Game Education Summit Europe

Paper Abstract:

Precise Game Mechanic

Converging a user and creation perspective

By Michael Josefsen, Jacob Jul Sørensen, and Claus A. Foss Rosenstand

Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark

Game Mechanic and its characteristics are relatively loosely defined in academic literature. The definitions are often applicable from a user perspective, whether the user is a player, reviewer or an academic analyzer.

From a user perspective, there is normally no direct access to the entire Game Universe. And there is no direct way to know, how the Game Mechanic is balanced. All access to the game is through the Game Play, through the interface components of the system.

From a user perspective there is generally little precise information about Game Mechanic and the related dynamic state of the Game Universe.

This is why imprecise definitions of game mechanic often work from a user perspective. However, from a creation perspective, these imprecise definitions lead to miscommunication between creation team members such as game designers and programmers. And in a highly creative process such as game creation, where new ideas constantly emerge, the game mechanic and related issues also constantly change, so a lot of creative efficiency is lost, when the communication about game mechanic is imprecise.

Therefore precise definition and characteristic of Game Mechanic is essential, and to bridge the gap between the user and creation perspective – between analysis and construction – between academic and industrial – it is crucial, that the definition and characteristic of Game Mechanic can be applied from both perspectives.

This paper provides a precise definition of Game Mechanic directly coupled to the functional components of the system architecture of a game. Thus, it characterizes Game Mechanic in a scheme of core, peripheral, global, local and, negative mechanic, where there is no overlap between these types of mechanics.