CHAPTER 01

      WHAT’S IN A GAME?

      A GAME IS NOT A MOVIE, and a movie is not a game.

      No one decides to go out for the evening to watch a game; and we can’t imagine a scenario where friends text each other: SUP? U WANNA PLAY A MOVIE?

      It makes no sense. How can you play a movie? You watch a movie. How do you see a game? You play a game. (Although Amazon’s billion dollar purchase of Twitch.tv is the latest evidence that video games are becoming something you watch as well—a spectator sport.¹²)

      Games and movies are two distinct media. Filmed entertainment (movies, TV, scripted Internet videos—anything written for a screen) and video games are at once incredibly similar and totally different. But as these two storytelling platforms align more and more, certain conventions from the one have begun to influence the other. Two of the best recent video game movies were not based on actual video games. Edge of Tomorrow and Snowpiercer are both movies that feature video game tropes which may or may not be recognizable to the non-game-playing audience.

      So what exactly do we mean by “video game”?

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT GAMES

      Let’s get the easy part out of the way: “Video” means, effectively, “played on a screen using a computer.” That computer may be in your mobile phone, your game console, or your laptop. But we like to use “video games” to cover all computer games. Fair? Good. We’ll generally be talking about digital (computer) games throughout the book. We have mad respect for the writing and world building that goes into so many popular “analog” (table-top) games, but, frankly, Bob still hasn’t learned to play Settlers of Catan, so we’ll usually be talking about video games. But not always.

      The hard part—defining “game”—is a lot harder, especially since the ludologists got involved. (Ludology is the academic study of games and gameplay.) We are in a very evolving period of time as a debate rages about what exactly is a game.

      Legendary designer Sid “Civilization” Meier said that “games are a series of interesting decisions.”¹³

      Respected ludologist Jesper Juul said that a “game is a rule-based system with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome, the player feels emotionally attached to the outcome, and the consequences of the activity are negotiable.”¹⁴

      Iconoclastic indie developer and critic Anna Anthropy wrote that a game is defined as “an experience created by rules.”¹⁵

      For our purposes, we like Ms. Anthropy’s definition the best, as it’s the least limiting, most versatile, and shortest.

      But what are some of the core aspects of a game? And are any of these characteristics also found in other storytelling media like films or television?

      Goals and Obstacles

      Games have goals. Classic board games expressed this as “The Object of the Game” printed at the top of the instructions. In order to make those goals challenging, games have obstacles. From a pawn blocking a pawn in a game of chess to Jail in Monopoly or backtracking down a chute in Chutes and Ladders, there will always be obstacles to impede the progress of the player.

      Drama in any form must have obstacles and conflict. If Odysseus had used Google Maps, the Odyssey would have been a lot shorter and way less interesting.

      Characters

      “I want to be the top hat!” Have you ever heard this? It can happen any time a group sits down to play Monopoly. Games often have characters that are “acted” by the players during the gameplay. Remember Clue? We humans have a way of identifying with (and as) other people (real or fictional), animals, and plants (see Plants vs. Zombies)—even inanimate objects, like Monopoly’s top hat. Even colors. Growing up, Bob always wanted to play as black in checkers. He thought black was smarter and cooler than red or white.

      The play has a character (or “avatar”) who is—for the player—the protagonist of the story. There must also be antagonists. These can be other players, or computer controlled villains—obstacles that move and act and have cool dialogue.

      Settings (or the Game World)

      When you sit down to play a game, the game maker provides the dramatic context. The world. The setup. Building the world is the first step to creating an immersive experience for the player. Where does the game take place? The historic Atlantic City of Monopoly? The imaginary island of Catan? The nineteenth century United States of Ticket to Ride? Even such “simple” board games as Stratego, Battleship, and Risk show us a world—namely, combat in the field, at sea, and on a global scale. (By the way, where the heck did the aliens in the Battleship movie come from? They weren’t in our game box!)

      Competition

      Competition is a huge component of gameplay. Players compete against each other, or the game, or both, to win. In single-player video games, players play against the game system, but they may also be playing against the entire world when it comes to online leaderboards and achievements. Scripted drama consists largely of us watching a “competition” and rooting for the “good guy,” be they Othello, Atticus Finch, or Katniss Everdeen.

      And, perhaps most importantly:

      Rules

      Games have rules. It’s the first thing participants discuss when starting a game. Someone will explain the rules. How to move. What the cards mean. How to win.

      Movies and TV shows also have rules. Drama has rules. Characters must be motivated. Clues must be planted. Conflict must be resolved somehow. When stories deviate from these rules, we often find them unsettling, unsatisfying, or a Lars von Trier film.

      Rules matter in games. Yes, there are some games where you play without rules. These are games you might have played at the playground in a sandbox as a kid. (Remember that word: sandbox.) Peek-a-Boo. Ring Around the Roses. Make-believe games like House or Dinosaurs. But on the same playground you might have kids playing games where they have to play with rules. Hide and Seek. Duck, Duck, Goose. Four Square (the ball game, not the app). All sports and card games.

      And of course, board games.

      So what is a rule? Think of it like an “if-then” statement. If I do or accomplish this, then this other thing will happen. It could be a reward or a setback. Simply put, when playing a Call of Duty or a Battlefield:

      If I fall on a grenade, then I will die.

      At some point during a board game, players might have to refer to the rule book or instruction manual. Computers are awesome because they automate the rules, making them close to invisible. The computer rolls the dice, does the math (physics and calculus) instantly, keeps score, and referees. The computer tracks changes in the game’s state (positions, statistics, achievements, etc.). Imagine having someone at the table on game night doing all that. In so many games, the computer is your Dungeon Master, without the sarcasm or the onion-ring breath. Because the computer is running the game, the player can stay immersed in the world of the game.