This glossary defines how various terms are used in this work. Although their use here does not deviate dramatically from commonly accepted meanings, I have encountered sufficient opposition and argument over these words to warrant defining them for my purposes. Further, there are frequent discussions and debates about terminology among various game scholar communities that a clarification of how terms are used in this volume is reasonable while at the same time acknowledging that the 'debates' are far from definitive (Becker, 2007j). This may be especially true in a discipline as young as Game Studies.

<BOOKMARK:figure0_1> <style float-left>

Figure 0.1 Consensus, conflict, correspondence and conflict among experts.
Image source: (Shaw & Gaines, 1989)

</style> There is sometimes considerable discussion about how various terms are used, both within and between disciplines. In some cases, there appears to be little agreement over the meaning of some terms within a community. For example, the terms: 'goals', 'aims', and 'objectives' are used and defined differently in the literature (Gronlund, 2000; Noddings, 1995; Peters, 1966)

There are also some striking differences in the terminology used by these two groups of experts. In some cases they use the same words but mean different things. This is a source of difficulty, which must be addressed (Shaw & Gaines, 1989). A translation between ID & GD is necessary if we are to design educational games that still feel like games. There is a certain amount of overlap in the terminology used, and in at least some cases there are subtle but important differences in the meanings of the words used (eg. The way rapid prototyping is used is one example; the distinctions between iteration and recursion are different in education from those understood by programmers.).

To this end I have provided a glossary of terms below describing the way the terms are being used here. In some cases there are references or links to Wikipedia. It should be noted that these are not included as scholarly references, nor are they meant to imply that the entry referenced is 'correct', but simply to expand on my use of the term in this volume.

<style float-left> </style>Terms that are 'new' are flagged. These are terms that have been coined and defined in this volume or by the author in another publication.

The word “abstract” is used because such games usually are presented with no theme, or in which the theme is not important to the experience of playing. Abstract games are thus the “purest” of games. Chess, for example, although it has been said to have a theme of war between medieval armies, is clearly an abstract strategy game. Apart from the names of the pieces there is nothing about the game itself suggesting war; it is more suggestive of geometric patterns. [http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/DefiningtheAbstract.shtml Visited: May-04-04]

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Game player perspective; e.g., Starcraft

Games stored on dedicated hardware built into dedicated cabinets with payment mechanisms. Usually only supports one game per device. Typically contain custom hardware and controls.

<BOOKMARK:ai>

See also: a fairly good discussion on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_AI

Step 1: Define “Intelligence”. This is KEY, and, to my mind, still open for debate. Until we can agree on a common definition for intelligence, there can be no common description of artificial intelligence either. <quote>“We could define the intelligence of a machine in terms of the time needed to do a typical problem and the time needed for the programmer to instruct the machine to do it.” John Nash, 1954 </quote> <quote> “I tell my students that artificial intelligence is a property that a machine has if it astounds you.” Herbert Freeman </quote> Can we separate intelligence from consciousness; from awareness; from free will?

While I doubt you will find agreement even among the so-called experts, people dealing and working with fall roughly into two categories: the “believers” or Strong-AI proponents, and the non-believers, which are the 'Weak-AI' folks. Since there is no conclusive proof behind most of what is done in AI, the discipline often ends up taking on cult status (zealous devotion to a person, ideal, or thing). The believers will tell you it is only a matter of time before we create an intelligent machine. The non-believers are not so self-assured. While many strong-AI folks exist among computer scientists, the 'buy-in' to the religion is far greater among those who do not actually know how computers work . I think this is telling.

<quote> Guy L. Steele Jr. [Distinguished Engineer at Sun], in reply to something Hofstadter (of “Goedel, Escher, Bach” fame) wrote in 1981. “There is a possibility that the physical structure of the universe may be such that the only feasible embedding of intelligence - in a small enough space that you are not subject to speed of light considerations, and can interact with human beings in real time, at their natural speed - may be the biochemical one. In fact, we may run into problems trying to build electrical, silicon, or whatever computers out of other stuff than what our heads have been made out of, trying to get it into a small enough space that the pieces can interact quickly enough so that they can have conversations with us. That is a possible technical limitation that we shouldn't overlook in the debate.”</quote>

Much of the optimism shown by 'strong AI' disciples comes from a lack of understanding of what is actually involved in making these things happen. The promise that voice recognition is just around the corner is a classic example. The AI believers have been making such promises for over 30 years, yet real, functioning systems remain mysteriously out of reach. The fact is, we still have nothing that is reliable enough to be usable. Perhaps an example will help put it into perspective: suppose an AI missionary claims his intelligent voice recognition software can achieve 98% accuracy. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Well, let's apply that to the words in a book. An average paperback novel contains roughly 8 words per line, 35 lines per page. On one page, we have an average of 8 X 35 = 280 words. If we got 98% of the words right that would mean we get 2% of the words wrong: or about 5 words per page. I would not be willing to read a book that had 5 words wrong per page - it would be too distracting. Still sound good?

