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Cybernetics enforces consistency. It permits change, but the change must be orderly and abide by the rules.—Jeremy Campbell, Grammatical Man
Introducing Cybernetic Systems
Cyberspace. Cyberpunk. A Cyborg Manifesto. The term cybernetic has been appropriated by science fiction and technoculture to mean anything associated with computer technology. In point of fact, the field of cybernetics precedes the advent of digital computers. Mathematician Norbert Weiner coined the term "cybernetics" in his 1948 book Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. The word is derived from the Greek word for steersman or navigator, and appropriately enough, cybernetics studies the regulation and control of systems. Cybernetics grew out of systems theory and information theory, and like these fields, cybernetics studies a range of subjects, from mechanical and electrical systems to social and biological systems. In looking at the basic principles of cybernetics, we are touching on a field filled with great debates and a rich history, a field that greatly influenced contemporary ideas about computer technology and society. This chapter can only offer a brief introduction to cybernetics, focusing on the ways dynamic systems change over time and the formal structures that allow these changes to occur. What are the rule structures that monitor change within a game system? How does a game system adjust to change over time? What constitutes feedback within a game? How can positive and negative feedback loops be used in the design of meaningful play? Within this schema on Games as Cybernetic Systems, we bring cybernetics to bear on these important game design questions.
