Eufloria's Kremers On Simulations And Reward Systems

Many games are marketed as "simulation," whether you're talking about sports games, driving games or even "god" games like The Sims. Eufloria co-developer Rudolf Kremers says in an extract from his new book, Level Design: Concept, Theory, and Practice, that in fact there are very few games that really meet the definition of a simulation. And there is a good reason for that. "Normally, when we speak of simulation, we are talking about modeling a realworld system or situation in order to learn something new," he writes. Kremers continues, "This could be for scientific reasons; for example, a simulation and study of hunter predator cycles could be used to warn when a particular species becomes overhunted and may become endangered." He takes the definition of simulation from philosophy and science professor Stephan Hartmann, who categorizes a simulation as something that "results when the equations of the underlying dynamic model are solved. This model is designed to imitate the time-evolution of a real system." Kremers notes that "Most games are not like that at all. … Games are all about enjoyment. When we play games, we play them for all kinds of enjoyable reasons: to have fun, to exercise our brains, to have a meaningful artistic experience, and so forth." If, for example, a Formula 1 game was so realistic that an average player was crashing into a wall on every turn, the designer is failing to convey one of gaming's best reward systems -- wish fulfillment. "If we look closer, we find that they aren't games of simulation at all, but games of illusion and imitation," says Kremers. "The game imitates real-world activities only to the degree that their fun aspects are replicated for the enjoyment of the player." He adds, "This kind of imitation is, unlike practical simulations, not concerned with accuracy at all, but with the appearance of accuracy. The games would quickly become extremely tedious if they tried to accurately simulate all aspects of the activity in question." "…The lack of accuracy in a wildlife photography game's terrain means nothing as long as it produces expected results that don't break immersion," says Kremers. "It is all smoke and mirrors." The full extract is available on Gamasutra now.