Defining Games

Scott Miller, a CEO of a game studio, in his blog Game Matters discussed definitions of games from the book Rules of Play. He ends with a definition of his own,

A game is a structured set of fun problems.

What makes this post interesting are the number of comments – the dialolgue that follows. In some ways the dialogue circles the family of resemblances between games. The play at defining is game.

Net-enabled games: In Memoriam

LibÈration :†In Memoriam au-del‡ du virtuel is a review/comment by Bruno Icher in Liberation.fr about the game In Memoriam from Lexis NumÈrique. The review is of a game that includes fictional news in LibÈration – Recherche (you have to search for “Jack Lorski” to get these stories.)
Let me scribe the circle: a newspaper review of a game that relies partly on fictional news placed on the same real newspaper Web site – news of a game of news. Bruno is aware of the questions this raises, here are the questions he asks of this ludic circularity,

Il y a presque deux ans, Eric Viennot a souhaitÈ impliquer liberation.fr dans cette aventure. Si nous avons acceptÈ, c’est qu’on avait envie de jouer. Un faux site Web est-il possible ? Que croire de ce que l’on peut y lire, Ècouter, voir ? Voil‡ pourquoi quatre pages du site de LibÈration font partie intÈgrante d’In Memoriam.

I think “faux Web site”, even in English, describes such a phenomenon, and yes it’s possible if we can tell the difference. What Bruno doesn’t ask about is the advertising on the faux and real pages – are they for real? Is this a way for news sites to draw eyeballs to sell ads? Is it unethical for a news site to do this? Can we agree on a disclaimer that doesn’t ruin the game?
For an English review of the English version of the game with the title In Memoriam see, “Missing: Since January” a strange slightly spooky journey by Neil Davidson, Canadian Press, July 20, 2004.
The game, which I haven’t played in either French or English version, has apparently been a hit in Europe. It is a successful working out of an experiment that Electronic Arts failed at with Majestic which was terminated in 2001. See Can PC gamers handle innovation – Dec. 19, 2001 by Chris Morris in CNN Money.
Engines that can manage such chat/mail/faux Web games could have research/education applications. Suppose a course was designed as such a complex treasure hunt.

Deep Green: Computers and Games

I, Pool Shark (The Globe and Mail, Anne McIlroy, Sat. July 24, 2004, p. F9) is a science story about Michael Greenspan‘s work on a pool playing AI/robot called “Deep Green”!
What is the connection between games and AI? Chinook, the checkers playing AI developed at the U of Alberta was the first “Man-Machine Champion” – the Guinness Book of Records says so. (See Chinook (ACJ Extra) by James Propp.) Deep Blue, got more attention as it mastered a more popular game – chess. Deep Blue is an IBM Research project that repeatedly beat Garry Kasparov in chess, demonstrating that computers could win at games we think of as complex and indicative of intelligence. Now Deep Green takes on a game with motor skils – pool.

Playing games is a paradigmatic human activity, for which reason, developing computers that can play them with us makes an interesting history. Games, in so far as they work within the constraints of simple rules and worlds, are easier to simulate on a computer than “real world” situations like conversation so they can stand in for Turing Tests. Programming a super-computer to win at some popular game is a way to get attention and support for an AI research project. I am tempted to say that just as we teach children through structured play, we are teaching computers by designing them to master one game after another. The difference is that the same child learns one game after another, and we don’t expect them to master games. Computer systems, in contrast, are being optimized for one game at a time and being developed until they beat the best.
What if the same system were taught to master one game after another? Could we see emergent properties independent of any particular game? What might be the games we would choose to teach it?
Continue reading Deep Green: Computers and Games

Espen Aarseth: (What) Can the Humanities Contribute to Game Research?

Espen Aarseth gave the closing plenary at the Gothenberg ALLC/ACH 2004. His talk was a masterful tour through the field of computer games research leading to thoughts on what the humanities have to offer. Espen reminded us that he used to go to the ACH/ALLC but didn’t find it appropriate to his interests.
What follows are some notes from his talk.
Continue reading Espen Aarseth: (What) Can the Humanities Contribute to Game Research?

EverQuest or EverCrack

Wired News has a peice on The Quest to End Game Addiction. It is mostly anecdotal, but mentions two Yahoo groups of EQ widows, one of which apparently has more than 1000 members.
The most touching part is a link to a confession by a 17 year-old Ontario boy on how he suffered from computer game addiction. (See Re: Computer Game Addiction.) Could this be a spoof?
Is game “addiction” a significant problem? Could it be a reflection of a gap between those who play and those who don’t – non-players convinced that there must be something wrong with the player.

The Walrus: Game Theories

In the current The Walrus there is a good (cover) article, “Game Theories“, by Clive Thompson. The article starts withy Edward Castranova’s online papers on online game economies and moves from there cover some of the emerging economic phenomena. The closing question is whether players really have ownership rights to their virtual property and what would happen if a game closed down rendering that property worthless (as may be happening to There.) Would/will people sue for lost income/value or do the game companies own it all, despite the underground economies that have emerged?
Continue reading The Walrus: Game Theories