NOTE: Intelligent agents ARE sophisticated macros. They are the same thing. One of the biggest barriers to real advances in machine intelligence may well be an inability or unwillingness to accept that sophisticated programs are still just programs.

It should not be surprising that we would be so willing to impose personalities onto our computers. Even with just a small amount of apparent social 'consciousness', people are apt to anthropomorphize our computer. We attribute personalities to our cars too - and our musical instruments, our weapons, not to mention our pets, no matter how lowly. Just because I have given my car a name does not mean that the car possesses some form of intelligence.

The player represents a single character. The player's actions are limited to the avatar's location.

When a software application is started, it will often immediately enter a sequence which demos or explains or at least shows a lot of pizazz of the product, especially in games and multimedia titles. This demo mode or “attract-mode” is designed to draw attention, especially in store displays, and to establish a motivation or interest for the user. [http://www.usabilityfirst.com/glossary/main.cgi?function=display_term&term_id=63 Visited: May 4/04]

Used in graph theory and network analysis, centrality is a measure of the relative importance of a node. There are various metrics used to determine centrality, and the two found by Hsi (2003) to be most useful to the ontology of a software application are Eigenvector Centrality, which is a measure of how many other nodes are connected both directly and somewhat indirectly to this one, and Betweenness, which is a measure of how many shortest paths from one node to another pass through this one. These measures help identify the core elements.

“Conceptual coherence is an attribute of conceptual integrity, described by Fred Brooks as the property of a system designed under a unified and coordinated set of design ideas. It is the property of a computing application that measures the degree to which that application’s concepts are tightly related.” (Hsi, 2005)

Game player perspective: e.g., Resident Evil

Game designed and created to run on the user's personal computer

Games designed for dedicated computers whose sole purpose is game-play (e.g. XBox, GameCube). Typically encased, plug-and-play devices that rely on external controllers (joy-stick, etc.) screens (like a television) and home entertainment systems for their peripherals (sound, etc.)

building things “in-game”, like assets, property

<style float-left></style>The Decorative Media Principle involves creating a visually pleasing background and other decorations for a worksheet, website, etc. that is thematically connected with the instruction. For example, in the work the author does with the “Ducks in the Classroom” project, vocabulary and word games are created on a pleasing background – possibly a nest, words enclosed in images of eggs, duck footprints, etc. The principle, although unproven is that the decoration helps to increase interest and may also increase the conceptual coherence of the learning object. (Becker 2006a)

A basic summary description of the concept of the game, explaining what the game will be like. Mainly, the design treatment should discuss the game's basic plot, gameplay, general discussion of the target audience(age and gender), the basic presentation of how the game would be constructed, and other features. The treatment is made to be short and simple.

A game that runs on a computer can be a console, PC, internet, wireless (cell phone, PDA, etc.) or arcade game.

Learning that happens through the use of digital (computer-based) games.

Diegesis, from the ancient Greek (“recounted story”) describes narrative, in contrast with mimesis which deals with symbolism. Diegesis tells; mimesis shows. The term is also used to distinguish sounds in film and games. Diegetic sound is one that originated from within the film or game world - an 'actual' sound. It has a source visible on the screen or implied to be present by the action of the film or game. Diegetic sounds are those sounds in a game that the characters could hear, like gunshots, nearby animals or a radio.

Non-diegetic sounds by contrast are those that the story or in-game characters would typically not hear. These are most typically the musical score, as well as music to set the mood or provide feedback about game states or narration. Non-diegetic sound comes from a source outside story space.

Microsoft's game development toolkit, which has been implemented for PC's running Microsoft operating systems as well as the Xbox

There exist many definitions of education, from William James' “Education is the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior.” (1915, p15, Dover Edition 2001) through the current Wikipedia definition that “Education formally is a social science that encompasses teaching and learning specific knowledge, beliefs, and skills.” (Wikipedia, 2006) with many more variations besides. There is no single, all encompassing definition for education. This leaves us with an obligation to describe our context each time we wish to use the term. For the purposes of the following discussion 'Education' is being used in a fairly narrow and formal sense, involving the deliberate facilitation of learning. Further, R.S. Peters, in Criteria of Education (1966, p 25) states that it is impossible to consider education without implying some worthwhile and desirable change in the person being educated. Education is value-laden. (Paragraph from Becker, 2006b)

In computing , a game engine is the core software component of a computer game. It typically handles rendering and may handle additional tasks such as AI , collision detection between game objects, etc. The most common element that a game engine provides is graphics rendering facilities (2D or 3D). [http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Game+engine]

First person shooter : the player is the main character, and the primary goal of the game is to shoot things.

