Parameters, strategies and
techniques of game analysis1
Arlete dos sAntos Petry2 / André luiz BAttAiolA3
/ AnA BeAtriz BAhiA4 / luís CArlos Petry5 /
luCiAnA roChA MAriz CluA6 / Antônio VArgAs7
ABSTRACT: The development of a game with educational purposes, similar to a game focusing on
fun, requires an analysis process, which must evaluate positive and negative points, to support a plan
of product improvement. The game A mansão de Quelícera, supported by the CNPq project “Diálogos
entre Arte e Design” (Dialogues between Art and Design), was reviewed by a group of researchers from
diferent institutions of higher education in Brazil. Diferent parts of the game were the subject of
evaluation and redesign, as presented in two articles presented in SBGames 2012. In this article, the
research explores parameters, strategies and analysis’ techniques of digital games, pointing out existing approaches and the ones organized by researchers of the group, whose action part of the gameplayer interaction. The theoretical foundation for this research considered the parameters of quality
for computer games and the parameters deined by the MEC (Ministry of Education-Brazil) to evaluate
educational technologies, as well as made use of strategies and techniques for data collection.
KEYWORDS: Educational Games; Evaluation of Games; Game Analysis; Methods and Techniques;
Ontology.
RESUMO: O desenvolvimento de um jogo com ins educacionais, similarmente a um jogo com foco
na diversão, requer um processo de análise, o qual deve avaliar pontos positivos e negativos, para
embasar um plano de aperfeiçoamento do produto. O jogo A Mansão de Quelícera, contemplado pelo
projeto CNPq “Diálogos entre Arte e Design”, esteve em processo de análise por um grupo de pesquisadores de diferentes instituições de ensino superior brasileiras. Diferentes partes do jogo foram
objeto de avaliação e de remodelagem, como apresentado em dois artigos no SBGames 2012. Neste
artigo, a pesquisa explora parâmetros, estratégias e técnicas de análise de jogos digitais, pontuando
abordagens existentes e as organizadas por pesquisadores do grupo, cuja ação parte da interação
jogador-jogo. O embasamento teórico para esta pesquisa considerou os parâmetros de qualidade
1 This article is a modiied version of a previous Portuguese version, available at http://www.sbgames.org/sbgames2013/
proceedings/cultura/Culture-19_full.pdf. The authors would like to thank CNPq for inancing the research that led to results
outlined in this article.
2 Prof. Dept. of Arts, Deart, UFRN, Natal, Brazil. E-mail: arletepetry@gmail.com
3 Prof. Dept. of Design, UFPR, Curitiba, Brazil. E-mail: ufpr.design.profe.albattaiola@gmail.com
4 Creation Director, Studio Casthalia, Florianópolis, Brazil. E-mail: bahia@casthalia.com.br
5 Prof. Dept. of Computing, TIDD, PUCSP, São Paulo, Brazil. E-mail: alletsator@gmail.com
6 Designer, ICICT | Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. E-mail: Luciana.rocha@icict.iocruz.br
7 Prof. Dept. of Visual Arts, Ceart, UDESC, Florianópolis, Brazil. E-mail: acvargass@gmail.com
para jogos de computadores e os parâmetros deinidos pelo MEC para avaliar tecnologias educacionais, bem como utilizou-se de estratégias e técnicas para a coleta de dados.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Jogos educacionais; Avaliação de jogos; Análise de jogos; Métodos e técnicas;
Ontologia.
Revista CibeRtextualidades n.8 [2017] - issn: 1646-4435
1. Introduction
Initiated in March 2012, the research project
Diálogos entre Arte e Design: processo de avaliação e revisão de jogo eletrônico educativo em arte
(Dialogues between Art and Design: evaluation
process and review of electronic educational
game in art), funded by CNPq (Universal Edict
2011), includes the participation of a group of six
researchers from diferent institutions and backgrounds. The group, starting from the empirical
and theoretical repertoire of its members, critically debated the aesthetic, technological, pedagogical and communicational solutions adopted
in the game A Mansão de Quelícera, authored by
two of the researchers in the group, with the
aim of identifying production parameters in
digital educational games and listing the possibilities of improvements and enhancements in
the present game. In order for this process to be
implemented in a scientiically defensible way,
it is necessary to establish analyses parameters.
This article discriminates analyses parameters
and some evaluation approaches, discussing
the strategies and techniques used to analyze
the referred game, and presenting the results
achieved in this process.
Deining what is important, and even necessary,
to be assessed in a digital game, is not an easy
task, especially if one considers the complexity that characterizes this object. Developers,
academic or not, according to their theoretical
and empirical studies in the area, punctuate
several parameters and strategies used to analyze games. Therefore, in the aforementioned
research, primarily, the research was done about
some of these parameters and, in sequence, discussions about the strategies and techniques
used by the group researchers.
2. Assessment and analysis of
interfaces
In general terms, as proposed by Cybis, Betiol
and Faust, cited by Cascaes (2013), assessment
approaches about the interface of computer sys-
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tems can be divided in two groups: one focused
on ergonomic assessment; and the other on the
usability of the system. The correction of a problem of ergonomic interface, when remedied
even before the system being brought to the
target audience; can avoid a problem of usability, outlining a possible obstacle that can hinder
the user in performing a task within the system.
Thus, the approaches of both groups are listed in
their order; however, difer on the principles and
procedures applied, as well as on the individuals
involved in the evaluation process.
Both approaches, of ergonomics and usability,
can be used simultaneously and the problems
through each of them can be classiied according to the severity, combining three factors: frequency with which the problem occurs (whether
it is common or rare), the impact (if it was easy or
diicult for you to overcome it), the persistence
of the problem (occurs only once and can be bypassed or repeated and users will be bothered
by it). Thus, it is deined a priority list about what
will be adjusted on the system, with a view on
the resources available for the development.
The reviews of ergonomics, in particular, are
usually made by a group of specialists, without
the concern of involving people with the proile
of the end user. Is held inspection, veriication
and it emits the diagnostic of the interface from
recommendations and predeined ergonomic
criteria. Now, the usability tests are done by observing people with a coherent proile with the
end user they use the system. Thus, it attempts
to detect obstacles to the use of the system, in
addition to measuring the negative impact of
each problem and to recognize the cause of it in
the interface elements.
