Week 4

The sport that I’m going to look at is tennis. One main thing I think about concerning tennis in relation to the design tools talked about is constraint. In tennis, the first serve must be in the small square diagonal to the server. Otherwise, the server must do it a second time or lose the point. Another constraint in tennis is the side lanes. In singles, these lanes are not considered in the game and the point will be lost if you were to hit the ball in them. Likewise, another constraint is the net in the middle. It prevents players from having a very low hit when hitting to the other side. Oddly enough, even a partner in a doubles match could be seen as a constraint as the player in the back loses a portion of where they can aimsince another object, being a person in this case, is in the way. 

“If, in soccer, all players really wanted to do was put the ball in the other team’s net, wouldn’t it be easier just to carry it there or maybe throw it? Soccer players could certainly do that, but would it be much fun? By constraining the way players can put the ball in the net using anything but their hands, the goal suddenly becomes much more interesting.” (Macklin and Sharp, Ch 2)

By having these constraints, the sport poses more of a challenge to the players. This also adds more entertainment for the audience as the sport also has performance in it, as talked about in Making it Matter: Lessons from Real Sports (5:40). 

Other tools that can be seen in tennis are strategy, skill, and uncertainty. In this sense, tennis is similar to darts. 

“The game requires a high degree of skill in throwing the darts at the board. Players make decisions about how to aim, and they develop strategies. The game contains no chance at all. There is, however, uncertainty around where the opponents will throw their darts, which impacts the player’s strategies, causing on-the-fly changes to a player’s pursuit of winning.” (Macklin and Sharp, Ch 2) 

Tennis, like darts, requires skill to be able to hit the ball with the correct amount of force and direction to aim it correctly. It also has a level of uncertainty, but no chance, as you do not know where your opponent will aim the ball and requires players to have strategies that may change as the match proceeds. This can also connect to the tool of decision-making and feedback.

“Ultimately, this is what gameplay is made up of: dozens, even hundreds or thousands, of small decisions that each creates a change in the game’s state. From these, play experiences emerge, shaped along the way by the goals and subgoals, however loose or strong they might be.” (Macklin and Sharp, Ch 2)

The strategies developed by the players are continuously changing as the match continues, even more so in doubles. The decisions made change due to the feedback the player is given by their opponent(s) and possibly their partner.