Game player perspective: From the perspective of the player/avatar. The player sees and experiences the game world through the eyes of the character.

a form of prototype

A human response to learning something interesting. (Chris Crawford)

Participatory entertainment; requires interaction; often non-linear progression; multiple outcomes dynamic participatory complex systems

Fictional component contributes to entertainment NOTE: dependant on how absorbing the gameplay: if the game itself is more absorbing, then the game setting need not be rich (e.g. chess). Speaks to fidelity.

A mental space; entered into voluntarily by choosing to play; governed by rules; not in the real world

A style of game where the player affects the game world on a large and small scale, as a god might (control weather, other people, creatures, nature, etc.) (eg. Black and White)

A person who makes it their mission in life to play hard (and nasty) on the other players. Companies that are running these games try hard to keep griefers out of the action. [example: http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2392 Sep-29-04]

As opposed to a design decision: eg. And idea is “Basilisks should protect their eggs”. A design decision is: “When an enemy gets within 50 meters of a female basilisk's nest that contains eggs, the basilisk will abandon all other activities (including combat) to return to the nest. She will defend the eggs even to her death. She will not leave the nest until 30 seconds after the last enemy has left the 50-meter radius.”

<style float-left></style> The process of examining an interactive digital object, such as a video game, website, or application to determine what kinds of learning are required in order to use, navigate, or reach the end. [source: K.Becker; working definition - subject to change]

A set of scientific principles relating to instructional methods, learner characteristics, learning environments, and outcomes. Typically derived from or tested by empirical research. [source: http://www.hutchcc.edu/distance/glossary.htm][19/11/2006]

<style float-left></style> Instructional Ethology is the study of the externally observable “teaching” behaviour from four perspectives:

• the game’s structure (which is addressed through ontological excavation adaptations);
• its function or support;
• the interaction;
• the game’s similarity to other games, which in turn speaks to notions of genre (classification).

In Instructional Ethology, the main guiding question is “How does this game support the learning the people can or must do in order to succeed in the game?” There are also perspectives of Software Ethology, and Game Ethology (in a ore general sense). One could also study any specific aspect of a game from an ethological perspective, so one could study a game's ethical ethology.

A general statement of learner outcomes, related to an identified problem and needs assessment, and achievable through instruction (Dick and Carey, 1996, p. 23). [source: http://www.hutchcc.edu/distance/glossary.htm][19/11/2006]

Print or other mediated instruction used by a student to achieve an instructional goal. [source: http://www.hutchcc.edu/distance/glossary.htm ][19/11/2006]

A detailed description of what learners will be able to do having completed a unit of instruction (Dick and Carey, 1996, p. 119). Related Terms: Learning outcome, behavioral objective, performance objective. [source: http://www.hutchcc.edu/distance/glossary.htm ] [19/11/2006]

Do what the player wants; about fulfillment of fantasy

The way in which the player(s) interact(s) with the game.

Those elements of the game and gameplay that relate to resources (fuel in a vehicle; Ammunition; hit points; etc.), sources (found artifacts for a game character), drains (firing a weapon; being hit by the enemy)

Game peripheral that serves essentially the same purpose as the keyboard user input.

Learning happens all the time: it is a natural condition of being human. It always involves some sort of change: change in what we remember, our skills, attitudes, or behaviours. Learning is neither positive nor negative. We can learn things that are useful or useless, life-saving, or dangerous, helpful or hurtful. In short, learning has no associated implications of moral, ethical or other value. Education, on the other hand does imply value, but need not result in any change, although in order to be deemed successful, it usually does. Education implies deliberate facilitation of valued learning which occurs over and above what is natural, and implies some persuasion (possibly even coercion) that is enacted on the recipient of this education. Now this is not meant to imply any negative connotations necessarily, as many individuals willingly accept and embrace many forms of education. This description is meant to distinguish between learning as a naturally occurring phenomenon and can be done to oneself, and education, which is deliberate, and can be done to others. (Paragraph from Becker, 2006)

The term “learning object,” which arose in 2001, is still sufficiently new that a multitude of competing definitions abound. The Co-operative Learning Object Exchange (CLOE) defines learning objects as “any digital entity designed to meet a specific learning outcome that can be reused to support learning.” David A. Wiley says “the main idea of Learning Objects is to break educational content down into small chunks that can be reused in various learning environments”. [source: http://lt3.uwaterloo.ca/resources/glossary.php ] [19/11/2006]

Describes precisely what is to be learned in terms of the expected student performance under specified conditions to accepted standards. These learning objectives identify the mental skills, information, attitudes, or physical skills that are required to perform the terminal learning objective. [ source: http://www.kenseamedia.com/encyclopedia/iii/interservice_procedures/glossary/gly013.htm ] [19/11/2006]

The background behind a concept, process or asset

The number of hours a player will interact with a game.

