Appreciative Systems
As a player become experienced in a number of games, he or she becomes attuned with an "appreciative system of the community of gamers" (Gee, 2003). This system develops as a function of interacting with the multiple design perspectives included in the game as well as with other players who may have similar or different likes and dislikes about games.
This second interaction is particularly useful to novice designers. By discussing the reasons why players like or dislike a particular genre of games, a designer uses argumentation skills coupled with a habit of presenting evidence for an argument, particularly if he or she is going to be taken seriously.
At the same time, these interactions help expand the scope of the designer’s appreciative system to see that different genres and designs present certain strengths and weaknesses and how important it is to have a clear vision of the audience and goal of the game as it is being designed.
Games as Texts, Genres of Games
As such, players and designers with experience learn to see games in the same light that expert readers see books: as works of composition where the voices of the author (or authors) bring to light certain meanings they find interesting or important.
At the same time, gamers learn to develop an attitude of constant activity and challenge in three ways:
- In the game, the player has the choice of making decisions that will challenge the state of affairs created by the designer in the game. This is a response to the designer’s argument.
- The player has the choice of circumventing the designer’s rules, i.e., finding cheats and shortcuts that will optimize his or her advantage.
- Evaluating and reviewing whether the game is overall worth playing and discussing with others in a critical fashion the aspects that work and don’t work within the game.
As a consequence of the development of this attitude, players also learn to have preferences for certain genres of games, i.e., while one player might prefer an adventure/action game such as Zelda, another might prefer a fighter game like Street Fighter. Players also realize that games can be a mixture of genres or hybrids. Depending upon the game, the player may or may not appreciate the mixture of genres inherent in that particular game.