A heuristic evaluation is an example of ergonomic evaluation. The term heuristic (from the
Greek verb Heurisko) designates the art of discovering and solving problems by the experience, whether is it from the researcher himself or
observed in others. But the heuristic evaluation
is usually done by a small group of evaluators
(three to ive specialists) who that use the system
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themselves, taking into hand a list of heuristic
principles to be evaluated (Cuperschmid, 2008).
The analysis of each evaluator is made separately and the problems encountered by each one
are discussed in group and consolidated into a
inal document.
- Help the user, evaluating if the system gives
conditions to the user to recognize, diagnose
and overcome mistakes;
The researches, who adopt this way of assessment, usually start from the ten principles of
the Heuristic Evaluation, formulated by Nilsen
(1995):
The principles of Nielsen were drawn from a survey of 294 recurrent problems in the interfaces
that he analyzed, along with Molich, around
1990.
- Visibility of status, evaluating whether the system informs the user what is happening and at
what stage it is;
This origin reairms the fact that the heuristic
methods have deductive character, in other
words, the evaluator is based on assessments already made and, in problems discovered in previous experiments (Bailly, 2000). Therefore, they
are beyond the heuristic phenomena that exist,
but escaped from the knowledge formulated by
previously lived experiments.
- Relationship between the interface and the real
world, by evaluating whether the language used
is familiar to the user;
- Control and liberty, by evaluating whether the
system gives the user conditions to do, undo and
redo actions;
- Consistency and standardization, by evaluating
whether there is no risk for the user to assign different meanings to elements associated with the
same purpose;
- Prevention of errors, by evaluating whether
there is no situations prone error, or user actions
that are prone to error;
- Recognition, evaluating if the system does
not require to the user to remember, without
having conditions to reaccess, previously seen
information;
- Flexibility and eiciency, evaluating if the system satisies users with more and less experience;
- Aesthetic and minimalist design, by evaluating whether there are no excesses, if the system
has only what is relevant to its purpose to be
realized;
- Ofer help and documentation for easy access
and reading for the user.
The gap of the method, here indicated, can be
illustrated with a question posed by Bertrand
Russell in Problemas da Filosoia (The Problems
of Philosophy) (Russell, 2005): will the sun rise
tomorrow? If we rely on past experiences, our
answer is yes. However, it is possible that occurs
a phenomenon not controlled by us, in which
produces a diferent result. It is understood then,
that the known experiments are not the only
suitable for a process of analysis, especially when
you want to raise new horizons on the digital object to be analyzed. In this sense, it is essential
to include the philosophical contribution and
the observation of the object use from a point of
view that exceeds the look of an expert in computer systems.
3. Parameters of evaluation
and analysis of games
Whether is by the perspective of ergonomics
or the usability, for a consistent evaluation, it
is necessary to take into account that digital
games have distinct usability features from other types of computer interface. The ISO 9241-11
(ABNT, 2002) describes usability based on three
PaRaMeteRs, stRategies and teChniques of gaMe analysis
criteria: efectiveness, eiciency and satisfaction. However, in the case of digital games, not
always completing a task with less expenditure
of time and work is synonymous of a good play.
As highlighted by Nielsen (1993), to the extent
that the activity is for entertainment, the user
may want to spend more time with it. Including,
the willingness to delay is one of the advantages
of digital games when used in the processes of
teaching and learning.
On the analysis of digital games, should be considered the diferences to other types of media
entertainment (Aarseth, 2003), such as those
highlighted by Consalvo and Dutton (2006) and
referenced in previous analyzes by Petry (2011)
and Petry & Petry (2012). Performing analysis of
digital games is more diicult than the one of a
ilm, for example, according to the user interaction, for the game’s objects to move and hide,
explaining its condition of dynamic objects.
The elements present in digital games (like the
rules, conlicts, goals and decision making) are
also part of human life in general. The digital
games are a type of object with inherent characteristic that either participates in the culture as,
above all, it acquires a redeinition (Manovich,
2001 and Salen and Zimmerman, 2012). Moreover, they themselves do not cease to transform
and have an impact even wider and profound
to the current culture. Much is the fact that is it
is common to ind absolutely particular visions
between players and developers from what the
digital game is, as well as conlicting positions
about what it can be. Therefore, the report of
the International Game Developers Association
(IGDA) from 2008, awares to the need of inding
an identity which embraces the digital games
epistemic and materially, in order to describe the
complexity and breadth open, semi-permeable
and hybrid.
The conceptual imprecision complicates the formulation of a methodology of analysis for digital
games which allows to understand the fundamentals, possibilities and applications of each
game. It also turns questionable the limitation
of the analysis process to the assessment of the
prescribed formal aspects, as well as for the look
of specialists in computer systems of this type.
This because, when observing players from a
multidisciplinary perspective, the researcher will
discover facets on the game that go beyond the
ergonomic principles, and even, the possibilities imagined by the designers of the analyzed
game.
Faced with this scenario, researchers of digital
games interested in deining principles of evaluation, as well as parameters of analysis of the experience of playing, conigure analysis processes
that consider not only the play of the specialists,
but in particular the play of the target audience.
The contributions of some of these researchers
are described below.
Chuck Clanton (1998) points out three speciic
dimensions for the analysis of digital games.
They are: game interface, game mechanics and
gameplay. The interface includes any device by
means of which the player interacts with the
game, including peripherals (such as a mouse or
a keyboard), visual representations of the controls, tutorials, mobility tips, resources to save,
go back, and exit a play, among others. The mechanics relates to the way of functioning of the
digital game, being a combination of animation
and programming. The gameplay is the process
that allows the player achieving the goal of the
game, involving the problems and challenges to
be faced, the rhythm of the game and the cognitive eforts required of the player (Crawford,
1982). The three dimensions are held simultaneously in the game; even so, Clanton suggests
that they should be analyzed separately.
Based on the structure of Clanton, considering the heuristic bias, Federof (2002) wrote a
list for evaluation of digital games, which he
called “guide for creation and evaluation of fun
in games”. The list includes 23 aspects related to
the gameplay, 13 to the interface and only 4 to
the mechanics of the game. While evaluation of
heuristic approach, the proposed veriication by
Federof, should be done with the participation
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of specialists. Certainly, it can be complemented
with the observation of players playing, which
would approach this type of evaluation of other
which follows the approach of usability. However, if it is not made the observation of the players
and the evaluation stays restricted to the eyes
of the specialists, even considering the competence of professional appraisers, it will not be
possible to evaluate the usability precisely. In
other words, the game may eventually provide
a young person or a child, the target audience of
the present game.
