The Well-Played Game as a cultural imperative in the design of video games

Dr. Celia Pearce, currently Assistant Professor of Digital Media in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture at Georgia Tech, sent me a blog post that her student, Terris Johnson, had written about the Well-Played Game. I, understandably, quote it in full:

I just wanted to call attention to another reading from class that has resonated with me, but didn't quite know how to incorporate it into the topics above. Though DeKoven does not really mention race and representation as part of a well-played game, as his concepts deal with game mechanics and rules, I view race, gender, and representation as part of a well-played game when dealing with video games.

Video games are extremely representational in nature, as they require assets of which must be viewed and understood. I often feel that some games would be "well-played", if they were more fair and mature about representation. As the cover of DeKoven's The Well-Played Game states "In a well-played game, everybody wins". When I am playing games like Gears of War, Tomb Raider, Virtual Fighter, Blazblue, or King of Fighters, I feel that some of us are "losing" from the beginning.

While males enjoy nuanced characters that have a variety of roles, motives, and are well constructed, females often times have to endure characters with little intelligence, exaggerated physical features, and submissive roles. White males enjoy the largest cast of diverse characters across the gaming-sphere and can find characters like them to identify with (Hippie, Nerd, Scientist, Bully, Superhero, Teenager, Distraught Widower, etc) . Japanese males have a similar pool of characters to choose from, but may feel alienated that many of supposed "Japanese" characters appear white. Other minority groups must be subjected to the same 1-dimensional archetypes that feed off of stereotypes, no matter the game genre, theme, or setting.

Terris' reading of the Well-Played Game most definitely reveals a central aspect of the experience that I had hoped to capture in writing the book - how, when it happens, we are able to transcend all the labels that divide us - race, culture, ability, status, even species - where all players experience themselves as equal participants in the same community. He is one of the first I know of to have extended that particular aspect of the Well-Played Game to the design of video games.

It makes me: 1) think that I have to write a sequel, updating the book, applying the concepts of the Well-Played game to the conduct of the virtual community, and 2) with readers like Terris, to realize that this new interpretation is already being written for me.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith