From to Modernism and Postmodernism in Board Game

From to Modernism and Postmodernism in Board Game Narratives

Rusdie (1991) on board games: “The moment I was old enough to play board games, I fell in love with Snakes and Ladders. O perfect balance of rewards and penalties! O seemingly random choices made by tumbling dice!… All games have morals; and the game of Snakes and Ladders captures, as no other activity can hope to do, the eternal truth that for every ladder you climb, a snake is waiting just around the corner; and for every snake, a ladder will compensate. ” (pp. 160 -161)

Board Games & Ludonarrative • Ludology = the study of games and gameplay (Frasca, 2004) • Ludonarrative = the story a game tells through its gameplay (Aarseth, 2014) • Are there periods of ludonarrative that match those of art, literature, film, etc. ?

Hypothesis: Board game narratives reflect the social movement from modern to postmodern thought, specifically through: • De-emphasis of logic and deductive strategy • Loss of explicit moral lessons • Gameplay shift from individualist-competitive to collectivist-cooperative

History

Kirk’s (2016) Contemporary Eras • • Pre. Modern Post. Modern Faith Religion Reason Science Language Discourse Jean-Francois Lyotard (1979) defines postmodernism as “incredulity toward metanarratives” (p. xxiv). Jameson (1991) defines postmodernism as “the cultural logic of late capitalism” (p. 13).

Snakes & Ladders Chess - Driven by randomness - Driven by agency - Goal: reach the end of a path - Goal: overtake the board - Setting: moral - Setting: amoral

Board Game Categories Journey Stratagem Language Mansion of Happiness The Game of Life Candyland Mouse Trap Checkers Settlers of Catan Risk Dominion Discussed shortly

th st 20 -21 Century Games

Monopoly (1997 version) • • Originally released in 1934, based on an anti -capitalist game called “The Landlord’s Game” Has characteristics of both journey and stratagem games: – – • • • Journey: Linear path & dice-based movement Stratagem: goal of overtaking the board through shrewd business practice Goal: “to become the wealthiest player through buying, renting and selling property” (Darrow, 1997, p. 1) Competitive & zero-sum: “A bankrupt player must immediately retire from the game. The last player left in the game wins” (p. 5) While the game rewards aggressive capitalism, unpleasant playing experiences may encourage anti-capitalist takeaways

Clue (2002 version) • • • Originally released as in 1943 as “Cluedo, ” a murder mystery game Narrative frame: “Your host, Mr. John Boddy, has met an untimely end…” (Pratt, 2002, p. 1) Non-linear game path with dice-based movement Deductive gameplay: “By making Suggestions throughout the game, you try to determine—by process of elimination— which three cards are in the Confidential Case File envelope” (p. 5) Competitive but not zero-sum—all things being equal, the most quick-witted & rationally-minded player should win

Wittgenstein (1953) on language games: “We can also think of the whole process of using words… as one of those games by means of which children learn their native language. I will call these games ‘languagegames’…. And the processes of naming the stones and of repeating words after someone might also be called languagegames” (p. 5)

Apples to Apples (1998) • • • No narrative frame, no zero-sum wins Semantic correspondence: “Select the card from your hand that you think is best described by a card played by the judge” (Kirby, 1998, p. 1) Subjective win-states: “everyone gets a chance to be the judge!” (p. 1) Comedy as gameplay: “Judges will often pick the most creative, humorous or interesting response” (p. 2) Discourse as gameplay: “Lobbying and ‘table talk’ are encouraged!” (p. 2) Paved the way for other games about language & semantics: Cards Against Humanity (2011), Codenames (2016), & Cult Following (2016)

Pandemic (2008) • • Gameplay simulates stopping a global pandemic: “you and your fellow players are members of a disease control team” (p. 1) Game mechanics include: – – • • Build a Research Station Treat Disease Share Knowledge Discover a Cure (p. 4) Winstate is cooperative and shared: “Once all diseases are cured, the game ends and the players win immediately” (p. 7). Inverts common trope of conquering the globe—players instead stop a globeconquering disease

Conclusion

Board Games Reflect the Modern-Postmodern Shift Typifies 20 th-century American capitalism, setting a stratagem game in a property-driven and zero-sum environment Rewards modernist values of reason and deduction within a rich narrative frame Discards narrative altogether to center gameplay on semantic connections and discourse-driven creativity Uplifts values of global coordination (rather than zerosum competition) in a realistic frame narrative

Application & Future Research • Board games are valuable historical artifacts that tell culture-bound narratives • Board games are tools to teach reasoning, arithmetic, language skills, history, and more (Siegler & Ramani, 2009) • Future research can examine board game ludonarrative in more specific fields: – Card games & deck builders – Christian or “Bible” versions of games – The resurgence of Eurogames (Catan-style land stratagem games)