From the critical reading of Federof, including
other authors of heuristic approach, Desurvire
et al. (2004) formulated another listing for Heuristic Evaluation for Playability, abbreviated as
HEP (Heuristic Evaluation for Playability), speciic
to digital games. Desurvire did not keep the
interface between the aspects to be evaluated
separately and included narrative as the diferential and important aspect in the evaluation of
digital games, which involves everything from
the storyline to the development of the game
characters. Another distinguishing feature of
this list is the inclusion of the usability as one of
the dimensions to be evaluated. In summary, the
listing of Desurvire embraces four dimensions:
gameplay, narrative, mechanics and usability.
Desurvire took HEP into the ield, in parallel with
a usability test (observation of players in a twohour session experience), aiming to compare
the data obtained from each of the evaluation
methods for a same group of digital games.
Desurvire concluded that each method has its
advantages and particularities, recommending
the combined use of these two evaluation approaches. The number of problems identiied
from HEP was greater than that found from the
observation of player. However, the nature of the
identiied problems with each approach difers
from each other, so the combined use brings
consistency to the assessment procedures. For
example, by observing as player, it was possible to assess issues related to the motivation of
the player (feeling of boredom or challenge), to
the pace of the game and the adequacy of the
verbal language used. Such problems were not
detected by the HEP, whose major contributions
deal with the general principles (mechanical and
usability) of the evaluated digital games.
Desurvire is not the only to propose the use
of plural looks, of diferent approaches on the
same digital game. Aarseth (2003), inspired by
the ideas of Lars Konzack, follows this position.
Lars Konzack had proposed the analysis of digital games considering the existence of seven
distinct layers and equally important: hardware,
program source code, mechanics, gameplay,
meaning, referentiality and sociocultural factors.
Aarseth highlights such proposal as innovative,
to deepen and diversify the areas of knowledge
that underlie the analysis process. However,
Aarseth criticizes the idea that each of these layers has equal weight in the process. According
to him, for example, the mechanical should have
higher weight than the hardware layer of a digital game.
Spite of inspired by Konzack, Aarseth builds
his own list of analysis parameters. He scores
three diferent layers: gameplay, understanding it as the actions of the players, their strategies and motivations of play, the structure of
the game, including the rules of the game, and
the game world, characterized by the narrative
content and ictional, the topology, the levels,
the textures, and other constituent aspects of
the simulation. He highlights the structure of
rules as the most important layer in the analysis
process, because this deines the advances, the
victory and the failure of the process of playing.
However, depending on the game, another layer
may prove be more relevant. Examples are RPG
games, in which the layer of gameplay is the key.
Returning to the previously mentioned idea that
digital games have more complex structure than
other computer interfaces, it is worth mentioning that the propositions of aforementioned
authors diferentiate not only in the analysis
parameters, but by the conceptual bias that underlies its parameters and guides the analysis
process. Some authors maintain their interest
PaRaMeteRs, stRategies and teChniques of gaMe analysis
in guiding principles from assessments of computational interfaces. Others recognize digital
games not only as computer system, even place
this dimension of the object as the most important over others in the process of analysis. In this
line, Aarseth maintains that digital games are a
new cultural phenomenon, with points of similarity with objects commonly analyzed in the
Arts and the Human Sciences.
Therefore, Aarseth (2003) proposes the construction of a model of analysis that considers
these games as an object that has aesthetic density and conceptual comparable to an artwork,
naming such model of aesthetic analysis guided
by a method capable of overcoming the “blind
spots “that usually afect the aesthetic analysis
analyzes focused on visual and textual aspects.
The aesthetics of the digital game is beyond
the game itself, it emerges from the experience
that the player performs by interacting with the
system.
4. Strategies and techniques
for analysis of games
As for the method of analysis, Aarseth poses that
playing is essential, but should be combined
with other forms of data collection about the
digital game and the playing. Therefore, distinguishes three main ways to know a digital game,
composing what the author calls the hermeneutic cycle of game analysis. First, study the game,
trying to obtain knowledge through documents
and interviews of developers and users. Second,
observe someone playing as well as read reports
and hear from players. Third, play the digital
game by itself. Aarseth highlights the importance
of the third form, but emphasizes the need for
it to be used in conjunction with the irst ones.
As regards the irst form, Aarseth (2003) suggests
taking as a source of study about the game digital: the knowledge about the genre of the game;
knowledge about the game system, game development documents, reports of tests conducted
during the development process; guidance pro-
vided to players, players reports, commentaries,
discussion environments used by players; interviews with players, interviews with developers.
As to the second form, must include the direct
observation of players in action. Direct observation is especially important because much of
the data to be considered in the analysis process are not verbalized by the player. The author
points out that there is a dialectical relationship between player interaction and the design
of the digital game, in other words, the play is
not something prescribed by the designer, even
only depend on the player, is something that
emerges from the relation itself that the player
establishes with the game. Therefore, in addition
to the multiple possible routes to be traversed
in the game, it is interesting to consider the existence of players with diferent personalities in
the deinition of the subject to be observed in
the ield.
A typology of styles of playing was deined by
Bartle, cited by Aarseth (2003), and is composed
by four proiles: socializer player who enjoys the
company of other players, killer player who attacks other players; entrepreneur player who
seeks obstinately the victory; explorer player
who seeks to unravel secrets, hidden mechanical
and errors of the digital game. However, Aarseth
suggests that this typology is combined with another, deined by the level of experience of the
player (beginner, casual, hardcore), multiplying
the number of player’s proiles. He ponders saying that some combinations are unlikely to happen, for example, the “casual explorer” player. So,
the important thing is to consider the existence
of such proiles on the deinition of the group
of players to be observed, by privileging one of
them, the one considered more suitable for digital game analyzed, by diversifying the proiles in
order to evaluate how each proile relates to the
same digital game.
Aarseth highlights the importance of the researcher to be familiar with the game when
making the observations on other players, that
is, he suggests that the researcher start to play
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even before the observation. Therefore, the third
way of study of the digital game can occur before and after the irst and the second form.
