Page 1 |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 1 of 40 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
Subset |
HISTORICITY AND SOCIALITY IN GAME DESIGN:
ADVENTURES IN LUDIC ARCHAEOLOGY
by
Joseph Carter Osborn
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(INTERACTIVE MEDIA)
May 2012
Copyright 2012 Joseph Carter Osborn
Object Description
| Title | Historicity and sociality in game design: adventures in ludic archaeology |
| Author | Osborn, Joseph Carter |
| Author email | josborn@usc.edu;joe.osborn@me.com |
| Degree | Master of Fine Arts |
| Document type | Thesis |
| Degree program | Interactive Media |
| School | School of Cinematic Arts |
| Date defended/completed | 2012-03-26 |
| Date submitted | 2012-04-30 |
| Date approved | 2012-04-30 |
| Restricted until | 2012-04-30 |
| Date published | 2012-04-30 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Anderson, Steve F |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Balsamo, Anne Diamante, Vincent Gibson, Jeremy Castle, Louis |
| Abstract | Vikingr is an asynchronous multiplayer social game that adapts Viking Age (700s-1000s C.E.) social practices and structures in the hopes of producing a synthetic Viking society. Players manage Viking households, sail the open seas, raid Viking and foreigner households, and develop economic and political relationships with other players to ensure their own survival and prosperity. To successfully prosecute this project, the author came to devise: a semi-formal method for adapting historical situations to interactive simulations; a set of criteria for evaluating the quality, internal consistency, and historical fidelity of such simulations; and a technique for constraining the scope of adaptation to only what is necessary for the player’s enjoyment and the designer’s aesthetic goals. ❧ The method, MDA for Adaptation, is grounded in Hunicke, LeBlanc, and Zubek’s Mechanics, Dynamics, & Aesthetics (MDA) framework (2). It comprises four steps: First, the available sources must be matched onto the elements of MDA; second, the designer must select a few primary aesthetics on which to focus their design effort; third, the actions, rules, and material reality described by the historical sources must be rephrased as game mechanics in pursuit of the chosen aesthetics; and fourth, selective simulation must be applied to balance mechanical, historical, and aesthetic fidelity with respect to each other and to the project’s scope. ❧ Applying this method to Vikingr vastly improved development speed, the player experience, and the comprehensibility of the historical message. |
| Keyword | game studies; game design; experimental archaeology; ludic archaeology; social games; historiography |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Rights | Osborn, Joseph Carter |
| Access conditions | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume4/etd-OsbornJose-680.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | HISTORICITY AND SOCIALITY IN GAME DESIGN: ADVENTURES IN LUDIC ARCHAEOLOGY by Joseph Carter Osborn A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF FINE ARTS (INTERACTIVE MEDIA) May 2012 Copyright 2012 Joseph Carter Osborn |
Comments
Post a Comment for Page 1
