# Gossip (computer game)

Gossip (computer game)

Infobox VG| title = Gossip

developer = Atari
publisher = Atari
designer = Chris Crawford
engine =
released = 1983
genre = miscellaneous
modes =
ratings = N/A
platforms = Atari 400/800/XL/XE
media = cartridge
requirements =
input = Joystick

"Gossip" was an experimental game created for the Atari 400 by Chris Crawford. Crawford wished for games that would simulate aspects of human social interaction, thus creating games with “social challenges” that would broaden the universe of computer and video game genres. He hoped people-games would also appeal to different audiences from the then-prevalent combat-based and sports games. He especially hoped to appeal to women.

Although the interaction involved was relatively simple, he considered it to be to “people games” what "Pong" was to video games in general. He contends that social interaction modelling in The Sims is equally simple. [Since Crawford made this statement, "" has introduced a much more detailed social model; "The Sims 2" and its expansions have expanded it even further.]

Interface

The screen at right is a mock-up that Crawford contributed. In "" (ISBN 0-07-222428-2), an actual screen shot appears with different colours and eight characters: You, Val, Jim, Liz, Amy, Dan, Sue and Tom.

The player would use a joystick cursor to select a character to telephone. That person’s phone would ring with a jiggling animation and ringing sound effect. He or she would pick up the phone and say, “Air-oh?” The player would select a person to gossip about, and then one of five expressive animations (strong positive, slight positive, neutral, slight negative, strong negative). The listener would then respond with his or her own opinion of the person.

ocial model

The social interactions he chose for this experimental simulation were declarations of affinity (e.g. “I like Fred,” “I hate Jane”). The theory behind the simulation was that people liked those who shared their opinions of others, and were also influenced positively by their friends’ opinions and negatively by their enemies’ opinions. Such declarations, Crawford said, were implicit in many pieces of gossip. He produced the following mathematical model:

$Delta x_\left\{l,s\right\}=frac\left\{x_\left\{l,o\right\} x\text{'}_\left\{s,o\left\{k_1\right\}$

$Delta x_\left\{l,o\right\}=frac\left\{x_\left\{l,s\right\} x\text{'}_\left\{s,o\left\{k_2\right\}$

where "xa,b" is "a"’s actual opinion of "b","x'a,b" is "a"’s declared opinion of "b", "l" is the listener, "s" is the speaker, "o" is the object (the person being gossiped about), k1 and k2 are constants greater than 1 (Crawford gave the hypothetical value of 10, but did not specify the actual values used in the game).

The AI characters did not perform discrete interactions with each other. They instead acted as nodes in a web of springs, trying to reduce the tension around them.

One issue that was not addressed was sincerity (the relationship between actual and declared opinion). Also, it did not account for the fact that repeating the same statement too many times would eventually reduce its effect.

Commercial results

Although Crawford was particularly proud of this game, he never developed a structure of goals (making it, by his definition, a toy rather than a game) and never published it. Only a few cartridges were produced, and fewer still (the exact number is uncertain) ever sold, and they are now rare collector’s items. Nonetheless, he applied this experimental system in Excalibur, for the management of the Knights of the Round Table and diplomacy with the other kings of England. In the former case, affinity was declared by giving gold, bestowing honours that would diminish the value of other honours, and banishing a knight. In the latter case, it was by demanding tithes, paying them and attacking. He also took the idea of social challenge into a different mechanic with .

Notes

References

cite book
title=Chris Crawford on Game Design
id=ISBN 0-88134-117-7
last=Crawford
first=Chris
year=2003
publisher=New Riders
chapter=Chapter 19: Gossip

* [http://www.atariarchives.org/APX/showinfo.php?cat=unknown_gos atariarchive.org] Gossip info

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

### Look at other dictionaries:

• Gossip (disambiguation) — Gossip is news about people, sometimes slanderous, spread by word of mouth.The word gossip may also refer to: * Chat, the act of spreading news from person to person, especially rumors or private information * A talkative person (from the word s… …   Wikipedia

• Chris Crawford (game designer) — Chris Crawford, 2011 Christopher Crawford (born in 1950) is a computer game designer and writer noted for creating a number of important games in the 1980s, founding The Journal of Computer Game Design, and organizing the Computer Game Developers …   Wikipedia

• Chris Crawford on Game Design —   Author(s) Chris Crawford …   Wikipedia

• VideoGames & Computer Entertainment — (abbreviated as VG CE ) was an American magazine dedicated to covering video games on computers, home consoles and arcades. It was published by Larry Flynt Publications (LFP) from the late 1980s until the mid 1990s.Offering game reviews, previews …   Wikipedia

• The Secret of Shadow Ranch (video game) — Infobox VG| title = Nancy Drew: The Secret of Shadow Ranch developer = Her Interactive publisher = DreamCatcher designer = released = July 20, 2004 genre = Adventure modes = Single player ratings = ESRB: Everyone (E) platforms = Windows media =… …   Wikipedia

• Phoenix (computer) — Phoenix (February 1973 ­ ndash; September 30 1995) was an IBM mainframe computer at Cambridge University s Computer Laboratory. Phoenix/MVS was also the name of the computer s operating system, written in house by Computer Laboratory members. Its …   Wikipedia

• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show) — Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Current title card for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Genre Game show Created by David Briggs …   Wikipedia

• Desperate Housewives: The Game — Developer(s) Liquid Entertainment Publisher(s) Buena Vista Games …   Wikipedia

• literature — /lit euhr euh cheuhr, choor , li treuh /, n. 1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2.… …   Universalium

• Computers and Information Systems — ▪ 2009 Introduction Smartphone: The New Computer.       The market for the smartphone in reality a handheld computer for Web browsing, e mail, music, and video that was integrated with a cellular telephone continued to grow in 2008. According to… …   Universalium