I played a digital Capture the Flag game based on the MS-DOS game released in 1992 by Richard Carr (https://playclassic.games/games/strategy-dos-games-online/play-capture-the-flag-online/). This was the first game to use the principle of “Capture the Flag”. When loading up the game, this was a very old, and very slow game, which makes sense considering it was released in 1992; however, it holds the same principles as “Capture the Flag” and has some very interesting learning points compared to our team’s social deduction capture the flag.
After playing the 1992 digital Capture the Flag, it is clear that our Capture the Flag game invokes many more aesthetics of fun compared to the 1992 game. Before we talk about this though, the target audience of the 1992 game in today’s world is those of the older generation that want to experience nostalgia. The MS-DOS was released by Microsoft in 1981, and the game begins with you operating on that MS-DOS operating system when you load it up (figure 1). It’s emulating your experience from that era.
(figure 1)
Our Capture the Flag game centers around teens and adults who want to have fun outdoors. With the Cold War theme, it does lean more towards the adult audience; however, the concept and mechanics of the game are suitable for everyone as long as they understand social deception while playing a physical game.
Now, going back on track to the argument, it is clear that because our game is physical compared to the digital version of the game, our game invokes the aesthetic of sensation, something that the digital game cannot replicate. Running around outside and pulling each other’s flags is clearly a more thrilling experience.
One thing that both games have in common is the aesthetic of discovery; however, the way this aesthetic is involved is very different in both games. In our game, the people who are the imposters on each team have the power to win by outwitting the others. Then, when the teams finally figure out who is the imposter, then it has the element of discovery to learn about the traitors on your team. However, the digital capture of the flag also has this element of discovery. Rather than outwit and discover who the imposters are, we are exploring a land where we don’t know where the flag is. Because we have to run into the black unknown area, we may not know if the enemy team could be there or if we are even in the right direction towards the flag (figure 2). Thus, this is an aesthetic of discovery that is very much provoked in a different manner compared to our game.
(figure 2)
We can learn from this though through modifying our game to include such a level of discovery. If we have a much larger area of play, and playing in the woods or playing indoors with lots of walls around we can invoke the discovery of not knowing where each other is and where the enemy team hid the flags. I believe that this could lead to a very unique experience compared to an outdoor field experience.
One last argument for why our game invokes more aesthetics of fun compared to the digital game is through the challenge and fellowship. In a digital game, it is much harder to induce fellowship because there is also an option to play on a computer. It could be argued that you are bonding with your team members and could be attached to each of your digital players; however, this does not come anywhere near as close as playing a physical game of Capture the Flag and bonding with your team members, only to also induce a level of anti-fellowship when they betray you; and as Krishnan stated in class, “anti-fellowship is still fellowship.”
Before we end this discussion, I wanted to bring up that the digital game is a turn-based capture-the-flag game. This is a very different experience, as you are able to control each of the characters one by one, and then have a playback system of where your enemies moved. Then, there is also a probability of whether or not you successfully unflag an enemy on your side (figure 3) based on your own movement points left, agility levels, and previous attempts (figure 4). I believe that these mechanics set in place by the developers and designers are good for a digital game that is up to two players; however, I believe that there is a lot of room for improvement. If given the chance to play more than two players (such as a 10-player game like ours) or had the ability to include bots that are real-time players (which might not have been possible back in 1992), then there could be a fully live capture the flag game compared to a turn-based strategy, which could invoke more fellowship and bring it closer to our game. This real-time digital Capture the Flag concept is also replicated in many modern games such as Call of Duty Capture the Flag mode. It includes all the real-time players in the lobby playing at once, but it also allows bots to join when not enough players are available. This is something that more modern AI is able to do, but it shows the development of this genre over the past few decades.
(figure 3)
(figure 4)
With the limitations of the 1992 digital Capture the Flag game, it fails to come close to the levels of fun produced in our Social Deception Cold War Capture the Flag game. From the turn-based game to the very old MS-DOS operating system, to the lack of fellowship with certain elements of discovery not being present, it is clear that our game invokes a much greater aesthetic of fun compared to this digital version.
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