MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research.

This paper takes a more formal view on game design and and lays out various frameworks and guidelines that game designers should keep in mind when creating a game. Probably the most important of which was the MDA framework. To understand this framework, you would first need to know what MDA means.

Mechanics: Game components
Dynamics: Behaviour of mechanics acting on player inputs
Aesthetics: Desired response from the consumer

 The framework shows you that the game designer and consumer view games from a completely different angle. I had never thought about it this way, but i can see how different their perspectives would be, as you can see from thge image below.

As you can see, the designer views the game from the Mechanics, Design, Asthetics angle, and the consumers experiance of the game will the viewed the other way.

Aesthetic components
All games have various elements to them that make them "fun". These elements have been defined in this article as being:

• Sensation: Game as sense of pleasure
• Fantasy: Game as make-believe
• Narrative: Game as Drama
• Challenge: Game as obstacle course
• Fellowship: Game as social Framework
• Discovery: Game as uncharted territory
• Expression: Game as self discovery
• Submission: Game as pastime

However, it is important to note that not all games will have every one of these elements, in fact, having all of the elements would probably make for an incredibly confusing game. Instead, games incorporate a combination of elements and try and make them work well together.

For example, and game like World of Warcraft would probably make use of Fantasy, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery and Expression elements. And heres why:

• Fantasy: The world of of Azeroth (where World of Warcraft is set) is a fictional world, with otherworldly creatures and locations.
• Challenge: Many of the dungeons that you visit will likely pose a challenge, and will often require various tactics in order to defeat them.
• Fellowship: Again, dungeons will require you to work together as a team.
• Discovery: As you level your character there are new locations and new abilities to explore.
• Expression: As your charcter advances, you will obviously want to show of your fancy armour you've aquired.

This is probably the text i enjoyed reading the most, because as a gamer, its the kind of think you dont often think about, but is very interesting to read about nonetheless.