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Sep 19

Adventure (1979) – Quest in Delight

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Adventure 2600
Dear Mr. Robinette, What follows is an open letter to you from my blog to thank you for your pioneering masterpiece, Adventure (1979). It is in response to your GDC presentation that you delivered earlier this year. While you admitted that Will Crowther’s Adventure (1977) inspired you, what you created was a 90 degree game that took the industry in new directions. The amazing thing about Adventure was it was a simulation that provided a dynamic, emergent narrative. You touched on the following accomplishments in your presentation: Yes, Adventure was the first action adventure game. Yes, Adventure pioneered technology to help create the first comic superhero game Superman (1979). Yes, Adventure won an Arcade award, and Superman, that used your technology also won a Arcade award the same year. Yes, Adventure contained the first ever Easter Egg and sent a F-U message to corporate cronies who treated developers like faceless factory workers. These are all things to be in awe of, but what made me so in love with Adventure was that it was primarily a simulation. Not a tedious simulation where making a wrong move would crash your Flight Simulator. It was a fantasy quest simulation with items, dragons, […]

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Aug 06

Games Are Primarily About Transformation

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Games and Jung
Note: This is an open letter to Daniel Cook at LostGarden.com. All replies are welcome. Dear Dan, I am responding to your article ‘Shadow Emotions and Primary Emotions‘ which was shared in response to my Twitter inquiry: @danctheduck Hmm… I’m fascinated. I will write you a blog-letter with my own understanding of what you wrote. I think Jung can help. — Chris Billows (@Doc_Surge) July 6, 2015 In your blog post, you state that there are two kinds of emotions: Primary and Shadow. Primary emotions come from Games, while Shadow emotions derive from Art. I am not enthusiastic about these labels since you are clearly stating that Primary emotions possesses greater depth than Shadow emotions. Because emotions are not objectively measurable, I am not convinced that its possible to say that one set of emotions is deeper than another. Labels aside, your insight into the different emotional timbres of Games and Art is worth a deeper look. Through simple observation alone, we see that the act of participating in any game is far different than perusing an art gallery or reading a book. The level of engagement and stake in a game is far greater. But how do these different […]

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May 21

Why RPGs Matter

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 1 comments
Note: This is an open letter to Chris Bateman at International Hobo. All replies are welcome. Dear Chris, I really enjoyed your serial on the Essence of RPGs where you elegantly explained the tension of the game’s duality; that of Role-Play and of Rule-Play. I remember struggling with these two aspects; The obsessive-compulsive side of me did not want any rule to be neglected, while the creative-imaginative side wanted me to witness an epic adventure unfold. I never did resolve the two and have come to accept that I am a divided individual. 😉 Perhaps it is this internal conflict that has generated in me some insights about the tension of Role-Play and Rule-Play. Based on my interpretation of your writing, Role-Play appears to be the champion of narrative, story, and the performance art of acting, while Rule-Play is the champion of simulation, preciseness, and power gaming. They appear to have little in common with each other. I believe that this is a surface level conflict. Role-Play and Rule-Play may have tensions with each other, but that is because they come from the same place; That place being human imagination and its need for understanding. Games have a special purpose […]

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Apr 05

Passive & Active Media Infographic

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Active / Passive Media, Active / Passive Senses, Awareness / Understanding, Infographic, Sense: Hearing / Ear, Senses: Seeing / Vision, Senses: Speaking / Communication, Senses: Touch / Nerves
In my earlier post, I outlined the five senses by which we interact with music, books, shows (including movies, television, and cinema), and games. I have created an Infographic to outline how the different Media relate to each other on a continuum of Passivity to Activity. Passive Media need Passive Senses (Seeing & Hearing) while Active Media /Games need Active Senses (Touch & Speech). Both Passive and Active Media need the Bridging Sense of Awareness. Upon further investigation, it becomes apparent that Passive Media can expand to become Active by engaging in the development of Fan Clubs (Speech Sense) and expanding into games as evidenced by popular movies being made into games. These expansions become a way for Passive Media to become Active, deepening a relationship between a fan and a franchise. Active Media / Games have done the same thing. There are novels written on Starcraft, movies set on the Mario Brothers, and game music played live by orchestras. Any franchise can migrate across Passive and Active Media to deepen relationships with its fan base.

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Apr 05

Passive & Active Senses with Media

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Active / Passive Media, Active / Passive Senses, Awareness / Understanding, Sense: Hearing / Ear, Senses: Seeing / Vision, Senses: Speaking / Communication, Senses: Touch / Nerves
In an earlier post I listed the seven human senses that interact with games. I also explained that not all of them are essential to engaging with games with Taste & Smell being two of the seven that can be left out. This leaves five essential senses: Seeing, Hearing, Touching, Speaking, and Awareness. The five senses are employed when we use engage with any media, entertainment, or art. We need all five senses when we read a book, watch a movie, or play a game. Yet, the degree that they are used does differ which helps explain why games are unique. There exists a continuum of passivity to activity that marks how games are different from media like books, music, and shows (including movies, television, and cinema). To help explain why games are different, I divide the five senses into Passive and Active categories. Passive Senses are defined by their latent information gathering done through the visual and audio senses. Active Senses differ from Passive Senses because they require action and communication. Let’s begin by discussing the two Passive Senses: P1) Seeing: Games, books, and shows all share the need for the Seeing Sense. A video or computer game cannot […]

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Mar 15

Human Senses & Games

by Chris Billows in Playstates Theory 0 comments tags: Awareness / Understanding, Introduction, Sense: Hearing / Ear, Senses: Seeing / Vision, Senses: Smell / Taste, Senses: Speaking / Communication, Senses: Touch / Nerves
It is documented that animals have play behavior, but it is only Humans that play games. In order for all animals to play they do so through their range of senses. There are the obvious ones such as sight, hearing, and touch but there are some that are more subtle or so powerful we tend not to think of them. Using ancient Buddhist psychology’s insight into the human condition, I thought it would be useful to evaluate how this list of senses interacts with games. What follows is a list of seven senses that most human beings have. I will describe each one and then list how it relates to games.   (I) Seeing through our Eyes     This is the primary sense used when it comes to games. A video or computer game cannot be played unless it can be seen since all games are played on some kind of screen with projected images. I can think of one rare exception, but in this case the exception does not make the rule.     (II) Hearing through our Ears     The secondary sense used when it comes to games. Some of the earliest games (played on main […]
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