Games
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A game is an (often, but not always recreational) activity involving one or more players. This can be defined by either a goal that the players try to reach, or some set of rules that determines what the players can or can not do. Games are played primarily for entertainment or enjoyment, but may also serve as exercise or in an educational, simulational or psychological role.
by MultiMedia and Nicolae Sfetcu
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Game
Definition
Monopoly is the best selling board game in history. It is available in localized versions in many nations, such as this one in German.
Although many animals play, only humans confirmably have games. Whether some animals are intelligent enough to game is debatable, though a game has ritualistic elements (such as rules and procedures) that are voluntarily acted upon, rather than as a result of instinct. The existence of rules and criteria that decide the outcome of games imply that games require intelligence of a significant degree of sophistication.
Non-human animal species may, however, engage in games whose rules and sophistication may be of such a nature as to be incapable of detection by humans in their present state of knowledge. It would, for example, seem incongruous that large brained species such as many Cetaceans and the larger hominids did not play games. Our inability to observe and understand such games should not be taken as a confirmation that they do not exist. Some courtship displays by some species of bird, such as the Black Grouse, appear to have a component which, from an anthropolgical view, might appear to be a game in which there are clearly winners and losers.
Games can involve one player acting alone, or two or more players acting cooperatively. Most often involve competition among two or more players. Taking an action that falls outside the rules generally constitutes a foul or cheating.
All through human history, people have played games to entertain themselves and others. There are an enormous variety of games; for specific information about different types of games, see the links at the end of this article.
Although Games have been played for thousands of years, many people do not know as much as we believe about them. Things such as how they were invented and why are all matters of the human races of knowledge not yet understood today in the 21st century.
Games in philosophy
In Philosophical Investigations, philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein argued that the concept "game" could not be contained by any single definition, but that games must be looked at as a series of definitions that share a "family resemblance" to one another. Games were important to Wittgenstein's later thought; he held that language was itself a game, consisting of tokens governed by rough-and-ready rules that arise by convention and are not strict.
Stanley Fish, looking for a clear example of the sorts of social constructions, cited the balls and strikes of baseball as example. While the strike zone target is governed by the rules of the game, it epitomizes the category of things that exist only because people have agreed to treat them as real. No pitch is a ball or a strike until it has been labelled as such by an appropriate authority, the plate umpire, whose judgment on this matter cannot be challenged within the current game.
Many technical fields are often applied to the study of games, including probability, statistics, economics, ethnomathematics, and game theory.
Anthropology of games
Games, being a characteristic human activity strongly determined by custom and the frequent subjects of folklore, have been the subject of anthropological investigations.
Classes of games
While many different subdivisions have been proposed, anthropologists classify games under three major headings, and have drawn some conclusions as to the social bases that each sort of game requires. They divide games broadly into:
- Games of pure skill, such as hopscotch and target shooting;
- Games of pure strategy, such as checkers, go, or tic-tac-toe;
- Games of chance, such as craps and snakes and ladders.
In addition to these basic classifications, there are mixed games; such as football, partly a game of skill and partly a game of strategy; poker, partly a game of strategy and partly a game of chance; and baseball, which combines elements of all three. Baseball Hall of Famer Casey Stengel underscored this point when he remarked, "I had many years when I was not so successful as a ballplayer, as it is a game of skill."
The game of chess, a game of pure strategy, often requires the use of a chess set.
Games of pure skill are likely the oldest sort of game, and are found in all cultures, regardless of their level of material culture. They are associated with cultures that place a high value on individual performance and prowess.
Games of strategy require a higher material basis. They are associated with cultures that possess a written language: not surprising, since most strategy games are based on mathematics and feature the manipulation of symbols. They often require special equipment to be played. They are associated with hierarchical societies that place a high value on obedience.
Games of chance appear at a variety of levels of material culture; what they seem to share generally is a sense of economic insecurity. They are associated with cultures that place a high value on personal responsibility, keeping one's word, and maintaining personal standing in the face of misfortune; in other words, with "cultures of honor".
Games and sports
Fans at a Soccer match (SC Heerenveen)
There is no clear line of demarcation between games and sports. Generally, sports are athletic in nature, and have an element of physical prowess, but then so do many games. For cultural anthropologists, the distinction between games and sports hinges on community involvement. Sports often require special equipment and playing fields or prepared grounds dedicated to their practice, a fact that often makes necessary the involvement of a community beyond the players themselves. Most sports can have spectators. Communities often align themselves with players of sports, who in a sense represent that community; they often align themselves against their opponents, or have traditional rivalries. The concept of fandom began with sports fans. Games amuse the players; sports amuse a broader public; in advanced material cultures, sports can be played by paid professionals. When games like chess and go are played professionally, they take on many of the characteritics of a sport.
One-person games
One-person games or one-player games are sometimes called solitaire games, but this term can be easily confused with the peg game and the card game of same name.
Types of one-player games include:
- many arcade games
- most computer and video games
- juggling
- most types of puzzles (logical, mechanical, mathematical, etc.)
- solitaire card games
Types of games
- Alternate reality game
Ball games
Board games
Business games
Car games - Card games
- Collectible card games
- Casino games
- Children's games
- Clapping games
- Computer and video games
- Computer board games
- Computer puzzle games
- Internet games
- Online skill-based games
- MUDs
- MMORPGs
- Conversation games
Counting-out games
Creative games
Dice games
Drinking games
Educational games
Economics games
Game shows
Games of chance
Games of dare
Games of logic
Games of physical activity
Games of physical skill
Games of skill
Games of strategy
Games of status
Global Positioning System-based games
Group-dynamic games
Guessing games
Letter games
Locative games
The Losing Game
Mathematical games
New Games
Open gaming
Party games
Parlour games
Pencil and paper games
Play-by-mail games
Playground games
Political games
Pub games
Puzzles
Quizzes
Role-playing games
Singing games
Spoken games
String games
Table-top games
Tile-based games
Theater games
Traditional games
Unclassified games
Wargames
Win-win games
Word games
References
- Avedon, Elliot; Sutton-Smith, Brian, The study of games. (Philadelphia: Wiley, 1971), reprinted Krieger, 1979. ISBN 0898740452
Links
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Game semantics
Game semantics (German: dialogische Logik) is an approach to the semantics of logic that grounds the concepts of truth or validity on game-theoretic concepts, such as the existence of a winning strategy for a player. Paul Lorenzen was the first to introduce a game semantics for logic, doing so in the late 1950s. Since then, a number of different game semantics have been studied in logic. Game semantics has also been applied to the formal semantics of programming languages.
Intuitionistic logic, denotational semantics, linear logic
The primary motivation for Lorenzen and Kuno Lorenz was to find a game-theoretic (their term was "dialogical" Dialogische Logik) semantics for intuitionistic logic. Blass was the first to point out connections between game semantics and linear logic. This line was further developed by Samson Abramsky, Radhakrishnan Jagadeesan, Pasquale Malacaria and independently Martin Hyland and Luke Ong, who placed special emphasis on compositionality, i.e. the definition of strategies inductively on the syntax. Using game semantics, the authors mentioned above have solved the long-standing problem of defining a fully abstract model for the programming languge PCF. Consequently, game semantics has led to fully abstract semantic models for a variety of programming languages and, to new semantic-directed methods of software verification by software model checking.
Quantifiers
Foundational considerations of game semantics have been more emphasised by Jaakko Hintikka and Gabriel Sandu, especially for Independence-friendly logic (IF logic, more recently Information-friendly logic), a logic with "branching" (or partially ordered) quantifiers. It was thought that the principle of compositionality fails for these logics, so that a Tarskian truth definition could not provide a suitable semantics. To get around this problem, the quantifiers were given a game-theoretic meaning. Specifically, a universal quantifier and existential quantifier represent a choice by a player from the domain. In the universal case, a natural name for the player is "Falsifier"; in the existential, "Verifier". Note that a single counterexample falsifies a universally quantified statement, and a single example suffices to verify an existentially quantified one. Wilfred Hodges has proposed a compositional semantics and proved it equivalent to game semantics for IF-logics. Foundational considerations have motivated the works of others, such as Japaridze's computability logic.
Articles
- Krabbe, E. C. W., 2001. "Dialogue Foundations: Dialogue Logic Revisited," Supplement to the Proceedings of The Aristotelian Society 75: 33-49.
Books
- K. Lorenz, P. Lorenzen: Dialogische Logik, Darmstadt 1978
- P. Lorenzen: Lehrbuch der konstruktiven Wissenschaftstheorie, Stuttgart 2000 ISBN 3-476-01784-2
- R. Inhetveen: Logik. Eine dialog-orientierte Einführung., Leipzig 2003 ISBN 3-937219-02-1
Links
- GALOP: Workshop on Games for Logic and Programming Languages
- Game Semantics or Linear Logic?
- Computability Logic Homepage
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Logic and Games
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Game Mechanic
A game mechanic is a rule or set of rules intended to produce an enjoyable set of outcomes in a game. Complex games, such as role-playing games, are built using a large number of interlocking game mechanisms. The entirety of the game experience or set of game mechanics is called game play.
The interaction of the various Game_mechanic.html in a game determines the complexity and level of player interaction in the game. Designing a system of mechanics that interact well to produce a satisfying game is a challenging task, even for professional game designers. Some forms of game mechanic have been used in games for centuries, while others are relatively new, some having been invented within the past decade. The creation of new Game_mechanic.html, and ways in which existing ones can interact, is the ongoing goal of game designers.
Game_mechanic.html fall into several more or less well-defined categories.
Game play mechanics
These are mechanics that control how the players play the game.
Action points
These control what players may do on their turns in the game by allocating each player a budget of action points each turn. These points may be spent performing various actions according to the game rules, such as moving pieces, drawing cards, collecting money, etc. This type of mechanic is common in many German-style board games.
Auction or bidding
Some games use an auction or bidding system in which the players make competitive bids to determine which player gets the right to perform particular actions. Such an auction can be based on different forms of "payment":
- The winning bidder must pay for the won privilege with some form of game resource (game money, points, etc) (e.g.: RA).
- The winning bidder does not pay upon winning the auction, but the auction is a form of promise that the winner will achieve some outcome in the near future. If this outcome is not achieved, the bidder pays some form of penalty. Such a system is used in many trick-taking games, such as contract bridge.
In some games the auction determines a unique player who gains the privilege; in others the auction orders all players into a sequence, often the sequence in which they take turns during the current round of game play.
Cards
These involve the use of cards similar to playing cards to act as a randomiser and/or to act as tokens to keep track of states in the game.
A common use is for a deck of cards to be shuffled and placed face down on or near the game playing area. When a random result is called for, a player draws a card and what is printed on the card determines the outcome of the result.
Another use of cards occurs when players draw cards and retain them for later use in the game, without revealing them to other players. When used in this fashion, cards form a game resource.
