DOCSLIB.ORG

Metagaming: Cognition in Gaming Environments and Systems by Seth

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Metagaming: Cognition in Gaming Environments and Systems by Seth Metagaming: Cognition in gaming environments and systems by Seth Jordan Lickteig B.S., Kansas State University, 2007 M.S., Kansas State University, 2017 AN ABSTRACT OF A DISSERTATION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Curriculum and Instruction College of Education KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2020 Abstract The primary purpose of this focus group study was to explore how learning occurs during iterative experiences within a singular games-based environment. Using constructivist learning theories as a foundation, this study sought to identify how those processes were used in games- based settings. This qualitative study included eight undergraduate participants primarily in education-based fields. Over the span of six weeks, participants learned the game of Magic the Gathering, its rules, mechanics, and systems. Research questions sought to identify what was learned, how it was learned, and why the learning was effective. Four total focus group interviews were conducted, which were recorded and subsequently transcribed. Initial coding, axial coding, and analytic memoing were employed during data analysis, resulting in a tiered approach that refined data into patterns and then further into potential themes. Additionally, participants kept an on-going reflective journal in which they recorded their experiences with the game outside of the focus group meetings. Findings suggest participants engaged with the game system in a variety of ways, demonstrating high-level skill incorporation and practice. With repeated play, participants naturally began to inquire into the deeper workings of the game. This resulted in participant learning which included both mechanical and social forms of metagaming. Mechanical metagaming reflects the learning which occurs when engaging directly with the game systems, mechanics, and processes. Players analyze and synthesize complex systems in making determinations that inform future gameplay. Social metagaming signifies the understanding of peers during gaming environments. When playing against familiar opponents, participants made evaluations dependent on the personality and strategies of that particular opponent. Participant learning took place via an inquiry-based approach which allowed individuals to approach the game from their own perspectives and for personalized purposes. Learning was effective because it took place in a social environment, was reinforced by emotional responses to gameplay, and was highly personalized for each participant. Implications from this study suggest a games-based approach to learning can be organized and structured to provide students with the opportunity to form a deep understanding of higher skills through direct engagement with a game. The study theorizes the use of a games- based inquiry approach to classroom pedagogy, where a game serves as the primary object of study. Instead of games serving as a single use form of additional media for disciplinary content delivery, students explore the game itself in repeated playthroughs. This arrangement allows for direct skill practice in 21st century skills which quickly becoming the norm in school curriculums. Games-based inquiry encourages student engagement, collaboration with peers, critical thinking, problem-solving, and a deep understanding of increasingly complex systems. Ultimately, a games-based inquiry approach hypothetically could employ game design as a creative, generative classroom experience. Metagaming: Cognition in gaming environments and systems by Seth Jordan Lickteig B.S., Kansas State University, 2007 M.S., Kansas State University, 2017 A DISSERTATION submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Curriculum and Instruction College of Education KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2020 Approved by: Major Professor Dr. Bradley Burenheide Copyright © Seth Lickteig 2020. Abstract The primary purpose of this focus group study was to explore how learning occurs during iterative experiences within a singular games-based environment. Using constructivist learning theories as a foundation, this study sought to identify how those processes were used in games- based settings. This qualitative study included eight undergraduate participants primarily in education-based fields. Over the span of six weeks, participants learned the game of Magic the Gathering, its rules, mechanics, and systems. Research questions sought to identify what was learned, how it was learned, and why the learning was effective. Four total focus group interviews were conducted, which were recorded and subsequently transcribed. Initial coding, axial coding, and analytic memoing were employed during data analysis, resulting in a tiered approach that refined data into patterns and then further into potential themes. Additionally, participants kept an on-going reflective journal in which they recorded their experiences with the game outside of the focus group meetings. Findings suggest participants engaged with the game system in a variety of ways, demonstrating high-level skill incorporation and practice. With repeated play, participants naturally began to inquire into the deeper workings of the game. This resulted in participant learning which included both mechanical and