![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/thehomoludens\/files\/2017\/10\/S9EiGA7.jpg\")
<\/a>This is interesting, because it means that game developers are deciding how they want to make players to act.\u00a0 A particularly good example of this conscious manipulation can be found in interviews with the people who write the rules for HEMA<\/a> (Historical European Martial Arts) tournament matches.\u00a0 They\u2019re constantly experimenting with different match and scoring rules in an attempt to cajole more historically accurate behaviour from tournament participants.\u00a0 The problem is that these fighters are looking for every way they can to game the rules and win.\u00a0 For example, some rulesets can reward crafty fighters for delivering afterblows in matches\u2014this means to attack your opponent instead of defending yourself, even though your attack will hit after theirs does.\u00a0 So matches that follow those particular tournament rules tend to end a lot with both players being hypothetically killed.<\/p>\n This can even be seen in the wider combat sport scene, like in the UFC<\/a> or boxing.\u00a0 Both of these sports have shown their impact less from a rule change, but rather from an equipment change.\u00a0 You see, both these combat sports were originally practiced with bare knuckles.\u00a0 If you look at early UFC matches, most winners tended to be grapplers rather than strikers.\u00a0 This is no longer true today, but how can this be chalked up to gloves?<\/p>\n The short answer is simply that you can\u2019t punch somebody as hard when you have to worry about shattering your fist.\u00a0 The introduction of light padded gloves was enough to allow strikers to throw punches hard enough to consistently and safely achieve KOs.\u00a0 The introduction of lightweight padded gloves meant that strikers now had an effective way to win with the UFC scoring rules.<\/p>\n In boxing the gloves grew even bigger and heavier, drastically increasing the chances of concussion and TBI.\u00a0 In addition to making the sport more dangerous, it also heavily changed the way boxing was practiced.\u00a0 Post-Queensbury boxing guards are higher and tighter because of the added bulk of the gloves\u2014they allow the boxer to shield their face far more easily with their hands.\u00a0 Bare-knuckle guards instead are lower and more extended in order to achieve an effective defence.<\/p>\n But the really interesting thing is that in the realm of video games, these rules players will try to game can become increasingly strange or obscure.\u00a0 Quake<\/a> and other early Id Software<\/a> arena shooter games accidentally created the tactic of \u201crocket-jumping.\u201d\u00a0 Developers had no idea players would try to use explosion splash damage to help propel their jumps further and higher\u2026 But players did.\u00a0 The same can be said for the equally iconic emergent mechanic of bunny-hopping\u2014due to a physics programming oversight, players could repeatedly jump during movement to bypass their movement speed limits and gain an advantage over players who didn\u2019t know how to \u201cbunny-hop.\u201d\u00a0 Sometimes these sorts of accidental oversights became features, like in the case of skiing in the Tribes<\/a> games.<\/p>\n So the next time you\u2019re playing a game, think about how it might be programming your behavior, intentionally or not.\u00a0 How do these systems want you to interact with them?\u00a0 How does the game want you to approach the situations it presents you with?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We like to think that we are the ones who dictate the way we play a game, and to a certain extent there\u2019s truth in this.\u00a0 However, just because there\u2019s some truth to this doesn\u2019t make the sentiment true.\u00a0 Indeed, the things which make the greatest impact on how we play games are the rules … <\/p>\n<\/a>