(Begins May 11th - Ends May 18)
Read Ender's Game, Chapters 7 and 8, and respond to these questions:
Chapter 7
1) Ender has finally made a friend or two among the Launchies, when suddenly he's singled out again and promoted to an “army”, where he'll train and “play” with the big kids. Before he accepts the transition, he goes off in “Free Play”, and encounters a dreamlike string of locations and events. The adults refer to “Free Play” as a mind game. What does it reveal about Ender's psychological and/or emotional state? What does it reveal about the adults who designed the game? What do games reveal about the player, versus the designer?
2) Ender is transferred to Salamander Army. What does Ender learn from the leader of Salamander Army, Bonzo, throughout the chapter?
Chapter 8
1) Compared to Salamander Army, what is different about Rat Army? What is different about how it is organized and run?
3) At the beginning of the chapter, the adults discuss the consequences of making the battle game progressively more “unfair”. As game designers, is this ever an option we should pursue? At what point does strategy break down, and become anarchy?
Posted by Celestial at 10:54 AM
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1)1) It show Ender is emotionally immature and is always comparing himself to Peter. While the adults who are observing are very confused to most of what Ender is thinking being that they are only able to observer how Ender interacts with the game.
ReplyDelete2) He has a lot of pride and is afraid to lose face in front of his men, and is varying closed minded. He also sees Ender as obstacles that he must get rid of.
Chapter 8
1) The person who is runs the rat arm is only leader in name. Because the leader isn’t nearly as competent as his second. Thus the leader of rat army is very irresponsible. While the second runs his squad efficiently.
2) I think the process of making the game more unfair would only occur when. You set the game to hard. Or start bending the rules near the end of the game to give it more of a twist. I think it becomes anarchy when you make it so that the player has no chance what so ever to win.
Chapter 7
ReplyDeleteEnder progresses a lot farther and much easier than before, displaying a better understanding and stability in his psychological state. I believe when Ender reaches “The End of the World” door, he finds a sort of goal to reach. As he is asked to leave to go to his commander, Ender imagines the end of the world is the end of games, or the indication that he could stop playing and go back to living normally. Though the children that are in this are exceptional, they still mirror the concerns in the adult world; they are still human.
Ender learns from Bonzo that he tends to think ahead and plan for the future rather than Bonzo, who only looks at the immediate future. Being transferred to the Salamander Army, Ender finds it tough to not be used, letting his skills rot, because of Bonzo. So, Ender figured that he had no choice but to disobey his commander, even if a commander’s orders are sacred, it got them to win in the end.
Chapter 8
The Rat Army in comparison to the Salamander Army has a lot more stability in the lower ranks than their commander. Mostly this is because of Dink, who refused to be promoted to commander thinking that he is rebelling against the system in that way. Because of this, it is up to Rose the Nose to be the commander of the Army, but she doubts the ability of Ender, and sends him out immediately in battle; recklessness in leadership, yet stability in ranks.
While Graff and Anderson discuss the unfairness within the game, I started to think that Graff wanted to make it more of a simulation of war rather than a game of war; each is its own entity. Graff wanted to mirror the reality in war to prepare Ender, while Anderson wanted to keep it a fair game. As game designers, we would always want to make the game fairer so that it is fun to play, unless we wanted to design simulations, and only then when it would be fair to pursue making it unfair and realistic. Though it is strategy to train Ender for the worst, it does reflect a sort of anarchy in the process on how he is doing so.
- Leslie
Chapter 7:
ReplyDelete1) The Free Play is primarily psychological in its nature. The game revolves around interactive with the emotions and intellect of the player, forcing them to come up with responses that aren’t rooted in the games rules and system; it invokes creativity in its brightest players. The game reveals a great deal about Enders current emotional state. Enemies appear as children, then turn into wolves, clawing and gnashing at him until he finds a way to destroy them. The game is replicating his frustration and isolation with the other soldiers in real life into the game, where he is being trained to rely only on himself. The adults who designed the game clearly are manipulating Ender, making him less resistant to his darker impulses, and this also tells us that they are not only physically trying to break the children, but psychologically change their thinking as well. We understand the designers intentions as well as the players intuitions.
