Article: Bringsjord, S. (2001). Is is possible to Build Dramatically Compelling Interactive Digital Entertainment

Game Studies LogoTitle: Is it Possible to Build Dramatically Compelling Interactive Digital Entertainment (in the form, e.g. of computer games)?
Author: Selmer Bringsjord
Year: 2001
Additional: Game Studies 1 (1)
Available at: http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/bringsjord/index.html

Abstract:
This article discusses problems in creating dramatically compelling interactive digital entertainment using the Lovelace Test. First issue of Game Studies journal.

Content:
Introduction
The Issue
Realism About Narrative and AI
One Presupposition: There’s no Free Lunch
A List of Some Challenges
Intelligent Agents
The Roadblock: Personhood
The Lovelace Test
The Lovelace Test in More Detail
How Do Today’s Systems Fare in the Lovelace Test?
Why BRUTUS Fails the Lovelace Test
The Conclusing Argument

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Article: Juul, J. (2001). Games Telling Stories?

Game Studies LogoTitle: Games Telling Stories? A Brief Note on Games and Narratives.
Author: Jesper Juul
Year: 2001
Additional: Game Studies 1 (1), (also featured as book chapter in Raessens & Goldstein (2005). Handbook of Computer Game Studies)
Available at: http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/juul-gts/

Abstract:
A differentiated comparison between narratives and games. First issue of Game Studies journal.

Content:
Introduction
Telling Stories
-> Everything is Narrative/Everything can be presented as narratives
-> Ideal Stories/Back-Stories
-> Similarities
-> Is This It?
The Problem of Translation
-> Translating What?
-> From Movie to Game: Star Wars
-> From Game to Story
A Table of Narrative – Game Translations
Time, Game, and Narrative
-> Time in the Computer Game
The Player and the Game
A Final Argument: The Avant-Garde Fallacy
Conclusion

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Article: Ryan, M.-L. (2001). Beyond Myth and Metaphor.

Game Studies LogoTitle: Beyond Myth and Metaphor: The Case of Narrative in Digital Media.
Author: Marie-Laure Ryan
Year: 2001
Additional: Game Studies 1 (1)
Available at: http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/ryan/

Abstract:
Article on Narrative and Digital media. First issue of Game Studies journal.

Content:
Introduction
What is Narrative?
Hypertext, and the Myth of the Aleph
VR Narrative, and the Myth of the Holodeck
Conclusion

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Editorial: Aarseth, E. (2001). Computer Game Studies, Year One

Game Studies LogoTitle: Computer Game Studies, Year One
Author: Espen Aarseth
Year: 2001
Additional: Game Studies 1 (1)
Available at: http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/editorial.html

Abstract:
Editorial for the first issue of Game Studies.

Content:
Introduction
A Cognitive, Communicative Revolution?
Creating a New Discipline

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Article: Wilson, D. (2011). Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now.

Game Studies LogoTitle: Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now: On Self-Effacing Games and Unachievements.
Author: Douglas Wilson
Year: 2011
Additional: Game Studies 11 (1)
Available at: http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/wilson

Abstract:
In this paper, I use a party game that I co-designed, Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now (B.U.T.T.O.N.), as a case study to suggest some alternative possibilities for the design of digitally-mediated play and games. Specifically, I argue that that intentionally “broken” or otherwise incomplete game systems can help nurture a distinctly self-motivated and collaborative form of play. I propose two terms: “unachievements” and “self-effacing games,” which help articulate the specific qualities that distinguish broken games like B.U.T.T.O.N. from more traditional digital games. In addition, I situate these games in terms of Henning Eichberg’s concept of the “impossible game” and Bernie DeKoven’s notion of the “Well-Played game.” In drawing our attention not just to players, but also to the relationships between them, Eichberg and DeKoven offer us provocative clues on what it might mean to design for togetherness.

