Meaningful Mechanics - Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design - page 276

Communication Theory
Games are related to other media like films, books, or newspapers; they all com-
municate to their audience. Films and video games use audiovisual means, while
topics, newspapers, and board games rely on static images and written text.
Communication theory has long studied how effective different media and particu-
lar media messages are at reaching their audiences. Communication theory looks
at all types of messages and meaning: advertisements, political statements, and per-
sonal opinion, but also personal artistic vision and humorous statements.

NOTE We include
subconscious thought
because some senders
seek to send messages
to people without the
receivers being con-
sciously aware of it.
The signals are sent
as subliminal stimuli.
This is known to work
in certain kinds of psy-
chological tests, but
there is insufficient evi-
dence that subliminal
messages can change
purchase decisions or
political opinions.

Communication theorists have developed a model of communication in which a
sender sends a message along a channel to a receiver ( Figure 12.3 ). The model typi-
cally includes the following elements:

n The sender is a person or a party who wants to reach the receiver with a particular
message.

n The receiver is the audience, the people who need to understand the message.

n The channel is the way the sender sends the message to the receiver. The channel
is often referred to as the medium —text, images, and so on.

n The signal consists of the tangible, physical signals used to address the receiver.
In a book, the signal is built from words and letters. In music, the signal consists
of vibrations in the air that we recognize as sounds of different frequency and
character.

n The message is the intangible part of the message that resides in our brain. You
might think of it as (sub)conscious thought or the meaning . The aim of communica-
tion is to transfer the message from the sender to the receiver.

FIGURe 12.3
a model of
communication

Different attributes of these elements affect communication in different ways. For
example, if the signal is constructed in such a way that it rhymes, it attracts more
attention and becomes easier to remember. A famous example is the old campaign
slogan for Dwight D. Eisenhower's campaign for U.S. president: “I like Ike.” The
characteristics of the channel or the medium are also very important. Music is good