social forms of metagaming. Mechanical metagaming reflects the learning which occurs when engaging directly with the game systems, mechanics, and processes. Players analyze and synthesize complex systems in making determinations that inform future gameplay. Social metagaming signifies the understanding of peers during gaming environments. When playing against familiar opponents, participants made evaluations dependent on the personality and strategies of that particular opponent. Participant learning took place via an inquiry-based approach which allowed individuals to approach the game from their own perspectives and for personalized purposes. Learning was effective because it took place in a social environment, was reinforced by emotional responses to gameplay, and was highly personalized for each participant. Implications from this study suggest a games-based approach to learning can be organized and structured to provide students with the opportunity to form a deep understanding of higher skills through direct engagement with a game. The study theorizes the use of a games- based inquiry approach to classroom pedagogy, where a game serves as the primary object of study. Instead of games serving as a single use form of additional media for disciplinary content delivery, students explore the game itself in repeated playthroughs. This arrangement allows for direct skill practice in 21st century skills which quickly becoming the norm in school curriculums. Games-based inquiry encourages student engagement, collaboration with peers, critical thinking, problem-solving, and a deep understanding of increasingly complex systems. Ultimately, a games-based inquiry approach hypothetically could employ game design as a creative, generative classroom experience. Table of Contents List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xiii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... xiv Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1 - Introduction and Purpose of Study .............................................................................. 1 Rationale ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Research Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 6 Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 7 Operational Definitions ........................................................................................................... 7 Theoretical Frameworks ............................................................................................................. 8 Game Theory ........................................................................................................................ 10 The Ecology of Play .............................................................................................................. 11 Game Selection: Magic the Gathering ................................................................................. 15 Researcher Background and Positionality ............................................................................ 17 Chapter 2 - Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 21 Ontological, Epistemological, and Theoretical Foundations .................................................... 23 Ontological Foundation: Critical Realism ............................................................................ 24 Epistemological Foundation: Interpretivism ......................................................................... 26 Ontological and Epistemological Foundations in Gaming Environments ............................ 28 Theoretical Framework: Constructivism .............................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Game Design 2 Game Balance
    CE810 - Game Design 2 Game Balance Joseph Walton-Rivers & Piers Williams Friday, 18 May 2018 University of Essex 1 What is Balance? Game Balance Question What is balance? 2 Game Balance “All players have an equal chance of winning” – Richard Bartle Richard covered a combat example in the first part of the module. 3 On Strategies Game Balance • What about higher level strategies? • Zerg rush? • Dominant strategies • Metagaming 4 Metagaming - Rock Paper Scissors • A beats B, B beats C, C beats A • If there are lots of A players, people will play C • Then there are a lot of C players, so people play B • and so on... 5 Metagaming - Dominant Strategies • What if A is significantly stronger? • No one will use the other two strategies • We want to encourage variety in play 6 Can we detect this? • Can we detect strategies which are overpowered? • Try to punish strategies we don’t want to see • We did this earlier in the week with rotate and shoot! • Can we measure this? 7 Automated Game Tuning • Academics seem to think so... • Ryan Leigh et al (2008) - Co-evolution for game balancing • Alexander Jaffe et al (2012) - Restricted-Play balance framework • Mihail Morosan - GAs for tuning parameters 8 Game Curves First Move Advantage First Move Advantage • Typically affects turn based games • Going first in tac tac toe means either a win or adraw • White has > 50% win rate over all games • Worse effects if you have resources • We need a way of dealing with this 9 First Move Advantage Magic Second player gets an extra card Go Second player gets 7.5 bonus
    [Show full text]
  • Teachers Course Description