Capture
In some games, the number of tokens a player has on the playing surface is related to his current strength in the game. In such games, it can be an important goal to capture opponent's tokens, meaning to remove them from the playing surface.
Captures can be achieved in a number of ways:
- Moving one of one's own tokens into a space occupied by an opposing token (e.g. chess).
- Jumping a token over the space occupied by an opposing token (e.g. draughts).
- Declaring an "attack" on an opposing token, and then determining the outcome of the attack, either in a deterministic way by the game rules, or by using a randomising method.
- Surrounding a token with one's own tokens in some manner (e.g. go).
- Playing cards or other resources that the game allows to be used to capture tokens.
In some games, captured tokens are simply removed and play no further part in the game (e.g. chess). In others, captured tokens are removed but can return to play later in the game under various rules (e.g. backgammon). Less common is the case in which the capturing player takes possession of the captured tokens and can use them himself later in the game (e.g. shogi).
Dice
These involve the use of dice, usually as randomisers. Most dice used in games are the standard cubical dice numbered from 1 to 6, but increasing numbers of games make use of polyhedral dice or dice marked with symbols other than numbers.
The most common use of dice is to randomly determine the outcome of an interection in a game. An example is a player rolling dice to determine how many board spaces to move a game token.
Dice also often determine the outcomes of in-game conflict between players, with different outcomes of the dice roll of different benefit (or adverse effect) to each player involved. This is useful in games that simulate direct conflicts of interest.
Movement
Many board games involve the movement of playing tokens. How these tokens are allowed to move, and when, is governed by movement mechanics.
Some game boards are divided into more or less equally-sized areas, each of which can be occupied by one or more game tokens. (Often such areas are called squares, even if not strictly square in shape.) Movement rules will specify how and when a token can be moved to another area. For example, a player may be allowed to move a token to an adjacent area, but not one further away. Dice are sometimes used to randomise the allowable movements.
Other games, particularly miniatures games are played on surfaces with no marked areas. A common movement mechanic in this case is to measure the distance which the miniatures are allowed to move with a ruler.
Resource management
Many games involve the management of resources. Examples of game resources include game tokens, game money, and game points. Resource management involves the players establishing relative values for various types of available resources, in the context of the current state of the game and the desired outcome (i.e. winning the game). The game will have rules that determine how players can increase, spend, or exchange their various resources. The skilful management of resources under such rules allows players to influence the outcome of the game.
Role-playing
Role-playing games often rely on mechanics that determine the effectiveness of in-game actions by how well the player acts out the role of a fictional character. While early role-playing games such as the first edition of Dungeons & Dragons relied heavily on randomisers such as dice to determine the outcomes of role-playing actions such as diplomatic negotiations, later generations of games often use the standard of "good role-playing" as a modifier or even the sole determinant of whether such an action is successful.
Tile-laying
Many games use tiles - flat, rigid pieces of a regular shape - that can be laid down on a flat surface to form a tessellation. Usually such tiles have patterns or symbols on their surfaces, that combine when tessellated to form game-mechanically significant combinations.
The tiles themselves are often drawn at random by the players, either immediately before placing them on the playing surface, or in groups to form a pool or hand of tiles from which the player may select one to play.
Tiles can be used in two distinct ways:
- The playing of a tile itself is directly significant to the outcome of the game, in that where and when it is played contributes points or resources to the player.
- Tiles are used to build a board upon which other game tokens are placed, and the interaction of those tokens with the tiles provides game points or resources.
Examples of tile mechanics include: Scrabble, in which tiles are letters and players lay them down to form words and score points; and Tikal, in which players lay tiles representing newly explored areas of jungle, through which archaeologists (represented by tokens) must move to score game points.
Victory condition mechanics
These mechanics control how a player wins the game.
Goals
This is the most general sort of victory condition, which can be broad enough to encompass any method of winning, but here refers to game-specific goals that are usually not duplicated in other games. An example is the checkmate of a king in chess.
Piece elimination
Some games with capture mechanics are won by the player who removes all, or a given number of, the opponents' playing pieces.
Puzzle guessing
Some games end when a player guesses (or solves by logic) the answer to a puzzle or riddle posed by the game. The player who guesses successfully wins. Examples include hangman and zendo.
Races
Many simple games (and some complex ones) are effectively races. The first player to advance one or more tokens to or beyond a certain point on the board wins. Examples: backgammon, ludo.
Structure building
The goal of a structure building game is to acquire and assemble a set of game resources into either a defined winning structure, or into a structure that is somehow better than those of other players. In some games, the acquisition is of primary importance (e.g. concentration), while in others the resources are readily available and the interactions between them form more or less useful structures (e.g. poker).
Territory control
A winner may be decided by which player controls the most "territory" on the playing surface, or a specific piece of territory. This is common in wargames, but is also used in more abstract games such as go.
Victory points
These are points that a player accumulates over the course of a game. The winner can be decided either by:
- The first player to reach a set number of points.
- The player with the most points at a predetermined finishing time or state of the game.
This mechanic is often used explicitly in German-style board games, but many other games are played for points that form a winning condition. Victory points may be partially disguised in the role of game resources, with play money being a common example.
Gameplay vs. Game_mechanic.html in video games
Generally, the term "gameplay" in video game terminology is used to describe the overall experience of playing the game excluding the factors of graphics, sound, and the storyline. This is the very essence of a game. The term "Game mechanics" refers to sub elements of the gameplay, but particularly the primary control and movement features of the game (thus excluding things like level design or AI).
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Artistic Computer Game Modification
Artistic computer game modification involves the use of a computer game for the creation of a digital artwork. Also referred to as art modding, and game modding. Art mods are not quite the same as art games, although they do share some similarities.
Various genres and styles of art modding exist. Genres or categories are rarely clear cut in this multi-media format, however than can be roughly described based on:
- Techniques
- Outcomes
Techniques
Narrative Machinima
Screen-based narratives made using pre-existing, often modded, computer games. Many of these explore innovative conceptual territory.
Examples:
Sequential Machinima
With the use of certain Photoshop filters, comics fonts, and fonts for speech bubbles, in-game screenshots can also be used to quickly create graphic novels.
Abstract Machinima
Screen-based visual abstractions made using pre-existing, often modded, computer games.
Sonichima
Sound works produced within a game-based production environment.
Examples:
Generative Art Mods
Exploit the real time capabilities of game technologies to produce ever-renewing art works.
Performative Interventions
Disrupt in-game norms to expose underlying functions of game play.
Site-specific Installations and site-relative mods
Compare similarities and differences between real and virtual worlds, drawing us further into a realit of fantasy.
Real time performance instruments
Allow audio and visual artists to create stunning, live performances in a range of virtual entertainment environments.
Like games, artistic game mods may be single player or multiplayer. Multiplayer works make use of networked environments to develop new models of interactivity and collaborative production.
Artists
- Brody Condon http://www.tmpspace.com
- Eddo Stern http://www.c-level.cc
- Critical Art Ensemble
- Cory Arcangel
- Paul Slocum
- Jean Paul Birchard
- Jeffrey F. Donaldson http://audiovideo.sevcom.com
- Fuchs-Eckerman http://www.t0.or.at/~fuchs-eckermann/
- Glaznost
- Jodi http://sod.jodi.org/ and http://www.untitled-game.org/
- Julian Oliver http://www.selectparks.net
- Linda Erceg
- Nybble-Engine http://www.climax.at/nybble-engine/
- Palle Torsson http://palletorsson.com
- Rebecca Cannon http://www.selectparks.net
- Retroyou http://www.retroyou.org
- Stephen Honegger
- Tobias Bernstrup http://www.bernstrup.com
Timeline
- 'Mimesia' by Richard Brown.
2004
- Prepared Playstation by RSG.
- Voldo Dance by Chris Brandt.
Theorists
- Rebecca Cannon
- Anne-Marie Schleiner
- Mary Flanagan
- Celia Pearce
- Julian Oliver
- Pippa Stalker
- Christopher Dodds
Links
- Selectparks is an online database of art modding, art games, tutorials, news, downloads, forums, etc.
- Cracking the Maze - Game Plug-ins and Patches as Hacker Art is an online exhibition about artistic game patches, curated by SJSU's CADRE Laboratory for New Media
References
- Introduction to artistic computer game modification (PDF file)
- Switch, Art & Games issue, 1999, online magazine of the CADRE Laboratory for New Media, San Jose State University
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Video: 10 Years of Computer Game Design
Game artists
A game artist is responsible for all of the aspects of game development that calls for visual art. Game artists are often noted in role-playing games, collectible card games, and computer and video games.
Computer and video games
Adrian Carmack, working on Doom, creating a clay model for the Baron of Hell.
In modern computer and video games, game artists create 2D art used as textures or 3D models and animations.
They often design the look of the character through concept art and render them to be integrated into the game. They are also responsible for designing scenery, props, and any other visual effects in the game, like FMVs.
The abilities of early computers were so limited that having specialized personnel for art was unnecessary. Up until about the early 1990s, almost all art for video games were created by the game programmers. Most early video game art was simply created in code by specifying pixel colors and coordinates.
In recent times, dedicated video game artists make up a large part of many game development teams.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Toys
A toy is something to play with, for children, adults or both. They may either be the sole device used in an enjoyable activity or one of many. Toys have existed for thousands of years; dolls either of infants, animals, or soldiers, and miniature representations of the tools of adults are readily found at archaeological sites. The Inca, for example, had a rolling toy even though their adult culture did not employ the wheel. Two comparatively recent developments of toys have been their mass production and copyrighting. A number of these copyrighted, mass-produced toys are associated with particular decades in the twentieth century.
Many successful films, television programs, books and sport teams have official merchandise, quite often toys will be made and sold. Some notable examples are Star Wars and Manchester United. The haulage company owned by Eddie Stobart produced model lorries, which now subsidise the business.
Toys sold primarily as entertainment for adults are termed executive toys as some were originally marketed as a way to reduce executive stress. The term also avoids 'adult toy' which has connotations of sex toys used to enhance sexual excitement.
Some things usually thought to be games are actually toys, such as the computer game SimCity and its spinoffs, which are called software toys. As a rule, if something game-like lacks an explicit end state, it is a toy, not a game.
Toys by culture
This is not a complete list.
US pioneers: In the 1800's many families crossing the great plains were known as pioneers. The pioneer children often had such toys as tops and dolls. They also played simple games like 'hide and seek'.
America: Today Americans have all sorts of toys, the main ones being listed below. But this is and era of computers and video games, and many children (and even adults) have toys such as the Xbox, Gamecube, etc. and computer games such as Half-life.
