The Fantasy of Control

Games

… we love or hate and why.

• Scrabble (board game) – can use the final object for other word games, poetry or further creative activity
• 21 (cards) – HATE. boring, no competition, (discussion: does gambling make it interesting?)
• Call of Duty 4 (console) – Just like watching a film… but no more fun than a casual game
• Uncle Roy All Around You (Blast Theory) – Is it a game? That is the fun bit.
• Pick Up Sticks – Suspense
• Ice House Pieces – Playing pieces that can be turned into many different game
• Snakes and Ladders (board) – Nice and simple

The Fantasy of Control

• Interactive narrative – no real control
  • Anchorhead – search based interactive narrative
  • 253 – Geoff Ryman interactive tube novel
  • Both of these are what Barthes would call ’scripted’
• Playing God
  • is usually playing (and hopefully enjoying) micromanagement, not some strategic being
  • A lot of talk about Sim City
  • These things are Sims, a distinct style of game, not simulations
  • There is a lot of ’scripting’ in Sim City
    • They are all based on north American, grid-based cities
    • You can’t create many functioning cities of other sorts
    • The game tends to funnel you into certain choices, the cities parameters are designed to end up simulating a north American city.

Thanks Helen.