Recap%20From%20Previous%20Classes%20(I)

1
Recap From Previous Classes (I)

• Games as Schemes of Uncertainty
• Macro-level We dont know outcome of game
• Micro-level Probability is assigned to outcome
  of actions
• Uniform distribution all alternative events have
  the same probability (ex rolling the dice in
  Chutes and Ladders)
• Non uniform distribution some alternative events
  have a higher probability than others (ex loot
  in an RPG game)
• Expected Utility a measure of how much I (the
  player) win from taking an action. It factors
• Values of positive outcome and their
  probabilities
• Values of negative outcomes and their
  probabilities
• Successful games have merged both micro-level and
  macro-level uncertainty
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vSBtGot4-c2c

2
Recap From Previous Classes (II)

• Games as Schemes of Information Theory Systems
• Amount of information gained from an event is an
  inverse function of the probability of that event
  occurring
• Noise and Redundancy

• How much information 2 gained?
• Was there any distortion (noise) while passing
  the information?

information
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2

• Noise distortion in the communication

information
1
2

• Redundancy passing the same information by two
  or more different channels

information
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2
information
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Games as Information Systems(Ch. 17)
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Information From Data to Knowledge
Abstract
Meta-relations 1. Any parent of X is an
ancestor of X 2. Any ancestor of a parent of X
is an ancestor of X
Knowledge
Relations john is a parent of Sebastian
Data
Simple objects john, Sebastian
Concrete
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Perfect Information Games

• Does the player knows all information about the
  current state of the game?
• Yes perfect information game

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Imperfect Information Games

• Does the player knows all information about the
  current state of the game?
• No imperfect information game

7
Do not Confuse information with information

• From the perspective of Information Theory (Ch.
  16), information is a non-semiotic artifact
• Everywhere else (including now when we talk about
  Information Systems) we use information to
  refer to knowledge
• Under this view games put information at play
• Classical Example

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v_OYwPGMaqMc
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Kinds of Information in a Game

• Information known to all players
• Information known to only one player
• Information known to the game only
• Randomly generated information

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vw_28ZS3jcgA (clip
from Civilization I)
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Economy of Information

• Crucial game design question how much
  information you going to show to the player.
• Hiding information is a good way to caught
  players interest. Examples of a genre built
  around this?
• But, too much information, may make actions non
  discernable

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v43mU1-lirhM
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vPevWsWNjSZ4