    Teachers Stephanie Boluk Patrick LeMieux Associate Professor Assistant Professor English, Cinema and Digital Media Cinema and Digital Media University of California, Davis University of California, Davis [email protected] [email protected] http://stephanieboluk.com http://patrick-lemieux.com Course Description Rather than treat “videogames and culture” as two distinct categories that play off one another, in this large lecture and in discussion sections we will examine the community histories and material practices that have evolved alongside videogames as a mass medium, cultural commodity, and digital technology. We will challenge the seemingly self-evident differences between play and production, leisure and labor, form and function, and freedom and control through a quarter-long investigation of the concept of “metagaming.” Metagames are the games we play in, on, around, and through videogames. From the most complex player practices to the simple decision to press start, just as there are no videogames without culture, there are no games without metagames. And although the term “metagame” has a long history–from Cold War mind games in the 1940s to countercultural role-playing games in the 1970s to collectable card games in the 1990s–the concept has taken on renewed importance and political urgency with the rise of social media, streaming video, and sharing services in the twenty-first century. From speedrunning The Legend of Zelda to making a living playing League of Legends and ​ ​ ​ ​ from modding miniature computers in Minecraft to laundering money through Team Fortress 2, ​ ​ ​ in this class we will document and theorize histories of play through the concept of metagaming and a rigorous engagement with academic disciplines such as media studies, games studies, software studies, platform studies, and code studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Character Balance in MOBA Games
    Character Balance in MOBA Games Faculty of Arts Department of Game Design Authors: Emanuel Palm, Teodor Norén Bachelor’s Thesis in Game Design, 15 hp Program: Game Design and Programming Supervisors: Jakob Berglund Rogert, Masaki Hayashi Examiner: Mikael Fridenfalk June, 2015 Abstract As live streaming of video games has become easier, electronic sports have grown quickly and they are still increasing as tournaments grow in viewers and prizes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the theory Metagame Bounds by applying it to League of Legends and Dota 2, to see if it is a valid way of looking at character balance in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game genre. The main mode of both games consist of matches played on a map where a team of five players is up against another team of five players. Characters in the games generally have four abilities and a number of attributes, making them complex to compare without context. We gathered character data from websites and entered the data into a file that we used with the Metagame Bounds application. We compared the graphs that the data yielded with how often a character wins and how often it is played. To examine whether the characters were balanced we also played the games and analysed the characters in depth. All statistical data gathered was retrieved over the span of a few hours on the 21st of April 2015 from the websites Champion.gg for League of Legends and Dotabuff for Dota 2. Sirlin’s (2001) definition of multiplayer game balance is “A multiplayer game is balanced if a reasonably large number of options available to the player are viable – especially, but not limited to, during high-level play by expert players.” and with the data we see that these games are balanced in terms of characters according to that definition.
    [Show full text]
  • Metagaming and Transgressive Play Patrick S
    Purdue University Purdue e-Pubs Open Access Theses Theses and Dissertations Summer 2014 Playing on the periphery: Metagaming and transgressive play Patrick S. Love Purdue University Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_theses Part of the Mass Communication Commons, Reading and Language Commons, and the Rhetoric and Composition Commons Recommended Citation Love, Patrick S., "Playing on the periphery: Metagaming and transgressive play" (2014). Open Access Theses. 650. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_theses/650 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. Graduate School ETD Form 9 (Revised/) PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL Thesis/Dissertation Acceptance This is to certify that the thesis/dissertation prepared By Patrick S Love Entitled Playing on the Periphery: Metagaming and Transgressive Play Master of Arts For the degree of Is approved by the final examining committee: Samantha Blackmon Thomas Rickert Nathan Johnson To the best of my knowledge and as understood by the student in the 7KHVLV'LVVHUWDWLRQ$JUHHPHQW 3XEOLFDWLRQ'HOD\DQGCHUWLILFDWLRQDisclaimer (Graduate School Form ), this thesis/dissertation DGKHUHVWRWKHSURYLVLRQVRIPurdue University’s “Policy on Integrity in Research” and the use of copyrighted material. Samantha Blackmon Approved by Major Professor(s): ____________________________________ ____________________________________ Approved by:Nancy Peterson 07/18/2014 Head of the 'HSDUWPHQWGraduate Program Date i PLAYING ON THE PERIPHERY: METAGAMING AND TRANSGRESSIVE PLAY A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University by Patrick Love In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts August 2014 Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana ii This work is dedicated to players, gamers, and people who play.
