Games Research Challenges - between the arts, the social, and technology

1. Games Research Challenges -between the arts, the social, and technology Center for Computer Games Research Espen Aarsethaarseth@itu.dk Korean Games Conference 2004 IT University of DenmarkRued Langgaardsvej 7 DK-2300 Copenhagen SDenmarktel: +45 7218 5045fax: +45 7218 5001 http://game.itu.dk

2. Games research challenges Can we have a field of games research? What are the grand challenges for this field? How can arts and humanities contribute? Best theories Grand Challenges

3. Center For Computer Games Research • Located at IT University of Copenhagen • People: four associate profs, three assistant profs, six PhD fellows • Two Labs (PC and Console): • Teaching lab (36 high-end PCs) • PhD courses, MSc courses: • Game theory, game culture, game design • Project management, conceptual design, 3D programming, “AI” programming • student game dev projects (eg. mobile MMOG)

4. Center research profile: • Established areas • Games and storytelling (Tosca, Klastrup, Juul, Aarseth) • Cultural & Social aspects (Taylor, Smith) • Ontology (Juul, Aarseth, Mosberg) • Growth areas • Serious games (Egenfeldt, Frasca) • Ethics (Sicart) • Design (Juul, Degn, Helms, Frasca, Folmann)

5. Example: ODDPAW project • ODDPAW: 3.5 mill. DKK • open source design and development of massive multiplayer platform • joint project involving all seniors • combines critical, social & technical • Open source solves many problems: • better code – build on others • no wheels to reinvent • low investment threshhold --> • more risktaking --> innovation • broader access to quality tools • games for “other” purposes (serious games)

6. Game Studies . org

7. Is it safe to study games? • Study at your own risk • “You have no future here” • They may ruin your career (Bartle, Castronova) • Not on our campus! (UCI) • Before 2001: few and far between

8. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t “To those of you who come out of dramatic and literary criticism: if you do to this medium what you have done to literature and drama, then communication between us is at an end.” –Ernest Adams, game designer

9. The six game study fields: • Game Theory: a branch of mathematics and economics • Play research: understanding children’s play • Gaming and Simulation: an experimental field that creates games for use in learning situations • Board game studies: the historical study of board games and their evolution • Philosophy of Sport - the study of athletics and physical sport • And since 2001, computer game studies: • Game ontology (ludology) • game criticism & game history • game sociology, economics and ethnography • game design theory (practitioner theorists: Bartle, Mulligan, Zimmerman) • game computer science (AI, visualisation, content management)

10. You say MYST, I say MMOG Do we need a better focus than ”games”? ”digital games” vs ”analog games”? Do we include Blackjack.com but not Dungeons & Dragons? Games are a rich genre: what we choose as object determines the result (Postal2 vs Sims)

11. Computer games: Social Big D: r kenny is a bitch Face: they're supposed to camp Petrol: good work kenny Clover: ya kenny The_Master killed kenny with m4a1 Lane: brave kenny Clover: good kenny Face: OMG they killed kenny! Petrol: valient kenny Lane: ...dead kenny Clover: taken on the hole team like that Clover: keeennnnny

12. Games in virtual environments • Three components: • Gameplay • (the players’ actions, strategies and motives) • Game-structure • (the rules, including the simulation rules) • Game-world • (fictional content, topology/level design, textures etc)

13. Discipline determines focus • Game-play: • sociology, ethnology, psychology, pedagogics • Game-structure: • game design, economics, computer science/AI • Game-world: • Art, aesthetics, history, cultural/media studies, law (IPR)

14. Best theories (1): Tronstad 2001 • The Big Debate: Are games stories? • A recurrent problem for the industry • The narrativists: Yes, (some) games are stories • The ludologists: No, they are games; games are not a subcategory of stories • Ragnhild Tronstad (using Austin): • stories are constative, games (quests) are performative • quests become constative after they are solved, hence the misunderstanding • Story-games are really quest-games • Proof: there are no other forms of “narrative” games (e.g. Anna Karenina) • Games don’t tell serious stories well: lack AI

15. Lost in Translation novel to film film to game game to film element

16. Best theories (2): Juul 2003 • What Wittgenstein couldn’t do • Jesper Juul’s game definition: • 1) Fixed Rules • 2) Variable outcome • 3) Valorization of outcome • 4) Player effort • 5) Player attached to outcome • 6) Negotiable consequences • http://www.jesperjuul.dk/text/gameplayerworld/

17. Challenges (1): Practical/To do  • Create a sustainable academic field • independent field or subfield? • Stay inside or go outside the humanities? • Already decided: interdisciplinary DIGRA conf 2003: 600 participants • Build a methodology – how do we analyze games? • Build a curriculum (ask Levelord!) • Hard to select among so many relevant fields - what could not be used? • Teach students what they need (not what they want) ? • Build free game platforms using open source • for experimental research, teaching (and art?) • ex: LinguaMOO, ODDPAW • Preserve historical games (on obsolete platforms)

18. Challenges (2): Theoretical • Understand the gameness of games • the social vs the competitive - how do they interact? • games vs virtual worlds, vs online communities • Combine formal and critical perspectives: • games are formal systems that may also convey values & ideologies • How to reconcile game structure and ideological analysis? (e.g. kings and queens in chess & card games, Sims fridges) • Dave Jones: GrandTheftAuto and Lemmings • Can we stop worrying and learn to love Postal 2? • Towards a unified theory (art, social, tech) of games?

19. Research “Grand” Challenges • To create an integrated theory of games, encompassing aesthetics, sociology, and technology • To improve game development • To support cultural, academic, and industrial needs through open source games • To use games and game technology for serious purposes (learning, art, communication) • And have fun doing it….