Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
the Gamer Generation
video games are now ubiquitous in the developed world. an entire generation has grown
up playing them. The lessons these games taught them has changed their stance in life.
in their book
The Kids Are Alright
(2006), John Beck and mitchell Wade argue that the
current gamer generation has a different attitude toward work than previous generations
did, produced by their experience as gamers. For example, gamers are likely to regard
failure as a temporary setback rather than a disaster. a lifelong diet of failed attempts
and restored game sessions has reduced their fear of failing. in addition, in games every
problem has a solution. The player might not see it immediately but has an implicit trust
that the game is fair and the designer has included a way of overcoming its challenges.
This has trained gamers to approach real-life problems with more confidence and with a
can-do mentality, even though life is less fair than games are.
The term
serious game
was devised in recognition that games can be used for purposes
other than light entertainment. There is no standard definition of
serious game,
but
Ben Sawyer, a well-known proponent, suggests an inclusive description: “Serious
games solve problems.” A serious game is designed to achieve a real-world effect of
some kind. Many of them use the player's openness to learning while playing games
and use the game to teach something. Games also offer an opportunity to experiment
with new approaches to problems safely, inexpensively, and without consequences.
early Serious Games
Serious games drove the development of modern board games, long before the com-
puter was invented. What we know as
Monopoly
today originated as a serious game.
It borrows heavily from an earlier work called
The
Landlord's Game
(
Figure 12.1
).
The game was designed in 1904 by Elizabeth Magie to show the consequences of an
unrestrained capitalist economy. She wanted to demonstrate that the system of pur-
chasing property and renting it out enriches the people who own the property while
impoverishing the tenants. The name
Monopoly
is an ironic reversal of the original
game's intended message, but the game's history does explain why its victory condi-
tion requires bankrupting the other players rather than simply amassing the largest
fortune.
Most modern war games, either computer-based or tabletop, can trace their his-
tory to another serious game:
Kriegsspiel
(which is simply German for “war game”).
Kriegsspiel
was first developed by the Prussian Lieutenant Georg Leopold von
Reiswitz in 1812. Later, he and his son refined it for the Prussian army to train their
officers in battle tactics and strategy (
Figure 12.2
). In
Kriegsspiel,
players take turns
to move colored wooden pieces over a map representing the battleground. Rules
restrict how far pieces can move, and dice are used to determine the effects of one
unit firing at another unit or engaging in close combat. If you have ever played a
tabletop war game, this should sound familiar.