    [Show full text]
  • Loops and Metagames: Understanding Game Design Structures Miguel Sicart Center for Computer Games Research IT University of Copenhagen [email protected]
    Loops and Metagames: Understanding Game Design Structures Miguel Sicart Center for Computer Games Research IT University of Copenhagen [email protected] ABSTRACT in Free to Play game design [10], a design space in which the In this paper we present a set of formal concepts that can help in economic need for a distinction between interaction and context game design analysis. Our goal is to provide a conceptual became a key element in the evolution of its development framework based on terminology used in game design. practices. Our model appropriates the concepts of loops and metagames and expands them through the lenses of philosophy Keywords and play research to be applicable for analyzing game designs. Game design research, Interaction Design, Loops, Context, Our model is both an analytical tool and a theoretical argument Formalism. about what game design is, given a clearly defined level of abstraction. Our goal with this model is to have an impact in 1. INTRODUCTION research, education, and design practices. We intend to Game designer and scholar Frank Lantz once defined games as systematize a set of concepts used in game design practice, “basically operas made out of bridges” [1]. A closer look at games formalize them through definitions, and exemplify the advantage shows that, while the metaphor holds, it also falls somewhat short, of using these definitions as analytical and creative tools. as operas or bridges are nowhere as complex as games. Digital games in particular, the object of study of this article, are We will start by presenting the need for formal tools for analyzing particularly complex sociotechnical constructs: they are game designs, and how that research is methodologically engineering feats, pushing the boundaries of real-time and compatible with our model.
    [Show full text]
  • Identifying and Evaluating Successful Non-Meta Strategies in League of Legends
    Identifying and Evaluating Successful Non-meta Strategies in League of Legends Choong-Soo Lee, Ivan Ramler St. Lawrence University Canton, NY [clee,iramler]@stlawu.edu ABSTRACT summoners, including e-sports cyberathletes, play in a map called 1 League of Legends is a multiplayer online battle arena game where Summoner’s Rift . The map consists of three lanes, and each team teams of five players compete against each other. Over the years, has 11 towers, 3 inhibitors, and a nexus, and the objective is to players (the crowd) have formed a metagaming strategy, which destroy the opponent team’s nexus. is widely adopted. This paper questions and answers whether the Riot Games developed the game but did not offer any official wisdom of the crowd defined the best strategy. We investigate play- strategies other than classifying their champions into six categories: ers’ choices of champions (and builds) and their team performance assassin, fighter, mage, support, tank, and marksman. Over the from matches in the North America and Western Europe regions, years, summoners have formulated a strategy, commonly referred using the data gathered through the Riot Games official application to as metagaming [2] (also known as meta). The meta strategy is program interface. We classify team compositions by players’ spells a product of the wisdom of the crowd, and it has stabilized to a and attributes of items, and identify several non-meta strategies team of five unique roles, which are different from Riot Games’ that show a consistent advantage over the meta. categories: Top (T), Jungle (J), Mid (M), Attack damage carry (A), and Support (S).
