User:Jasper van Loenen/RWRM/the-pervasive-interface

The Pervasive Interface

Tracing the magic circle, Eva Nieuwdorp

Nieuwdorp starts off by explaining what a pervasive game is. These games are played in the real world, in the streets for instance, where game elements, such as actors, are introduced. This way the game is being played in between fantasy and reality. The most important element of the game is the players themselves, since the game is largely being played in their imagination.

In computer games the interface is clear: controllers, buttons, audio, on-screen elements, etc. These games are always bound to the screen, which limits how immersive it can be. In pervasive games, there is no screen. For the game to be played in the 'real' world, it asks the players to view it in a different way, different from the day-to-day world it normally is.

To see the difference between the real world and the game world you have to know the conventions of one (or both) of these worlds. By noticing things that seem odd in the real world, the virtual one is revealed. This can, for instance, manifest itself in game objects that take a different form. Nieuwdorp uses a key as example: a game key might look nothing like the keys we use in the real world (semiotics, the study of signs and symbols an their use or interpretation).

The game world and the real one are split up by a small 'membrane' or 'bubble' through which they communicate. According to Erving Goffman the extend of this bubble is determined by:

1: Rules of irrelevance: what elements are important to the game
2: Transformation rules: how are the elements used
3: Realized resources: what can you do

The game being partly played inside the players head is called the liminal interface (Nieuwdorp). This, in turn, depends on the paratelic and the paramedic interface: the change in state of mind from non-play to play, and the acceptance of the game-world rules. Without these, the game can not exist.