Examples
- Construction toys
Erector Set
Gami, Plastic Origami
Jovo
K'NEX
LEGO
Lincoln Logs
Märklin
Meccano
Mega Bloks
Stickle bricks
Tinkertoy
Zome
- Figures
Dolls
Raggedy Ann
Action figures
Playmobil
Digital pet
Jumping Jack
Toy soldier
Stuffed animals
Pound Puppies
Teddy bear
Sock monkey
- Drawing toys
Decoder pen
Spirograph
Stencil
- Educational toy
Ant Farm
- Mechanical toys
Jack-in-the-Box
Magic trick
Newton's cradle
Easy Bake Oven
- Mechanical puzzle
Rubik's Cube
- Miniaturized items
Toy piano
Toy weapon
- Model building
Model car
Model railway
Carpet railway
- Model collecting
Matchbox cars
- Science and optical
Kaleidoscope
View-master
Spinning top
Zoetrope
- physical activity and dexterity toys
Bungee Balls
Frisbee (1950s)
Hula Hoop (1950s)
Marbles
Pogo stick
Soap-box cart
Footbag
Chinese yo-yo (diabolo)
Yo-Yo (1930s onwards)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Game Classification
Games may be classified and sub-classified according to many different criteria. Each scheme has its own advantages and disadvantages.
- What sort of challenge / skill is involved (e.g. abstract calculation, anagramming, luck, bluffing, verbalizing, coordination, speed, etc.)?
- This leads to the "Folk Model" theory of 4 categories: games of skill, games of chance, games of strategy, Simulation game propagated by Anderson/Moore and Brian Sutton-Smith. This scheme is probably most natural, and quite neatly separates billiards from chess from Tomb Raider. The main disadvantage is that too many games fall under more than one head. For example Scrabble relies a great deal on word knowledge and anagramming, but also has significant strategic aspects.
- Games of skill can be further subdivided into physical-skill games and mental-skill games.
- What equipment is used to play the game (e.g. a computer, a board, cards, tiles, dice, etc.)?
- This categorization is also very natural and common, but sometimes problematic. For example, Balderdash is a commercial board game, whereas Fictionary is almost identical but uses no board.
- This scheme seems odd since it forces similar games to be listed under completely different headings.
Other distinctions are less important, and apply more or less well to different major headings.
For example, the difference between team and individual sports is fundamental, whereas team board games are so rare as to hardly merit a category. The remaining distinctions apply mostly to non-physical games.
- How many players does the game accommodate?
- The most important division is between two-player and multiplayer games, because nearly all multiplayer games involve negotiation or coalition-building to some degree. Among multiplayer games it is also important (particularly to whoever is organizing the party) what range in the number of players can be accommodated. One disadvantage of this distinction is that a few games such as Titan are equally good two-player or multiplayer.
- To what extent to which chance is a factor?
- Games run the gamut from having no chance whatsoever (checkers, Pente) to being entirely determined by chance (roulette, Chutes and Ladders).
- How deep is the strategy?
- Some games (bridge, Go) can be studied for years without exhausting what there is to learn, whereas others (Three Men's Morris) can be mastered relatively easily.
- How easy is it to learn the rules of the game?
- Chess and Go are often compared for their depth and abstraction, but chess has considerably more difficult rules. This consideration is particularly important for family games, where ideally children should be able to play along easily, without making the game so simple it holds no interest for adults.
- Is the game relatively abstract or does it attempt to simulate some aspect of reality (e.g. stock market, war scenarios)?
- For some simulation games, the realism is more important than all other factors, whereas some games (Set) are so abstract that the names and shapes of all the pieces could change without affecting playability. However, most games lie somewhere in between, with a balance between abstraction and simulation.
- Are players eliminated as the game progresses, or can everyone play along until the end?
- This is most important socially, as a host may wonder how to entertain guests who have been knocked out of the main event.
- What is the objective of the game?
- This is most useful as a sub-subheading, because different types of games tend to have different types of objectives. For example, card games have natural categories of trick-taking and shedding games, which don't apply to board games, whereas board games have categories of capture, racing, and immobilization which don't apply to card games.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Challenge/skill Games
Challenge/skill Games
Games of skill
A game of skill is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental and/or physical skill, rather than by pure chance.
One benefit of games of skill is that they are a means of exploring one's own capabilities. Games encourage people to look at, understand, and experience things. They teach people lessons about themselves and possibly the world, and allow such insights to be passed on to others.
Board games
Card games
Educational games
Letter games
Mind sports
Mathematical games
Play-by-mail games
Puzzle games
Guessing games
Pencil and paper games
Word games
Online skill-based games
Games of physical skill
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Video: HS Gametime: Marquette vs. Lindbergh
Board Games
A board game is any game played on a board (that is, a premarked surface) with counters or pieces that are moved across the board. Simple board games are often seen as ideal "family entertainment" as they can provide entertainment for all ages. Some board games, such as Chess, Oware, or Go, have intense strategic value and have become lasting classics.
There are many different types and classifications of board games. Some games are simplified simulations of real life. These are popular for they can intermingle make-believe and role playing along with the game. Popular games of this type include Monopoly, which is a rough simulation of the real estate market, Clue (in Canada and the U.S.) or Cluedo (internationally), which is based upon a murder mystery, and Risk which is one of the most well known of thousands of games attempting to simulate warfare and geo-politics.
Other games only loosely, or do not at all, attempt to imitate reality. These include abstract strategy games like chess and checkers, word games, such as Scrabble, and trivia games, such as Trivial Pursuit.
References
Fiske, Willard. Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic Literature—with historical notes on other table-games). Florentine Typographical Society, 1905.
Falkener, Edward. Games Ancient and Oriental, and How To Play Them. Longmans, Green and Co., 1892.
Austin, Roland G. "Greek Board Games." Antiquity 14. September 1940: 257–271
Murray, Harold James Ruthven. A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess. Gardners Books, 1969.
Bell, Robert Charles. The Boardgame Book. London: Bookthrift Company, 1979.
Bell, Robert Charles. Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1980. ISBN 0486238555
Reprint: New York: Exeter Books, 1983.
Sackson, Sid. A Gamut of Games. Arrow Books, 1983. ISBN 0091533406
Reprint: Dover Publications, 1992. ISBN 0-486-27347-4
Schmittberger, R. Wayne. New Rules for Classic Games. John Wiley & Sons, 1992. ISBN 0-471-53621-0
Reprint: Random House Value Publishing, 1994. ISBN 0517129558
Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0192129988
Note that some these works may suffer from cultural bias—especially Murray's work which, despite being the standard reference, tends to assume Western cultural superiority.
Links
General
- The World of Abstract Games - list of abstract board games with detailed rules
- BoardGameGeek - BoardGameGeek is a board gaming database, including user reviews and rankings, photos, rules, translations, faqs strategies, and session reports. It contains over 20,000 individual boardgame entries.
- Games-db - features a board game database
- The Little Woodshop - A brief history of board games, from past to present
- Internet Top 100 Games List - The Internet Top 100 Games List compiles overall rankings from player ratings of board games sent in by email.
- rec.games.board - Usenet newsgroup
Specialist information
- African American Board Game - Prosperity
- Traditional Games - includes information on classical games.
- 1970s Vintage Boardgames - UK 1970s rare vintage board games.
- Carrom - Traditional Asian board game played by 2 or 4 players.
Game design
- The Board Game Designers Forum - a forum for amateur and published board game designers with chats, workshops, competitions, news, game reviews and, of course, forums on design, prototyping, publishing and many other subjects.
Magazines
- The Games Journal - a boardgaming monthly; good source for in-depth articles about boardgaming.
- International Journal for the Study of Board Games
Gaming organizations
- Boardgame Players Association - World Boardgaming Championships
- GenCon
- Origins Game Fair
- Game Manufacturer's Association (GAMA) - Non-profit formed in 1977 to promote hobby gaming.
Online play
- World of Board Games - BrettspielWelt. About 50 board games to play online for free. A big community of active board gamers gather around this site.
- GamesByEmail.com - correspondence gaming site.
- Kurnik Online Games - hassle-free online gaming site with lots of board and card games.
- You Play It - play online many famous board games. Free site without advertising.
- Citadels - Play Bruno Faidutti's game online, alone versus bots or against human players
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Video: Cooperation and Engagement: What can board games teach us?
History of the board games
Board games have a long history and have been played in most cultures and societies; some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. A number of important historical sites, artifacts and documents exist which shed light on early board games. The most of important of these include:
Senet has been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt, c. 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively [1]. Senet is the oldest board game known to have existed. Also see Okno do svita deskovych her for a photo of the actual fresco found in Merknera's tomb (3300-2700 BC).
Mehen is another ancient board game from Predynastic Egypt.
The Royal Tombs of Ur contained, among others, the Royal Game of Ur. They were excavated by C. Leonard Woolley, but his books document little on the games found. Most of the games he excavated are now housed in the British Museum in London.
Buddha games list is the earliest known list of games.
Timeline
3500 BC - Senet found in Predynastic Egyptian burials [2]; also depicted in the tomb of Merknera.
3000 BC - Mehen, board game from Predynastic Egypt, played with lion-shaped game pieces and marbles.
2560 BC - Board of the Royal Game of Ur (found at Ur Tombs)
2500 BC - Paintings of Senet and Han being played made in the tomb of Rashepes
2000 BC - Drawing in a tomb at Benihassan depicting two unknown board games being played (depicted in Falkner). It has been suggested that the second of these is Tau.
1500 BC - Liubo carved on slab of blue stone. Also painting of Board Game of Knossos.
1400 BC - Game boards including Alquerque, Three Men's Morris, Nine Men's Morris, and a possible Mancala board etched on the roof of the Kurna Temple. (Source: Fiske, and Bell)
200 BC - A Go board pre-dating 200 BC was found in 1954 in Wangdu County. This board is now in Beijing Historical Museum. (Source: John Fairbairn's Go in Ancient China).
116 - 27 BC - Marcus Terentius Varro's Lingua Latina X (II, par. 20) contains earliest known reference to latrunculi (often confused with Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum, Ovid's game mentioned below).
79 - 8 BC - Liu Xiang's (劉向) Shuo yuan, contains earliest known reference to Xiangqi.
1 BC-8 AD Ovid's Ars Amatoria contains earliest known reference to Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum and the smaller merels.
220-265 Nard enters China under the name t'shu-p'u (Source: Hun Tsun Sii)
Board games first became widely popular among the general population early in the 20th century when the rise of the middle class with disposable income and leisure time made them a receptive audience to such games. This popularity expanded after the Second World War, a period from which many classic board games date. Computer games are closely related to board games, and many acclaimed computer games such as Civilization are based upon board games.
Many board games are now available as computer games, including the option to have the computer act as an opponent. The rise of computers has also led to a relative decline in the most complicated board games, as they require less space, and are easier to set up and clear away. With the Internet, many board games can now be played online against computer or other players in real time (like to classics board games available on Yahoo, Lycos and other big Internet sites) or during your spare time, every time it's your turn (see the links at the end of this article).
