Introduction to Game Systems Design

Chapter 18

Systems Communication and Psychology

Unlike books, movies, songs, paintings, and other forms of artistic expression, games have communication going in multiple directions. When a movie plays on a screen, it unfolds the same way every time, regardless of what the audience thinks or does about it. This makes games different from other art forms in ways that are important to acknowledge. The player has agency to change the outcome of the game, and the game has influence on how the player reacts; together, they form a communication circle.

Games are, in some ways, similar to human communications. Interpersonal communication is a reciprocal cycle between two or more people. Many studies have been done on this subject, and some of them ...