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Raph Koster谈“玩”游戏的定义及其可能性

发布时间:2013-11-06 11:26:43 Tags:,,,,

作者:Christian Nutt

Raph Koster(游戏邦注:Raph Koster是索尼在线娱乐副总裁兼首席设计师,他参与或主持了《网络创世纪》、《星球大战:星系》等网游的开发,是网游界的传奇人物)非常重视加深自己对游戏、支撑游戏的系统以及表现法的理解。

所以从2013年起他就一直在思考什么是游戏这个话题。当你定义了什么是游戏时,其实也就是定义了什么不是游戏。

“游戏是内容丰富而复杂的系统。”这是Koster对什么是游戏的简洁回答。“为了学习我工作台上的工具和做得更好,我一直在努力以这种角度看待游戏。”

在GDC Next大会上,Koster却抛弃了“游戏(game)”一词,而把讨论重点放在“玩(play)”上了。

Raph Koster(from wikidi.com)

Raph Koster(from wikidi.com)

无论是什么类型的游戏,总归是有一个“玩”存在。Koster解释了这个词,质疑我们应该如何思考它。确实,玩就是你在游戏中做活动。但玩也暗示着一个可能性空间。”这条绳子有许多种玩法“——换句话说,绳子是松弛的。

“游戏是活动的,就像机器。你拔它、捅它,看看另一端会产生什么。那就是系统的玩法的整个范围。玩是活动空间,是可以探索的领域。”

Koster认为,通过游戏传达一系列人类大脑能够理解的机制和有意义的信息,才是最重要的。基本上,如果我们接收到的信息太简单,我们就会觉得无聊;如果太复杂或抽象,我们的兴趣也会消退。

“玩的有趣领域是只可意会不言传的,不是一两种方法,也不是所有可能的方法。在故事中,符号和象征往往不只一个含义。在游戏中,通过提供输入或代替行为(游戏邦注:如让玩家选择不同的动词以便做不同的事)的后果选项,也产生了多种意义。”

Koster指出,复杂的系统会占用玩家的注意力,会捉弄玩家的头脑;当系统的难度落在两个极端——简单和复杂之间时,系统的效力就达到最佳。

Koster解释道:“那就是我们觉得最有趣的东西。这些东西让我们觉得“我想我应付得过来”,而事实上你是不可能应付得过来的——变体太多了,或系统欺骗你”。如果玩家认为他可以或多或少地理解系统——不是字面上的全部掌握,而是能够在摸索中学会处理它。那么他就会被这个系统所吸引。

Koster的技巧

Koster还简要地向开发者介绍了几种可以让玩家对游戏产生兴趣的技巧。他的主要建议是,首先理解你在做的游戏:它所运行的空间、它要做什么。这不仅能帮助你确定工具,还有联系到正确的受众。

重复是一个非常有用的技巧。Koster以Porpentine的《Howling Dogs》为例,认为该游戏迫使玩家重复活动——“你必须一次又一次再一次地复活相同的情境”。这就是游戏传达意义的方式之一。

但动作游戏,如《超级马里奥兄弟》,也是让玩家不断地重复相同的动作直到玩家理解。“如果你想传达信息,无论是机制的还是主题的,你都要强迫玩家一次又一次地做相同的事”。

定框架也是一种传达意义的办法,也就是用非常特定的方式来传达信息。“《生化奇兵》就是一个定框架的好例子。用相反的视角是为了揭穿真相。”

人类往往与那些像自己的人走得近。这就成问题了,但也带来机遇:让玩家觉得主人公在许多重要方面与玩家自己是同一类人。

他指出,90年代的游戏《Gone Home》就对玩家使了这种把戏。文化(音乐、电视节目)都没有问题,但当你产生兴趣时,它就露出真面目了。“游戏想传达信息给你……一旦我们被吸引了,我们就会更乐意接受那些不像我们的部分。”

他还强调有些游戏使用默认选择——大部分现代FPS,比如《杀出重围》就是这种策略的先驱:在游戏中,你有许多玩法选择,直到你切中“叙述的堵塞点”,你就要被迫走上特定的道路。这样的玩法空间可能无趣,但故事往往还是有趣的。

Koster谈论了“引入”既定原则的重要性:真实宇宙的物理系统是支撑体育运动的规则的系统。在真实的体育运动的基础上,人们要创造另一种游戏:幻想运动游戏——模拟现实运动的游戏。

Koster认为另一个“引入的规则”是心理学:“人与人之间的关系”也是非常重要的。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Raph Koster on ‘play’ – the possibility space for games

By Christian Nutt

Raph Koster cares very much about improving his understanding of games, the systems that underpin them, and the space of expression that he can work with.