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Better Understanding of Toxicity in Competitive Multiplayer Games
    Towards a Better Understanding of Toxicity in Competitive Multiplayer Games Malthe R. Jensen Supervised by Thessa Jensen Master’s in Interactive Digital Media June 2019 Institute of Communication Aalborg University Denmark Title Page Aalborg University Interactive digital media 10. semester June 2019 Project Title: Towards a Better Understanding of Toxicity in Competitive Multiplayer Games Written by: Malthe Roed Jensen Study Number: 20147408 Supervisor: Thessa Jensen Characters: 160.473 Page count: 67 Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. 1 Intro ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Reviewing the literature ......................................................................................................... 4 Data collection ................................................................................................................... 5 Topics ................................................................................................................................ 6 Defining the problem ......................................................................................................... 7 Problem field ......................................................................................................................... 7 Defining negative social behaviour ...................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Changeful Tales: Design-Driven Approaches Toward More Expressive Storygames Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8838j82v Author Reed, Aaron Publication Date 2017 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ CHANGEFUL TALES: DESIGN-DRIVEN APPROACHES TOWARD MORE EXPRESSIVE STORYGAMES A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in COMPUTER SCIENCE by Aaron A. Reed June 2017 The Dissertation of Aaron A. Reed is approved: Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Chair Michael Mateas Michael Chemers Dean Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright c by Aaron A. Reed 2017 Table of Contents List of Figures viii List of Tables xii Abstract xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 1 Framework 15 1.1 Vocabulary . 15 1.1.1 Foundational terms . 15 1.1.2 Storygames . 18 1.1.2.1 Adventure as prototypical storygame . 19 1.1.2.2 What Isn't a Storygame? . 21 1.1.3 Expressive Input . 24 1.1.4 Why Fiction? . 27 1.2 A Framework for Storygame Discussion . 30 1.2.1 The Slipperiness of Genre . 30 1.2.2 Inputs, Events, and Actions . 31 1.2.3 Mechanics and Dynamics . 32 1.2.4 Operational Logics . 33 1.2.5 Narrative Mechanics . 34 1.2.6 Narrative Logics . 36 1.2.7 The Choice Graph: A Standard Narrative Logic . 38 2 The Adventure Game: An Existing Storygame Mode 44 2.1 Definition . 46 2.2 Eureka Stories .
    [Show full text]
  • Competitive Gaming
    WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE Competitive Gaming Design and Community Building Interactive Qualifying Project Stefan Alexander and Maxwell Perlman Advisor: Brian Moriarty, IMGD 3/6/2014 Abstract This project attempts to characterize the qualities that make a competitive game successful. By researching the relevant literature and conducting original interviews with designers, players, and other people associated with the gaming scene, we identified three important development principles: 1. Competitive games should be designed for casual play and balanced for competitive play. Nearly every successful competitive game has far more casual players than it does competitive players. Players should want to play your game regardless of any fame or prize support they could gain from playing it competitively. 2. Understanding who your players are and what they want, both in terms of game content and what they want to gain mentally or emotionally from playing the game, can greatly assist in the design of competitive games. When a player gets to use a strategy they enjoy at a high level of play, the game becomes far more enjoyable. 3. A competitive game is defined by its community. When the community is open, accepting, friendly, and helpful, it reflects well on the game and leads to thriving casual and competitive communities. Communities are also vital to the evolution of their players’ skills. Without a supportive and helpful community, players in that community will have a much harder time being successful than if they were a member of a more
    [Show full text]
  • Temporalities in Competitive Gaming
    University of California, Irvine Frame-Perfect: Temporalities in Competitive Gaming Matt Knutson School of Humanities, Ph.D. in Visual Studies 2020 Dissertation committee: A. Braxton Soderman, Assistant Professor (adviser) Victoria Johnson, Associate Professor Bonnie Ruberg, Assistant Professor Paul Dourish, Professor Copyright Chapter 3 © 2018 Game Studies. All other materials © 2020 Matt Knutson. Table of Contents I. List of Figures iii II. Acknowledgements Page v III. Vita vi IV. Abstract viii V. Introduction 1 VI. Ch. 1: Perfectibility’s Dystopia 45 VII. Ch. 2: Approximate Precision: Complicating the Frame and Liveness 79 VIII. Ch. 3: Backtrack, Pause, Rewind, Reset: Queering Temporality in Gaming 136 IX. Conclusion 158 X. Bibliography 173 XI. Ludography 192 ii List of Figures Introduction Figure 1: Mario knocks Fox off the stage Figure 2: The Super Smash Bros. Melee character select screen Figure 3: Marth frame data in Melee Chapter 1 Figures 1-4: Armada performing a jump-cancel as Fox Figures 5-13: Fox’s options and Marth’s responses Figure 14: A “dirty flowchart” Figure 15: Time-lapse motion efficient study of someone at work Figure 16: Image from “Kadano’s perfect Marth class” Figures 17-19: Three consecutive frames of PewPewU’s pivot F-smash against Hungrybox at Apex 2015 Figure 20: PewPewU’s F-smash connecting with Hungrybox Figures 21-23: Three consecutive frames of PewPewU’s Marth performing a pivot Figures 24-29: Mang0’s movement at Genesis 2 Figure 30: Mang0 shooting a laser at offstage Taj Chapter 2 Figure 1: Still of the QTE arcade game from Shenmue’s YOU Arcade Figures 2-5: Tech chase sequence, Sheik vs.
