From the Deceptively Simple to the Pleasurably Complex: The Rise of Cooperative Address in the History of Video Games

The way video games address and engage players seems to have changed significantly in the short life of the medium. This chapter discusses the signs of this transition through all the circuits of the video game experience. It reviews the evolution of many elements that define the experience of video games, insisting on the interactions between the different circuits. The chapter presents the rise of various assistance systems that seek to help players progress more smoothly in the experience and thus play a major part in the evolution of the game play experience. The rise of the cooperative paradigm is a clear sign that designers want to help players progress in a world that was carefully crafted to provide gratification. In order to expand on the historical research proposed in the chapter, one would benefit from a precise set of methodological tools to evaluate the variations of gaming rhythms.