The modern board game industry is rife with corporate mergers and acquisitions, with large companies such as Hasbro owning many subsidiaries and selling products under a variety of brand names. It is difficult to successfully market a new board game to the mass market. Retailers tend to be conservative about stocking games of untested popularity, and most large board game companies have established criteria that a game must meet in order to be produced. If, for instance, Monopoly were introduced as a new game today, it would not meet the criteria for production.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Luck, strategy and diplomacy in board games
One way of defining board games are between those based upon luck and strategy. Some games, such as chess, have no luck involved. Children's games tend to be very luck based with games such as Sorry! having virtually no decisions to be made. Most board games have both luck and strategy. A player may be hampered by a few poor rolls of the dice in Risk or Monopoly, but over many games a player with a superior strategy will win more often. While some purists consider luck to not be a desirable component of a game, others counter that elements of luck can make for far more complex and multi-faceted strategies as concepts such as expected value and risk management must be considered. Still most adult game players prefer to make some decisions during play, and find purely luck based games such as Top Trumps quite boring.
The third important factor in a game is diplomacy, or players making deals with each other. A game of solitaire, for obvious reasons, has no player interaction. Two player games usually don't have diplomacy, as cooporation between the two players does not occur. Thus, this generally applies only to games played with three or more people. An important facet of Settlers of Catan, for example, is convincing people to trade with you rather than with other players. In Risk, one example of diplomacy's effectiveness is when two or more players team up against another. Easy diplomacy consists of convincing other players that someone else is winning and should therefore be teamed up against. Difficult diplomacy (such as in the aptly named game Diplomacy) consists of making elaborate plans together, with possibility of betrayal.
Luck is introduced to a game by a number of methods. The most popular is using dice, generally six sided. These can determine everything from how many steps a player moves their token, as in Monopoly, how their forces fare in battle, such as in Risk, or which resources a player gains, such as in Settlers of Catan. Other games such as Sorry! use a deck of special cards that when shuffled create randomness. Scrabble does something similar with randomly picked letters. Other games use spinners, timers of random length, or other sources of randomness. Trivia games have a great deal of randomness based on which question a person gets. German-style board games are notable for often having rather less luck factor than in many North American board games.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Common terminology in board games
Carcassonne tokens, or meeples
Although many board games have a jargon all their own, there is a generalized terminology to describe concepts applicable to basic game mechanics and attributes common to nearly all board games.
- Gameboard (or board) — the (usually quadrilateral) surface on which one plays a board game; the namesake of the board game, gameboards are a necessary and sufficient condition of the genre
- Game Piece (or token or bit) — a player's representative on the game board. Each player may control one or more game pieces. In some games that involve commanding multiple game pieces, such as chess, certain pieces have unique designations and capabilities within the parameters of the game; in others, such as Go, all pieces controlled by a player have the same essential capabilities.
- Jump — to bypass one or more game pieces and/or spaces. Depending on the context, jumping may also involve capturing or conquering an opponent's game piece.
- Space (or square) — a physical unit of progress on a gameboard delimited by a distinct border
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Games of chance
A game of chance is a game whose outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device, and upon which contestants frequently wager money. Common devices used include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels or numbered balls drawn from a container.
Gambling is known in nearly all human societies, even though many have passed laws restricting it. Early people used the knucklebones of sheep as dice. Some people develop a psychological addiction to gambling, and will risk even food and shelter to continue.
Some games of chance may also involve a certain degree of skill. This is especially true where the player or players have decisions to make based upon previous or incomplete knowledge, such as poker and blackjack. The distinction between 'chance' and 'skill' is relevant as in some countries chance games are illegal or at least regulated, where skill games are not.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Games of strategy
A game of strategy, or perfect logic game, is a game where the outcome is influenced through interaction with the environment and other players. The crucial factor that separates this type of game from all others is that there is no element of chance involved. All players have equal and complete knowledge of all elements of the game. There is no physical skill required other than that necessary to interact with the game pieces.
Its benefit is the open interaction with other people. The game partners have similar starting points and evaluate how others humans may react under same conditions. So game strategies evolve with more or less spirit involved to get advanteges and/or protect artfully.
- Board games like
- Checkers
- Chess
- Chinese checkers
- Go
- Nine Men's Morris (Mills)
- Mastermind
Simulation games
A simulation game is a game that is intended to simulate the world, or an aspect of it.
Overview
A simulation game, or sim game, (also known as a game of status or mixed game) is a mixture of a game of skill, a game of chance and a game of strategy, which results in a simulation of a complex structure (like a stock exchange, or civilization flux). These games are quite current through their mirror of modern society. Its benefit is the representation of complex situations of communal life, interconnections in society, and partial aspects of the economy (for example, the development of the railroad).
The term can also be used to describe a video or computer game that is truer to reality (for instance, racing simulations would be racing games in which cars would handle more realistically, tank simulations would include more real life mechanics as part of the gameplay) or a game that attempts to simulate tasks performed in an artificial reality (for instance, MechWarrior/Battletech type games and games that include space flight are considered simulations, even though they have little basis in reality). The term simulation is often applied to games such as this without any modifiers, using the term this way however usually constitutes a different genre than sim games as discussed here, and are most often games with a first-person perspective (that is to say, that you view the game through though the eyes of your own fictitious character), and are often considered by a significant number of players to be overly elaborate, unwieldy, and drudgerous. It may be more accurate to describe such titles as "simulator" rather than "simulation" games, though the lines have been blurred in titles such as Activision's Battlezone and Battlezone II: Combat Commander.
Genres
Some simulation games are intended to simulate the real world; others are intended to simulate a fictional world; still others are designed to be able to do both. Simulation games also operate on different scales. Role-playing games and skirmish war games are played on an individual scale; each player controls one character. Tactical war games and operational war games simulate small-scale battles, typically involving a few hundred or at most a few thousand soldiers. Strategic war games simulate large-scale battles, campaigns, and entire wars. Grand strategy war games and nation-simulation games allow the players to control nations. Another popular genre, dating sims are meant to simulate a relationship or friendship. While fewer in number, pet-raising simulations are becoming more widespread, especially with the release of the title Nintendogs, though earlier pet sims exist, such as the Nakayoshi Pet Advance series on Game Boy Advance.
Simulation games have been played with pencil and paper since time immemorial. Maps are drawn on paper and cardboard counters or metal figures represent the characters or military units. The players may all be on the same side, or they may be on two or more opposing sides. A referee decides what is done by characters who are not controlled by players, and resolves situations which are not covered by the rules. Recently, simulation games have come to the computer. Computers are inarguably superior to humans in creating simulations, and they have allowed simulation games to become more realistic than ever before. They do, however, have one great drawback: They do not have the creativity and flexibility of a human referee. Some people also prefer the face-to-face interaction of paper-and-pencil simulation games to computer games which are played over a network. A new type of simulation game known as computer-assisted gaming seeks to overcome the limitations of both computer and paper-and-pencil (or tabletop) games.
- Role-playing games
- Compputer/Console RPGs
- MMORPGs
- Compputer/Console RPGs
- War games
- Nation-simulation games
- Serious games
- Group-dynamic games
- Organizational-dynamic games
- Board games
- Monopoly (game)
- Backgammon
- Settlers of Catan
- Tabletop games
- Computer games
- Computer-assisted games
- Dating sims
Computer and video games
In computer and video games, these are frequently called sim games. Many of the most notable have been released by one company, Maxis.
Examples
Maxis games
SimAnt
SimCity, a game written by Will Wright where the player can create and develop a city. Three sequels followed: SimCity 2000, SimCity 3000 and SimCity 4.
SimEarth
SimFarm
SimIsle
SimLife
SimPark
SimTower, where the player constructs a simulated building complex.
The Sims, a game designed by Will Wright, where the player can control the lives of player-created people, or "Sims". As of 2003, it was the highest-selling computer game of all time, and spawned seven expansion packs, as well as a sequel, The Sims 2.
Non-Maxis games
1603 A.D., a city builder game set in the New World.
Age of Empires, a series of real-time strategy games developed by Ensemble Studios, and Microsoft Games, it spawned the sequels Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III.
Age of Mythology, a game created by Ensemble Studios the makers of the Age of Empires-series.
Thomas M. Disch's Amnesia (1986), Text adventure from EA that simulates each block and street corner in Manhattan.
Angelique, a series of ren'ai games that started in 1994.
Animal Crossing, a life simulator for GameCube.
Caesar III, a city builder game set in ancient Rome.
Capitalism, capitalism/economics/business simulator.
Civilization, a whole world sim by Sid Meier.
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, a city builder game set in ancient China.
Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile, a society builder game set in ancient Egypt.
Jones in the Fast Lane, an early life simulator by Sierra Entertainment.
Master of Olympus: Zeus, a city builder game set in ancient Greece.
Microsoft Flight Simulator (1979), a game, originally created by Bruce Artwick, where the player pilots an aircraft.
My Life My Love - Boku no Yume - Watashi no Negai, a life simulation for Famicom.
Noctis, a galaxy simulation where the player explores from the first-person viewpoint.
Pharaoh, a city builder game set in ancient Egypt.
Seven Cities of Gold (1985), a simulation of the exploration of the New World (Americas), designed by Dani Bunten.
Trauma Center: Under the Knife, a game for the Nintendo DS where you play a doctor who has to operate on people. The game makes good use of the touch screen for DS.
Utopia on Intellivision (1982) by Don Daglow, often credited as the first "world sim" video or computer game.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Game equipment
Game equipment
Sport
A sport consists of a physical and mentally competitive activity carried out with a recreational purpose for competition, for self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of a skill, or some combination of these. A sport has physical activity, side by side competition, self-motivation and a scoring system. The difference of purpose is what characterises sport, combined with the notion of individual (or team) skill or prowess.
The terms 'sport' and 'sports'
In Commonwealth English, sporting activities are commonly denoted by the collective noun "sport". In American English, "sports" is more common for this usage. In all English dialects, "sports" is the term used for more than one specific sport. For example, "football and swimming are my favourite sports" would sound natural to all English speakers, whereas "I enjoy sport" would sound less natural than "I enjoy sports" to many North Americans.
Recommended reading
- The Meaning of Sports by Michael Mandel (PublicAffairs, ISBN 1-58648-252-1).
Links
- Open Directory Project - Sports
- Yahoo! - Sports
- Google - Sports News
- MSN - Sports News (UK)
- Yahoo! - Sports News
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
One-person games
One-person games
Arcade games
Inside of a Neo Geo
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, typically installed in businesses such as restaurants, pubs, video arcades, and Family Entertainment Centers. Most arcade games are redemption games, video games or pinball machines.
Technology
Virtually all modern arcade games (other than the very traditional midway-type games at county fairs) make extensive use of solid state electronics and integrated circuits. Coin-operated arcade video games generally use multiple CPUs, additional sound and graphics chips and/or boards, and the latest in computer graphics display technology. The newest arcade video games tend to also have interactivity as part of the game design, making the game player feel like they are more kinesthetically connected to the game itself. One form of interactive technology, virtual reality, has failed to truly become popular in arcade games, but this is due to the technical limitations of truly being able to achieve real virtual reality by any means.
