Original author | [Sweden] Barry Brown [Sweden] Oscar Julin
Excerpts | Liu Yaguang
Enjoying machines: new technologies and the pleasure of modern forms, by Barry Brown and Oscar Zhulin, editions: China Workers Press, 2022-2-1
1
The enjoyment mechanics of the game
A question has been asked in game research: Why is gaming a "treat"? This issue is especially important in game design, as most games fail because they don't make the game fun. Game research has developed a set of useful concepts for thinking about enjoying practice. Four of these concepts are particularly useful: ambiguity, magic circle, challenge, and flow.
We can start with Sutton Smith and his discussion of the game. Sutton-Smith emphasizes that the game is somewhere between reality and non-reality. When animals play a game of chasing each other, they know that playful light bites are almost like real bites, but not exactly the same. We can go to places to visit, watch TV, dream, and even make small talk in a playful way, and the element of play allows us to express it in a non-gaming way, but not quite in that sense.
Just as playful fighting teaches animals what they need to do when they need to fight seriously, we can also unfold realistic events in the game. Chess is a good game precisely because it has the shadow of battle. It is precisely because of the imitation of the market that Monopoly is a good game. It's hard to agree that Tetris is a parody of "Cold War" tensions, but it's safe to say that games reflect our own times or provide insight into our predicament and add color to the gaming experience.
Computer games usually have a rich plot and characters. Here, the ambiguity of the game allows us to see our own struggles in the struggles of the game characters. The game offers opportunities for different forms of wish fulfillment, which can enhance the fun of the game. In Grand Theft Auto, the battle against the police isn't just a manipulation of a fictional character, nor is it just a dexterous maneuver. Instead, it involves police officers chasing characters in virtual American cities. Detonating a car in virtual Times Square or the Hollywood Hills, this part of the game is not ambiguous, does not make us think that we are really shooting a policeman, but lets us have a virtual game action.
Games also echo other mediums, with Grand Theft Auto strongly echoing other mediums such as crime movies and books. In fact, sometimes the real contribution of games is that they allow us to play in familiar places——— the Wild West, The Battle of galactic space, New York City in the 1970s, etc. So what is ambiguous is not the relationship between real life and games, but the relationship between fantasy and fiction, movies, and the game sandboxes we choose. Perhaps for this reason, characters in video games are often clichéd, and this imitation is obvious.
In the game, we need to gain the skills to overcome these challenges. Next, game design becomes crucial in order to maintain a balance between "negative" and "positive". As the player's skills improve, the game should give the player a sense of progress, otherwise the game will be considered "too difficult". Then there's balance, which is to maintain a balance between the challenges of the game and the player's abilities. If the game is too difficult, players will feel frustrated. If the game is too easy, the player will get bored again. But sometimes even if it's a very unchallenging activity, repeating the same thing over and over again can be enjoyable for some players. At the other extreme, games like Fortress of the Dwarves seem too difficult. So much so that players can be motivated to the point of obsession, and obviously, the balance between challenge and skill depends on the individual.
Wittgenstein said, "Happiness is not an impression, because impressions do not produce happy consequences." (Source "Enjoy the machine", the same below)
This state of balancing boredom and frustration was named "flow" (i.e. "flow") by Xicim Mihali, which he described as: people are fully engaged in one activity while other things become irrelevant. The experience itself is so enjoyable that people will go to great lengths to execute it at all costs. Of course, losing yourself in a game or a particular activity is an important part of the game. When people are in a fluid state, they are preoccupied with a particular activity and are often at the peak of their abilities.
The concept of fluidity encompasses the rich concepts of motion and behavior. It has become very popular as a way to understand several activities, including sports and drama. Of course, how the flow emphasizes the feeling of acting in a particular way is important. However, as an "extreme", it does not adequately explain the mundane but still very pleasant state of the game.
In fact, many experiences may not be described as a flow, but can still be immersive. One might find themselves focused on one game and then share a joke with another player the next minute. Immersion ——— the degree to which we concentrate in the game above all else——— may be a more flexible concept because it allows our attention to shift from the game to other events and back into the game.
Why is the flow between frustration and boredom pleasant? Build the concept of "progress, development, skills learning and overcoming challenges". It seems that there is a role to play in this regard. However, if we want to truly understand enjoyment, we must delve into the specific details and characteristics of specific activities.
2
Life-and-death shooting and practice make perfect pleasure
Counter-Strike is one of the most popular first-person shooters in the world (a genre that involves navigating a three-dimensional virtual environment and aiming to wipe out other players). It was originally developed in 1999 as a free-to-play improvement to the existing game Half Life, and was later released as a commercial game. In an industry where games and ideas can be traded quickly, Counter-Strike is still running and is wildly popular, which is very noteworthy. Counter-Strike has over 3 million regular players, and as a form of human-computer interaction, this game is very popular.
We believe that the most core components of the Counter-Strike gaming experience are derived from the interaction of machines, players and environments, as well as the player's contact with the core game mechanics. What is the essence of learning a complex device, playing it well and playing with others? How are skills developed and maintained in a changing environment?
Players' experience with Counter-Strike usually begins with choosing a suitable server. Players can join a game from a list of available active game servers. The game itself is played on a specific set of "maps", each of which is actually a separate 3D virtual environment. Players "get into action" by adding a game they want to play, and then choose one of two teams: Terrorist or Counter-Strike.
While players choose one of the teams to play when they enter the first round, a strong commitment to the game and team activities is more important than a commitment to one team. In fact, players sometimes form "hordes" to form a more powerful way of cooperating. Because Counter-Strike is a recurring event, players must wait until the end of the current round before they can "rendezvous" with the rest of the team at a specific location on the map.
Countless young people cheered on the stage for gamers. Although the core components of Counter-Strike culture and gameplay experience are derived from the interaction of machines, players and environments, as well as the player's contact with the core game mechanics.
After the Rendezvous, players quickly buy weapons, armor, and other equipment (such as shard grenades or flash grenades) and begin the next round. Each map has a specific goal associated with it, such as dropping a bomb or rescuing a hostage. The turn ends when the mission is completed or one party is wiped out. If neither of these happens, the timer will ensure that the round ends within a few minutes (the timer starts at the start of the game and has two to three minutes of playtime). Although players may die in a match, their teams can win by reaching their goal (freeing the hostages or killing all members of the opposing team). Correspondingly, a player can survive this round, but his team may lose the game because it does not reach the goal.
The key to playing well is to move and manage your appearance and condition during the game. Movement in the gaming environment is done by operating the mouse and keyboard. Full control of the avatar's movements in a virtual environment requires dexterity in hand manipulation.
Counter-Strike is a prime example of this game, where the mouse allows players to guide their own perspective and trajectory, and enables weapon shooting, weapon swapping, and adjustments to the semi-automatic and fully automatic modes of the scope as auxiliary equipment. The keyboard enables the player to guide him through forward, backward, and sideways movements, and provides keys for reloading, diveting, lowering, and other actions for weapons.
Players move quickly around the map and skillfully perform multiple moves. A lot of coherent movements are achieved smoothly in less than a second. These actions depend on the analysis of terrain features in order to select the appropriate action at each juncture. Players must carefully maintain their position so that their teammates can see and enemies can't. The player knows that he is vulnerable and dangerous, as he has the potential to see the enemy player within firing range.
Connecting these small actions together to form longer sequences of behaviors in time and structure is a major challenge towards professional skills. In practice, this means coordinating movement, aiming, and shooting in specific ways, as well as establishing seamless connections related to terrain, such as sequences of movements that the player demonstrates: descending stairs, bypassing dangerous windows, passing through corners and open areas, etc. The time, posture and direction of movement are also central features of this sequence. Experienced players will successfully "slide" into a vantage point within the terrain when quickly dodging, aiming, shooting, and retreating. The speed of action depends on these movements, as the reaction time required when other players go from seeing an enemy to aiming and shooting is almost always fatally slow. Novice players are constantly killed and start over, and this game is extremely difficult for novices. Even a professional player has the potential to be killed by enemy actions.
Mature abilities in "action order" and "movement mode" allow players to focus on the task of defeating opposing team members without spending their attention on slow reactions when surprised or trapped in terrain. The player dies not because he lacks the skills needed to defeat his enemies, but because he has failed in key identification skills.
