You Are the One - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 4

he thought he knew. He has mastered this deadly game in a fundamental way and
can change it as he chooses; he can construct cheats as he wishes, he can win as he
wishes.
No doubt there are some who “know” computer games in such an intuitive and
fundamental way. The vast majority of us don't. So what do the rest of us— about
whom no one will ever say, “He is the one”—do? (Well, there are other social situ-
ations in which someone might say that you are the one, but they are not the subject
of this topic.) You have to do some work. That's why this topic is as much about
tools for you to work and create with as it is about us telling you how it is. In a very
real sense “you are the one” because you're going to have to do it for yourself.
TOOLS TO THINK WITH
One way to understand the fundamentals of things is to use a theory that tries to
show how something works in a simplifi ed or abstract way. The Concise Oxford
English Dictionary variously describes a theory as “abstract thought,” “a plausible
or scientifi cally acceptable general principle offered to explain phenomena,” and “a
belief policy or procedure proposed or followed as a basis for action.” Theorizing
is about trying to understand something by simplifying it, by abstracting away all
the messy details and focusing in on a few remaining ones that we can better under-
stand, but which still seem to capture the essence of that thing. This topic uses a
range of theories to try and do just that in order to better understand something of
the fundamentals of computer games. Different theories can lead to different insights
even into the same thing.
We use theories all the time in our everyday lives. For instance, we use theories
to play computer games. Very few gamers ever read the manual. You learn a new
game by playing it and in doing so you build up your own theory as to how the
game works, what the underlying logic of the game is, and what you have to do to
win. We are helped in this by training levels, by previous game playing experiences,
and by recognizing the genre a new game belongs to. Training levels usually help
out with the game's user interface and basic gameplay. They often also try to show
us how to succeed. But to really know how to succeed there is nothing like real
game playing experience and knowledge. This in turn leads to recognizing genres
and all that comes with them; more discussion of this comes in Chapter 2.
In the very early years of computer games there were no genres. Every game
was a new mystery about which every player was required to build his or her own
theory in order to play it successfully.
We can express a theory in words, perhaps highly informally, as a story or a
fable, for instance. We might express a theory in mathematics when it becomes
highly formal. But very often theories will have models associated with them.
Models are a form of analogy used to help visualize something. We can use models
to help visualize theories. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary variously describes
a model as “a representation of structure,” “a summary, epitome or abstract,” and
“something that accurately resembles something else.”