There are many possibilities of strategies and
techniques of analysis, thus, the researcher must
choose those that prove more consistencies
with the reasons that lead him to the ield, as
well as reconcile the strategies and techniques
with the conditions in which the research will
take place, meaning that, from the researcher’s
skills as a player, from his professional experience, from the time that he ofers to perform
the search, and mainly, his ethical stance. Even
because every technical choice chosen, whether
it is in analysis context or development of a digital game, brings political meaning, ethical, social, cultural and ecological, without precedents
(Petry, 2013).
5. Process of analysis of the
game A mansão de quelícera
The analysis of the digital game A Mansão de
Quelícera, aimed at the Ensino de Arte (Art Education) (MEC, 2009), was performed in two distinct
moments and by two researchers from the team
of the research project referred in the introduction of this article. Each analysis followed proper
theoretical references, but haven’t conlicted
with each other, and both were based on database obtained by observing players, questionnaire and interview.
The irst analysis was made by Luciana Rocha
Clua (2011) and was presented in the dissertation defended in 2011, under the guidance of
Dr. Rita Maria de Souza Couto, along with the
Laboratório Interdisciplinar Design/Educação do
Departamento de Design da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (Interdisciplinary
Laboratory Design/ Design Education Department of the Pontiical Catholic University of Rio
de Janeiro). The second analysis was part of the
postdoctoral research of Arlete dos Santos Petry
(2012) - FAPESP No. 2011/09778-9-with the Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de
São Paulo (School of Communications and Arts,
University of São Paulo).
As Aarseth reminds us, the choice of methodological procedures for analysis of digital game
depends on the research objectives, the conditions to conduct research and how it is intend to
use its conclusions of the analysis. In the cases
reported here, it is worth saying that Clua (2011)
aimed to identify parameters related to gameplay and entertainment that pointed subsidies
for new projects of educational games. This because, the irst contact of the researcher with
the game mentioned occurred in a games exhibition, with players having fun, despite it was a
game with educational purpose. In addition to
performing its primary objective, Clua (2011)
concluded the analysis by listing some gameplay issues that could be corrected to improve
the game.
In order to better understand what deines a
good gameplay, was adopted parameters listed
by Schell (2011). They are: the gameplay should
privilege the ability in relation to the luck; the
complexity of the game should grow, the punishment must not be excessive to avoid discouragement of the player (to encourage him to try
again); some kind of reward to the efort should
be received (sounds, images, points etc.); the
game should be balanced between diiculty
and easiness; and, create opportunity ways so
that the player can survive in the game. Searching the balance on these parameters allows us
to evaluate and adjust the playability of a game.
Clua (2011) also took as reference tests gameplay that according to Shuytema (2008), aim to
verify the existence of errors in the game, either
by design or software, and ascertain whether
the diiculty curve is appropriate for the target
audience and if the player’s performance is acceptable. For some designers these tests can be
internal, made by experts, members of the building team of the game, or external, involving the
audience (Fullerton, 2004).
PaRaMeteRs, stRategies and teChniques of gaMe analysis
By taking the search of Clua (2011) as background, the analysis of Petry (2012) aims to
identify what is relevant to be modiied and
what should remain in the game in question,
considering both the guiding concept and the
educational objectives of the game. This because, some aspects that could be considered
problematic in a digital game of entertainment
are constitutive of the pedagogical objective
of A Mansão de Quelícera, the one to provide an
experience similar to that experienced with the
artwork (Bahia et al, 2012). The researcher also
has also taken into consideration the principles
of gameplay of games of the RPG genre, being
the kind of reference for the construction of the
game analyzed.
In sequence, we present speciicities of the two
review processes.
5.1. First analysis
Clua (2011) organized her evaluation of the
game A Mansão de Quelícera in two distinct
phases:
Pre-test – the objective was to observe the overall understanding of the game, the diiculties
and the ease found, besides obtaining subsidies
to select the children with which would deepen
the observations on the playability test. Thus,
were selected four children which best developed in the game and which had partnered with
other colleague, from these, half should be girls,
and half boys to observe if there were gender
changes in the understanding of the narrative
of the game. The pre-test took place in two sessions of two hours each, and was attended by
26 children of the ifth year (10 and 11 years)
in a public school in the city of Rio de Janeiro.
The children were on schedule of extracurricular activities, in the computer room of the ONG
K House located at PUC-RJ. Before starting the
irst session of the pre-test, the researcher presented to the children the commands that could
be used in the game and before the second ses-
sion, showed some print screens of the main scenarios of the game.
Test- occurred following the pre-test at the
school and during extracurricular time. Four children selected in the pretest attended to it. There
were two observation sessions (the irst lasted
1:30 hour and the second one lasted 3 hours),
each followed by semi-structured interviews
performed in groups. The sessions were registered by recording audio and video in addition
to the notes taken by the researcher.
The observations were direct and participative,
performed in relation to a script. The contents
discussed in the beginning of each session were
created by the researcher according to the needs
observed on the previous sessions. These and
other interventions were performed in order
to drive players into the relection and the verbalization of thoughts and feelings that erupted
during the play.
To address the data analysis, Clua (2011) listed
aspects that are considered signiicant for this
type of digital game: solidarity collaborative interaction; competitive interaction; learning of
content; development of strategies; fun; playability; and diiculties overcome and not overcome. For the choice of these aspects, it was
considered the fact that a digital game of the
RPG genre has an educational purpose. Anyway,
it is known that some of these aspects (gameplay, for example) would be present regardless
of the type of game analyzed.
The theoretical basis of the analysis that supported Clua (2011) is based mainly on Vygotsky (1991) and Leontiev (1978). From Leontiev
(1978) came the contribution of Activity Theory,
in which he highlights the importance of the
dominant activity in an action, which is the responsible for the most important changes in the
mental development of the child. From Vygotsky
(1991) the researcher incorporated the study of
concept formation in children, as the author noted the existence of two distinct developmental
processes: the spontaneous concepts present on
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the day-to-day life, and scientiic concepts, taking into account the mediation with the school,
although not be restricted to it. Vygotsky (1991)
emphasized the role of the school in the formation of the scientiic concepts as a catalyst in
this process. Having as background these two
authors, at the same time separate and complementary, Clua (2011) encouraged the children
to externalize their thoughts, at speciic times
of the observation sessions and interviews, to
better monitor the major activity in their thinking. The children were also observed in their
mediation with the game and the formation of
concepts that these were in relation to the narrative and the new objects presented by the game.