Emulation
Many older arcade games are enjoying a revival among fans, thanks to emulators such as MAME, which can be run on modern computers and a number of other devices.
Locations
In addition to restaurants and video arcades, arcade games are also found in bowling alleys, college campuses, dormitories, laundromats, movie theatres, supermarkets, shopping malls, airports, bar/pubs and even bakeries. In short, arcade games are popular in places open to the public where people are likely to be waiting on something.
More recently, Arcade games have found a new home in sites that contain browser-based games. Many independent developers are now producing Arcade games that are designed specifically for use on the Internet. These games are usually designed with Flash/Java/DHTML and run directly in web-browsers.
Game design
Arcade games often have very short levels, simple, easy to grasp controllers, iconic characters, and rapidly increasing difficulty. They are designed as quick bursts of adrenaline-fueled thrills, as opposed to most console games, which feature more in-depth gameplay, and stronger storylines. This is due to being coin-operated, where you are essentially renting the game for as long as your game avatar can stay alive. Games on consoles or the PC can be refered to as an "arcade game" if it shares these qualities, or if it's a direct port of an arcade title.
Arcade racing games have simplified physics and do not require much learning time, in opposition to racing simulators. Cars can turn sharply without losing speed or overdrifting, and AI is programmed so the rivals are always near the player (rubberband effect).
Links
- The Killer List of Video Games
- The Video Arcade Preservation Society
- Video Games and Amusement Devices Collector's Ring (COVAD) Largest Webring site devoted to coin-op video games with 80 active sites covering every aspect of video arcade games from A to Z. Free to join or look.
- The Arcade History Database
- Modern Arcade Games
- Arcade Boss - List of popular arcade game resources.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
History of arcade games
Recent 20th anniversary arcade machine, combining two or more classic video games.
The first popular "arcade games" were early amusement park midway games such as shooting galleries, ball toss games, and the earliest coin-operated machines, such as those which claim to tell a person their fortune or played mechanical music. Although none of these were coin-operated games themselves, the old midways of 1920s-era amusement parks (such as Coney Island in New York) provided the inspiration and atmosphere of later arcade games.
In the 1930s, the earliest coin-operated pinball machines were made. These early amusement devices were distinct from their later electronic cousins in that they were made of wood, did not have plungers or lit-up bonus surfaces on the playing field, and used mechanical instead of electronic scoring readouts. By around 1977, most pinball machines in production switched to using solid state electronics for both operation and scoring.
In 1972, Atari was formed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari essentially created the coin-operated video game industry with the game Pong, the smash hit electronic ping pong video game. Pong proved to be popular, but imitators helped keep Atari from dominating the fledging coin-operated videogame market. Nonetheless, video game arcades sprang up in shopping malls and small, "corner arcades" appeared in restaurants, grocery stores, and bars all over the United States and other countries during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Games such as Space Invaders (1978), Pac-Man (1980), Donkey Kong (1981), and Tapper (1983) were especially popular.
By the mid-1980s, the arcade video game craze was beginning to fade due to the reputation of arcades as being seedy, unsafe places as well as the advances in home video game console technology. The last gasp of the youth arcade subculture, as it once was, may have been the advent of two-player fighting games such as Street Fighter II (1991) by Capcom, Mortal Kombat (1992) by Midway Games, and Fatal Fury(1992) and King of Fighters (1994-2005) by SNK.
By 1996, 32-bit home video game consoles and computers with 3D accelerator cards soon closed the gap on early '90s arcade coin-op games technologically (because arcade designer makers failed to push the technology envelope because the high game turnover in Japan encouraged standardized systems used for a long term) and the two-player fighting game genre waned in the late 1990s due to controversy over graphic video game violence. This waning essentially killed what was left of the old arcade game subculture of the late 1970s and 1980s and has given rise to the blander (but safely supervised) "family fun centers" of the present. Many old video game arcades have long since closed and classic coin-operated games have become largely the province of dedicated hobbyists.
Today's arcades have found a niche in games that use special controllers largely inaccessible to home users. Examples are rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution (1998) and DrumMania (1999), and rail shooters such as House of the Dead (1998) and Time Crisis. However, with the increase of Internet cafes opening (which also provide gaming services), the need for video arcades and such arcade games are reduced, and many have been shut down or merged with the cafes as a result.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Computer and Video Games
A computer game is a computer-controlled game that players may interact with. A video game is a computer game where a video display such as a monitor or television is the primary feedback device. These terms are not always interchangeable as some games, particularly older games, do not use a video display. Usually there are rules and goals, but in more open-ended games the player may be free to do whatever they like within the confines of the virtual universe.
The phrase interactive entertainment is the formal reference to computer and video games. To avoid ambiguity, this game software is referred to as "computer and video games" throughout this article, which explores things common to both types of game.
In common usage, "computer game" or "PC game" refers specifically to games played on a personal computer, "console game" refers to games played on specifically-designed set top box, that play through a TV and "video game" (or "videogame") refers to any game played on a device that plays through your TV but also includes PC, Console, Mobile Phone or PDA or other handheld device.
History
The first primitive computer and video games were developed in the 1950s and 1960s and ran on platforms such as oscilloscopes, university mainframes and EDSAC computers. Arcade games were developed in the 1970s (Pac-man to Frogger) and led to the so-called "Golden Age of Arcade Games". One of the most well-known of these games is Pong.
The 1970s also saw the release of the first home video game consoles.The first home console video games, were created by Ralph Baer who is now known as the creator of video games. He created a system with limited capabilities called the brown box, which paved the way for the next wave of home consoles. The late 1970s to early 1980s brought about the improvement of home consoles and the release of the Atari 2600, Intellivision and Colecovision. The video game crash of 1983, however, produced a dark age in the market that was not filled until the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) reached North America in 1985.This presented Americans with games such as Mario Bros. and many others of todays popular Nintendo genre. The last two decades of game history have been marked by separate markets for games on video game consoles, home computers and handhelds. See the article on Console wars for additional information on that facet of game history.
The future of console gaming
The end of 2005 and first and second quarters of 2006 will see the next generation of console gaming in the form of continuing advances in processor technology, graphics technology, design innovation, and even platform specific gaming community infrastructure. Sony with the PlayStation 3, Nintendo with the Revolution, and Microsoft with the Xbox 360 are all participating in this coming year's "technology race". The second generation Microsoft offering, the Xbox 360, will be powered by a multi-core CPU, the PlayStation 3 will be powered by Cell processor technology, and the Nintendo Revolution will allow the gamer to interact with the game via a wireless motion sensing controller, although full technical specifications are yet to be revealed.
Gameplay
In computer and video gaming, gameplay (sometimes called "Game_mechanic.html") is a general term that describes player interaction with a game. It includes direct interaction, such as controls and interface, but also design aspects of the game, such as levels and graphics.
Although the use of this term is often disputed, as it is considered too vague for the range of concepts it describes, it is currently the most commonly used and accepted term for this purpose when describing video games.
Genres
Games, like most other forms of media, may be categorized into genres based on gameplay, atmosphere, and various other factors.
The most common genres in use today include platformers, adventure, role-playing games (RPGs), first person shooters (FPS), third person shooter (sometimes called shoot 'em ups), sports, racing, fighting (sometimes called beat 'em ups), action (although this term is abused often), puzzle(which often aren't that adventurous), simulation, and real time strategy (RTS), to name a few. It is rare that a game will fall purely into one genre, most games are a combination of two or more genres (e.g action/RPG). Although most genres have 2D counterparts, they are for the most part considered entirely different genres because of the differences in the way 2D and 3D games are played (e.g. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 64). The first falls into a Platforming/Adventure genre, while the latter falls under adventure/Rpg.
The increase in the popularity of online gaming has also resulted in new sub-genres being formed, such as the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).
Development
Video games are made by developers, who used to do this as individuals or small teams in the 80's. Now, development commonly requires a large team consisting of designers, graphic designers and other artists, programmers, sound designers, musicians, and other technicians; all of which are managed by producers. The visionary for any game may come from any of the roles outlined. Development by committee rarely works.
Video games are developing fast in all areas, but the problem is of cost, and how developers intend to keep the costs low enough to attract publisher investment. Most video game console development teams number anywhere from 20 to 50 people, with some teams exceeding 100. The average team size as well as the average development time of a game have grown along with the size of the industry and the technology involved in creating games. This has led to regular occurrences of missed deadlines and unfinished products; Duke Nukem Forever is the quintessential example of these problems.
Game modifications
Games running on a PC are often designed with end-user modifications in mind, and this consequently allows modern computer games to be modified by gamers without much difficulty. These mods can add an extra dimension of replayability and interest. The Internet provides an inexpensive medium to promote and distribute mods, and they have become an increasingly important factor in the commercial success of some games. Developers such as id, Valve, and Epic ship their games with the very development tools used to make the game in the first place, along with documentation to assist mod developers, which allows for the kind of success seen by popular mods such as Counter-Strike.
Popular mods are very occasionally bought by the developers of the game. This was the case with Valve's Half-Life. Valve bought a number of popular mods including Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat. After the release of Half-Life 2 Valve developed these mods for the sequel and sold them through their Internet digital distribution software, Steam.
Recently, computer games have also been used as a digital art medium.
Naming
Non-gamers use several umbrella terms for console, PC, arcade, handheld, and similar games since they do not agree on the best name. For many, either "computer game" or "video game" describes these games as a whole. Other commonly used terms include "entertainment software," "interactive entertainment media," "electronic interactive entertainment," "electronic game," "software game," and "videogame" (as one word). Gamers are quite happy to use the vague term "games", or "videogame/video game" to distinguish them from board games and card games when necessary.
Computer and video games are a subset of interactive media, which includes virtual reality, flight and engineering simulation, multimedia and the World Wide Web.
References
- Lieu, Tina (August 1997). "Where have all the PC games gone?". Computing Japan.
- Costikyan, Greg (1994) "I Have No Words & I Must Design"
- Crawford, Chris (1982) "The Art of Computer Game Design"
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Gaming platforms
Grand Theft Auto III is an example of a game that is popular as a console game as well as a computer game.
Today there are many different devices, or platforms, on which games may be played. Personal computers, consoles, handheld systems, and arcade machines are all common. Games are not interchangeable between platforms so, for example, Xbox games will not work in your PC. The 3 main home video game platform companies are Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, who between them have created seven of the eight home platforms most commonly used today. The final home platform is the PC.
Many games intended for PCs are now just as prevalent on consoles, with many developers creating versions for more than one platform. During the last generation of gaming, most major PC game releases have coincided with the release of console versions, and titles initially developed for a single platform are often ported to others if they prove to be successful.
Personal Computer
Personal computer games are commonly referred to as "computer games" or "PC games". They are played on the personal computer with standard computer interface devices such as the keyboard and mouse, or additional peripherals, such as joysticks. Video feedback is received by the user through the computer screen, sound through speakers or headphones. PC games are often more detailed than console games because of early market releases of their external architecture and graphics cards.
