Reward

All humans strive for rewards in life, be they short or long term. This process of striving for rewards is also found in the area of games. Digital game designers use reward within their games in order to keep the player interested, and to ensure they continue playing. Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good for You (2005, p.33), suggests that the appeal of video games is not through the possible sexual or violent content, but due to the fact that the structure of video games tap into the brains reward centre.

Hallford and Hallford (2002) believe there are four types of reward, these are rewards of; Glory, Sustenance, Access and Facility. A reward of glory can be seen in a game such as the original Pacman arcade game, where the player strives to 'eat' small dots and fruit in order to gain points. However, the point aspect of the game has no impact of the levels. The reward of sustenance can be seen in the game Doom, throughout the levels, rewards of extra life and armour are given to increase the characters life. The third reward is that of access. This can be seen in the game Pacman World 3. The character of Pacman is sent to try and save the world as it is about to end, and to get through each level, the player must ensure Pacman reaches certain points in the game, that will enable him to open new levels, such as jumping on button to allow access to the next level. The forth and final reward the Halford and Halford believe exists is that of facility. This can be clearly seen in the game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007. Throughout the game the player has to earn points in order to improve Tiger's ability to play.

Overall, reward is a something all humans want and strive for, and digital games are a way that the brain can achieve this need and want for reward.


Bibliography:

Johnson, S. (2005) Everything Bad Is Good for You: London: Penguin Books Ltd.

HOMO LUDENS

Johan Huizinga is author of the book 'Homo Ludens' (1938). The term 'homo ludens' translates to 'playing human.' (Mornhinweg, date unknown). The term 'Magic Circle' originally derives from Huizinga's Homo Ludens (1938), and refers to the state that a player is in when playing a game, this can be both physical (for example children playing a game of chase) or psychological (Digital gaming). The term 'Magic Circle' tends to capture the boundries of a game, and the rules set within it. Within the 'Magic Circle' there are special rules in which you can live out fantasies that would usually be either impossible to do, or illegal. An example of this can be seen in the game Grand Theft Auto, where the player is able to hijack cars and kill pedestrians, without punishment or any feelings of remorse. Salem and Zimmerman define the 'Magic Circle' as: "inscribing a place that is repeatable, a space both limited and limitless. In short, a finite space with infinate possibility." (95, Rules of Play).

Another important aspect of 'play' is that of 'lusory attitudes.' Bradford (2003) defines the Lusory Attitude as: "the attitude taken by the game players towards the playing of the game." The lusory attitude is the attitude that a player takes when deciding to enter the magic circle of a game, it means they must accept the rules of play, and enter into contract between players that these rules will be adhered to. Within the game Grand Theft Auto, players are unable to gain entry into all areas of the game, as they must complete tasks to unlock certain areas. The lusory attitude within this is the fact that a player must adheer to the rules of the game, to enable themselves to be able to move to different parts of the city, where as in real life, it is unlikely that a person would be locked out of parts of a city.



Bibliography:

Mornhinweg, M. (Date Unknown) Retrieved on 6th March 2007 from the World Wide Web:
http://ludens.cl/dummies.html

Whitehead, J. (10th January 2007) Definitions of Games and Play, Retrieved on 6th March 2007 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps080k/Winter07/lectures/game-defns-rules.pdf

Bradford, G (2003) Kudos for Ludus, Retrieved on 6th March 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/pcu/noesis/issue_vi/noesis_vi_3.html


Further Reading:
http://gamestudies.org/0601/articles/rodriges