2) Ender learns many different strategies for not commanding subordinates. Bonzo is neither calculated or controlled. He lets his anger get the best of him, is insecure, and makes decisions based on emotional impulses.
Chapter 8:
1) Whereas Salamander Army was strict, organized, and aristocratic, Rat Army is chaotic, disorganized, and anarchic. Internal factions have even been created within the group itself. Ender realizes that while there are many weaknesses that go along with this, the focus on individual action makes for quicker, more independent thinkers who react without constant reference to leadership.
2) Game designer should and frequently do use odds-stacking and unpredictability in game making, for several reasons. First of all, an “unfair fight”, handled properly, can often add more elements of strategy to a game. In the earlier example of Enders game with the giant, the normal rules of the game were not enough, and motivated him to create his own solution to the problem, even if he didn’t know there was one. As long as Ender has his system – his mind, movement, motion – he can still plan and strategize against randomization and unfairness. This is why in video games, Boss Battles are fun. When they are done wrong, they are frustrating and maddening, but when done correctly, inspire creative thinking and planning other than the usual “fair rules”. This breaks down when player responses become ineffective against the unfair opposition, when the player can’t predict how he’s responding to the anarchy, or isn’t given a chance to respond properly. Primarily, as long as the players actions remain his own, games allow for a great deal of unfair odds-stacking before the player starts to feel cheated.
Chapter 7
ReplyDelete1.The way I see it, I think Ender is becoming more comfortable relying on himself rather than totally relying on others. While I don’t think he’s wants to be alone, I think he understands trusting others has it’s limits. He rather have other trust and follow him. I think he plays the mind game to get ready for the obstacles that may arise being transferred into the Salamander army. He’s starting to think if he completes all this tasks and obstacles, the goal will be getting back to a normal life. That’s possibly one of the reason why he hasn’t gone crazy because he feels he will be rewarded to what he wants at the end, a normal childhood. The adults who designed the game obviously want to use the mind game and their activities to change the way the children think. I think games reveal what the player is interested in as oppose to designers who probably have a more focus objective than just having fun with making the game.
2.Unlike Ender, Bonzo is brash in his decision making and does not consider possible consequences for his own actions. Ender notices this and uses it to his advantage. Bonzo lets his emotions get in the way of logical thinking.
Chapter 8
1.The Rat army unlike the Salamander army, do not out cast Ender and do assign him a position within the army. They seem to be a bit more strategic and are willing to take input after Ender proves himself to Rose the leader of the team.
2.I think a game being unfair is definitely a option other game designers have pursued. The major question is how unfair is it. It is fact that life is not fair but life is not totally unfair. Sometimes people get what they earn and that is considered fair. No one will want to play a game that is completely unfair because there will be no purpose to play at all. Why play a game you can not win. Humans are very goal orientated, if there isn’t a reward despite the game being unfair sometimes, there is no point in playing. Just like real life people live their entire lives based on goals they have set from themselves even when unfair obstacles arise, it’s their willingness to achieve that goal that makes them want to overcome unfair obstacles.
Ch7
ReplyDelete1. The game reveals that Ender is becoming more malleable and adaptive. It also shows that Ender is very frustrated with the sudden and drastic changes in his life ever since he left for battle school. However he is learning to manage his emotions. It reveals that the adults are intentionally putting the boys through this as a kind of mental conditioning for soldiers. Games can serve as a kind of psychoanalysis for the players, measuring their mental state in the way that they play. It also reveals that the designers can use games as an effective tools for analysis and information.
