Game Design Origins - Game Design Essentials - page 2

Some games require elaborate playing pieces and richly constructed environ-
ments, either virtual or practical; however, some games can be played verbally
or by thinking through the demands of the game to achieve the win. Rhyming
games, for example, don't need tangible elements. When I was a child, taking
long road trips with my family, my mother sought to distract us from getting
bored and unruly by having us play the I Spy game. The rules were simple: watch
the other cars on the road and try to “spy” as many different license plates as
possible, or color or make of car, or just convertibles or motorcycles, and so on.
One of my favorite games that can be played without pieces, The Six Degrees
of Kevin Bacon , is a trivia game based on the philosophical concept of six degrees
of separation. This concept, proposed by Frigyes Karinthy, holds that everyone is
linked to everyone one else in the world through a chain of no more than six peo-
ple. In February 1994, during an interview with Premiere Magazine , Bacon com-
mented that he had worked with everyone in Hollywood. The movie Six Degrees
of Separation , based on Karinthy's premise and the play written by John Guare,
debuted around the same time, prompting people to associate Bacon with that
phenomenon.
Games can be played individually, one on one, or in groups. Our fascination
with games has grown to be a global phenomenon extending beyond traditional
board and card games to small and efficient handheld units, personal computers,
powerful home-entertainment systems, and the Internet, where millions of gamers
can log in with high-speed connections to play everything from simple games of
solitaire to massive multiple-player competitions in real time. Figure 1.1 shows one
type of competition where gamers come from all over the world to compete with
one another in online games that are broadcast on enormous Jumbotrons to fans
who come just to watch them play. What is fascinating about this image is that the
majority of people at the event are so intrigued with the gameplay that they come
just to watch others battle it out. Gaming has become so large in some instances
that, as you see in the picture, it has become a spectator sport.
Games are designed to entertain, to teach, and to spark the spirit of com-
petition. As far as entertaining games go, several top sellers vie for the crown
of being the most popular, including Mario Bros., Halo, The Legend of Zelda,
Grand Theft Auto, and Metroid Prime. The reigning champ for entertaining
games, according to GamePro, is Windows Solitaire —the single-player version.
This casual game has been played by millions of people.
One remarkable example of an educational game is Oregon Trail , dreamed
up over 40 years ago by three student teachers in Minnesota. Don Rawitsch,
Bill Heinemann, and Paul Dillenberger created the landmark game that traces
the 2,000-mile path traveled by pioneers in the old West from Independence,
Missouri to Willamette Valley, Oregon.