Play’s Republic

Toward the beginning of the semester, we often discussed the differences between the Heraclitean and Platonic perspectives toward power, play and being. According to Heraclitus, from the agon, characterized by conflict, strife and unpredictability, grew the playful chaos of the Universe. “History unfolds at the whim of a child, carelessly playing.” Contrast this with a more Platonic form of “being,” where rationality and hierarchy structure society, where the creative destabilization of the poet and bard are eliminated.

Now consider video games which, in order to be “fun,” need to incorporate the paidia of ilinx, agon, and alea, while at the same time providing a ludic experience mimicking rule systems that are familiar to us (set theory a la Juul). There needs to be a balance struck between the two, paidia and ludus, that creates the functional game environment. Check out how pissed Daffy gets in Duck Amuck and you’ll see how dysfunctional games are when they don’t account for predictability, rationality and stability.

And so, game designers struggle the blend these two to create enjoyable experiences, especially within “god games,” like Spore, where unbridled creative possibility is a selling point, but all potential creations must still function within the game environment according to the same rules.

The problem is phrased well by Gamespot writer, Galen Davis:

Spore’s design team quickly discovered that there were myriad challenges with an emergent editor that embraced open-ended creativity. It had to be easy and fun. It had to satisfy a broad range of fantasies and expectations. The output had to work in the animation system and with the game’s rule sets. And how do you intuitively design a 3D object editor with a 2D interface for non-Maya-savvy players?

Most generally, how do you design an editor that your grandmother could use that still can yield countless creatures of varying size and shape that work with the gameplay?

Check this article about the various creature and object editing tools within Spore to see how this balance was created (or, given the delay, is still in the process of being created).