Today, most major PC games require a recent version of the Windows operating system to be installed on the computer. There is, however, a continuing movement to get the most popular games to run under the Mac and Linux operating systems, although it is still small.
According to the Entertainment Software Association, console games have outsold computer games roughly four units to one in 2003 and 2004 [1]. For more information.
One possible explanation for the declining sales of personal computer games in relation to that of consoles can be found within the PC itself: a computer must meet certain minimum requirements such as CPU speed, Random access memory (RAM), system clock speed (MHz or GHz), video card memory, hard drive space, operating system, Internet connection speed (for online games) and other criteria. Without the proper hardware, the game may perform poorly or not run at all. Ease of software piracy is also a much greater threat with PC games, although console hardware modifications do make it possible to play pirated games on them as well.
Internet
Online Games are those which are played over the Internet. Online gaming began with PC games, but has expanded over time to include most modern consoles. It is now a key feature of modern games, with the inclusion of Internet connectivity in consoles such as the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Gamecube (limited in the Gamecube's case); portable consoles such as PSP or DS that use Wi-Fi, and in mobile/cellular phones. Online games need to allow several people to play at the same time, so not all genres are suitable; the most popular genres include MMORPGs, FPSs, racing/driving games, strategy games, and sports titles.
The Internet is also host to thousands of small web-based games, written using formats like Flash and Javascript. These games generally do not share the same magnitude of development costs, depth, or seriousness of PC and console games, and are generally quick to complete by comparison. Some of these games, such as Runescape, however, have expanded far beyond this, and can often be considered on the same level as "mainstream" PC games.
Console
Console games are played on a video game console,or "home console", a specialized computer specifically designed to play games of a certain format. The player usually interacts with the game through a controller, and video and sound are typically delivered to the player via a television, although most modern consoles support additional outputs, such as surround soundand Hi-Def setups.
Consoles themselves branched off from personal computers around two decades ago, a fact which is still evident not only in the name, but also in many of the peripherals available for many consoles, like the keyboard and mouse peripherals released for the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Sega Dreamcast.
Handheld
Handheld games are played on handheld game consoles, such as the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, the Nintendo DS, the Sony PSP, and the Nintendo Game Boy. Handheld consoles act as their own controllers, which the player uses to interact with the game, as well as having in-built display and audio output devices. Because they are designed to be played on the go, they were traditionally small enough to carry conveniently in a bag or jacket (the Virtual Boy being an exception to this), but due to their small size, handheld consoles have reduced processing power compared to larger consoles, meaning that games are shorter, and until the release of the Nintendo DS, were largely limited to 2D.
Arcade
Arcade games, traditionally, are "coin-operated games", played on a standalone device originally leased to commercial entertainment venues. These are programmed, equipped, and decorated for a specific game, consisting of a video display, a set of controls, and the coin slot. Controls are similar to those available for many consoles (albeit usually as peripherals) and range from the classic joystick and buttons(Pac-Man), to light guns(Duck Hunt), to pads on the ground that sense pressure(Dance Dance Revolution). Arcade games that are no longer profitable to lease can be purchased by private individuals, many of whom then explore the game dynamics by altering the programs in minor ways.
This term has now expanded to include any game that has more direct action, with fewer long term objectives, focuses on time limits and, for the most part, shorter in-game levels.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Computer-assisted gaming
Computer-assisted gaming (or CAG) refers to games which are at least partially computerized, but which are actively regulated by a human referee.
Concept
Computer-assisted gaming attempts to combine the advantages of computer games with those of paper-and-pencil simulation games. In computer-assisted gaming, computers are used for recordkeeping and sometimes for the resolution of combat, but a human referee makes any decisions requiring judgement.
Variations
A computer-assisted game can be little more than a collection of rules and notes on computer, or as complete as a computer game, with a human referee needed only to make the non-random decisions. It can be played remotely or with everyone in the same room looking at one or more computer monitors. (The referee must have his own monitor; the players can share one, or each player can have his own. Or only the referee may have a monitor, with the players using paper as usual.) This flexibility allows players to combine the best aspects of paper-and-pencil and computer games while computerizing the game as much or as little as desired.
Computer-assisted gaming is sometimes referred to as CARP, which stands for computer-assisted role-playing. Role-playing games were one of the first types of simulation games to develop into computer-assisted games.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Other games
Other games
Alternate Reality Games
Xi is the world's first console-based and virtual world-based alternate reality game.Here, the Hub, where it all started with Xi.
An alternate reality game is a cross media game that deliberately blurs the line between the in-game and out-of-game experiences, often being used as a marketing tool for a product or service. While games may primarily be centered around online resources, often events that happen inside the game reality will "reach out" into the players' lives in order to bring them together. Elements of the plotline may be provided to the players in almost any form, some of those used have been:
- websites, both those obviously connected with the game and those innocent looking - often where the bulk of the game lies, these sites provide puzzles in many forms, e.g. cryptography
- phone calls to a player's home, cell or work phone
- land mail
- newspaper articles or classifieds
- chat/Instant messaging and so on - the games have been known to initiate conversation
- IRC channels
- real world artifacts related to the game in play
- real world events utilizing actors who interact with the players who attend
These games always have a specific goal of not only involving the player with the story and/or fictional characters but of connecting them to each other. Many game puzzles can be solved only by the collective and collaborative efforts of multiple players.
Alternate reality games are usually earmarked by a large game-reality in the form of multiple websites, all of which take themselves as being totally real. In fact, sometimes it is difficult to tell if a website is fictional or not. These websites form the foundation of the game's universe, and are usually the primary storytelling vehicle, although the various media listed above will be used as well, creating a situation where the game's alternate reality and the real world collide.
Important to alternate reality games is the concept of "this is not a game." To be most effective, these games don't advertise themselves as such, and never really admit to being a game at all. The mystery of what's going on and who is behind it all is a major factor, as is the general thrill of discovery (one website leads to another, and another, etc.) for the players.
Admittedly, an alternate reality game is a difficult thing to define concisely. For further explanation:
- Sean Stewart's introduction and definition of A.I. Web Game (The Beast)
- Blurring the Line Between Games and Life (CNET)
- Alternate Reality Gaming Quickstart by Brooke Thompson
- Getting Started with Alternate Reality Games
- Jane McGonigal's 'This is Not a Game': Immersive Aesthetics and Collective Play, the first scholarly article on alternate reality games
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Game Theory
Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics that studies strategic situations where players choose different actions in an attempt to maximize their returns. First developed as a tool for understanding economic behavior, game theory is now used in many diverse academic fields, ranging from biology to philosophy. Game theory saw substantial growth and its first formalization by John von Neumann before and during the Cold War, mainly due to its application to military strategy, most notably to the concept of mutual assured destruction. Beginning in the 1970s, game theory has been applied to animal behavior, including species' development by natural selection. Because of interesting games like the prisoner's dilemma, in which mutual self-interest hurts everyone, game theory has been used in political science, ethics and philosophy. Finally, game theory has recently drawn attention from computer scientists because of its use in artificial intelligence and cybernetics.
In addition to its academic interest, game theory has received attention in popular culture. A Nobel Prize-winning game theorist, John Nash was the subject of the 1998 biography by Sylvia Nasar and the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind. Several game shows have adopted game theoretic situations, including Friend or Foe? and to some extent Survivor.
Although similar to decision theory, game theory studies decisions that are made in an environment where various players interact. In other words, game theory studies choice of optimal behavior when costs and benefits of each option are not fixed, but depend upon the choices of other individuals.
References
- Textbooks and general reference texts
Gibbons, Robert (1992) Game Theory for Applied Economists, Princeton University Press ISBN 0691003955 (readable; suitable for advanced undergraduates. Published in Europe by Harvester Wheatsheaf (London) with the title A primer in game theory)
Ginits, Herbert (2000) Game Theory Evolving Princeton University Press ISBN 0691009430
Osborne, Martin and Ariel Rubinstein: A Course in Game Theory, MIT Press, 1994, ISBN 0-262-65040-1 (modern introduction at the introductory graduate level)
Fudenberg, Drew and Jean Tirole: Game Theory, MIT Press, 1991, ISBN 0262061414 (the definitive reference text)
- Historically important texts
Fisher, Ronald (1930) The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Luce, Duncan and Howard Raiffa Games and Decisions: Introduction and Critical Survey Dover ISBN 0486659437
Maynard Smith, John Evolution and the Theory of Games, Cambridge University Press 1982
Morgenstern, Oskar and John von Neumann (1947) The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior Princeton University Press
Nash, John (1950) "Equilibrium points in n-person games" Proceedings of the National Academy of the USA 36(1):48-49.
Poundstone, William Prisoner's Dilemma: John von Neumann, Game Theory and the Puzzle of the Bomb, ISBN 038541580X
- Other print references
Camerer, Colin (2003) Behavioral Game Theory Princeton University Press ISBN 0691090394
Gauthier, David (1987) Morals by Agreement Oxford University Press ISBN 0198249926
Grim, Patrick, Trina Kokalis, Ali Alai-Tafti, Nicholas Kilb, and Paul St Denis (2004) "Making meaning happen." Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 16(4): 209-243.
Kavka, Gregory (1986) Hobbesian Moral and Political Theory Princeton University Press. ISBN 069102765X
Lewis, David (1969) Convention: A Philosophical Study
Maynard Smith, J. and Harper, D. (2003) Animal Signals. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198526857
Quine, W.v.O (1967) "Truth by Convention" in Philosophica Essays for A.N. Whitehead Russel and Russel Publishers. ISBN 0846209705
Quine, W.v.O (1960) "Carnap and Logical Truth" Synthese 12(4):350-374.
Skyrms, Brian (1996) Evolution of the Social Contract Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521555833
Skyrms, Brian (2004) The Stag Hunt and the Evolution of Social Structure Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521533929.
Sober, Elliot and David Sloan Wilson (1999) Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674930479
Websites
- Paul Walker, An Outline of the History of Game Theory.
- David Levine: Game Theory. Papers, Lecture Notes and much more stuff.
- Alvin Roth: Game Theory and Experimental Economics page - Comprehensive list of links to game theory information on the Web
- Mike Shor: Game Theory .net - Lecture notes, interactive illustrations and other information.
- Jim Ratliff's Graduate Course in Game Theory (lecture notes).
- Valentin Robu's software tool for simulation of bilateral negotiation (bargaining)
- Don Ross: Review Of Game Theory.
- Bruno Verbeek and Christopher Morris: Game Theory and Ethics
- Chris Yiu's Game Theory Lounge
- Elmer G. Wiens: Game Theory - Introduction, worked examples, play online two-person zero-sum games.
