES Same thing. Any board game is a game as they have defined rules, goals, and consequences. Board game to video game ports exist, but of varying quality. Monopoly Go! most popular game of 2023 but ads/microtransactions detract. SEE: Ticket to Ride, Gloomhaven ALSO NOTE: Many video games have been ported to table-top games. Examples of Game: CARD GAMES Same thing. Any card game is a game as they have defined rules, goals, and consequences. Microsoft Solitaire, extremely popular. See also Deck Building Genre: Hearthstone, Slay The Spire, Marvel Snap, Gwent, Magic: The Gathering Balatro (2024) indie Canadian success story. Nominated for Game of the Year. Examples of Game: “SCHOOL YARD” GAMES Hide and Seek What Time Is Duck, Duck Goose It Mr. Wolf? Red Rover Musical Chairs Rock, Paper, Scissors Hot Potato X’s and O’s Dodgeball 7-UP Tag Examples of Game: Party, Bar, and Other Bowling Pin The Tail on The Donkey Darts Spin the bottle Billiards Drinking games Laser tag Capture the Flag The Floor is Lava Ping Pong Tabletop Games Playing dominoes in Red Dead Redemption 2 (2018) The Point? Regarding GAME DESIGN… Obviously many real-world games (big and small) have been adapted to stand- alone video games, but many others have been included in various ways too. Many, many VGs have featured internal card games. Any “unsafe” surface in a game is basically “the floor is lava.” (Super Mario World) Pictured: Gwent from W3—now a standalone game The Mini-Game: A Definition A smaller game embedded in the main video game. Can act as a digression (various arcade machines) or world- building (GWENT, Chocobo Racing in FF7, shooting gallery in RE4) or both. Consider hacking in video games (GTA V, Bioshock) Hazelight Studios’ A Way Out (2018) featured a ridiculous amount of mini-games for added player enjoyment. See also It Takes Two Not shown: Swingset, shooting baskets, darts, balancing in wheelchairs (true!)…. REGARDING “PURE” PLAY Just for fun No rules or end goal No defined start or finish Just messing around (with people, animals, the environment, and objects) Can be used for immersion Categories are as follows…. CATEGORY 1A: MOVEMENT: VOLUNTARY Something you do even when you don’t have to! Consider sliding (Fortnite) swimming, parkour, jumping, dashing (Celeste), grappling, sprinting, skating, climbing, dancing, or swinging. CATEGORY 1A: MOVEMENT: VOLUNTARY Consider climbing the tallest buildings and jumping off of them in Assassin’s Creed or web-slinging in Spider-Man. Consider the grappling hook in Dying Light, Just Cause or Halo: Infinte. Consider special moves where you teleport in Shadow of Mordor (“Shadow Strike”) and Dishonoured (“Blink”) Consider movements in game you do to achieve both game goals AND because they are fun to do—movement you do even when you don’t have to. CATEGORY 1B: MOVEMENT: INVOLUNTARY Swinging, Bouncing, Sliding, rolling— based on the environment Being thrown (damage reaction) HELLDIVERS 2 Vehicles: Driving, Flying, Hang- gliding, parachuting, cycling, skateboarding. Farcry, GTA, and Halo—wide assortment of vehicles—related to game goals, but obviously just fun to use all the time anyway. CATEGORY 1B: MOVEMENT: INVOLUNTARY Consider falling through portals in Portal or jumping and bouncing in gel in Portal 2 Consider being “drunk” in games Consider deliberate “jank” and physics games like Octodad or Gang Beasts. CATEGORY 2: OBJECT MANIPULATION Skipping Stones RC Cars and Planes Paper Airplanes Sprinklers Hoses/Power Washing Balancing a ruler/stick Leaves Blowing Bubbles in Milk Clicking Pens Flashlights Fly a kite Hula Hoop Frisbee Weapons/Items (guns, Catch arrows, boomarangs—used for more than just defense) Yes Luigi’s Poltergust 3000 is used for game goals, but just controlling a shining light and pointing it at stuff is fun too (not to mention sucking stuff up with a vacuum): who hasn’t played with a flashlight as a kid? Same thing with Mario’s FLUDD—spraying a hose as a kid is fun….and in a video game, it is too. The best mechanics are related to game goals AND pure play, so you always do them even when you don’t have to. Game Design Game 101:101: Design Non-essential Interactive Non-essential Objects Interactive are Objects FUN are FUN. Wolfenstein: The New Order has, yes, flushable toilets---and BJ even makes a 4th wall breaking comment if the player keeps doing it! For those of you old enough to remember, Mario 64 began with Mario’s face that players could