CTIN 482 Assignment Week 1 8/22/2005

First weeks class is a bit crude, we played two table games to explore the difference in social dynamics of each.

Domnio

This game is treated as kids game in certain country, meanwhile is regarded as the man's game in other country. It's mainly due to the simple game mechanics and limited pieces, that people will think its a simple game being all about randomness by their first impression. However, similar to Poker, there's science behind it. And it takes lots of caculating and guessing to master it. The physical texture of the domino piece is really important, it please the player and encourage them to smash them onto the table loudly. The visual and aural stimulation and the comfortable domino help to liberate the overall gaming experience.

This game can be played by 2 - 4 players. Since each player has only 7 pieces (average human cognitive load is between 5 - 9 things at the same time), the choices player need to make is relatively easy. The social experience between two players is very calm and casual. It has the potential to be very intense between four players while money is involved.

Monopoly

Grand daddy board game, I still remember the excitement I had when I played it with my cusins when I was still a kid. The game's premise sets the player up into this surreal world as a real estate tycoon competing with others. The fake paper cash and elegant game pieces enhanced the role playing experience.

Monopoly usually support 4 - 6 people to play. It consists of trading, charging, investing, gambling between the players. The social dynamics in this game is wide open. Similar to Domino player can not only play very friendly and slowly, but also play very aggressively and competitively. However, because of the premise, monopoly is not as good as domino in terms of covering players on all ages. It's probably because Domino is more abstract so that player can project it onto different things in their life, while Monopoly's premise is very material.

Posted by Jenova at August 23, 2005 6:31 AM