2. Enders learns a number of things from Bonzo. First he learns about organizing platoons. Most commanders organize their platoons by skill level with A being the best and D the worst. But Bonzo evenly distributes his soldiers so that all his platoons are on equal skill level. However, Ender also learns how NOT to treat his soldiers. Bonzo, isolates Petra and Ender and then punches Ender when he outwits him which is counter productive for an army that must work together.
Ch8
1. Where as Salmander army was focused on obeying orders and precision, Rat army was only focused on winning. There was a big difference in the attitudes of the armies that ender took note of. Also Bonzo refused to adopt Enders strategies for the battle room which caused them to lose. But Rat army was more adaptable and encouraged their soldiers to try Ender’s methods out and see how they worked in training.
2. I think that it is acceptable to push the unfairness in games, but only to a certain degree. It encourages out of the box thinking in order to over come the greater challenge that an unfair game poses. However, strategy breaks down as soon as the game becomes unbeatable. At this point there is no purpose in playing the game because you cannot gain anything from it.
Ch 7
ReplyDelete1) Since the beginning Ender has been alone, these games seem to stress solo encounters, and also bring back past enemies, perhaps in a different form. It does make you wonder if they are his own visions.
Players vs designers.... well these days they are almost the same thing, designers have to make something enjoyable, and eventually something that can be finished. Devs are players too after all. Yes you can say that it's their job to challenge the player, or prevent them from obtaining an easy win, but also create a rewarding experience. The player simple wants to succeed.
2) The leader is hardcore, doesn't want to lose, he doesn't know much about Ender, it's understandable. Ender learns that he's going to have a tough time trying to make any kind of impression, or even be able to do anything at all.
Ch 8
1) Rat simply has a poor command structure, think of it like a bunch of weekend paintballers, they just wanna rush in and get things done without any real tactical expertise.
2) Games should be challenging, and then rewarding. And it really depends on how one defines fairness. Creating an unbeatable super accurate sharpshooting AI that never misses a target, or always knows where the player is would be unfair. Aka, a bot. However, the AI can't be incompetent either.
ch 7
ReplyDelete1) I feel the Free play game is representational of how alone and isolated Ender feels. In the game, there is no second player, or any chance of help. The adults want Ender to feel alone, and to never think that there will be an adult to help him.
The adults who created the game created it as another way to control the actions of the kids, they are cold and cruel, and so is the mind game.
Player vs Designer- I think the player reveals their personality from how they play, while the designer is trying to create something that gets a reaction from a player. This may or my not reveal the personality of the designer.
2) Bonzo, inadvertently teaches Ender how to beat him. Ender is only allowed to watch during practices and battles, even though he disobeys his commands and fires anyway. Bonzo, essentially taught Ender how to Not ruin his future army.
ch 8
1) Salamander army was run as one unit, everyone obeying the strict rule of Bonzo, Rat army however is divided up and ran by both Dink and the lead Rose. Dink, a toon leader, is the more serious and successful leader among the army, Rose is more the joking arrogant one.
2)I think game designers can toy with fairness in some aspects of their games. Final boss fights and more challenging levels always stack the odds against the player, but they also give the player a chance to win. As a game designer, we should challenge our players, but not leave them feeling bitter.
Karinza
ReplyDeleteChapter 7
1)It seems to reveal Ender's complete isolation from the "real world" and everyone he knows. It also seems to reflect the cold, objectifying ways of the adults who made it. Games equally display the ingenuity between both designer and player. They also signify the bond that the two have, sort of like cat and mouse.
2) Bonzo taught Ender how to not act, if that makes sense. His arrogance was his downfall and it inspired Ender to react a certain way and be able to win.
Chapter 8
1) Rat Army is run by Dink and Rose, and Dink seems to be someone who has his head on straight, for the most part... It is different because Dink is essentially his own little sub-unit.
3) Game Designers are entitled to as much as the player allows them. This can most likely just be a test stimuli to see how the player reacts at first, though, and not necessarily something discussed prior. When the game becomes such an arduous task that nobody really wants to complete it is anarchy, I guess.