know that your actions reflect within the group_Rules and goals in game compositions
This item accompanies the Collection for know that your actions reflect within the group.
This paper was presented at the Ludo2017 conference at Bath Spa University on 20 April 2017.
This paper applies theory drawn from game studies to music composition in order to consider ways in which rules and goals create environments that promote critical play (Flanagan 2013). Game studies research shows that games rely on interactivity, goals, competitors and conflict (Crawford 2003), and consequently effort from its players so as to attach value to its outcomes (Juul 2003). To do this, games use rules in order to create a ‘temporary world within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart’ (Huizinga 1955: 10). In game compositions, rules are used to present choices, allowing individual players to make autonomous decisions that are focused on achieving a specified goal. Individual decisions may influence the overall outcome of the music, but other players’ actions prevent individual control through obstructing these goals. While rules might be simple, complex individual and group behaviours emerge, presenting models of social interaction. The paper explores correspondences between rules in games and indeterminate music, and considers how constraints create agency for players through presenting them with choices and goals.
This paper was presented at the Ludo2017 conference at Bath Spa University on 20 April 2017.
This paper applies theory drawn from game studies to music composition in order to consider ways in which rules and goals create environments that promote critical play (Flanagan 2013). Game studies research shows that games rely on interactivity, goals, competitors and conflict (Crawford 2003), and consequently effort from its players so as to attach value to its outcomes (Juul 2003). To do this, games use rules in order to create a ‘temporary world within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart’ (Huizinga 1955: 10). In game compositions, rules are used to present choices, allowing individual players to make autonomous decisions that are focused on achieving a specified goal. Individual decisions may influence the overall outcome of the music, but other players’ actions prevent individual control through obstructing these goals. While rules might be simple, complex individual and group behaviours emerge, presenting models of social interaction. The paper explores correspondences between rules in games and indeterminate music, and considers how constraints create agency for players through presenting them with choices and goals.
