Ludic Orders of Signification
As I have alluded to previously, one of the interesting facets of how objects operate as fiction-signs (that is, signs in the context of the game’s fiction) is how malleable and arbitrary they are. For example, the ever-popular board game Agricola recently saw a new quasi-expansion, Agricola: The Goodies. Among other things, this expansion includes replacement wooden bits that are meant to be more iconic than the plain discs and cubes included with the base game.
The picture below shows the new “clay” bits on the left, the original bits on the right, and an American quarter for scale.
The new clay bits are odd in that they are a different color from the original bits. Note that the discs are more of a deep red, while the newer blocks are more of a light brown. To see why this is significant, consider the following image of the Pottery.
This card can be “built” by a player by paying the resources indicated in the upper-right corner. The upper, brown icon indicates clay, while the lower black icon represents stone; the Pottery costs two clay and two stone. These icons are triple-coded for usability purposes. First, the color matches the colors of the bits. Second, their round nature matches the shape of the bits in the base game. Third, the small shapes match the shapes of the new bits. To see how this works, compare the icon on the card with the picture of the bits above.
The importance of this example is that it demonstrates how easily we assign meaning to game bits, and how easily we can adjust and change that meaning. But these bits illustrate another concept I would like to introduce.
As an expansion of my rules-sign and fiction-sign model, we can consider game bits in terms of Barthes’ orders of signification, with some revision. This model I refer to as the ludic orders of signification, and is as follows:
0. Fiction
1. Rules
2. Connotation
The zeroth order is the fiction order. I have labeled this order 0 for two reasons. First, it may or may not be present. The shapes in Tetris do not signify on this level. However, it something does signify on this level it is the first level we notice. We can see that Mario is a person before we have any understanding of how he works.
The first order is the rules order. This order is always present, and refers to what bits signify within the game rules, or code. This essentially maps to signification in the rules-level, as I have discussed previously.
The second order is connotation, and this is essentially the same as Barthes’ second order. Game bits have a wide range of connotations to different people. A Chess piece may connote intelligence, patience, planning, difficulty, frustration, pretentiousness, and so on. It is likely possible to distinguish between fiction-connotation and rules-connotation, but this is not a topic I will be exploring here.
In the case of the two versions of clay, we see that in terms of the zeroth order, fiction-sign, they both signify clay but one is more iconic than the other.
In the first order, rules-signs, they signify the same thing: there is no functional difference between the brown blocks or red discs, and it is entirely reasonable to play with a mix of both (as I myself do).
In the second order, connotation, the two bits probably connote different things. For me (as an obvious fan of the game) the flat disc connotes efficiency: it was easiest and cheapest for the manufacturer to make all of the resources the same size and shape. The flat discs are also ideal for stacking, which makes them easy to handle during gameplay. The brown blocks connote dedication (I enjoy the game enough to have purchased this expansion), if not excess. I also am disappointed by the coloring choice, and so I am less happy with the new clay bits than the other new bits.
As a researcher, this is a large part of the reason I find board games so fascinating. We inscribe meaning into the pieces in a profound way, yet we are willing to change and alter that meaning without hesitation. As another example, the fact that the board game industry exists as it does is fascinating in itself. For almost any game we could simply copy the rules and create a set to play with from scratch, but this is rarely done and such custom bits are not afforded the same reverence as mass-produced pieces. We might say game bits have an aura directly opposed to the Benjaminian aura - mass production is valued over custom, one-of-a-kind pieces.
