Week 04 - Reflection

A sport I want to analyze for this reflection is the topic of fighting games. Before people start criticizing fighting games as not a sport, I advise people to watch some of the professionals play in tournaments. I believe fighting games are an amalgamation between direct actions and indirect action despite seeming fully reliable to direct actions. Fighting games live and die on the direct actions the players push to perform certain game-changing actions. Whether it is pushing a button to counter a move or perform a special, the player is always in control of the direct actions they take against their opponent. However, while spectators may view players taking direct action only, indirect action is being taken place behind the scenes. While a player may push that button to perform a counter, it is sending signals and messages to their opponent on the outcome of their moves. So, performing that counter against an attack might win in that one instance, but your opponent may do several things in return to become unpredictable.

As Macklin & Sharp describe in their book when describing pinball, “players directly interact with the ball through a series of flippers…at the same time, players indirectly interact with the bumpers, holes, and other feature…”. Taking this into consideration, players in fighting games make direct actions all the time that influence their opponent’s decision-making process all the time. In the fighting game, Street Fighter, players are asked to constantly make decisions that grant them a series of advantages and disadvantages. If a character, such as Ken, makes the wrong move, then it's immediately punished by its opponent. However, players will often refer to “mind games” when playing fighting games in which players will try to outperform and misdirect a player’s action.

From a single “read”, the opponent can “bait” out an attack and move into their direct action. An event like this emerges from a single action “in which player can set into motion effects both anticipated and unexpected within a game”. Furthermore, designers of fighting games must consider the clear goal of winning a fighting game. While it seems obvious the goal of a fighting game is to win, how the player wins are a different matter entirely. Players can win with different game characters that focus on kicks, specials, or even grabs. It’s intentionally that game designers include multiple ways to win because it creates a near-endless realm of possibilities for players to interact with each other.

If anyone has played a fighting game before, the challenge is certainly an aspect of the player’s experience. Game designers use the concept of “flow” to create an ideal difficulty, however, in a fighting game that flow can change drastically depending on the opponent. So, it’s important for game designers to create a system in which you’re matched against players around your skill level for an optimal level of fun. Conversely, that system may be adjusted to challenge a player’s rising or falling skill level.

Alright, that’s all I have for now. Thanks for reading!