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As a game designer I get a little frustrated when people use the phrase "game mechanics" to very specifically mean giving our points, badges and achievements th
by robobenjie 16y ago
As a game designer I get a little frustrated when people use the phrase "game mechanics" to very specifically mean giving our points, badges and achievements that are publicly displayed to a group of social connections online. Using this definition neither chess nor Super Mario have any "game mechanics".
I guess it is too late but I wish we had some other phrase for them. "social status notifications?"
- presidentender 16y agoChess has pawn promotions; Super Mario has coins, points, and extra lives. Both have "winning." All of these are displayed to your friends in the room.
- ryanelkins 16y agoI agree, but it's the term thats taken hold recently. When we started we had no idea what to call it. In reality, it's not even game mechanics - more like meta game mechanics. Game mechanics are generally more like "action points" or "tile laying". The other term I've seen used is "funware". In a year or so it might be called something else - it's still a very young category.
- chc 16y agoBut Twitter doesn't have points, badges or achievements, so using that definition, Twitter doesn't have any "social status notifications." The thing is, nobody is claiming that those are the entirety of the category "game mechanics" (just like you're not claiming that's everything that could ever be termed a "social status notification"). They're simply a set of game mechanics that happen to be easily and commonly introduced into websites.