My chosen game using Newman's terms

Newman refers to the terms "paidea" and "ludus" to define what a game is

The game I have chosen is Metal Gear Solid  because I like the fact that its Ludus in the sence that the whole object of the game is to fight for peace by going through multiple stories which the series bring to us otherwise the bad will all take over, so Snake (who you play) has the world in his hands.

The game makes you  emotionally attached to the character, portraying himself as alone and whos always in combat and never gives up. The storylines are deeply emotional, with the player only doing the best they can to get snake through the missions, you can only hope for the best when the cinematic scenes come on.

The main object in the game is to obviously have fun, but to have fun you need a balance in difficulty so this is when struggle occurs. How Metal Gear Solid achieves struggle is by mixing a set of simple rules to get from A to B successfully by keeping to that balacne.

to be continued...

The elements of games

We all read through the booklet to discover a in-depth amount of information which we all summed up in a line or two.

Interaction- If the game is not interactive then it becomes a puzzle, interaction is what makes a game work.

Goals- One or more goals are required, othwerwise it becomes meaningless. So the player becomes motivated and not bored.

Struggle- if a game dosen't have struggle then the game is to easy and gets completed to fast. But then again, it can't be to hard otherwise people would get too frustrated.

Structure- Structure is required so a game can be played by some rules to goven how people play in the game.

Endogenous Meaning- Objects, components, structure/rules only apple to the game and are worthless in the real world. This alo helps keep the game fictional.

We then looking at a Key stage 1 maths game where you have to choose between 3 answers, one being correct and the others false. The difficulty settings were... Normal, Hard and Very Hard. As a group the whole class joined in, first playing easy and then very hard. There was a big difference between them, from deciding what shape has three sides to what shape has this many lines of symmetry.

I reviewed this game using the "what makes a game" method i mentioned before...

Interaction- Very basic, you can only click a few buttons and dont tell you why you're wrong or right.

Goals- One goal, to win. To select the right shape, and to see whats behined the curtain at the end for a sence of satisfaction.

Struggle- Again, very basic. you cant lose the game, it just re-starts the level. It only takes a bit longer to finish the game if you don't know the answers, seeing there is only 3 to choose from.

Structure- Must do as you're told, there is no freedom.

Endogenous meaning- You learn certain things about maths in the game, and the flash characters and elements helps you remember what you have learned.

Evaluation- Overall very simple core machanics,  it could be a lot better. It would greatly imporve with a feedback system which told you why you're correct or wrong, but a good game for the target age group.