Week 1 Questions and Reviews

Week 1 Questions

• What are the issues Ian Bogost raises about social games with Cow Clicker? In this article, Bogost specifically lists 4 issues that he has with social games—enframing, compulsion, optionalism, and destroyed time. Enframing is basically like turning your friends and family into a resource that can be exploited by both you and the game developer. For compulsion, Bogost claims that social games prey on humanity’s compulsiveness and how we can easily become obsessed with something, such as a game like Cow Clicker or FarmVille. Optionalism is something that Bogost explains is having the option to actually “play” the game. FarmVille is based on waiting on crops, but you can get rid of that part by just spending your real money. You don’t really have to do much to actually advance in the game. Finally, Bogost claims that social games destroy your time as there isn’t really an objective, it is an endless cycle of playing a rather meaningless game that makes you feel bad when you stop playing it. 
• How do social games like FarmVille enframe friends? Social games like FarmVille enframe friends by getting you to invite friends to the game so that you can get certain perks or more resources in the game to your benefit. In fact, Bogost states in the article, “In social games, friends aren’t really friends; they are mere resources”. This also helps get more people into the game, it helps build a network that can make the game become “viral”. 
• How do social games destroy time outside of the game? Social games are neverending, and so, essentially, an infinite amount of time could be spent playing them. Bogost says, “Social games so covet our time that they abuse us while we are away from them, through obligation, worry, and dread over missed opportunities.” Anytime spent away from the game is time wasted where you could be increasing your level on the game, and increasing your progress. It doesn’t help if it is on a game such as Facebook, you can also see some of your friends’ levels and achievements, which may make you feel bad for stepping away from the game.

Bang! Game Review Part 2  

• Was it fun? Replaying Bang was so much fun, although I played with my family and it took them a little bit to get a hang of the rules and mechanics. It also sucks because I was the first one out, but I still really enjoyed watching them play and rooting for the other outlaws to follow through. 
• What were the player interactions? Players put other players in jail, shot them, commenced duels, as well as stole cards from each other and forced others to discard cards. My favorite player interaction is when we kept passing around the dynamite to see if anyone would blow up. 
• How long did it take to learn? Since I was just replaying this game from playing in class the first time, it didn’t take me very long to relearn the rules. Even playing a second time, however, I would say that it was still a little bit of a learning curve to get to know all of the different cards and special rules (like being able to drink beer when you take a fatal hit). For my family, my mom and brother seemed to catch on to the basic rules and mechanics very quickly. My dad, however, found the game kind of confusing, especially with all of the different cards (he would much prefer a game like UNO). 
• Would you play it again? Yes, I received this game as a Christmas gift because I loved it in class so much. I just need to find enough players!!
• Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. The first act of the game begins during the setup of the game, including receiving a role and character. Players take their first few turns, each drawing 2 cards each turn, taking any number of actions they wish, and discarding cards. The second act commences as the game picks up speed, when players begin to devise and understand who they may want to “go after” and take shots at them. The third act is when the game is dwindling down, either 2 people are essentially standing off to see who will win, or a key player, like the sheriff, is close to taking a critical hit. The game officially ends when the sheriff dies or is the last one left standing. 
• What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? This game has both competitive and collaborative elements. The collaborative element comes from the fact that some players have shared goals, for instance, both outlaws and the renegade want to kill the sheriff, but it’s also competitive because it’s every man for himself and you don’t necessarily know each other’s roles. 
• What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? Bang’s metaphor is that you are set in the wild west and you are essentially playing as a character from that world. The sheriff wants to keep law and order, the renegade wants to take the sheriff’s place in the town, and the outlaws want to kill the sheriff. The mechanic that stands out the most to me are the unique character abilities that allow you special advantages throughout the game. 

The Graveyard Game Review  

• Was it fun? I’m not sure if I would call it fun, but more or less intriguing. I liked the aesthetics of the game because it kind of looked like an old black and white film, but there wasn’t much substance to the game overall. But it was still interesting to see if anything exciting would happen (although I presume if I played anything other than the trial version it would be a little more exciting, because apparently it includes death). 
• What were the player interactions? You can move the old lady in a straight line through the graveyard (very slowly) and have her sit on a bench.
• How long did it take to learn? Not very long at all because I just had to move her in a straight line and wait for her to sit on the bench, plus the game had instructions that told me to do just that. 
• Would you play it again? It depends. I think I would try out the non trial version if someone else bought it for me, but I’m not going to spend my own money to see this lady die. 
• Analyze the game using the 3 act structure. (This may differ because I only played the trial version.) The first act starts when you enter the graveyard where you will see the title sequence and you just slowly make your way to the bench that is illuminated at the end of the path. The second act would be once you sit down on the bench you get a close up shot of this old lady presumingly reflecting on the gravestones around her and the concept of death. She points out how some other people there have died and she wishes that the next time she visits the graveyard she will “stay for longer”. You could choose to stay there as long as you like, but the song is only a few minutes long. You can choose to wander around the graveyard if you really want, but there’s not really many places you can move to, the game sort of beckons you to the bench. The third act would be exiting the graveyard and ending the game when you desire. In the non trial version, I presume that this act would also include the lady dying. 
• What are the collaborative and or competitive aspects of the game? This game isn’t really competitive or collaborative, it is more of just following a story. 
• What is the game’s metaphor and which of the game’s mechanics standout? The game’s metaphor is about an old lady who visits the graveyard and she reflects on death and almost wishes for it herself. Since there really aren’t many mechanics, the most standout mechanic is that when you are positioned with your back to the bench, she will eventually decide to sit down.