The analysis of A Mansão de Quelícera led to the
following conclusions on each of the six aspects
observed:
Solidary collaborative interaction- it was observed that the students were helping themselves in the performance of the activities to
overcome the challenges, choose the surest
ways and up to reach the end of the game. Clua
(2011) commented that the moment of the end
of the game “could have been more competitive,
but prevailed among all cooperation to achieve
a common goal: to win the game”.
Competitive interaction- was less present than
the collaboration, having been more evident on
the irst day of the test, when players have been
arranged on two pairs (a pair per computer) and
a pair competed among them.
Learning content- assessing the learning of artistic content has not been the focus of the research for Clua (2011). Still, she concluded that
the game promotes the aesthetic experience
with images that come with the player meanings and reframes all the time. Clua considers
appropriate the mediation of an educator to occur a relection on the artistic content steeped
in visual elements of the game. Furthermore, the
author comments that the players learned terms
that were unknown, as artist names, passwords
in Latin and words in an old language.
Strategy development- the players used the strategy of trial-and-error at various times. They also
developed speciic strategies, such as: creating
alternative ways of traveling between environments; use the death of their character as a
resource to change character, escaping the dificulties of continuing the game with that character; and write in a notebook the clues they
needed to be memorized.
Fun- Clua comments that the use of terms such
as “irado”(“awesome”), “exciting”, “eita”(“wow”),
“let’s go”, “caraca”(“oh boy”) and “funny”, at various times on the sessions, demonstrates that
players were having fun with the game. The researcher relates that this fun with the structure
of the low of the game, alternating two types
of interaction: (a) research and interpretation of
cues; (b) the facing of challenges with time control and which require agility, exciting the players. These challenges keep the player interested,
despite the diiculties in unraveling the enigma
of the narrative and from the frustration with the
inevitable failure experience in occasional moments in the game.
Playability and diiculties overcome and not overcome- the players have expressed the feeling of
being lost and the diiculty of building a whole
meaning to the narrative. According to Clua
(2011), “the game has become too fragmented,
which makes diiculty in the connection between clues and solving challenges”. In addition, the researcher observed gameplay issues
in some of the challenges, but relected that, despite this, the players were persistent, in trying to
overcome challenges in which they had “died” to
ind victory. Players also regretted the end of the
research on the last test session.
5.2. Second analysis
At the methodological level, Petry (2012) was
based on the ideas of Aarseth (2003), emphasizing that games are object and process, therefore,
can not only be read as texts or listened to as a
song, they also need to be played. Thus, Petry,
PaRaMeteRs, stRategies and teChniques of gaMe analysis
in a deployment of methodology applied previously (Petry, 2011), set three actions of research:
(a) play the game; (b) watching two children playing the game by applying a technique called
watched game, referring to the forged Heideggerian expression Sorge, word which retrieves
the meaning of care, as a follow-up to play of the
other; (c) interviewed the two players.
sary for the continuity of the activity. While the
subject observed was playing, the researcher’s
attention was divided between the observation itself and record notes (ield journal). The
intention was to confront children with the new,
check if the game was successful in the category
of being self-explanatory, desired feature for
digital games.
The action of research “a” was the irst to be
held. Petry (2012) experienced the game in two
1-hour sessions in a single day. The researcher
opted to play without seeking extra information
about the game (the website Educador gives
contribution to this game, to the research on
the game, among others), is based only on prior
information coming from informal comments of
the developers themselves and of an article.
The accurate analysis of the behavior of the
player was performed subsequently from ilming. This is because, besides the ield journal, the
research actions “b” and “c” were documented
by ilming done in two perspectives: the player
shooting; and capture of the computer screen,
with the help of the free software Fraps. This last
technique was adequate and eicient, enabling
the researcher to pay attention to the sequence
of movements and events in the game screen
from the use of the mouse and a keyboard.
Therefore, the behaviors unnoticed during the
direct observation could be better analyzed by
shooting.
The action of research “b” took place with the
participation of two children: a girl of 10 years
and a boy of 9 years. With a girl, there were
three play sessions watched, being the irst 60
minutes, the second 53 minutes and the third
50 minutes, totaling almost three hours of play.
Only one session of 68 minutes was held with
the boy.
As for the choice of the age group, it is worth remembering that the game was designed for children between 9 and 14 years old. However, the
pilot application included only children from 12
to 14 (Gaspar, 2006) and the tests made by Clua
(2011) showed that the younger have excessive
diiculty with some challenges. Therefore, Petry
(2012) chose to conduct sessions of watched
game with children of 9 and 10. Thus, an attempt
to reassess the extent of the group age and level
of diiculty of some of the challenges of the digital game, outlining cognitive abilities and skills
compatible with the target audience.
It was used direct observation in the watched
game sessions, with minimal intervention by the
researcher. The role of the researcher was to observe and to do interventions restricted to provide instructions about the game when asked
by the player, or to say something when neces-
Besides the analysis of each shoot separately,
Petry (2012) issued a third video synchronizing
the frames of the videos, matching the cursor
movements (shooting of the screen) with the
verbalization and physiognomic expressions
(footage of the players). Thus, she obtained a
valuable data analysis to correlate behaviors of
the player with the events of the interaction with
the system. In particular, for the analysis of the
understanding of the game by the player and
the actions necessary to move towards the end.
From the data collected in action of research
“b”, Petry continued the process of analysis into
three parts: (a) analysis of the game as a whole,
(b) analysis of the challenges (mini-games) and (c)
analysis of the avatars chosen (Petry, 2012). Such
elements were guided on this speciic game, being considered the most relevant to this second
analysis.
From each part, the researcher focused on three
aspects previously selected for analysis: (1) socio-emotional content (psychodynamic) contained
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in the game, (2) cognitive skills (psychogenic
approach) needed to advance in the game, (3)
technical aspects of game production. Based on
Aarseth (2003), Petry understands that the irst
two aspects have narrative feature, and the socioemotional contents are manifested mainly
in the script, characters and environments. The
technical aspects, on the other hand, can be
understood through game design, object inventory, interface study, interaction map, gameplay,
rules and mechanics of the game.
Petry (2012) lent greater attention to the role of
the narrative in the digital game, even considering that one of the conclusions cited by Clua
(2011), was the account of the diiculty of the
players to understand the meanings of the game
narrative as a whole.
