Lecture 2: What are games?

# Creación de Videojuegos

### What are (video) games?

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# What is a game?

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# David Parlett (game historian)

A (formal) game consists of ends and means

* Ends: Games are a contest to achieve some goal.
 
 * Means: There is a formal definition of rules
 
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# Fun?

([XKCD](https://xkcd.com/1566/))
 
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# Clark C. Abt (author)

"A game is an activity among two or more independent decision makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context"

* Activity
  
  * Decisions 
  
  * Goals
  
  * Limits/Rules
 
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# Johann Huizinga (Anthropologist)

Play is:
   
   * outside ordinary life
   * not serious   
   * utterly absorbing
   * not about material profit
   * placed in its own boundaries
   * rule-based 
   * social group forming
   
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# Roger Caillois (Sociologist)

Play is:
   
   * voluntary
   * a diversion
   * limited in time and space 
   * uncertain
   * unproductive
   * governed by rules
   * make-belief 
   
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# Bernard Suits (Philosopher)

"Playing a game is the voluntary effort to overcome unnecessary obstacles"

* Rule-based (limited)
  
  * Goal-oriented
  
  * Inefficient
  
  * Rules are accepted *because* they are inefficient
  
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# Chris Crawford (Video game designer)

Games are

* closed, formal systems
 
 * interactive
 
 * conflict-based
 
 * safe
 
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# Greg Costikyan (Game designer)

"A game is a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal."

* Art 
  
  * Decision making
  
  * Resource management
  
  * Game tokens
  
  * Goal-based
 
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# Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith (Game scholars)

"Games are an exercise of voluntary control systems, in which there is a contest between powers, confined by rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome."

* Exercise of control system
  
  * Voluntary
  
  * Confined by rules 
  
  * Disequilibrial outcome
  
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# Mark Rosewater (Game designer)

A game is a thing with a goal (or goals), restrictions, agency, and a lack of real-world relevance.

Every game needs:
   * Goals
   * Rules 
   * Interaction
   * A Catch-Up feature
   * Inertia
   * Surprise
   * Strategy
   * Fun
   * Flavor
   * A "hook"
   
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# What's not a game?

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(Minecraft)

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# Other examples?

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(Bandersnatch)

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(The Stanley Parable)

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# Digital Entertainment

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# Game Genres

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# Game Genres
  
  * What is a genre?
  
  * Why is it important?
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## *Game* genres imply mechanics

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# Game Genres

* First-person shooter
   * Third-person shooter 
   * Adventure game 
   * Action game
   * Platformer
   * Real-time strategy game 
   * Role-playing game 
   * Simulation game
   * Sports game

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# Which genre?

(Call of Duty)

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# Which genre?

(Starcraft 2)

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# Which genre?

(World of Warcraft)
   
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# Which genre?

(Minecraft)

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# Which genre?

(<a href="https://www.cowclicker.com/">Cow Clicker</a>)

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# Game Genres

* Sandbox game
   
   * Incremental game
   
   * Puzzle game
   
   * MOBA
   
   * Interactive fiction
   
   * Rhythm game
   
   * etc.
   
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# Video game taxonomy

Genres establish conventions for mechanics, but as designers we want to talk more about the mechanics themselves

* Real time vs. turn-based 
  
  * Competitive, cooperative, single player 
  
  * Social vs. Non-social 
  
  * Strategy vs. Dexterity
  
  * Perfect information vs. imperfect information
  
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(Apex Legends)

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# Current trends

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# Current trends

Most played games on Steam:

* DotA 2
   * Counter-Strike: Global Offensive  
   * PUBG
   * GTA 5
   * Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege
   * Rust
   * Team Fortress 2
   * Warframe
   * ARK: Survival Evolved
   * No Man's Sky
   
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# Current trends

Most watched on twitch ([last 30 days](https://sullygnome.com/games/30/watched)):

* Fortnite
   * League of Legends 
   * GTA 5
   * Teamfight Tactics
   * World of Warcraft
   * Overwatch
   * Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
   * DotA 2
   * PUBG
   * Minecraft
   
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# Current trends

Shooters, and multi-player games in general, seem to be doing well

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But: Sampling bias! These are the most popular games *among gamers*

What about casual players?

* Minecraft has 91 Mio monthly active users (MAU), Fortnite had 78 Mio MAUs at the end of last year (now probably a bit more)! Apex Legends hit 50 Mio downloads after 1 month.
   * Candy Crush *still* has 260 Mio MAU (down from 550 Mio)
   * Other popular mobile games: Subway Surfers (100 Mio MAU), Clash Royale (100 Mio MAU)
   
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# What's the best-selling video game of all time?

(Free-to-play does not count)

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# The best-selling video game of all time

(Tetris)

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# Resources

* Salen, Katie, and Zimmerman, Eric. *Rules of play: Game design fundamentals*. MIT press, 2004.
  
  * <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/what-game-2018-06-04">Mark Rosewater. *What is a game*</a>
  
  * <a href="https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/ten-things-every-game-needs-part-1-part-2-2011-12-19">Mark Rosewater. *Ten Things Every Game Needs*</a>
  
  * <a href="https://store.steampowered.com/stats/">Steam Statistics</a>
  
  * <a href="https://sullygnome.com/games/30/watched">Twitch Statistics</a>
  
  * <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games">Best-selling video games</a>