Rules.of.Play.Game.Design.Fundamentals [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

A Metagame Model

In an essay titled "Metagames," written for Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Essays on Roleplaying, game designer Richard Garfield presents a useful model for thinking about meta-games. In it, he defines metagame as the way in which "a game interfaces outside of itself."[23] Under the rubric of this broad definition, Garfield includes a wide array of social play phenomena. He divides manifestations of the metagame into four categories:

On the next few pages, we outline each of these categories in turn, using some of the examples that Garfield himself presents.

To: What a Player Brings to a Game

Players always bring something to a game, sometimes in tangible form and sometimes not. For example, a deck taken to a game of Magic: The Gathering or a bat carried to a Baseball game are physical components a player might bring. The study of certain openings in Chess or the ability to memorize cards in Hearts are examples of intangible, mental resources. A player usually has some level of choice in what to bring to a game, though some resources are mandatory: no Soccer ball, no Soccer game. Garfield notes that the selection of resources for a game is a process that players often enjoy. In minatures wargaming such as Warhammer, players spend many hours prior to a game designing their armies, both aesthetically and strategically.

Garfield organizes what players bring to a game into four categories. Game Resources refers to necessary game components, such as a deck of cards, a pair of dice, a Tennis racket, Baseball bat, or even physical reflexes. Strategic

Preparation or Training includes studying an opponent's playing style or memorizing levels. Peripheral Game Resources refers to optional elements like game guides, cheats, and knowledge of play patterns. These resources are often created and shared among a game community, either through "official" channels or unofficial ones, such as fan sites. Player Reputation is the final category of what players bring to a game, and is often not voluntary. Are you known to bluff, open up the board early, or take advantage of weaker players?

From: What a Player Takes Away from a Game

Players always take something away from a game. It is not uncommon, for example, to play a game for some kind of stakes. Winning a stakes game might mean taking away something quantitative, like prize money or standings in a formal competition, or the stakes might be something less tangible, like gloating rights or social status among a group of players. Sometimes, a player takes something away after just a single game. Other times, victory might emerge from a series of games: best two out of three. Large-scale tournaments can span weeks or months. The seriousness with which players take a game is affected by how much the current game affects another game, particularly within a ladder structure or other organized contest. This aspect of the metagame can have a strong postive or negative influence on player attitude and performance.

Players also take things away from a game unrelated to the stakes, such as the experience of the game itself. A play-er's experience might serve to validate or contradict their beliefs about an opponent or about the game as a whole, thereby influencing future games. Crafting play experience into a tale, a player can also take away the story of the game: the way victory was seized from the jaws of defeat (or vice versa), spectacularly good or bad moves, the bizarre occurrences that happened during the course of play. I can't believe I pitched a perfect game! As we discussed in Games as Narrative Play, some games, such as a driving game with replay capability, make this retelling play an explicit part of the game. Of course, players can also take away resources for future games, whether it is the knowledge about how the game works or a collectible card won as the stakes of the game.

Between: What Happens Between Games

The space between games is filled with a rich palette of metagame activities that can add value to the core play experience. For many players, the activities that take place between games can be as important as what happens during a game. Players commonly reflect on strategy, training, or planning for the next game. I have got to play more aggressively next time. Planning what to bring to the next game,whether that involves assembling a new deck for Yu-Gi-Oh, buying a new Tennis racket, or planning a new Go strategy, are all important between-game activities. But not everything that happens between games is a solitary pursuit, and between-game metagaming can include players communicating with each other about what happened last game or players spreading stories and building reputations.

Additionally, not all between-game metagaming is strategic. Decorating a skateboard with stickers between X Games competitions, or reading historical accounts of a battle about to be enacted in a miniatures wargame is also part of the metagame. Both of these activities occur between games and add to the meaning of the play experience, but neither is usually done primarily in order to win.

During: What Happens During a Game Other than the Game Itself

This category of the metagame is quite diverse, and refers to the influence of real life on a game in play. There are many factors external to the magic circle that enter into the experience of play, factors that are always present and often quite powerful. Among the ways that the metagame occurs during play are social factors such as competition and camaraderie, or the physical environment of play such as good lighting or a noisy atmosphere. Trash talking, playing "head games," and exploiting player reputations all affect the metagame as well. If you are playing Table Tennis and are trying to distract your opponent with a steady stream of vociferous insults, you are playing a metagame against him. This kind of metagaming behavior may turn into unsportsmanlike behavior, violating implicit rules of play. It is then up to the social community of players to either endorse or censor the metagame behavior.

Garfield's categories of To, From, Between, and During illuminate the diverse possibilities of the metagame. In his essay, Garfield uses these categories to discuss the metagame of Magic: The Gathering, a game he designed early in his career. Its wildly popular success is due in large part to the innovative way in which Garfield actively incorporated metagame play into the game design itself. Even the game's subtitle, "The Gathering," references the game as a collection of parts that pass in and out of the magic circle. The comments that follow regarding the game are taken from a talk Garfield gave at the 2000 Game Developers Conference:

To: Magic was distinctive in that each player brings half of the cards for the game. Choosing game resources to bring is a large part of the appeal to many players, and it can occupy as much time as the actual play of the game. This is such an important part of the game that there are players who specialize in it, known not as Magic players but as deck constructors and analysts.

From: A traditional way to play Magic is for ante, in which each player randomly selects a card from her deck before play and sets it aside before the game starts. The winning player wins both cards.

Magic is often played in formal tournament settings as well, in which official standings or cash prizes can result from play.

Between: Between games of Magic, there is much circulation of game resources and information. Players trade cards, share strategies, and take part in rich player communities.

During: Reputation is important in all kids of Magic play. While some people simply strive to be victorious as often as possible, others are driven to win with unusual strategies, or in order to prove that particular combinations of cards are viable.[25]

[23]Richard Garfield,"

Metagames. " In

Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Essays on Roleplaying (London: Jolly Roger Games, 2000), p. 16.

[24]Ibid., p. 17.

[25]<http://www.gdconf.com/archives/proceedings/2000/ >