Content:
Two Introductory Anecdotes
Outline & Method
Playing B.U.T.T.O.N.
Situating B.U.T.T.O.N.
Achievements, Anti-Achievements, Unachievements
Self-Effacing Games
Impossible Games and Festivity
The Well-Played Poorly-Player Game
Conclusion

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Article: Williams, P. et al. (2011). Balancing Risk and Reward to Develop an Optimal Hot-Hand Game

Game Studies LogoTitle: Balancing Risk and Reward to Develop an Optimal Hot-Hand Game
Author: Paul Williams, Keith V. Nesbitt, Ami Eidels & David Elliott
Year: 2011
Additional: Game Studies 11 (1)
Available at: http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/williams_nesbitt_eidels_elliott

Abstract:
This paper explores the issue of player risk-taking and reward structures in a game designed to investigate the psychological phenomenon known as the ‘hot hand’. The expression ‘hot hand’ originates from the sport of basketball, and the common belief that players who are on a scoring streak are in some way more likely to score on their next shot than their long-term record would suggest. That is, they are on a ‘hot streak’, or have the ‘hot hand’. There is a widely held belief that players in many sports demonstrate such streaks in performance; however, a large body of evidence discredits this belief. One explanation for this disparity between beliefs and available data is that players on a successful run are willing to take greater risks due to their growing confidence. We are interested in investigating this possibility by developing a top-down shooter. Such a game has unique requirements, including a well-balanced risk and reward structure that provides equal rewards to players regardless of the tactics they adopt. We describe the iterative development of this top-down shooter, including quantitative analysis of how players adapt their risk taking under varying reward structures. We further discuss the implications of our findings in terms of general principles for game design.

Content:
Introduction
The Hot Hand
Game Requirements and Basic Design
Stage One – Player Fixation
Stage Two – Encouraging Exploratory Play
Stage Three – Balancing Risk and Reward
Discussion

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Article: Medler, B. (2011). Player Dossiers.

Game Studies LogoTitle: Player Dossiers: Analyzing Gameplay Data as a Reward
Author: Ben Medler
Year: 2011
Additional: Game Studies 11 (1)
Available at: http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/medler

Abstract:
Recording player gameplay data has become a prevalent feature in many games and platform systems. Players are now able to track their achievements, analyze their past gameplay behaviour and share their data with their gaming friends. A common system that gives players these abilities is known as a player dossier, a data-driven reporting tool comprised of a player’s gameplay data. Player dossiers presents a player’s past gameplay by using statistical and visualization methods while offering ways for players to connect to one another using online social networking features. This paper presents a framework for understanding how player dossiers function and fit into the process of playing games. While a common feature of player dossier systems is to merely list the rewards a player has received during play these systems also validate other gameplay motivations that may interest players besides gathering achievements. Player dossiers contextualize gameplay allowing players to analyze what they find important and share gaming information with a wider community. This turns the process of exploring past gameplay into its own reward beyond any awarded to a player in game.

Content:
Introduction
Recording Game Data
Validating Motives
Contextualizing Gameplay
Analyzing Dossiers
Creating Social Capital
Discussion and Conclusion

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Article: Gazzard, A. (2011). Unlocking the Gameworld.

Game Studies LogoTitle: Unlocking the Gameworld: The Rewards of Space and Time in Videogames
Author: Alison Gazzard
Year: 2011
Additional: Game Studies 11 (1)
Available at: http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/gazzard_alison

Abstract:
Videogames are a time-based medium. It is through the condition of time that many game reward systems are designed around the collection of points, achieving high-scores and beating the clock. In relation to time, videogames are also a spatial medium, with ever-growing worlds expanding for player-characters to move through and explore. Building upon Björk and Holopainen’s (2005) and Hallford and Hallford’s (2001) categories of rewards, this article examines temporal and spatial reward structures within a range of videogames. Reward systems are defined and discussed in relation to different genres from puzzle-games to arcade games, from third-person games to simulation-based games. By understanding the basic structures of personal and social rewards found within many videogames, other types of reward related to time and space are built upon in order to show the way in which rewards overlap and their meanings evolve within different game play and game design contexts.