    [Show full text]
  • Unifying Game Ontology: a Faceted Classification of Game Elements
    Unifying Game Ontology: A Faceted Classification of Game Elements Michael S. Debus This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) at the IT University of Copenhagen. Title: Unifying Game Ontology: A Faceted Classification of Game Elements Candidate: Michael S. Debus Alliancevej 32, 2TV 2450 Copenhagen SV Denmark +45 50 38 45 13 [email protected] Supervisor: Espen Aarseth This research has received funding from the European ResearchCouncil (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No [695528] – MSG: Making Sense of Games). Resumé I mindst hundrede år er spil blevet defineret og klassificeret. I de sidste to årtier er der dog opstået en forøget forskningsmæssig interesse for hvad spil er og består af. For at at udvikle en mere entydig terminologi for spil og deres bestanddele, undersøger denne afhandling spillets ontologi i to henseende. Med en tilgang inspireret af Wittgenstein, belyser jeg de forskellige betydninger der knytter sig til udtrykket ’spil’. Jeg fremlægger en ikke-udtømmende oversigt over fem underliggende ideer, der tjener som områder hvor man kan finde spils såkaldte familie-ligheder: spil som genstande, forløb, systemer, holdninger og ud fra deres udvikling og distribution. Jeg introducerer dernæst en række ontologiske begreber, for at kunne eksplicitere den forståelse af spil, som tages i anvendelse i denne afhandling. Spil er ’specifikker’ – samlinger af anonyme ’partikulærer’ – som enten kan være materialiseret (som genstande) eller instantieret (som forløb). Jeg vil dernæst, ud fra en ludologisk tilgang, undersøge spils underliggende formelle system. En række begreber fra biblioteksvidenskaben danner rammen for en analyse af de distinktioner der bliver anvendt i seksten forskellige spil-klassificeringer.
    [Show full text]
  • Metagaming in Competitive Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
    Metagaming in Competitive Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Ying-Ying Law Staffordshire University College Road, Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DE [email protected] Keywords Metagaming, game theory, play, esports, players INTRODUCTION My research is concerned with the ‘metagame’ practices amongst competitive Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft1 [Hearthstone] (Blizzard 2014) players, and seeks to explore the players’ attitude and play styles performed at live tournaments in the United Kingdom (including Insomnia Gaming Festival and local Manchester tournaments). Observations from my completed Ph.D. (Law 2016) have suggested a strong sense of community and identity amongst competitive Hearthstone players surrounded with discussion and negotiation on the game that has been in a state of constant flux due to frequent updates to the core game - hence, it should be noted that rules and regulations at live tournaments were observed to be inconsistent. Although there are standardised tournament formats in Hearthstone, these have been subject to change, as well as other tournaments that have continued to test the skills and adaptability of players, and cater towards entertaining their live streamed audiences. Therefore, using the notion of ‘metagaming’ (Boluk and LeMieux 2017), my ongoing research seeks to explore the extent of players practical and critical engagement with ‘metagame’ practices that either conform or push the boundaries of competitive gaming in the twenty-first century. The concept of ‘metagaming’ coined by Garfield (2000) has often been noted in many studies of competitive video games, which focuses on the players’ use of out-of-game resources, strategic analysis, mechanical skill, and player reputation. Although Garfield’s (2000) work focuses on a particular trading card game [TGC], ‘Magic: The Gathering’2 [Magic] (Garfield 1993); it shares some similarities and differences with the digital collectable card game [CCG], Hearthstone.
    [Show full text]