Rules_Analysis_Paper

Endless Possibilities Hard as it may be to find the true meaning of the word “game” or “play”, attempting to grasp the number of possibilities arising from the outcome of play from games nowadays is just unfathomable. A big part of the appeal for games is the knowledge that the outcome is uncertain, and will come to be in a manner that the individual has not necessarily yet experienced. In order for the schema of emergence to be unleashed, complexity and meaningful play must first exist. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter set in the stage of life like conflicts occurring today. The single player campaign takes you on the role of “Soap” McTavish, a SAS Soldier assigned to several different missions, as well as an American soldier, Sgt. Paul Jackson, who meets an unfortunate end. As exciting as the single player mode is, many (including myself), play the game for the multiplayer aspect of the game. What makes this game so great, and games before it such as Counter-Strike or Day of Defeat, is the replay ability of the multiplayer portion. You could play with the same map setting, the same weapon configuration, the same teammates and opponents, with the same conditions for winning numerous times over again and still find each experience to be unique and enjoyable. This is emergence at its finest; a set of rules applied to a number of objects that result in a seemingly infinite number of possibilities. When you break down the game to its components, it looks just like everything else, objects and rules without purpose. At the very base you have the objects of Call of Duty: The players, the many obstacles and doodads of the map, the weapon, the projectiles (bullets, grenades), counters (health, ammo, score), and of course the ground. This is all that consists of the game as objects alone. However, when you add behaviors and rules to these elements they become a system when working together, to form a game with emergence. When adding the simple property of movement to a player, the player is now interacting with the ground by moving over it in different directions. It must also interact with the walls and obstacles by halting movement. When adding the aspect of crouching or going prone, it creates the possibility of reducing the dimensions of the player from different perspectives, while also inhibiting rate of movement. When adding gravity to the equation, you add the interaction of the downward speed of the player reaching the edge of one “ground” to the surface of another “ground”, as well as the distance required to apply damage to the health counter, and the equation of further damage applied to greater distance fallen. When introducing weapons and bullets, the distance must be calculated between the object parameters of the player, the weapon, and the projectiles being fired. Upon doing this, the velocity of the projectiles must be calculated, as well as the interactions with obstacles and other players upon meeting each other. An addition of the aspect of projectiles passing through obstacles requires a formula for reduced velocity upon meeting the obstacle, as well as damage dealt upon meeting a player on the other side. All of these interactions define the aspect of “coupling”. Alone, they mean nothing, but tying an object and a rule together produces complexity, a core element in emergence. The context and resulting situation at any point during play is dependent upon how these simple objects affect their each other. Context independents arise from the passing of time during play. For example, at one point during the game I start with a full ammo counter, but after shooting at a few enemies and reloading a couple times that value is no longer the same after interacting with other variable rules and behaviors. Complexity is the act of different variables interacting with one another to form a property of a system. Complexity is a pre-requisite for meaningful play, and thus is vital in production of a game. Separating a simple system from a complex system requires the passage of the “complexity barrier”. Call of Duty transcends this through the interaction of its objects and rules. The resulting variables lead to meaningful play, and emergence with the endless number of outcomes. When looking at the rules closely, the fixed systems such as health recovering at a certain rate have a major impact on everything else. The damage inflicted when projectiles meet players changes with the location of the interaction. A headshot may cause an instant death, while a collision with the foot would only bring the player to a slight red recovery zone. As with that concept, the distance a projectile is fired from will cause decreased damage as the time of travel before impact increases. However, a shot from something like a sniper rifle would still inflict maximum damage at a longer range, while shots from a shotgun entails a spread of projectiles requiring a short distance between two players to be effective. The set of rules which are the Fixed system, affecting the Periodic system of the game as when x is pressed, the result is bullets firing unless ammo=0, along with the Chaotic system such as the direction your reticule moves when aiming through a scope to simulate breathing, combined with the Complex system like any coupled element affecting any context of play all come together to make the game. Just as a good running vehicle cannot operate without all of the components working together, a game is not successful without the cooperation of all the systems. To achieve the final state of meaningful play one must incorporate the utility of making decisions for reactive outcomes which gives players the “experience” designers attempt to create. Meaningful play is the goal that cannot be achieved without complexity. Emergence grows from the concept of complexity and is exhibited in every game that fifteen year old plays and every decision he/she makes, whether or not to throw that grenade, take that shot and give away his position, to stand ground and fire back or run and find cover, creating the situations built around the parameters of simple objections interacting with pre-determined behaviors and rules. A good game is not defined by the number of objects, or the number of rules put into a game, but by the way those variables interact with one another, and the experience it creates for the player. When I am looking for a good game to play, I am asking questions like, “How will this entertain me' What can I see my friends and I doing with this game' Is there anything else I can make out of the game than just the scheduled storyline'” I have played games in all forms pretty much since birth, playing watch my mom hide her face behind her hands, and wondering where she went. Aspects of chance make for excellent games. The idea of not knowing the outcome and competing for a defined “winner” generates competitive game play stimulating to people looking for a good time, but it means nothing without rules. The rules surrounding games is what makes it an experience. Objects without direction do not breed possibility; the use of rules on those objects create worlds of imagination. -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004) 158. [ 2 ]. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Infinity Ward, 2007, Xbox 360. [ 3 ]. 3 Counter-Strike Valve Software, 2000, PC. [ 4 ]. 4 Day of Defeat Valve Software, 2003, PC. [ 5 ]. Salen and Zimmerman, 162. [ 6 ]. Salen and Zimmerman, 162. [ 7 ]. Salen and Zimmerman, 152.