Encuestas aplicadas a las Secretarias del GADMCL

When attempting to justify why games engage human beings in the form of fun and play, Prensky (2007) suggested six key structural elements of games: rules, goals and objectives, outcomes and feedback, problems, interaction, and representation or story (see Table 2.2). The first three were seen as the classic elements and the latter three were considered as additional elements, especially for the structure of e-games. Prensky‘s (2007) linked the three classic elements to form a triangulated structure, in which he used the structure to differentiate games from other form of interactive activities, such as free or spontaneous play, toy and simulations. As shown in Figure 2.3, this structure is very similar to the fundamental structure of learning in formal education, which could be revealed by replacing the core of the structure—games— by ‗learning‘. This is Prensky‘s agenda in highlighting the potential and value of games in education and training, which promotes his ideal form of ‗digital game- based learning‘.

17 Table 2.2: The characteristics of the key structural elements of games, adapted from Prensky (2007, p. 119–124)

Elements Characteristics

Classic games

Rules Games are rule-based, hence organised play. Rules differentiate games

from free or spontaneous play. The limits imposed by rules force players to take specific paths to reach goals and ensure that all players take the same paths, which also draw the boundary between inside and outside of a game world.

Outcomes and feedback

Outcomes and feedback are the mechanism in which players measure their progress against the goals. The outcome is the win-lose state of play; while feedback occurs when something in the game changes in response to what players do, hence making game playing interactive. It is from the feedback in a game that learning takes place. This includes learning how the game works, what the game designer’s underlying model is, how to succeed and win. Through feedback, players either get rewarded for mastering something or they get word that they have failed at something, and have to try again or seek help, until they can do it. The goal of feedback is to enhance players’ experience and move them along in the game.

Goal or objectives

Games are goal-oriented. Goals or objectives differentiate games from toys, which are a form of non-goal-oriented play. The goal is often stated at the beginning of the rules, which requires players to devise strategies for achieving despite being limited by the rules. The process of achieving the goal within the rule-based conditions makes most of the players enjoy game playing.

e-games Problems Conflict, competition, challenge and oppositions are four forms of

problems in e-games players try to solve in safe and non-threatening conditions. In e-games, players can set their level of difficulty—a unique feature compared to classic games. Keeping the level of problem in synch with the player’s skills and progress is called ‘balancing’ in game design.

Interaction There are two aspects of interaction in game playing. The first is the

interaction of the player and the computer, which is a key element in classic e-games. The second is the inherently social aspect of games, involving one player with another, hence multiplayer.

Representation A game is about something, abstract or concrete, direct or indirect. Representation includes narrative, story or fantasy elements in the game.

Besides Prensky‘s (2007) structural view of games‘ elements, Roger Caillois suggested six characteristics of games from a sociological perspective (Caillois 1961), which are: fun, separated in time and place, uncertain, non-productive, governed by rules, and fictitious. The fundamental similarity of these two sets of elements lies on the functional role of fun in a rule-based environment. Fun is seen as the key factor that drives human beings to play games. The uncertain nature of game playing enriched Prensky‘s elaboration on the outcome and feedback of games. However, the non-productive and fictitious characteristics of games become the

18 unique features of Caillois‘ social perspective on games. This could be interpreted as- game playing does not accomplish anything useful (in the short term) because players are aware of the fictional reality when playing games. In the long term the skills learnt from games can be applied to real challenges.

Figure 2.3: The classic key structural elements of games proposed by Prensky (2007) Caillois‘ view of games as social activity was echoed by Berne (1964), who analysed games from a psychological perspective (see Table 2.3). In Berne‘s (1964)

classification of human behaviour, games were positioned as the third class of

human behaviours, which are socially programmed, partly exteropsychic—‗a portion

of the external world that has become an integral part of the internal world (Erskine 2002).‘ Other behaviours under the same order include pastimes, operations and manoeuvres and intimacy; but two unique characteristics: the ulterior quality and the pay-off, differentiate games from others (Berne 1964). Psychologically speaking, ‗a

game is an ongoing series of complementary ulterior transactions progressing to a well-defined, predictable outcome‘ (Berne 1964). According to Berne (1964), a typical game has nine elements: thesis, antithesis, aim, roles, dynamics, examples, transactional paradigm, moves, and advantages. This set of elements was meant for analysing the psychology of human relationships. Despite its targeting to general

19 readers, Berne‘s (1964) Games People Play: the Psychology of Human Relationships

contained many psychological jargon terms in describing the nature of games, thus the elements are more appropriate to use in psychological studies, rather than education.

Table 2.3: The characteristics of the elements of games, adapted from Berne (1964, p. 48–52)

Elements Characteristics

Thesis A general description of the game, including the immediate sequence of events and

information about their psychological background, evolution and significance.

Antithesis The presumption that a certain sequence constitutes a game, which is tentative

until it has been existentially validated. This validation is tested by a refusal to play or by undercutting the payoff. For clear understanding of a game, the antithesis should be known and its effectiveness demonstrated in practice.