pull, stretch, and otherwise distort—just for fun. Pure play all the way. DOOM (2016) gave the player secrets to find that unlocked game models which could be rotated and zoomed. Resident Evil 2 (2019) did the same. Fallout 4’s loading screen featured game models that could be rotated and zoomed. Stray (2022): Case Study In Stray you’re able to meow, scratch, rub against robots, knock paint cans off of a roof, drink, sleep and play with balls or toys you find throughout the game—all independent of the game’s goals. Consider BREAKABLE ENVIRONMENTS: Smashing stuff just for fun. Pots in Zelda? Barrels and crates in Dark Souls? Signs and debris in Hollow Knight? Do you have to break every window if they are indeed breakable? Do you hit fire extinguishers on the wall just to watch them explode? These are ALL elements of PURE PLAY in game design. Consider PROJECTILES: THROW and/or CATCH Ever shoot up a wall just for fun in DOOM or Left 4 Dead, just because? Ever throw Kratos’ axe in God of War or Cappy in and recall Super Mario Odyssey them just for fun-- repeatedly? Ever pick objects up with a telekinesis ability like in Dead Space or Control and toss them around just to watch them smash into stuff? CATEGORY 3: EXPLORATION Examples of Play: EXPLORATION Exploring is ALWAYS fun— satisfying curiosity. But pure play exploration is unrelated to side quests or game goals. OR, can consist of self- directed goals. For example, do you avoid fast travel for better immersion? CATEGORY 4: CREATIVITY Playing in a Sandbox Playing with a cardboard box Playing in the bathtub Playing in the snow/snowman Playdoh Lego Chalk Musical Instruments Gardening CATEGORY 4: CREATIVITY Consider games that let you furnish a home, grow a garden, build forts or structures, or take selfies or photographs in various places. If they are all unrelated to game goals, then this is PURE PLAY put in the game for your amusement. CATEGORY 5: Human/Animal INTERACTION Remember: UNRELATED to game goals Playing with Pets/Animals Playing with a Baby LARP Any type of role play sans rules Zelda - Link to the past - Chicken Heck, consider House House’s Untitled Goose Game (2019): a game built around, yes, goals, but ALSO still providing ample opportunity for Pure Play in its environments: A HONK button? Just tormenting NPCs for fun. Genuinely hilarious and cute. CATEGORY 5: Human/Animal INTERACTION Ever torment (ie: Dragon Shout) an NPC for fun or set elaborate traps for NPCs or non-essential enemies? Ever pet cats in Assassin’s Creed: Origins just because? Consider the twitter account @CanYouPetTheDog The Last of Us 2 had a brilliant moment of pure play where Ellie can make faces in the bathroom mirror. Elsewhere she can try on space helmets. In fact, The DLC “Left Behind” for the original game (right) had excellent blending of both play and game: fortune telling, photo booths, Halloween masks, and playing hide and go seek with water guns—all world building for the game. Jesper Juul Prof at University of Copenhagen Developed “Classic Game Model” to define a game. Defining point of definition is level of player “effort” and “attachment.” Juul’s Model CONCLUSION ONE: IS GONE HOME a game? Having played it, I would definitely say yes. Includes player effort: obviously—the home isn’t going to explore itself! Includes player attachment to outcome: yes, you are trying to discover the mystery behind your missing sister Includes a variable and quantifiable outcome: variable depends on playstyle and quantifiable is the game’s conclusion. Includes negotiable consequences: yes, as playing the game has no effect on the player’s real life. Includes fixed rules: debatable as rules are implied; however, the object of the game is clear. Includes valorization of outcome: yes, players may miss the goal or not complete the story. And clearly completing the story is the game’s intended goal. In short, Gone Home may not be a sophisticated game—and one that certainly prioritizes narrative above other game elements—but a game it remains nonetheless. CONCLUSION TWO: WHY PURE PLAY? Answer: World-building, immersion, non-essential mechanics, and to take a break from the main game. Pure Play categories can be mixed in various ways: consider ULTRAHAND—Creativity and Object Manipulation The best game design mixes both “game” and “pure play”: interaction that’s fun on its own AND for goals. EPILOGUE: What Does The Developer Say? GDC Vault - Why Is Gone Home a Game?