Mimesis, a term from ancient Greece means imitation or representation, as opposed to diegesis narration or report. Memesis is an analogue style of communication that employs the whole body as an expressive device. Memesis manifests itself in behaviours such as: pantomime, imitation, gesturing, sharing attention, ritualized behaviours and many games. (Donald, 2001) Mimetic skill constitutes the missing link between ape and human culture. In contrast to episodic skill “mimetic skill rests on the ability to produce conscious, self-initiated, representational acts that are intentional but not linguistic” (Donald, 1991 p.168)

<quote>A Microworld is a term coined at the MIT Media Lab Learning and Common Sense Group . It means, literally, a tiny world inside which a student can explore alternatives, test hypotheses, and discover facts that are true about that world. It differs from a simulation in that the student is encouraged to think about it as a “real” world, and not simply as a simulation of another world (for example, the one in which we physically move about in). Source: http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~larry/microworlds/microworld.html</quote> See Also: Rieber, 1996

A type of computer game that enables hundreds or thousands of players to simultaneously interact in a game world they are connected to via the Internet.

is short for MUD object oriented and is a type of MUD textual virtual reality system. Examples of MOOs include LambdaMOO, NowMOO, MediaMOO, and LinguaMOO. MOOs can be programmed using the MOO programming language. Some MOOs are used in academic environments for distance education or collaboration but others are primarily social in nature or used for role-playing games (RPGs).

is an acronym for multi-user dungeon (or dimension, or even domain, as many would argue), a role-playing computer game that runs on a bulletin board system or Internet server.

Modding is a slang expression for the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software to perform a function not intended or authorized by the original manufacturer.

Some nations have laws prohibiting modding and accuse modders of attempting to overcome piracy-protection schemes. In the United States, the DMCA sets up stiff penalties for modding.

On the other side, some companies actively encouraging modding of their products. In cases such as Tivo and Google, there has been an informal agreement between the modders and the company in which the modders agree not to do anything that destroys the companies business model and the company agrees to support the modding community by providing technical specs and information.

In games, modding has to do with changin the game itself. There are many that actively encourage it.

Middleware in computing terms is used to describe a software agent acting as an intermediary, or as a member of a group of intermediaries, between different components in a transactional process. The classic example of this is the separation which is attained between the client user and the database in a client/server situation. The reason for introducing middleware in such a situation is to better service client requests by reducing the number of resource-expensive connections to the database and more efficiently passing the requested data back.

Examples of proprietary middleware software include: Tuxedo, Tibco, Mercator, Vitria. The ObjectWeb consortium is the first world-wide consortium focused on open-source middleware.

[http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/middleware]

Gameplay mode: characterized by: a perspective; an interaction model; a set of actions and challenges unique to that mode

Map mode = top-down; omnipresent; few actions
Possession mode = first-person; avatar; tactical
Management Mode = isometric; omnipresent; strategic

What the author has to say; you go where she says; little choice

The player may act in many locations within the game world (ex. Chess). On-Rail Experience An experience that it heavily scripted, narrated, where the user has few actual choices. [as opposed to an open-ended experience]

From biology, ontogeny is the change in an organism's behaviour machinery during development (as opposed to a change in its behaviour during development). Simple changes in behaviour may be situational while ontogeny is developmental (⇒ growth; structural or anatomical change) and changes even though the environment does not. So for example, a typical behaviour of livestock guarding dogs is to bark and make threatening movements when a predator such as a coyote is near the livestock they are protecting. The dog will behave differently with different kinds of predators (which is an example of the second form of change in behaviour), but an immature dog will often behave quite differently in these situations and have even been known to act like they are trying to invite the coyote to play. It is believed that immature dogs lack the necessary strength and skill to confront the potential predator so they try to distract it and entice it to move away from the prey. In this case, the behaviours, though quite different serve the same purpose.