Aim A statement of the general purpose of the game, which sometimes may have

alternatives.

Roles A way to describe games: two-handed, three-handed, many-handed, etc.,

according to the number of roles offered. Sometimes the ego state of each player corresponds to the role, sometimes it does not.

Dynamics The psychodynamic driving forces behind each case of a game. There are

alternatives in stating dynamics, but it is usually possible to pick out a single psychodynamic concept which usefully, aptly and meaningfully characterises the situation.

Examples Cognates which are worth-while to search for in making formal descriptions of

games. The cognates could be the childhood origin of a game, or its infantile prototypes that are instructive to study.

Transactional paradigm

A paradigm where the transactional analysis of a typical situation is presented, giving both the social and psychological levels of revealing ulterior transaction.

Moves Elements of a game that correspond roughly to the strokes in a ritual. As in any

game, the players become increasingly adept with practice. Wasteful moves are eliminated, and more and more purpose is condensed into each move.

Advantages The general advantages of a game consist in its stabilising or homeostatic functions.

Biological homeostasis is promoted by the stroking, and psychological stability is reinforced by the confirmation of position. The advantages are further divided into internal psychological advantage that has a direct effect on the psychic economy (libido); external psychological advantage which is the avoidance of the feared situation by playing the game; internal social advantage that is designated by the name of the game as it is played in the individual’s intimate circle; and external social advantage which is designated by the use made of the situation in outside social contacts.

Another set of games‘ elements which are also discipline-specific is linked to the game theory developed by mathematician John von Neumman and economist Oskar Morgenstern (1944). Game theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where the outcome of a participant‘s choice of action depends critically on the actions of other participants

20 (ORO 2005). The theory has been further studied and applied in disciplines beyond mathematics and economics, such as the study of convention in philosophy (Lewis 1969; Skyrms 1996), evolutionary biology and ecology (Maynard Smith & Harper 2003; Maynard Smith & Price 1973), interactive computation modelling in computer science (Goldin, Smolka, & Wegner 2006), and voting systems in political science (Brams 1976). Interestingly, some philosophers or ideologists were regarded as game theorists although their work ceased long before the field of game theory came into being in 1944. The ideas of game theory were ‗seriously‘ included in Thucydides‘

History of the Peloponnesian War and Plato‘s Republic: the Challenge to Socrates

(Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2010); Sun Tzu‘s The Art of War (Tao 2006); Wang Chan‘s 鬼谷子(Gui Gu Zi, a classic text of Taoism) (Mei 2006) and Niccolò Machiavelli‘s The Prince (Binmore et al. 1993, p. 23).

Some contemporary GBL researchers stress that game theory should not be confused with games studies, particularly in games for use in education and training. Simon (2007) argued that ‗game theory and games studies obviously hardly ever met,‘ because game theory ‗is very much interested in games with outcomes that have very

serious non-negotiable consequences.‘ Based on this argument, the singular ‗game‘ in ‗game theory‘ was limited to refer to the mathematical-logical studies of games, while the plural ‗games‘ in ‗games studies‘ refer to the humanities based research of games (Simons 2007). However, this avoidance approach may prompt more

arguments rather than clarifying the overlapping situations as it would be

unreasonable to deny that the notions of ‗game‘ in game theory and game playing or even in GBL share common characteristics. This thesis attempts to clarify, instead of diffusing, the similarities and differences by analysing why game theory was coined as game theory, i.e. what elements of games exist in a typical game of the theory to qualify its use of the notion ‗game‘. Straffin (1993) studied the nature of games in game theory and listed four components possessed by a typical game in game theory (see Table 2.4).

21 Table 2.4: The explanation of game components in game theory, proposed by

Straffin (1993, p. 3)

Components Explanation

Player An entity who makes a choice in a game or who receives a payoff from the outcome

of those choices. There are at least two players, but the entity does not have to be human being.

Strategies Courses of action which each player may choose to follow in a game.

Outcome The outcome of the game is determined by the strategies chosen by each player.

Payoffs A collection of numerical representation associated with each possible outcome of

the game, one to each player. These payoffs represent the value of the outcome to the different players.

In terms of interactivity, the game in game theory is either sequential or

simultaneous, which are two types, each of many moves, that could be taken by players as feedback in the structure of a classic game, as proposed by Prensky (2007). The emphasis on goal or objectives orientation in game theory is limited to achieving either zero-sum (where gain to one player is loss to another) or non-zero- sum (where both or all players can gain or lose simultaneously) outcome. These limitations are indeed reflecting the ‗rule-based‘ nature of classic games. As a result, a typical game in the game theory is not contradictory to the essence of classic games; it is just the rules of the game that are set to suit specific game playing contexts, and the playing is focusing on the strategies‘ deployment and the payoffs, rather than winning the game. Therefore, game theory could be a theory applicable to game playing if the conditions of the playing meet the rules set by the theory. In other words, discarding game theory from games studies is actually a non-issue.