References Aarseth, E. (2012). A narrative theory of games. Foundations of Digital Games Conference Proceedings, 129 -133. Aarseth, E. (2014). Ludology. In Wolf, M. J. P. , & Perron, B. (Eds. ) The Routledge companion to video game studies (pp. 185 -189). New York, NY: Routledge. Darrow, C. D. (1997). Monopoly: the property trading board game [board game]. Beverly, MA: Hasbro / Parker Brothers. Frasca, G. (2004). Simulation versus narrative: Introduction to ludology. In Wolf, M. J. P. , & Perron, B. (Eds. ) The video game theory reader (pp. 221 -235). New York, NY: Routledge. Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism: Or, the cultural logic of late capitalism. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. Retrieved from ebookcentral. proquest. com/liberty/detail. action? doc. ID=3007805. Juul, J. (2001). Games telling stories? - A brief note on games and narratives. Game Studies, 1(1). Retrieved from gamestudies. org/0101/juul-gts/ Kirby, M. (1998). Apples to Apples [board game]. Madison, WI: Out of the Box. Kirk, J. A. (2016). The future of reason, science, and faith: Following modernity and post-modernity. New York, NY: Routledge. Leacock, M. (2008). Pandemic [board game]. Roseville, MN: Z-Man Games. Retrieved from https: //imagescdn. zmangames. com/us-east-1/filer_public/25/12/251252 dd-1338 -4 f 78 -b 90 dafe 073 c 72363/zm 7101_pandemic_rules. pdf

References Lyotard, J. (1979). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge (G. Bennington & B. Massumi, Trans. ). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota. Pratt, A. (2002). Clue [board game]. Beverly, MA: Hasbro / Parker Brothers. Rushdie, S. (1991). Midnight’s Children. New York, NY: Penguin. Siegler, R. S. , & Ramani, G. B. (2009). Playing linear number board games—but not circular ones—improves lowincome preschoolers’ numerical understanding. Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(3), 545 -560. doi: 10. 1037/a 0014239 Simons, J. (2007). Narrative, games, and theory. Game Studies, 7(1). Retrieved from http: //gamestudies. org/0701/articles/simons Sharp, J. (2011). I love pandemic (and I despair for serious games). In Costikyan, G. , & Davidson, D. (Eds. ) Tabletop: Analog game design (pp. 123 -131). Wittgenstein, L. (1958). Philosophical Investigations (2 nd edition, G. E. M. Anscombe, Trans). Oxford, U. K. : Blackwell. Wittrock, B. (2017). Modernity: One, none, or many? European origins and modernity as a global condition. In Eisenstadt, S. N. (ed. ) Multiple modernities (pp. 31 -60). New York, NY: Routledge

Image Credits (in order of appearance) Pressman Chess Box [photograph]. (2020). Pressman. Retrieved from instacart. com/products/2895811 -pressman -chess-box-1 -ct Kirby, M. (1998). Apples to Apples [board game logo]. Madison, WI: Out of the Box. Retrieved from service. mattel. com/instruction_sheets/N 1488 -0920. pdf O’Brien, E. P. (2019). Salman Rushdie’s fantastical American quest novel. The New Yorker. Retrieved from newyorker. com/podcast/political-scene/salman-rushdie-fantastical-american-quest-novel Harper, D. (2014). Moksha Patam [PNG file]. Retrieved from kj 6 zwr. org/games/simulation-games/#moksha Classic Wooden Chess Set Board [photograph]. (2017). Creatov. Retrieved from amazon. com/Classic-Wooden. Chess-Set-Board/dp/B 0176 LVZJA Monopoly Replacement Board [photograph]. (2016). Beverly, MA: Hasbro. Retrieved from amazon. com/Hasbro. Monopoly-Replacement-Board Pratt, A. (1986). Retro Series Clue [photograph]. Beverly, MA: Hasbro. Retrieved from shop. hasbro. com/enus/product/retro-series-clue-1986 -edition-game: 34 CD 3 F 89 -5259 -4 B 6 C-BDEC-260957 BBCE 6 C

Image Credits (in order of appearance) Ludwig Wittgenstein [photograph]. (2019). High Brow. Retrieved from gohighbrow. com/ludwig-wittgenstein/ Johnson, Emily. (2011). Using Apples to Apples Junior to build language skills. All About Learning Press. Retrieved from blog. allaboutlearningpress. com/apples-to-apples/#blog. Comments Leacock, M. (2008). Pandemic game board [PNG file]. Roseville, MN: Z-Man Games. Retrieved from wnyc. org/story/playing-against-virus-gaming/ Leacock, M. (2008). Pandemic [instructional PDF]. Roseville, MN: Z-Man Games. Retrieved from imagescdn. zmangames. com/us-east-1/filer_public/25/12/251252 dd-1338 -4 f 78 -b 90 dafe 073 c 72363/zm 7101_pandemic_rules. pdf