It is understood that it is necessary to expand the
traditional concept of narrative, so, go beyond
oral or written text (theater, literature), of moving images (ilm and television) and include the
action of the player to play the game. Therefore,
think the narrative on digital games involves
considering, at least, three discursive voices: the
game designer, the narrator and player. Furthermore, it must be remembered that digital games
are produced with a hybrid language, characteristic of hypermedia language (Santaella, 2001),
overcoming verbal language (used by the writer
and the narrators), the visual language (used by
graphic artists on the scenes and characters) and
sound language (used by sound design).
In the analysis performed by Petry (2012) a positive indication of appropriation of the narrative
content is how the girl observed, she was constructing relations between rooms in the house,
in other words, a knowledge which was getting
in extent that the route was constructed. With
this data at hand, Petry questioned whether
spatial understanding of the game environment
(something that could be realized on a map, for
example) should or should not be given to the
player as it is something to be built mentally
through the route that each player performs.
Such conclusion of Petry is based in the research
of Piaget (1983), when this refers to the vertical
ofsets, and understands that the sensorimotor
intelligence, while being the irst to produce
schemes of action, continues to have a key role
throughout life. That is, whenever we encounter
a “new object”, we seek to know what it is about
through our sensory and motor skills. In the case
of navigation for a “new digital game,” the intellectual tools driven to solve problems will be, initially, our eyes, ears and, especially, hands. Those
is, just as our unconscious, in the case of McDonald (2012), when playing digital games and manipulate its controls, intelligence required has its
centrality in our ingertips.
Some aspects presented in the game should be
rethought from the decision that the game will
be available on the network to be played online,
abandoning the idea, now rarely used even in
commercial games, of games on CD-ROM or DVD.
This will lead to the use of the game beyond the
school environment and, hence, to play experiences without restriction and/or support of an
adult. Thus, on the one hand, the language used
in the texts can evoke a historic old moment, for
example, can become a barrier, even more signiicant, for solving the challenges of the game.
On the other hand, “dedicated” players usually
search the web for solutions to their diiculties
in games, forming even stronger community
discussion about them (called games forums). As
the game A Mansão de Quelícera (The Mansion of
the Chelicera) has a website with a teacher support, a lot of informations can be sought there.
Another suggestion placed from the analysis is
to ofer the player visible access to their inventory, meaning that the objects conquered by him
or her in the course of the game are saved and
can be accessed through an interface element
of the digital game. In this way, returning to the
game after some “death” would not need to redo
the challenges already due and past achievements. The perception of progress would thus
be a strong motivational element for the player
wanting to stay in the game.
PaRaMeteRs, stRategies and teChniques of gaMe analysis
6. Application of analysis of
A Mansão de Quelícera
Being a reassessment of the game A Mansão
de Quelícera, the goal of the research project
“Diálogos entre Arte e Design” being performed
by the six co-authors of this article, the analysis
performed by Clua (2011) and Petry (2012) are
part of a dialogue that unfolds for more than an
year, and even took the game developers to play
with other eyes, and rediscover intricacies of
the labyrinthine experience of the game. To the
extent that the project is also aimed to develop
an improved version of the game, such dialogue
has been consolidating in the deinition of what
should be reairmed and what needs to be redesigned, so that the ultimate purpose of the
game is performed more consistently. The aspects to be kept have general character, being
constitutive principles of the concept of gaming
promoter of the artistic experience; has suggestions for modiication dealing with details of the
interface and game mechanics, as listed below.
6.1. Aspects to be reairmed
Coerência com os Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (Consistency with National Curriculum)
(MEC, 1997) – this document of the Ministério
da Educação (Ministry of Education) structures
the Ensino de Arte (Art Teaching) in three areas:
production, appreciation and contextualization
of art. The game aims to promote learning in art
history (contextualization), but rather it aimed at
the practice of interpretation (appreciation), this
area that the Ministry itself says to be the lack in
the classrooms.
Understanding the appreciation while game –
the strategies of promotion of the interpretation were created keeping in mind the concept
of experience with the artwork formulated by
the philosopher H. G. Gadamer (1996), understanding that the interpretation of the artwork
is party, symbol, in particular, is game; and that
experience itself constitute the cognitive sense of
the artwork, as it puts the subject in a condition
of being-interpreted for another way of knowing
the world. Among other possible interpretations, digital games with works of artistic tradition lead the player to know the actual “art world
“in a diferent way, and just as important as, the
institutional modes, through other promoter
interfaces of the artistic knowledge as catalogs,
galleries and art museums (Bahia, 2008).
Separation of promoter resource of the interpretation (game) that promotes the teaching of art
history (site)- this separation is an important
diferential of the game A Mansão de Quelícera,
because it prevents the experience of the interpretation of being buried by an unreasonable
historiographical information. So, on the one
hand, the game promotes exercise of interpretation, leading the player to discover and engage
himself in narrative storyline. The player faces
textual clues and, especially, visuals that must
be confronted and related to each other to construct a meaning for its play. Many of these clues
are citations from art works and artists from the
history of art; however, the interpretation of
the clues does not imply in decoding because
the interpretation is here merely an instrumental and informational form of historiographical
data. On the contrary, the player must ind in
these pictures, links with the game scenario itself, because what is wanted to promote is the
game of interpretation itself. On the other hand,
the teacher is also motivated to teach art history
(axis of contextualization) from the game, using
the Site of Support to the Educator, especially developed to accompany the game, in which will
ind speciic texts for 63 works, 20 artists and 18
topics that compose the game content, above
pedagogical guidelines for the use of the game
in the classroom.
Aesthetic consistencies of the game– all graphic
iles of the game were produced from techniques and concepts of the tradition of artistic
painting of representation. The main scenarios
were drawn in pencil and paintings; others were
made from appropriation of works from this artistic tradition, practice this recurrent in contemporary art (Bahia and Vargas, 2012). Therefore,
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the game has a diferential aesthetic quality,
when compared to other games, and consistent
with the covered content.
Timeliness of content– though to traverse about
some art works created between the XV and XIX
centuries, the way how the works were incorporated into the game (not just as pictures, but as
characters and parts of the internal and external
scenarios), update the content and the own way
of how to relate to the art works of the tradition,
functioning as a dispositive of deconditioning of
the contemplative look (Bahia, 2008); promoting
the immersion in a playful-ictional environment
permeated by characters and fragments of art
works.
