J¿rgensen
Kristine J¿rgensen
Kristine.Jorgensen@student.uib.no
Working title: Problem Solving: The Essence of Player Action in Computer Games
This abstract is presented by Kristine J¿rgensen, graduate student of Media Studies at the University of Bergen, Norway. She graduates in June 2003, and the paper will sum up the major findings of her hovedfag (master) thesis, which investigates how the player engages in the structuring of courses of action in computer games. This paper focuses on the much-neglected issue of player action in computer games, by presenting a scheme for problem solving in computer games that proposes the concept of computer game agency. My notion of agency is separated from that of Janet Murray and Brenda Laurel by the fact that it denotes player action that contributes to the progression of the game. Coupled with Espen Aarseth's claim that a computer game player meets aporias or roadblocks in the game that must be solved by a sudden epiphany, the concept of agency will be fruitfully developed in order to investigate how the player participates in computer game action by exchanging aporias with epiphanies. Parallels will be drawn between the aporiaepiphany pair and cognitive psychology's view on problem solving in order to identify different species of problem solving in games. As empirical examples, I would like to demonstrate how an implied player by the means of problem solving traverses the turn-based strategy game (TBS) Heroes of Might & Magic IV and the computer role-playing game (CRPG) Baldur's Gate II: The Shadows of Amn. It will be shown that the games focus on different types of problem solving. BGII lets the player concentrate on one problem at a time by traversing a chain of problem solving sequences in order to reach a goal that is revealed little by little. HoMMIV, on the other hand, defines the goal beforehand and lets the player plan ahead and see problems as interrelated. It may be revealed that this is related to the fact that BGII's focus on role-play creates a very different motivation for problem solving than does HoMMIV's focus on strategy.
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