- Web sites on game theory and social interactions
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Representation of games
The games studied by game theory are well-defined mathematical objects. A game consists of a set of players, a set of moves (or strategies) available to those players, and a specification of payoffs for each combination of strategies. There are two ways of representing games that are common in the literature.
Normal form
| Player 2 chooses left | Player 2 chooses right | |
|---|---|---|
| Player 1 chooses top | 4, 3 | -1, -1 |
| Player 1 chooses bottom | 0, 0 | 3, 4 |
The normal (or strategic form) game is a matrix which shows the players, strategies, and payoffs (see the example to the right). Here there are two players; one chooses the row and the other chooses the column. Each player has two strategies, which are specified by the number of rows and the number of columns. The payoffs are provided in the interior. The first number is the payoff received by the row player (Player 1 in our example); the second is the payoff for the column player (Player 2 in our example). Suppose that Player 1 plays top and that Player 2 plays left. Then Player 1 gets 4, and Player 2 gets 3.
When a game is presented in normal form, it is presumed that each player acts simultaneously or, at least, without knowing the actions of the other. If players have some information about the choices of other players, the game is usually presented in extensive form.
Extensive form
-
An extensive form game
Extensive form games attempt to capture games with some important order. Games here are presented as trees (as pictured to the left). Here each vertex (or node) represents a point of choice for a player. The player is specified by a number listed by the vertex. The lines out of the vertex represent a possible action for that player. The payoffs are specified at the bottom of the tree.
In the game pictured here, there are two players. Player 1 moves first and chooses either F or U. Player 2 sees Player 1's move and then chooses A or R. Suppose that Player 1 chooses U and then Player 2 chooses A, then Player 1 gets 8 and Player 2 gets 2.
Extensive form games can also capture simultaneous-move games as well. Either a dotted line or circle is drawn around two different vertices to represent them as being part of the same information set (i.e., the players do not know at which point they are).
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Types of games
Symmetric and asymmetric
| E | F | |
|---|---|---|
| E | 1, 2 | 0, 0 |
| F | 0, 0 | 1, 2 |
A symmetric game is a game where the payoffs for playing a particular strategy depend only on the other strategies employed, not on who is playing them. If the identities of the players can be changed without changing the payoff to the strategies, then a game is symmetric. Many of the commonly studied 2×2 games are symmetric. The standard representations of chicken, the prisoner's dilemma, and the stag hunt are all symmetric games.
Most commonly studied asymmetric games are games where there are not identical strategy sets for both players. For instance, the ultimatum game and similarly the dictator game have different strategies for each player. It is possible, however, for a game to have identical strategies for both players, yet be asymmetric. For example, the game pictured to the right is asymmetric despite having identical strategy sets for both players.
Zero sum and non-zero sum
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| A | 2, −2 | −1, 1 |
| B | −1, 1 | 3, −3 |
In zero-sum games the total benefit to all players in the game, for every combination of strategies, always adds to zero (or more informally put, a player benefits only at the expense of others). Poker exemplifies a zero-sum game (ignoring the possibility of the house's cut), because one wins exactly the amount one's opponents lose. Other zero sum games include matching pennies and most classical board games including go and chess. Many games studied by game theorists (including the famous prisoner's dilemma) are non-zero-sum games, because some outcomes have net results greater or less than zero. Informally, in non-zero-sum games, a gain by one player does not necessarily correspond with a loss by another.
It is possible to transform any game into a zero-sum game by adding an additional dummy player (often called "the board"), whose losses compensate the players' net winnings.
Simultaneous and sequential
Simultaneous games are games where both players move simultaneously, or if they do not move simultaneously, the later players are unaware of the earlier players' actions (making them effectively simultaneous). Sequential games (or dynamic games) are games where later players have some knowledge about earlier actions. This need not be perfect knowledge about every action of earlier players; it might be very little information. For instance, a player may know that an earlier player did not perform one particular action, while she does not know which of the other available actions the first player actually performed.
The difference between simultaneous and sequential games is captured in the different representations discussed above. Normal form is used to represent simultaneous games, and extensive form is used to represent sequential ones.
Perfect information and imperfect information
An important subset of sequential games consists of games of perfect information. A game is one of perfect information if all players know the moves previously made by all other players. Thus, only sequential games can be games of perfect information, since in simultaneous games not every player knows the actions of the others. Most games studied in game theory are imperfect information games, although some interesting games are games of perfect information, including the ultimatum game and centipede game. Many popular games are games of perfect information including chess, go, and mancala.
Perfect information is often confused with complete information, which is a similar concept. Complete information requires that every player know the strategies and payoffs of the other players but not necessarily the actions.
Infinitely long games
For obvious reasons, games as studied by economists and real-world game players are generally finished in a finite number of moves. Pure mathematicians are not so constrained, and set theorists in particular study games that last for infinitely many moves, with the winner (or other payoff) not known until after all those moves are completed.
The focus of attention is usually not so much on what is the best way to play such a game, but simply on whether one or the other player has a winning strategy. (It can be proved, using the axiom of choice, that there are games—even with perfect information, and where the only outcomes are "win" or "lose"—for which neither player has a winning strategy.) The existence of such strategies, for cleverly designed games, has important consequences in descriptive set theory.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Uses of game theory
Games in one form or another are widely used in many different academic disciplines.
Game theory in economics and business
Economists have used game theory to analyze a wide array of economic phenomena, including auctions, bargaining, duopolies and oligopolies, social network formation, and voting systems. This research usually focuses on particular sets of strategies known as equilibria in games. These "solution concepts" are usually based on what is required by norms of rationality. The most famous of these is the Nash equilibrium. A set of strategies is a Nash equilibrium if each represents a best response to the other strategies. So, if all the players are playing the strategies in a Nash equilibrium, they have no incentive to deviate, since their strategy is the best they can do given what others are doing.
The payoffs of the game are generally taken to represent the utility of individual players. Often in modeling situations the payoffs represent money, which presumably corresponds to an individual's utility. This assumption, however, can be faulty.
A prototypical paper on game theory in economics begins by presenting a game that is an abstraction of some particular economic situation. One or more solution concepts are chosen, and the author demonstrates which strategy sets in the presented game are equilibria of the appropriate type. Naturally one might wonder to what use should this information be put. Economists and business professors suggest two primary uses.
Descriptive
A three stage Centipede Game
The first use is to inform us about how actual human populations behave. Some scholars believe that by finding the equilibria of games they can predict how actual human populations will behave when confronted with situations analogous to the game being studied. This particular view of game theory has come under recent criticism. First, it is criticized because the assumptions made by game theorists are often violated. Game theorists may assume players always act rationally to maximize their wins (the Homo economicus model), but real humans often act either irrationally, or act rationally to maximize the wins of some larger group of people (altruism). Game theorists respond by comparing their assumptions to those used in physics. Thus while their assumptions do not always hold, they can treat game theory as a reasonable scientific ideal akin to the models used by physicists. However, additional criticism of this use of game theory has been levied because some experiments have demonstrated that individuals do not play equilibrium strategies. For instance, in the Centipede game, Guess 2/3 of the average game, and the Dictator game, people regularly do not play Nash equilibria. There is an ongoing debate regarding the importance of these experiments. [3]
Alternatively, some authors claim that Nash equilibria do not provide predictions for human populations, but rather provide an explanation for why populations that play Nash equilibria remain in that state. However, the question of how populations reach those points remains open.
Some game theorists have turned to evolutionary game theory in order to resolve these worries. These models presume either no rationality or bounded rationality on the part of players. Despite the name, evolutionary game theory does not necessarily presume natural selection in the biological sense. Evolutionary game theory includes both biological as well as cultural evolution and also models of individual learning (for example, fictitious play dynamics).
Normative
| Cooperate | Defect | |
|---|---|---|
| Cooperate | 2, 2 | 0, 3 |
| Defect | 3, 0 | 1, 1 |
On the other hand, some scholars see game theory not as a predictive tool for the behavior of human beings, but as a suggestion for how people ought to behave. Since a Nash equilibrium of a game constitutes one's best response to the actions of the other players, playing a strategy that is part of a Nash equilibrium seems appropriate. However, this use for game theory has also come under criticism. First, in some cases it is appropriate to play a non-equilibrium strategy if one expects others to play non-equilibrium strategies as well. For an example, see Guess 2/3 of the average.
Second, the Prisoner's Dilemma presents another potential counterexample. In the Prisoner's Dilemma, each player pursuing his own self-interest leads both players to be worse off than had they not pursued their own self-interests. Some scholars believe that this demonstrates the failure of game theory as a recommendation for behavior.
Notes
- ^ Experimental work in game theory goes by many names, experimental economics, behavioral economics, and behavioral game theory are several. For a recent discussion on this field see Camerer 2003.
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Video: John Nash, a Nobel laureate in Economics (John Nash, a Nobel laureate in Economics, presenting his work in the Game Theory conference in France)
Cheating in Online Games
Cheating in online computer games is a broad category of activities, all of which are generally regarded as modifying the game experience in a way that gives a player an unfair advantage over the other players. Depending on the game, different activities constitute cheating, as it is often a matter of consensus opinion.
Cheating exists in all multiplayer, online computer games. While there have always been cheat codes and other ways to make single player games easier, most developers attempt to prevent it in multiplayer games. With the release of the first popular Internet multiplayer games cheating took on new dimensions. Previously it was rather easy to see if the other players cheated, as most games were played on local networks or consoles. The Internet changed that by increasing the popularity of multiplayer games, giving the players anonymity, and giving people an avenue to communicate cheats.
Types of Cheats
User Settings
Typically a player can change settings within a game to make it suit their play style and system. These alterations are generally not cheating, except in extreme circumstances. Changing the keyboard layout to make it easier to use is for example usually accepted. But issues such as changing in-game player models and textures, or modifying the brightness or gamma in order to make it easier to see in dark areas are sometimes borderline cheating.
Exploits
Usually included in this concept of cheating is the use of existing bugs or gameplay aspects unintended by the developers known as exploits. Gamers are divided as to whether all exploitation is cheating, though most consider exploits as cheats if they are particularly unfair. It is also difficult to classify some activities as exploits, because sometimes unintended features in games can make them much more fun to play, like bunny hopping in Quake. However, most exploits are unbalancing to a multiplayer game, and are called cheats because they are based on mistakes by the developers. For example, Duping ruins a synthetic economy and is rarely intended, and therefore is usually called a cheat.
External Software
The most unbalancing cheats usually come from external software. Either the program that runs the game is modified to allow the player to cheat, or other software is run which produces the same results. Wallhacks, aimbots, and other cheats fall into this category.
Cheesing
Cheesing (occasionally referred to as "cheap") is not cheating per se; it refers to players in online multiplayer football games such as Madden and NCAA making playcalls that wouldn't be made in real life, such as going for it on 4th down on their own 20. While doing this is within the rules unless players have formed a league and made an agreement not to cheese, it is generally frowned upon.
Implementation of Cheats
There are many facets of cheating in online games which make the creation of a system to stop cheating very difficult.