‘Ontological Excavation’, developed by Idris Hsi (2005). This is a technique for reverse engineering that uses the morphology, or external interface of an application to uncover the ontology of an application, or the application’s “theory of the world”. For example, a calendar application would embody a theory about how users schedule their time. There are five main steps to this process (Hsi, 2003):

1. Model the user interface in a morphological map of the application’s interactors, displays, and containers.
2. Generate a list of morphological elements.
3. For each element, identify the concepts (entity types and attributes) that it invokes.
4. Through dynamic interaction with the application, identify the relationships between the concepts.
5. Model the concepts and relationships into a semantic network representing the application’s ontology.

Since the object of this analysis is to yield instructional elements of the application rather than its ontology the process has been adapted.

A form of theater performance where the audience interacts with the performers. Participatory theater

A guide designed to assist the user in researching a particular discipline or topic. A pathfinder identifies key subject headings related to the topic, important reference books, periodical indexes, journals and other resources available at the local library. Sources on the World Wide Web are usually also included. Pathfinders can be printed or available online. [source: www.cariboo.bc.ca/library/guides/glossary.html]

Game with “platforms” : the screen shows a cataway view (like a doll house). The player moves between platfoms by running, jumping, climbing. Sometimes called “side scrollers”

Definite victory condition; few rules; NO game world

(Delgado-Rodríguez, 2001) According to Delgado-Rodriguez, meta-analysis has the following meaning:

The player takes on the persona of one of the characters, pretending to be that character.

played in real time (things happen even when the player is doing nothing) - the player is usually required to make fast decisions.

Games where the games space is somehow represenational of some 'real-world' or fantasy story or space.

a style of gameplay where the player must manaage a great many, often interrelated resources (ammunition, weapons, fuel, powers, etc.)

Define how the game is played; define the challenges the player(s) must face before reaching the victory condition; define the actions that may be taken to overcome the challenges

no specific goals or victory condition; user can just build and play

Game perspective where player is just behind or beside her character.

Developing games for non-entertainment purposes (public policy, education, corporate management, and healthcare, military)

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Instructional Design of serious games. Instructional Design specifically geared towards the design of educational games.

Game player perspective (e.g. Sonic the Hedgehog) Game with “platforms” : the screen shows a cataway view (like a doll house). The player moves between platforms by running, jumping, climbing. Sometimes called “platform games”

simulation - although *all* games are simulations; those games referred to as sims usually simulate some real-world process - usually with some variations for adding fun. “A nuclear reactor, for example, wouldn't be any fun without plenty of meltdowns.” (pp457 -cc)

A learned ability to perform a task (-ea) Skin, Skinning The outward appearance (GUI) of a game or application; skinning is the act of creating a GUI for a game

An object on the screen that moves. Can be user, or internally (game) controlled.

something that is engaging

An innate (inborn) ability to perform a task.

teach 7tc)8

taught, teach$[ing 5ME techen < OE t+can < base of tacn, a sign, symbol (see TOKEN); basic sense “to show, demonstrate,” as in Ger zeigen6

1 to show or help (a person) to learn (how) to do something !to teach a child (how) to swim“

2 to give lessons to (a student, pupil, or class); guide the studies of; instruct

3 to give lessons in (a subject) to someone; help someone to develop (a skill or trait) !teaches French, taught him self-discipline”

4 a) to provide (a person) with knowledge, insight, etc. !the accident that taught her to be careful“ b) to attempt to cause someone to understand or accept (a precept or philosophy), esp. by one's own example or preaching !her life itself teaches nonviolence” (Webster's New World Dictionary & Thesaurus, 1998)

<BOOKMARK:teleology>

In this work teleology is seen as the explanation of a phenomenon in terms of its end purpose. While this approach makes sense in studying software behaviour generally, one must be cautious to avoid trying to explain everything from this perspective. The potential pitfall of this approach is best illustrated by an example given by Lorenz himself:

a game where the interface is entirely text (like the original “Advent”)

Game player perspective: From behind (e.g. Tomb Raider) : player sees his character as little figure in a world viewed as a map from above. Variation: third person sneaker

no rules; no victory condition

1. predefined, predictable momens when something irrevocable happens
2. triggers are a form of reward; user goes to a new level; gets a new tool; new ability…
3. represents completion and progress in a game

games where time is 'suspended' between turns - the action happens when the turn is taken.

Games involving speed and reaction times (shooting; racing)

Defines how the game is won.

Interactive electronic entertainment medium that uses a video screen as its primary display.

military strategy game; (also generally used as any game with violence -cc)

A wire frame model is an electronic representation of a 3-dimensional or physical object. It is created by specifying each edge of the physical object where two mathematically continuous smooth surfaces meet, or by connecting an object's constituent vertices using straight lines or curves. The object is projected onto the computer screen by drawing lines at the location of each edge. [http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/wireframe]