An affordance based model for gameplay

This paper presents a formal model for gameplay based upon the affordances available to the player that are linked to game objects. It has been constructed via an extensive analysis of major first-person games 1998-2008, although it is argued it may extend to all diegetic games. Gameplay can be understood as a network of allowed actions, that can be summarised as a small number of archetypal affordances mediated by a set of parameters that define their functional relationships. As well as the capacity for the model to elucidate the ludic structures of games, it is argued that an affordance based model also provides a means to understand the relationship and role of story and content within a ludological context. Author Keywords Affordances, gameplay models, content, ludology, theory. AFFORDANCES AND GAMEPLAY Gibson's concept of affordances has been sporadically applied to games for several years now, as a powerful tool for understanding the relationship between player and system. In particular, affordances offer a structured framework for the interplay of interpretation, action and presentation that forms the basis of what Perron has called 'the heuristic cycle of gameplay'. [16]