Sheela's Response

From English 194 Wiki

Salen and Zimmerman take an interesting approach to explain the process of game design through the presentation of abstract concepts and qualities of game design, supported by sufficient examples as evidence. The framework for game design is broken down into three major components called “schemas”: rules, play, and culture. Rules accounts for “the organization of the designed system,” play for “the human experience of that system,” and culture for “the larger contexts engaged with and inhibited by the system.” A concept that seems to be important for Salen and Zimmerman is that of the “magic circle”. The authors argue that the “magic” of this circle is due to the “new reality” it creates. The magic circle seems to have unnecessarily mystifying connotations, even though its notions about time, space, and reality remain significant. “Meaningful play” refers actions and outcomes within a magic circle, which is also important to know and understand in game design. Overall, Salen and Zimmerman mostly convince me with their ideas, even though the reading is very repetitive and wordy. I thought Salen and Zimmerman created an adequate model for game design, however it seemed to lack depth.