Plurality in the game low– Despite of the situations that require correlation of clues, part of the
navigation on the game, the encounter of challenges (obstacles between one environment and
another as those found in platforms games, in
ight games, in memory games, and other nine)
that, as highlighted Clua in its analysis, they add
dynamics to the play and require a diferent behavior of the player. The sensations experienced
are also plural by players who: manifest fear
(of entering in certain environments and meet
some characters) and good mood (especially,
with the scatological sounds issued when interacting with objects in a given environment); feel
the diiculty to interpret clues and retake the
enthusiasm when he or she is able to use a password and overcome an obstacle. This diversity
strengthens the player’s interest.
6.2. Aspects to be improved
Having this dual background of general aspect
to be reairmed and of problems identiied in
the analysis process, the developers of the game
A Mansão de Quelícera, now with renewed look,
relativize some aspects deined for this game ten
years and organize in a table presented below,
with speciic solutions for each of the identiied
problems.
The changes suggested above were applied in
2014, with the 2.0 version of the game A Mansão
de Quelícera.
Solution
Game
Narrative
Diiculty of comprehending the diferences
between the 3 avatars to choose.
(a) Present a synthesis of the mission and the
characteristics from each avatar before the
choice; (b) leave the form of the avatar available
in the game, marking the development of skills.
Diiculty of comprehending the history.
The opening animation, in addition to introduce
the player to the esthetics of the game, will
communicate the bases of the narrative plot
(Battaiola et al, 2012).
Diiculty to remember names (abilities, ambient
and objects).
(a) on the map, identify names of the
environments;
(b) on the Diary, include pages about the inhabitants of the game place; (c) others objects from
the inventory will be with their names.
Diiculty to understand the function of the
character Rafael.
(a) Explicit his narrative role on the opening
animation; (b) exclude the two notes left by him;
Game
Narrative
Problem
Game
Narrative
Table I - Results of the analysis
Game
Narrative
132
(c) put the content of the notes on Rafael’s
speech at the library.
Game
Narrative
Rafael will be at the library, so the player will
pass by, at least, three environments before
meeting him.
Game
Narrative
Diiculty to read the Diary.
(a) Change the fount; (b) review the use of old
expressions; (c) insert illustrations on the Diary’s
pages; (d) it will be an object to be reconstructed by the player.
The library is not that much signiicant.
(a) The gallows and the table of the cardinal sins,
will reverberate skills of the avatar;
Game
Narrative
How does Rafael discover the history?
Game
Narrative
PaRaMeteRs, stRategies and teChniques of gaMe analysis
(b) Rafael will supply clues there.
The faint, when he drinks the wine in the dining
room, has no real efect on the character.
(a) The animation will pop when clicking on ive
rotten food/wine; (b) The avatar will get weak
on the image of the player bar and will need to
confront the challenge of the Fork to recover
energy and leave the dining room.
Problem
Solution
Diiculty of displacement between the game’s
space, as the vertical and horizontal displacement of each environment when it happens the
transit between environments.
(a) Substitute the commands of the keyboard by
semi occult buttons on the corner of the screen;
(b) ofer instruction through illustrations and not
from explanatory texts;
(c) ofer a “magic” map, like a White paper with
the compatible size of the space of the game
(communicating what is the extension of the
game space), whose deining lines of the environments and paths are only shown as the locals
are discovered by the player.
Diiculty to remember the clues/passwords
already found.
The clues will be on pages of the Diary that will
be incorporated to the inventory of the player.
There are levels of diiculty on the challenges,
but not always progressives.
(a) Review the level of diiculty of the challenges so the required cognitive abilities for the
level be crescent; (b) explicit the progress as
levels on the map.
The rewards are not evident.
(a) The numeric points of the challenges will be
added on the general score table of the player;
(b) the speciic skills bars of each character
progress with puzzles solved and overcame
challenges; (c) the inventory adds pages to the
Diary and to the key-objects found.
The backups are not evident.
(a) Victory and defeat screen in the end of each
challenge; (b) positive or negative backup from
each interactive event (on the challenges and
exploration of environments).
It is possible to exit the irst environment without reading the mission.
The mission will not be there anymore, it will
be communicated on the moment of picking a
character.
Game
Play
Game
Play
Game Play
Game
Play
Game
Play
Game Play
Table II - Results of the analysis
133
Game
Play
Game Play
Game
Play
Game
Play
Mechanics
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Problem
Solution
When it “dies”, the player loses what he has
already won.
(a) Insert login screen and buttons of “new
game” and “continue play”; (b) if the player “dies”,
to save the state of the player with the chosen
avatar.
Challenge of the knives – it is not notiied what
the avatar can choose.
Improve the instructions, telling the advantages
and disadvantages of turning down.
Enigma of the three ages – it shows to everyone,
but is only useful to who plays with Raul.
With the points of the ability of interpretation, it
will punctuate all, but who plays with Raul keeps
winning something extra (the silver helmet).
In the Dungeon cell, there is no pattern on the
way out, which causes anguish.
(a) Some will keep with the semi open grade
(retouch the scenario) and the spacing will be
able to exit; (b) the ones with the closed grade
will have to use the letter code that will be in
the cage.
In the Dungeon, diiculty of getting rid of the
Shackle.
If in 15 seconds the player doesn’t ind solution,
the character comes back to the screen with
the clue.
Game Play & Game Play & Game Play &
Mechanics
Mechanics
Mechanics
Game Play &
Mechanics
Table III - Results of the analysis
Game Play
134
Problem
Solution
Challenge of the Labyrinth – it is very hard
to win in two curves of the path that are too
narrow.
(a) Make wider aisles; (b) permit movements
by the keyboard arrows; (b) there won’t be a
collision with the walls, only in dead ends;(c)
the labyrinth will be bigger than the screen, the
player will pass through each framework when
he or she arrives to the corner of the screen.
Challenge of the Mirror – it is very hard to win.
Review the speed of the spiders.
Challenge of the Gargoyle - it is very hard to win.
Leave less unequal the intensity of Raul’s punch
in ration to the Gargoyle.
Challenge of the Beetle – it is hard and the
dialogue is long.
(a) Synthesize the initial dialogue;
(b) review instructions;
(c) change the way of collection of leaves (click
instead of dragging).
