Let's get digital

“Try to find an example of a digital game which truly takes advantage of the traits of the medium, and could not be successfully implemented in a non-digital form. In particular, think about the traits of digital/computer games as listed by Crawford. Describe the game, and identify the core gameplay mechanic. What is it about the core mechanic that makes the game truly a digital game?”

An example of a digital game would be Starcraft, a real time strategy (RTS) game.

A RTS game is one where the player takes on the role of a general managing individual units singly or in clusters.

Why RTS games must be digital is because what is set forth by their definition: a real-time game. And unlike chess where each individual unit or pawn only take turns to interact with each other, units in RTS games have programmed AIs which require a lot of moderators if done so without a digital platform. The units in a RTS game will benefit from the plasticity and modularity that programs are able to afford.

With computers, RTS players are also provided with an intelligent player, whether computer or human via networks, which makes strategy games more meaningful.

Computers are also able to limit information given to players like in the case of ‘fog of wars’ which makes the game more realistic and strategic.