Who needs instructions!

Jane McGonigal states to us what that "all games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation." (McGonigal, 2011, p.21) 

Without rules it would make the goal very easy to achieve as it would be basic, as in the example McGonigal talks about golf, as it is very easy to simply put the ball in the hole with your hand when your standing beside it but when you add the rules that you must hit the ball with a golf club and that you have to be at a certain distance from the hole this is what makes the game hard. It is the hardness that we thrive for as "in a good computer or video game you’re always playing on the very edge of your skill level, always on the brink of falling off. When you do fall off, you feel the urge to climb back on." (McGonigal, 2011, p.24) So basically a game isn't a good game unless we are always pushing ourselves. Feedback is also what keeps the addiction for us as throughout the game we are always able to see the goal and see how far we are to the goal this makes us want to achieve the goal and not let the game win.

"Games today come in more forms, platforms, and genres than at any other time in human history." (McGonigal, 2011, p.20) Gaming has evolved so fast from the beginning of gaming. It has evolved that quickly that we don't even play games in the same way in which we first begun. In games such as portal as Jane McGonigal puts the point forward that "Traditionally, we have needed instructions in order to play a game. But now we’re often invited to learn as we go."(McGonigal, 2011, p.26) This just proves that we as a culture and society have become more advanced and more creative in the fact that we no longer want to know how things work or how to do it but that we like the challenge and self satisfaction from working it out yourself and just basically trying to achieve the goal before you no the goal. 


Bibliography
McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Penguin Press HC.

 

Reality May Be Broken, But 'Other Reality' Is Coming To An End

Jane McGonigal opens the first chapter of her 'Reality is Broken' book with a quote from Bernard Suits about the definition of a game.

Playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles

(Suits, B. 2005: 54-55)

In his book, entitled 'The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia' Suits offers up the concept of the Lusory Attitude, which is a psychological mindset where the player will be willing to accept the rules of the game, in order the reach the goal.

"To play a game is to attempt to achieve a specific state of affairs, using only means permitted by rules, where the rules prohibit use of more efficient in favour of less efficient means, and where the rules are accepted just because they make possible such activity" (Suits, B. 2005: 54-55)

McGonigal sets out the four main aspects of a game; goal, rules, feedback and voluntary participation. The rules make the goal hard to reach, this is what challenges the player and ultimately sets out the game as a whole. Without rules, the goal would be a one move completion. Feedback is a way for a player to know how far they are through the game. 

However, feedback, in certain instances is not necessarily important, especially for the "infinite" games which James P. Carse talks about in 'Finite and Infinite Games' (1986). These games are ones which the player does not want to finish. A loose example of this is Rockstar's 'GTA V' The player wants the story to continue and want it to be very long, because once its over, their 'other reality' is gone.

Games are being seen to form the same structure, but what has been so successful about the industry is how differently this structure can be interpreted. 

Bibliography

McGonigal, J. (2011). Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. Penguin Press HC.

Suits, B. (2005, The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia, Broadview Press.
Carse, J.P. (1986), Finite and Infinite Games. New York: Ballantine Books.