Goals, Structure, Struggle... what makes a game a game?

Blog Post number 2, this time I'll be talking about a BBC bitesize Key Stage 1 revision game that I'll analyse using Costikyan's definition of a game. The bitesize game in question is one that is suppossed to teach children how to recognise shapes and various aspects of them (such as lines of symmetry), not something that I would normally play but it is interesting to look and see how the game has been made and how to improve it.

In my opinion, the game was quite badly flawed and this will most likely be demonstated in the following paragraphs.

Interaction
Interaction in a game is how the player sees the game and how they change it, such as making decisions and the different outcomes from each of thier decisions. In this key stage 1 game there is a limited ammount of interaction - the player is given a choice of 3 shapes to choose from and they must choose the right one based on the description given to them by the computer - and this limited interaction is a hinderance to the quality of the game.

Goals
The goal of the game is to successfully identify 5 sets of 3 shapes, ultimately from which (in the game) a robot invention is made. The player will most likely get a sense of achievement and victory from getting 5/5 and creating the robot but ultimately there is little reward for completeing the game and fulfilling the goal - this too is a hinderance to the quality of the game.

Struggle
Struggle, in regards to a game, is about the challenge of reaching the goals or competing with others to get to the goal first. In this game however, there is almost no struggle mainly due to the fact that there is no chance of failure - even if you get the shape wrong you have an infinite ammount of tries to get it right, you will ultiamtely reach the goal. On a positive note, there are various levels of difficulty but without the chance of failure this is almost meaningless.

Structure
The structure of the game is almost non-existent, you pick the shape, you either get it wrong and have to try again or you progress to the next choice of shapes. The only rule of the game is which shape is right and which is wrong and ultimately it is a very linear path and your choices don't change this - something which in a game you would expect.

Endogenous Meaning
Endogenous meaning refers to things that have meaning in the game world but hold no significance in the real world. In this game the only thing that is endogenous is the invention that is made - the player tries to get 5/5 to get the invention made but the invention isn't real and ultimately the player gains nothing. In this regard then the game is actually how one would expect it to be (did I just put 'how one would expect it to be'..? how posh...).

My overall evauation of the game and possible improvements
Overall, I think that the game does satisfy the requirements needed to class it as such but its a different matter to say if it is any good or not. The game is flawed in almost every aspect (I don't need to say why, it's all explained above), even endogenous meaning where I praised it as ultimately it is an education game and will benefit people in the real world by teaching them. Asa result of this I think I can come up with several improvements that may not neccessarily make the game perfect, but will improve it to a suitable standard.

Interaction - The player should be given feedback on thier decisions, why are the decisions right and why are they wrong, etc. The game should do this to try and help the player learn; the KS1 pupil will never learn from thier mistakes if they aren't told why the mistake has been made.

Goal - The reward for completeing the game should be greater, even if the struggle was improved by giving an option to fail would imporve the game greatly. On an independant note though a good potential improvement would be to reward the player for getting 5/5 for playing as the invention they make or something fun like that.

Struggle - The simpleist way to improve this is simply to give the player the option to fail, give them lives that when they run out they have to try again. Or another suggestion, give them a points reward system for right or wrong answers that allows them to compete with other players for the best score.

Structure - This is a difficult area to suggest improvements to as if the structure is changed to much (such as rules) you change the concept of the game and it becomes something new. However, one improvement would be to allow progression of the game's difficulties - at the present, when you start the game you have access to all the difficulties - so that as you complete medium you unlock hard, etc.

Endogenous Meaning - This actually doesn't need improving, the player knows what is real and what isn't, they know the creation isn't real and, even though it goes against endogenous meaning, the game helps the player in the real world to further thier education.

So there we have it, my second blog post is done. Hopefully you'll see that I have a good understanding of what makes a game a game and have the ability to analyse it as such.

Til next time, that's all folks!