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Understanding Games

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Understanding Games is series of four games explaining the basic concepts of video games. The tutorial-style episodes deal with rules, motivation, learning and identification in video games. The player is guided through each episode by the narrators Bob and Bub, who explain core concepts of games to the player. The player can experience these concepts directly while playing the integrated games.

Understanding Games versucht Grundlagen von Computerspielen zu vermitteln und mit Hilfe von verschiedenen Spielen für den Benutzer direkt erfahrbar zu machen. In vier Episoden erläutern die beiden Erzählfiguren Bub und Bob, welche Rollen Regeln, Motivation, Lernen und Identifikation in Computerspielen einnehmen.

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Reviews

„If you’re trying to explain games to someone – a student, a loved one, your parents – this is a great way to start.“ –Boing Boing

„Understanding Games explains the underlying concepts behing gaming by having you play a series of flash games. Simple. And utterly charming.“ –Kotaku

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Recommended_readings

Chen, Jenova: Flow in Games. http://jenovachen.com/flowingames/thesis.htm

Costikyan, Greg: I Have No Words & I Must Design. http://www.costik.com/nowords.html

Crawford, Chris: The Art of Computer Game Design. http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/peabody/game-book/Coverpage.html

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York : HarperCollins.

Gee, James Paul: What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York : Palgrave Macmillan.

Gingold, Chaim: Miniature Gardens & Magic Crayons: Games, Spaces & Worlds. Georgia : Institute of Technology. http://www.slackworks.com/~cog/writing/thesis/

Huizinga, Johan: Homo Ludes: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. Boston : Beacon Press.

Johnson, Steven: Everything Bad Is Good for You. London : Penguin Books.

Juul, Jesper: Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press.

Koster, Ralph: A Theory of Fun for Game Design. Scottsdale, Arizona : Paraglyph Press.

Linderoth, Jonas: Animated game pieces. Avatars as roles, tools and props. Aesthetics of Play Conference. University of Bergen. http://www.aestheticsofplay.org/linderoth.php

McCloud, Scott: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York : Harper Perennial.

Salen, Katie; Zimmerman, Eric: Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press.

Salen, Katie; Zimmerman, Eric: The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press.