This has gotten him into hot water over the course of 2013. To say what makes a game is by definition also to say what is not a game.

“Games are a rich and complicated system,” Koster says, in a succinct explanation of his perspective on the issue. “I’m trying to look at things this way to pick up my tools from my workbench and do better.”

At GDC Next, Koster dropped the word “game” and attempted, instead, to focus on the word “play.”

Across all types of games, there is play. And Koster expanded on this word — challenging how we should even think about it. Yes, it means the activities you do in a game. But using it also implies a possibility space. Think of the usage “this rope has a lot of play” — looseness, in other words.

“Games are meant to wiggle; they’re like machines. You poke and prod at them to see what comes out the other end. That is the overall scope of play of the system,” Koster says. “Play is the wiggle room. It is space. It is explorable areas.”

What is important, he says, is to deliver via games a set of both mechanics and meaningful symbols that are neither too much nor too little for the human brain to hold. In essence, if something is too simple, it bores us; if something is too complicated or abstract, it is no longer interesting.

“The interesting area for play is what is interpretable,” says Koster. “What isn’t just one or two ways, but also isn’t every possible way. In stories, that’s signs and symbols that have more than one meaning. In games, we do the same thing by having consequential choice of input, of agency — by letting the player do different things, by choosing different verbs.”

A complicated system engages the mind, says Koster, and teases the brains of players, and works best when it lies in the middle space between the two extremes of simplicity and complexity.

“Those are the things we find most fun. Things that we tell ourselves, ‘I think I can wrap my head around it’ but in practice you can’t wrap your head around — there are too many variables, or the system is lying to you,” Koster says. If the player believes she can more or less understand a system — not literally fully grasp it, but effectively create a heuristic to deal with it, in other words — she will be engaged by it.
(Some of) Koster’s Tools for Engagement

Koster also quickly ran down techniques developers can use to get players interested in their games. His primary piece of advice is to first understand the game you’re making: the space it operates in, what it’s trying to do. That helps you not just identify tools, but also helps you connect to the right audience.

Repetition is a highly useful tool. Koster pointed to Porpentine’s Howling Dogs as an example of a game that forces the player to repeat actions — ” you must relive the same situation over and over and over and over again” — and that this is one way it communicates its meaning.

But action games, like Super Mario Bros. also teach by repetition, by making players repeat the same actions until they understand them. “If you want a message to get across, be it systemic or thematic, you force people do the same thing over and over again,” Koster says.

Framing is a way of communicating ideas by very specifically choosing how to communicate them — “BioShock is a good example of framing,” says Koster, in that it “brings up the opposing viewpoint just to rip it to pieces.”

And humans relate to those who are like them. This creates problems, but it also creates opportunities: to make a protagonist that “feels like they’re the same as the player in a lot of important ways.”

He noted that Gone Home does this for those who grew up in the 1990s — the cultural references (music, TV shows) are just right. And then it effectively twists the knife once you’re along for the ride. “It has a message it wants to get across to you… Once we are there, in that mindset, we’re more willing to swallow the parts that are not like us, and it is very persuasive.”

He also noted that some games use false choices — most modern FPSes, a tactic he sas was pioneered by Deus Ex — in which you have many gameplay activity choices until you hit a “narrative choke point” that forces players down a specific road. The play space can be broad, but the story less so.

And Koster spoke about the importance of “importing” existing rule sets: the system of real-world physics of our universe is the system that underpins the rule set of the game of American football. On top of that game, people have built another one: fantasy football, in which they simulate the game itself.

Another “imported ruleset” is psychology: “The relationships between individuals,” important to Koster as an MMO developer.(source:gamasutra)


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