Content:
Introduction
Goals and Rewards
Glory and Illusion
Time as Reward
Spatial Rewards, Environment and Exploration
False Rewards
Conclusion

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Article: Jakobsson, M. (2011). The Achievement Machine

Game Studies LogoTitle: The Achievement Machine: Understanding Xbox 360 Achievements in Gaming Practices
Author: Michael Jakobsson
Year: 2011
Additional: Game Studies 11 (1)
Available at: http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/jakobsson

Abstract:
Xbox Live achievements and gamerscores have become an integral part of Xbox 360 gaming. Based on the framework provided by Microsoft, the community has developed intriguing gaming practices where the individual games become pieces of a larger whole. This paper, based on a two year community study, explores how players have reacted and adapted to the system. To get at this shift in console gaming, the achievement system is seen as a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) where separate achievements are the functional equivalent of quests. By conceptualizing the achievement system as an MMO, the paper questions the dichotomy between PC/MMO and console gaming. The paper also goes into detailed descriptions of gaming habits and strategies that have emerged as gamers appropriate the achievement system, in particular looking at three player types: achievement casuals, hunters and completists. My conclusions are that the Xbox Live achievement system only partially functions as a reward system. More importantly, in terms of impact on player practices, it is an invisible MMO that all Xbox Live members participate in, whether they like it or not. On one hand, the different strategies and ways of conceptualizing the system shows how players have appropriated the technology and rules provided by Microsoft, and socially constructed systems that fit their play styles. On the other hand, many players are deeply conflicted over these gaming habits and feel trapped in a deterministic system that dictates ways of playing the games that they do not enjoy. Both sides can ultimately be connected to distinguishable characteristics of gamers. As a group, they are known to take pleasure in fighting, circumventing and subverting rigid rule systems, but also to be ready to take on completely arbitrary challenges without questioning their validity.

Content:
Introduction
Methodology
The Xbox Live Achievement System
The History and Impact of Achievements
The Xbox Live Massively Multiplayer Online Game
Three Ways of Approaching Achievements
Conclusions

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Article: Begy, J. & Consalvo, M. (2011). Achievements, Motivations and Rewards in Faunasphere

Game Studies LogoTitle: Achievements, Motivations ans Rewards in Faunasphere
Author: Jason Begy & Mia Consalvo
Year: 2011
Additional: Game Studies 11 (1)
Available at: http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/begy_consalvo

Abstract:
A persistent topic in MMO studies is player motivation: why do players play? Attempts to answer this question have resulted in several frameworks, but these are built from studies of games that are very similar to each other. MMOs tend to feature fictional worlds drawn from common fantasy and science fiction tropes, and gameplay tends to focus on continually improving one’s personal power through leveling up a character and finding new equipment. This in turn has shaped how we interpret player activity. However, casual games developer Big Fish Game’s first MMO, Faunasphere, breaks several of these tropes. Players are cast as “caretakers” of small animals, referred to as “fauna,” and must guide them through the world while improving their home and keeping them happy. The game is almost entirely nonviolent, and the reward for leveling up is not a gain in personal power, but rather an egg used to hatch a new creature to care for. This study examines the players of Faunasphere to determine who they are, what their backgrounds are, and what motivates them to continue playing. We argue that while their motivations seem to fit traditional frameworks, the nature of player activity (as defined by the game’s fiction) is significantly different. This is due in part to the game’s reward structure, which is designed to continually reinforce the player’s position as caretaker: every reward in the game either can be or must be used to further care for one’s fauna. We conclude with a call for greater contextualization when discussing concepts such as reward and achievement: as Faunasphere shows, the fictional world of a game has a strong impact on how players interpret their in-game activities.

Content:
Introduction
An Overview of Faunasphere
Research Questions and Previous Work
Methods
Who Plays Faunasphere, How Much, & Why
Players, Fiction, and Rewards
Conclusions

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