"Never trust the client" is a common maxim among multiplayer game developers that summarizes in their opinion the case of client-servers. It argues that programmers should assume that information sent to the client game will be known by that player, regardless of whether or not the player should know that information. For example, the server might tell a client in a First Person Shooter that a player is hiding behind a door and cannot be seen, but a wallhack cheat can reveal the player. Similarly, data from the client might indicate that the client teleported from one side of the map to another for some reason (possibly a change made to the game's data). The server is responsible for sending only the necessary information and for maintaining the game's continuity. (See "Efficiency versus absence of cheating" below for the drawbacks.)
The game software
Many cheats in today's games are changes to the game software, although many game companies have policies which forbid the modification of such code. While the software (for most games) is distributed in binary-only versions and encrypted to make it harder, reverse engineering is always possible. Also many of the data files for the games can be edited without editing the main program and thereby circumvent protections in the software.
Wallhacks and maphacks often function by modifying the software. Other cheats can analyze or change the game's state in RAM, such as some aimbots and programs that give infinite ammo or health.
The hardware
Turning up the brightness on the monitor or using specific graphic cards with drivers that allows you to look through walls ("wallhack") are examples of using hardware tricks to get an advantage. These are frequently impossible to track with software, but they also have limited effect.
Packet tampering
Some cheats completely circumvent the protection of the software by running in real-time and changing the game data while in transmission from the server to the client. Many aimbots, in first-person shooters use tricks like this. Some newer games encrypt the network data, but this uses up computer resources that could be used to make a faster-running or better game instead.
Preventing Cheats
Game developers and third party software developers have created technologies that attempt to prevent players from cheating. Anti-cheating software is most commonly used in popular first person shooters such as Half-Life and its various mods or Quake. A few examples of anti-cheat software are PunkBuster, Cheating-Death, Valve Software's VAC ("Valve Anti-Cheat") and Argus Anti-Cheat.
Some companies elect to ban suspected cheaters from their servers. When this is done by blacklisting the game's serial key, the player is often effectively prevented from playing online the game they purchased. Blizzard Entertainment and Valve Software are known to have banned players, though the actual number of players is unknown. These companies also chose not to restrict these players to "cheating allowed" servers, even though it would be just as easy to implement, mirroring the dislike some took to cheating.
Sometimes the anti-cheating fervor leads to embarrassment, such as when Phil DeLuca, America's Army executive producer, drew parallels between cheating and Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, and threatened FBI and Secret Service involvement. [1]
It might not be financially wise for a company to fight "cheaters" in its games. Multies are frequently banned in free games but they bring in revenue just like normal players in games that require subscription fees. Gamers have speculated that this is the reason why "two boxing" is not a bannable offense in major MMORPGs. Players are often less concerned about these circumstances because it might be debatable if the actions in question are a form of cheat.
Efficiency versus security
The more of the game code that is run on the server, the fewer cheats are generally possible in the game, as the server's operator has control over what happens. However, a game server has limited bandwidth and limited resources, which makes it necessary to distribute code to the clients. It's a tradeoff between lack of cheats and usability.
For example, a player is not supposed to know who is hiding behind a closed door. The server has to make a trade-off between calculating what the player can and cannot see, which is slow but wallhacks are unlikely, or sending the player the entire world state, which is fast but wallhacks are more likely.
Cheating in MMORPGs
While persistent world online games, such as MUDs and MMORPGs, are often subject to the same sorts of mechanical weaknesses to cheating as other online games, as often as not cheating in such games are social cheats, in the form of confidence games. Many of these confidence tricks are based on old-fashioned real-life tricks, or take advantage of the greed or inexperience of new players.
These scams often take the form of uneven trades or outright bad-faith dealing in trades of in-game items. Players will misrepresent the value of their goods to new players, substitute lookalike worthless items for valuable ones, offer to improve items (by crafting raw materials or enhancing equipment) and then just walk away with the item to be improved, or use one of any other con games.
Confidence tricks are often used to steal players' login information. Scammers will pose as the staff of the game, either in e-mail or in the game itself, and ask for the players' login information under any number of pretexts. Alternately, the scammer will offer cheating or automation services, or require that the player give their information as part of initiation into a (nonexistent) clan.
One particularly long-lived scam is the "Alt-F4 scam." In this scam, the scammer tricks the victim into pressing Alt and F4 (the command to exit a program in Windows; similar scams have used Ctrl-W, the command to close a window in Windows, Ctrl-C, the command to interrupt a Telnet connection, or Command-Q, the command to close a program in Mac OS). Sometimes the scammer tells the victim that this will duplicate a dropped item (which the scammer then picks up and absconds with), and sometimes this trick is just used to get rid of an annoying player.
Links
- Tom's Hardware: "Cheating: Multiplayer Gaming's Achilles' heel?" (May 2003)
- A Legal Perspective on Cheating in Online Multiplayer Games An academic paper that discusses the legal aspects of cheating and how to combat cheating with legal means.
- Multiplayer Cheatz Download Site"
- Game Code Cheat
- Play Station Game Cheat
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Aimbot
An aimbot, sometimes called "auto-aim", is software used in online multiplayer first-person shooter games that assists the player in aiming at the target. Since it gives the user an advantage over unaided players, it is considered a cheat.
Aimbots have varying levels of effectiveness. Some aimbots can do all of the aiming and shooting, requiring the cheater to only move into a position where they can see opponents. This level of automation usually makes it difficult to hide an aimbot though; for example, the player might make inhumanly fast turns that always end with his or her crosshairs targeting an opponent's head. Many highly-skilled players, especially in Counterstrike, are frequently accused of using such programs, and many anti-cheat mechanisms have been employed by companies such as Valve to prevent their use and thus avoid such accusations.
Some games, including Half-Life and Unreal Tournament 2004, have "auto-aim" as an option in the game. This is not the same as an aimbot. It simply helps the user to aim when playing offline against computer opponents.
Links
- Homepage of the Stanford StoogeBot
- HackProviders.com Aimbot downloads for Multiplayer First Person Shooters
- Anti-Cheating Website
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Video: Halo Aimbot
Types of Aimbots
There are several different types of aimbots at different levels of potency. Some aimbots are partially human controlled, and others operate solely on game-data using memory or packet work to produce actions. StoogeBot is an example of an aimbot (among other things) that operates solely memory and packets. More common, however, are human controlled aimbots.
Color Based Aimbots
The first of these kinds appeared with the first popular FPS games including quake, quake II, counter-strike, etc. These first aimbots were notoriously inaccurate and worked by replacing models with solid color enhancements which displayed vibrant colors while in-game. These were generally solid yellow, green, blue, and red, and each team generally had different color models. With these custom colored models in place, an application began scanning the screen for the color of said models. When it detected a colored model, it instantly moved the mouse on top of the x and y coordinates the color was located at and thus the player aims at the target automatically. Later versions of the color aimbots used spots of colors on a model's head instead of a full body colored model to enhance the potency. Many were detected using these when a player would spray his or her decal on the wall and the aimbot would foolishly aim at the wall instead of any players-- a rather comical effect.
Graphics Driver Based Aimbots
A step up in potency are graphic driver based aimbots. These types of hacks hijack control to the current API used to render a game's graphics to the screen to locate players and other objects. Once a player has been identified and tagged as the target, a series of calculations are performed to take the three dimensional location of a single coordinate within this model and convert it to a two dimensional set of coordinates. This pair of x and y values is then used in conjunction with some input API to move the cursor to the specified location, thus causing the player to aim at the target.
Memory, Engine, and Client Based Aimbots
Above graphics driver based aimbots are the most potent of all, memory based aimbots. Memory based aimbots are applications which read memory that stores the player's current viewing angles in the game and locates targets using graphics driver methods or by finding coordinate information in memory and using trigonometry calculates the desired angles to aim at a specific point on the enemy. Doing so causes the game to instantly jerk and aim at the target and remain there with extreme accuracy. A step above this is engine aimbots which use parts of the game's engine to query player coordinates and angles in order to perform the same actions which are generally more reliable than solely memory based ones. The previous two methods are generally referred to as "hybrid" aimbots-- that is they're a mixture of client and memory/graphic driver methods. A step above both of these are client aimbots which intercept client code ( generally using the information specified in an official SDK ) and directly modify the client to aim at the target in a similar manner as the previous two. This one is famous for the lock-on feature which means that while the aimbot is locked onto a target, even if you move your mouse you will not stray from the target. These three types of aimbots are incredibly potent.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Video: Halo PC clan {SGC} aimbots
StoogeBot
One of the first and certainly the most enduring example of an aimbot was the Stanford StoogeBot, a proxy-based system for the game Quake written by students at Stanford University. The StoogeBot featured a number of different modes (each of which implemented a different strategy), named after members of The Three Stooges. The StoogeBot's operator (known as the "driver") used an unmodified Quake client, and moved around the game world as normal, picking up equipment and pursuing (or, in theory, fleeing from) adversaries. Rather than being connected directly to the Quake server, the driver's client connected to a custom proxy on which the StoogeBot code ran. The driver's movement commands were passed through unaffected, but the StoogeBot assumed responsibility for selecting, targeting, and firing weapons. As Quake's network protocol allowed clients (and thus the StoogeBot) to know the positions of players even when they were obscured by scenery, the StoogeBot had the uncanny ability to shoot players moments after they emerged into view (even with slow-moving weapons such as rockets).
The driver's view didn't turn to match the StoogeBot's inhuman aim, instead behaving as if the StoogeBot wasn't present. The StoogeBot's operation was entirely automatic, and it made no attempt to hide its superhuman prowess. Indeed, it announced its presence (in an in-game chat message) and altered the player's name (as sent to the game server) to include the prefix "SBOT*", and its authors didn't release the source to their program, knowing unscrupulous users would immediately remove this protection. The StoogeBot's skills were so blatant, and any game involving a StoogeBot-assisted player so drastically one-sided, that when hacked StoogeBots (which didn't announce themselves) became available, their use remained glaringly obvious.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
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Maphack
Fog of war in a computer game. Black squares represent unknown terrain. Darkened ones have been explored, but are not currently observed by the player.
A maphack is a cheat in real-time strategy games that enables the player to see more of the map than the game intends them to see. A common feature in multiplayer real-time strategy games is the inability for the player to see outside the visibility range of the individual units and buildings that they player controls. This concept is called the fog of war. Maphacking enables a cheating player to bypass the fog of war, giving them an advantage over a player who is playing legitimately. This advantage is quite large for most of the real-time strategy games that rely on the rock-paper-scissors dynamic to balance out the units' varying strengths and weaknesses.
Maphacking has also been used to cheat in other games where map visibility provides an advantage, like Diablo II.
The maphack is functionally equivalent to a form of the wallhack for first-person shooter games which allows players to see through walls.
External Links
- Securegamers.com - A site for Warcraft III maphacks.
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.