In the basement, after assemble the cartographic object, what to do with it?
(a) Insert inal animation to the puzzle that reafirms that is a fragment of Holbein’s painting; (b)
when returning to the environment, the objects
will be kept in the patterns of a drag able object.
Each wrong attempt made by the player, a
feedback directs him to the right attempt.
Challenge of the Butterlies –it is not clear when
it is right.
Beyond the point and the sound feedback that
already exist, insert a visual feedback (butterlies
inside the collector).
Fork Game – it is very hard from level 4.
Increase the sensitive area of the cursor and the
size of the food.
Challenge of the Dead Nature – diiculty to
comprehend.
(a) On the instruments screen, keep the artwork
to be reassembled;
(b) reformulate the text; (c) explicit the positive
and negative backups (the options appear with
reduced glitter until the right piece is clicked).
Game Play
In the Ballroom, the place to drag instruments
is discrete.
When “picking up” a musical instrument and
starting to move it over the screen, the place
becomes evocative.
Challenge of the Platform – it is very hard and
poorly explained.
(a) Put an illustrated instruction;
(b) review the continuity between the screens
(the avatar shouldn’t die on the screen 3 if the
action of running was initiated on the screen 2).
Game Play & Game Play &
Mechanics
Mechanics
Game Play
Game Play &
Mechanics
In the basement, the use of trial and error to
drag objects.
Game Play
& Mechanics
PaRaMeteRs, stRategies and teChniques of gaMe analysis
Solution
Clickable and drag able objects are not
evocative.
Deine visual/sound efect, having in mind the
type of action that can be realized with each
object.
Interface
The player bar is little functional and the image
of the avatar’s body disrupts on the immersion.
(a) Remove the button of “help” and “close”
from the bar and put on the superior corner of
the screen; (b) change the avatar’s whole body
picture with alternating facial expressions (c)
exclude labels; (d) keep the two key-objects;
(e) add general punctuation and access to the
avatar’s ile, to the map and the Diary.
Interface
On the challenges (mini-games), the points
registry is little visible.
Create a speciic panel and use the bar form to
represent the limit of minutes (most of the challenges) or of tolerated errors (Butler Challenge).
Diiculty to diferentiate the Diary form of
Rafael’s notes.
As the notes are excluded, every paper found
and inventoried will be a page of the Diary.
Interface
Problem
Interface
Table IV - Results of the Analysis (cont)
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7. Final Considerations
Part of what we accomplished when analyzing the game A Mansão de Quelícera is part of
a process of usual testing in the production of
digital games: the so-called “test of playability”.
Something that relates to the evaluation line of
usability of computer systems, but is not limited
to this. This is because there are not only as reference the methods from areas of Design and
Engineering, but from the Humanities and Arts.
Constitutes a bias of analysis of relatively new
games, in which there is still much to be built
and for which the research that was conducted
with the aim of giving contributions.
One of the contributions that the research
brings is the reairmation of the importance of
playing (either playing the game, or watching
another player) as a step in the analysis process.
That is because, as a phenomenon, the game
is always here and now. Thus, it realizes the impossibility to access to any game, with a previous absolute classiication. Note that: a game is
only completed and can be called as such when
someone enters the game, in other words, when
a game starts to be played (Gadamer, 1997),
question crafted from other philosophers in
Petry (2010). From the perspective of the concept of gameplay, Consalvo (2009) also states
that a game cannot be thought without the action of playing, and goes one step further when
adds the contexts in which, and the reasons why
the player’s actions occur. Relecting on the elements that participate in the game when it is
played also indicates a way to the game analysis, which seeks to achieve through the various
records of the plays (ield diary, ilming, screen
capture, interview).
With respect to the “Watched Game”, speciically,
the recording from two perspectives proved
itself valuable in the process of analysis: of the
screenshot and the body shot. This form of analysis was very useful for the observation of details
of the playability. However, by employing this
methodology, the researcher must be prepared
for many hours of observation and analysis. The
synchronization of these videos was also important, combining the body shot (hands, arms and
face) with the screen, showing the relation between what was done in the game and the physiognomic changes, as well as the movement of
the hand on the mouse. This provided privileged
details of the observations.
Another learning to the team was to understand
that the analysis of a particular game should
not only take into account the parameters of a
generic gameplay. It should have in mind the
goals and conceptual-theoretical thinking that
supports their creation and production, relecting on how such parameters are more or less
relevant to the achievement of the ultimate goal
of that game. Forget this means losing sight of
the signiicant uniqueness of the objects in the
world, or, as Heidegger (2001) would say, in a reference to games, would losing of sight the being
of the game. In the case of the present game, the
goal of the analysis was the consideration that
it is about a game developer of a speciic kind
of experience: the experience of the artwork. It
means, it always will be expected that the player
leaves the game with impressions, some hypotheses, with questions, but, mainly, modiied by
the experience.
There is an objective with this game of enabling
children to realize the art as something close
to them, caught up in things that are part of
their daily lives, things which they like and that
provide them with challenging and pleasurable experiences. This is the perception of the
own experience of interpretation of an art work
based on Gadamer, on which there is the seeking to promote it by considering that still lingers
the idea of interpretation as something dour and
somewhat less participatory, emblematized on
the cartoon image of the museum as a “temple
of art “, a quiet place and of subservience. Then,
the process of analysis is not merely inished
with the identiication of aspects of the game
that does not respect the rules of a “good” game
design; the team has been in dialogue in order
to consider which aspects observed actually interfere negatively in the kind of experience that
PaRaMeteRs, stRategies and teChniques of gaMe analysis
the game seeks to provide, and what modiications can enhance the achievement of the goal
of the game.
Finally, note that the analyses undertaken of
the game A Mansão de Quelícera brought up a
gained learning from other research contexts:
the strategies and techniques selected for the
approach to an object of study are supported,
having consciousness or not, on the theoretical
background with which it views the world and
its objects. There would not be diferent when
thinking about game analysis. This implies that
the concept of game adopted enables us to analyze/evaluate games with another perspective.
In this way, it is important to realize that the deinition of what is a “digital game” is still debated,
and is always renewed with every new game
genre that arises. Consequently, the debate
about the appropriate methodology for games
analysis remains open and is not intended to the
authors to give the last word, but to contribute
with experiences and relections.
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