Off-side note for myself (Page 111 in Game Design Workshop - Working with System Dynamics)
Following the lecture on "What a Game Is" I have chosen to look a bit further into "Games as a System". I didn't quite understand it at the time, so hopefully if I follow it through myself with a game of my choice I will fully understand the elements discussed.
The game I'm going to use to go through the process with is Fable 3.
Formal System
(A strictly strategic and mathematical way of looking at a system)
Object: The character being the Prince or Princess and the environment being the world of Albion.
Attributes: Using the controller you can walk and run around the world of Albion, jump off ledges and slide down hills.
Internal Relationships: The Prince or Princess is under the power of their older brother who is now the King. You interact with local townsfolk and tribes to gain their trust and support.
Environment: The whole 'game world' provides the context for the gameplay.
Object: The character being the Prince or Princess and the environment being the world of Albion.
Attributes: Using the controller you can walk and run around the world of Albion, jump off ledges and slide down hills.
Internal Relationships: The Prince or Princess is under the power of their older brother who is now the King. You interact with local townsfolk and tribes to gain their trust and support.
Environment: The whole 'game world' provides the context for the gameplay.
Experiential System
(The player and their strategic game actions)
Object: The relationship between the player with the controller and their character they choose to be whether it's the Prince or the Princess.
Attributes: The character (Prince or Princess) again is the players attribute.
Internal Relationships: How is the player deciding to play their character? In Fable 3 you have the great ability to choose whether to take a path of evil or good. The physiological effects from this could either be bemusement or happiness, perhaps disappointment if something goes wrong.
Environment: This is for the Xbox 360 platform. So the physical play would be with the controller. The preconception of play would be an escape into a fantasy world where you can do whatever you wish, yet this still has rules of limitations with the general moral of what is right and what is wrong.
Cultural System
(How does the game fit into modern day society)
Object: The game was an original storyline, it was developed as a game first (Fable 1 and 2) but now there are books being released to follow the storyline.
Attribute: Fable 3 was made by Lionhead Studios (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionhead_Studios) and published by Microsoft Game Studios
Internal Relationships: Fable was one of the first games offering the ability of choice which then lead to large consequences. I feel personally they chose to do this for the education of kids of this generation. I guess in a way modern day society is very slack with rules and regulations than what it was years ago. The further you go in history the harsher the rules and punishments get.
Environment: N/A