Sudno describes learning to play Bricks. There is a similar experience in this game, and the development of dexterity (gamepad) based on time, pattern, and action sequences is only part of this broader skill development. Of course, there is an inner pleasure for the player to construct these sequences of actions into a series of successful attacks, thus showing other players a certain level of skill.
In the game, the duo have many resources at their disposal: their "at a glance" visual image, their depiction of "terrorists" in the game ——— including their orientation at the end of the corridor, and their behavior within the space. However, players coordinate their movements when they are close to each other. Teammates don't awkwardly huddle together as they cross the corridor, but maintain some sort of virtual distance from each other in a more orderly "route" that maximizes visibility into their teammates' positions and actions. The sequence of queues also supports the "offensive order", with the player in front in a more dangerous position, shooting better and protecting teammates in areas with less visibility and more protection. Players also maintain a distance from their teammates to prevent "friendly fire" or mutual obstruction. This spatial organization is where players maintain their positioning of each other through astute observation and visual analysis.
However, the collaboration in Counter-Strike isn't just visual. Of course, players can see each other's avatars, but they can also hear footsteps, gunshots, and pre-recorded audio that players can trigger during game turns, for example, "Everybody stay in formation!" In addition to this, players can also broadcast their words to other players using the voIP protocol feature supported by the game.
Players of World of Warcraft must make a fairly large commitment to the game: they must organize certain aspects of their lives around the events in the game. If a game starts to clash too much with the outside world, we may actively monitor the boundaries and choose to reject or reduce our investment in the game.
3
A balance between frustration and boredom
Now let's talk about the question of "why Counter-Strike is enjoyable." We've given some focus on this issue in the game research we've talked about earlier, but the details of the game we've discussed are worth highlighting. The first concept discussed earlier is ambiguity, where what we do in the game somehow echoes what we do in real life. Counter-Strike shows a militarized style centered around "bad guys" and "good guys," which is clearly an echo of Old-School Hollywood movies. Although it is unlikely that we ourselves will be on either side of the situation, we can recognize the stakes and motivations of the different protagonists.
Playing as a "terrorist" also offers a somewhat outrageous pleasure in supporting the "bad guys". These pleasures, in turn, rely on the ability of the Magic Circle to figure out what a game is and what is not. The Magic Circle is important here because it allows to define a game that, unlike real hostage situations, can be repeated multiple times. One of the greatest joys of Counter-Strike is the repetition of round after round.
A related fun is that if a player kills another player, that player will be kicked out of the round and banned from entering for a period of time. While this is only a small punishment, the fact that people's actions have real-world effects on other people, even if you rarely have direct exposure to those effects. This provides exceptional social fun beyond the magic circle.
Finally, a balance arises between frustration and boredom. Unfortunately, this is calibrated for those who have mastered the skills in first-person shooters, which can make it extremely difficult for novice players to get started and frustrating the game. Therefore, the game uses skills that you gain while playing other games. One of the challenges when playing Counter-Strike online is that the difficulty of the game depends in part on the skills of other players. This allows most professional players to play together on the LOCAL AREA NETWORK.
We can see the concept of "flow", although it does capture some game elements, but it is relatively ineffective in analysis. One might say that the player is in a flow state, that is, immersed in the game. However, this creates a relatively undifferentiated Counter-Strike gameplay feel——— when the player is in a fluid state, the game itself has quite a bit of variation and contrast, for example, the player chooses to stay on the rabbit's "squat" or a head-on fierce exchange of fire. In addition, in many game videos, the player often acts as an observer to explain his game progress to us. It is clear that when he concentrates, he can communicate with other people while doing the task.
So while these concepts work together for a wide range of uses, they still haven't thoroughly studied the important aspects of Counter-Strike. In particular, it offers little opportunity to understand the game tricks that we focus on when analyzing videos. As we have described, players can learn a range of different skills that will allow them to successfully win the game, from recognizing other players' team relationships at a glance, to understanding how terrain plays a role in the game. These game skills are acquired in interactions with the game process and the opportunities that provide play.
