nullpointer

Entropy, performance and gameplay

This post contains some brief notes that I have nowhere else to keep for the time being. They will hopefully form part of a longer research idea.

What is entropy?

Noun
1. Formal lack of pattern or organization
“entropy increases as matter and energy in the universe degrade to an ultimate state of inert uniformity”

As referenced by the scientific laws of thermodynamics entropy is the reduction of matter and energy to non-complex forms with no structure or relationships. Where many chemical and biological processes attempt to combine primal constituents into more diverse and unique forms the ultimate breakdown of all matter into “heat noise” constatly counteracts these developments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe

In other fields we can see this battle between structure and disorder referred to as the “signal to noise” relationship.

Other definitions help us to expand the application of this idea
2. A measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system.
3. A measure of the loss of information in a transmitted message.
4. The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.
5. Inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society.

This polar struggle exists in every scale of life, from cosmic chemistry to everyday human activity. Now with our increasing reliance on computer systems and complex data we see entropic elements emerging in what we hoped should be pure formal machines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bit_rot

How do we embrace or resist the inevitable entropy of any complex system? Most human activity is concerned with creating structure to contain and manage chaotic variables. We have an innate desire to organise the mental and material stuff around us, but entropy is always against us, slowly shifting matter to its most simplistic forms without order or life.

When we see entropy revealed, either as glitches, errors, bit rot or mistranslation our instinct is to ‘cure’ the ailment and restore order. Yet the frequent recurrance of such noise in our ‘pure’ systems has become a sort of cipher or ‘memento mori’ reminding us of the way natural disorder can penetrate even the most unnatural digital languages. In some cases such errors are adopted as fetishes for ‘in the know’ designers,artists or musicians. These acolytes revel in the discovery of entropic events so they can embrace their effects and even prompt them with deliberate artificial methods.

Where we see this interplay most clearly today is in the realtime acts of performance and gameplay. Here the struggle is always immenent as the timescale is almost always unstoppable. In these scenarios the signal is always in danger of being subsumed by noise. In audio performance the physical materials always threaten to fall victim to some wayward natural process or physical imperfection. Using digital tools makes the occurance no less likely, electricity is fickle and disk sectors corruptable. Virtuosos often enjoy this borderland of control/uncontrol, using it to take the composition in new unpredicted directions or letting it generate a sense of tension and abandon.

Games use this battle as an underlying framework for all activity. They do this, knowing that the margin between signal and noise, chaos and order are where the thrill lies. The best peformances are frequently the edgiest ones. Games promote this environment, accelerating entropy and disorder with artifical mechanics. Tetris, is essentially an entropic game where the player ‘tidies up’, fighting a ceasless and ultimately unbeatable wave of noise.

Most single player formats are designed with same perspective, in both digital and physical variation. Jigsaws, solitaire, sudoku, mah jong, puzzle bobble, bejewelled… all puzzle games driven by the need to discover and apply structure to initial states of chaos. More complex genres such as RTS & SIM games still follow the same logic. In both cases your actions generally involve the generation of complex specific units from basic materials (wood,metals,currencies) in order to construct stable bases, economic setups, social organisations and strategic war plans.

The enjoyment of such tasks is innate in the human psyche. To survive and evolve we must put order to the world that surrounds us and eliminate the chaotic elements that threaten our progress. So we generate rules to follow. We know that by following certain patterns we can reinforce our structures, protect our organisations and rely on our defences. Historically the price of failure could be high but nowadays we simulate the adrenaline with artifical goals and virtual punishments.

Of course not all structural generation is laced with the threat of repercussions (fake or otherwise). Knitting is the art of pattern recognition and generation, but with little opposition (as is sudoku, jigsaws ..). There is no characterful opponent to throw noise into your signal. Historically though even such craft orientated activities would have faced opposition. Constructing a willow bivouac or building a stone shelter introduces more random elements in terms of the materials but if performed in the oncoming gloom of a thunderstorm the entropic opposition becomes stronger and with it comes the adrenaline, the excitement, the fear. It is this combined sense of consequences that drive the experience to become more ‘game-like’.

In simulations (computer games) the competition is artificial and the activity is playful not practical (but still practice). The opposition represented by a string of predefined rules and a degree of random variations and chance. Your progress as a player is judged by the degree to which you can impose your structure on the world. When expanded to a multiplayer scenario the effect remains the same except for the fact that you are not just opposed by internal game rules and entropic mechanics, but also by the progress of someone elses drive to impose their structure on the same space.

Performance in games and performance in music/acting etc broadly follow the same rules outlined above. The main difference being that in games opposition and entropy are deliberately introduced in order to drive forward the process at an accelerated rate and create a clear framework for engagement. Game mechanics can offer much to performance and composition by supercharging the natural entropic elements that often give them the edge. The embodiment of an opposing force and the sense that the event could be ‘won’ or ‘lost’ can do much to involve audiences as well as performers.