Notes on Games Britannia: Dicing With Destiny

Recently we've been watching a BBC series called Games Britannia, which was published back in 2009. The series follows Benjamin Woolley as he travels much of Britain and some of the world in his attempt to understand the history of games.

Woolley believes that games are a strong source of social, political and even religious history for our nation. The first episode centres on ancient games and leads towards games of the industrial revolution, marking various important points of gaming history in between.

The first game that is examined is a mysterious iron age game now called "The Stanway Game". Woolley speculates that the fact that it was buried with an important spiritual figure indicates that it could have been used for divining purposes to the ancient Britons.

Woolley's other investigations of ancient games with religious significance include Moksha Patamu (which has since been commercialised into Snakes & Ladders), a game about the Hindu path of enlightenment, as well as an early medieval game called Alea Evangelii.

Alea Evangelii (Game of the Gospels) is a form of an early Scandinavian game called tafl or hnefatafl, in which two armies are present on the board, with one outweighing the other in terms of numbers. Both hnefatafl and Alea Evangelii feature a king in the centre of the board, who must attempt to escape to a board edge. He has a smaller number of defending forces than the attackers who begin on all four edges of the board. The main difference between hnefatafl and Alea Evangelii is that the latter has great spiritual significance due to its Christian scripture context.

With brief mention of other games which became popular in early medieval history (such as chess, backgammon & draughts) he then goes on to talk about 9 Men's Morris. He presents some examples of the gameboard having been carved into the stone in cathedrals by bored church-goers and then goes on to briefly explain how the game is played.

I was in Norwich recently and decided to do a little investigating myself and managed to find what I believe is a variation on the typical 9 Men's Morris layout:

Possible Nine Men's Morris carving found in Norwich Cathedral

Before long, games turned away from being tools for divination and spiritual guidance and instead became a vessel for gambling. This began in the middle ages and continued all the way until the Victorian era where games began to be presented a method of instilling morals and teaching lessons to their players.

It was in Victorian times that games began to become commercialised and companies would print them in large runs, this was of political and social importance because it could then become widespread and therefore present a message or ideal to a large number of people.

The episode ended on an examination of chess and the way in which the game has developed over the ages, including its extreme popularity in tournaments around the world.

Dicing With Destiny gave a brief but in-depth overview of the history of our games, and how they've developed to suit the times. I find it no small coincidence that games were more spiritually guided in a time when religion was the major political power in the world, and that this side of games dispersed as society developed. As society and it's politics shift, so did the games that people were playing, and the reasons they had for playing them.

The Art of Game Design

I am a game designer.

I am a game designer.

I am a game designer.

I am a game designer.

***

If you haven't read The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses (Jesse Schell, 2008) then you may think I'm being somewhat presumptuous and possibly a bit weird.

In chapter 1 of Schell's book he speaks of what it means to be a game designer, as well as what it takes to consider yourself one. The confidence-building exercise which he employs (and that I have begun this blog post with) presents the idea that a game designer begins with the desire to be one. He iterates at various times throughout the chapter that confidence is extremely important. This is because it is very easy to doubt yourself when presented with your own failings and short-comings, or when observing the excellence of others. Schell states simply, 'Blow away these useless thoughts. They can't help you.' (p.2).

With these simple words to guide us (and brevity is the soul of wit, as some famous playwright once said) he then goes on to define some important skills that a game designer should be in possession of. While I fall somewhat short of this extensive list I am not perturbed because my skills are growing with every day. The chapter indicates that the most important skill of all however, is to listen. The broad notion of 'listening' has been categorised into five sub-groups, of which you should devote your skill equally.

Team - your co-workers and colleagues (they may have skills and ideas which you are lacking in)

Audience - the people who will play your game (feedback is the best basis for iteration of a game)

Game - the way the game is constructed and what it is trying to be (Schell gives comparison to being in-tune with your car and 'feeling' when something is wrong with it)

Client - whoever has assigned the task of making the game (in the professional world this is your employer, and it's definitely a good idea to listen to them!)

Self - while this one may seem fairly self-explanatory, it is always worth questioning yourself as to why you're making the decisions that you are (having a clear idea of what you're trying to achieve is just as important as having the ability to follow through with it, in my experience)

Finally, Schell speaks of 'the minor gift' and 'the major gift' of any skill. While some people are naturally gifted in an area and are born experts, Jesse considers this to be the minor gift if they don't possess the passion for the skill in question. The major gift is the love for the work itself. Practice and perseverance are far more important than any underlying innate talent.

While I have no idea what the future holds in store for me, I know what direction I want to steer it in, so here I am.

I am a game designer.