Moreover, these concepts do not explain why Counter-Strike is enjoyable. Why learn and utilize all the skills to make it a delightful game? So, what factors in playing and co-op with other people (even those who shoot at you) make Counter-Strike enjoyable?
As we said earlier, enjoyment and skill are interrelated. In many forms of enjoyment, people must "learn" how to enjoy something, and being able to enjoy a particular activity requires certain skills. Also pay attention to and understand what is the ultimate in enjoyment. Counter-Strike is clearly like that, people have to have certain skills. But perhaps more importantly, games that require skills involve setting up the acquired skills. Almost every move shows a player's skill level. In some games, such as chess, skills are displayed in multiple moves, while in Counter-Strike each action is shown and depends on the player's abilities. Due to the constant repetition of turn-based games, skills can develop rapidly with the player's experience. The key here is progress, and when players return to Counter-Strike, every game is different. In each game, players have the opportunity to test different techniques and slowly master them. Since the performance of each match only affects that round (which may only last for a few minutes), players can quickly correct the error. This fast, low-cost repetitive game creates an excellent training environment. In addition, players can observe each other, which provides an opportunity to learn from each other. Counter-Strike is interesting because it's a forum for learning, implementing, demonstrating, and honing skills. Playing Counter-Strike is not unconscious or inattentive, it depends on acquiring a high level of operational dexterity, the player's ability to collaborate with others, and understanding the role that the terrain of the virtual environment plays in the game.
Another way to look at Counter-Strike is the timing of the game. Counter-Strike has a particularly short timing, which allows the game to be paced and repeated quickly. Counter-Strike timing is especially good for learning the skills required by first-person shooters. Because the rounds are short, any failures or mistakes are quickly forgotten in the next round, and repeating the game over and over on the same map helps players learn the hidden details of each map and how to get the most out of them.
Will we limit our most enjoyable moments to the maximum stimulation of our brains when we reach the summit, or will we limit them to the moments when we confirm success? The climb itself is painful and unpleasant, but it is part of the fun of climbing to the top.
This temporarily goes beyond a turn-based structure. In a fierce shootout, intense encounters often occur when players on both sides get close to each other, especially when one player "surprises the other.". In the more intense pre-stages, players will move around the map, waiting for the opposing player to appear. The game time structure is a strong coupling between "preparation" and "firefighting". Sniping at other players from a distance has the effect of killing two birds with one stone——— both shooting enemies from a distance and protecting themselves.
The last question we wanted to explore from the Counter-Strike study was: How does the game focus player behavior on killing and being killed? In a way, this is the ambiguous topic we discussed earlier. In Counter-Strike, people experience "terrorists" versus "Counter-Strike" scenarios. When people are playing this type of game, there is an imaginary scene that gives some overall meaning to the scene. Militarized narratives in many games have been a hot topic in game research. Many of the stories are derivatives of other media, echoing action movies and books rather than any "real life" experiences that players have.
Killing or being killed in Counter-Strike is an emotional act and the risk is not particularly high. The cost of being killed (a few minutes of gameplay time) and the reward for killing people are not great. Moreover, the killer will never be known to the player he kills, except for a few seconds of interaction. However, killing is the focus and core of enjoying the game. In these matches, the player's emotional performance is particularly prominent. Those players who are shot often swear, and a player tends to get excited when they kill people. The game has a kill every 10 seconds or so. A player's skills are demonstrated when he kills people. Although killing people usually has an element of luck, the game tracks each player's killings and displays statistics for each turn to provide a list of competitive leagues. In fact, the killing of all players on a particular server is announced, which makes this skill something that other players can appreciate. Even players who have been "killed" and are waiting for the next round of the game will play the role of spectators, observing the relevant actions of other players. When a player hears that the player who killed him has been killed, he will have some comfort.
We must not forget that killing people only happens in the game. Of course, no one really died. Some scholars are distracted by the fact that games like Counter-Strike involve death and violence. One might well have reason to criticize the fictionality of these games, but the importance of the games themselves cannot be overlooked. Counter-Strike is not some kind of violent show, nor is it a place to settle resentment and aggression. Rather, it is a platform that showcases skills in one competition after another——— a forum of social, rhythmic, skill, and complexity.
Edit | Liu Yaguang
Proofreading | Wu Xingfa