View source for God Fingers

[[Category:Patterns]]
[[Category:Interface Patterns]]
[[Category:Needs revision]]
[[Category:Needs examples]]
[[Category:Needs references]]
''Graphical interface components in computer games that display players' current point of interact.''

A [[God Fingers|God Finger]] is a game element that allows the player to affect the game world, but which cannot be affected by events in the game world itself. It is quite often a mouse pointer similar - or the same - as found in graphical computer operating systems.

=== Examples ===
''Point-and-Click'' adventure games such as the [[Police Quest series|Police Quest]], [[Leisure Suit Larry series|Leisure Suit Larry]], and [[Myst series]] (as well as later installments of the [[King's Quest series]]) use [[God Fingers]] both to indicate where players' characters should move and how they wish to use items in their inventories.

While it is unclear in the [[Sims series]] what the pointers used to select Sims or game items represent, the cursors in god games of the [[Black & White series]] are literally [[God Fingers]].

Many real-time strategy games, e.g. the [[Command and Conquer series|Command and Conquer]], [[Starcraft series|Starcraft]], and [[Warcraft series]], make use of [[God Fingers]] in the form of a cursor that is used to select individual units or groups.

== Using the pattern ==
While the design of [[God Fingers]] themselves are pretty straight forward - they are pointers that players should be able to use to indicate where they wish to interact with [[Game Worlds]] or [[Levels]] - what interactions they provide offers some options. 

The simplest use of [[God Fingers]] is to manipulate [[Game Items]] directly or indicate what [[Game Items]] [[Avatars]] or [[Units]] should manipulate. A slightly more complex alternative is to let players select [[Avatars]] or [[Units]] they wish to use. This can be followed by either using the [[God Fingers]] again to indicate where these should move or what they should attack, or using menus to select actions; for games allowing many types of interaction (e.g. the [[Sims series]]) this may be changed to first selecting an [[Avatars|Avatar]], then the item or other [[Avatars|Avatar]] to interact with and finally selecting what type of action should be done. However, [[God Fingers]] can also act as [[Focus Loci]] for actions that are independent of [[Avatars]] or [[Units]] or to specify the effect areas of ranged actions, for example, by selecting an area by stating its boundaries. 

Given the freedom of focusing or trying to interact with any part of a [[Game Worlds|Game World]], [[God Fingers]] are the most suitable [[Focus Loci]] to make use of [[Clickability]].

=== Diegetic Aspects ===
[[God Fingers]] are typically outside the [[Diegetic Consistency]] of games but exceptions are possible, e.g. by placing the player in the role of a god as the [[Black & White series]] does.

=== Interface Aspects ===
[[God Fingers]] is an [[:Category:Interface Patterns|Interface Pattern]]. They are not compatible with [[First-Person Views]] but are quite natural ways of modulating [[God Views]] - especially since they can allow panning and scrolling so that new parts of [[Game Worlds]] can be viewed. They can be weakly combined with [[Third-Person Views]] through locking players' views onto [[Avatars]] or [[Units]] when these have been selected (the [[Sims series]] supports this for example). [[Fog of War]] can modulate [[God Fingers]] by letting players navigate [[Game Worlds]] using the [[God Fingers]] but without revealing information that the players' [[Avatars]] or [[Units]] could observe.

[[Tooltips]] can modify [[God Fingers]] by providing gameplay [[Clues]] or explanations of game interface components if players hover the [[God Fingers]] over relevant part of the game interface.

== Consequences ==
[[God Fingers]] are [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] that function as [[Focus Loci]] for players, allowing them to navigate [[Game Worlds]] more or less independently of where their [[Avatars]] and [[Units]] are. They can also be used to select these or what actions these should do, making players omnipresent in the [[Game Worlds]]. By doing so, they make it easier to handle [[Attention Demanding]] events in games but may also limit the use of [[Surprises]] and the feeling of [[Spatial Engrossment]] as [[God Fingers]] since players can have.

Although possible to offset by [[Fog of War]], [[God Fingers]] may be problematic to combine with [[Detective Structures]] in [[Open Worlds]] since players can view places and events unrelated to any specific [[Characters|Character]].

== Relations ==
=== Can Instantiate ===
[[Focus Loci]], 
[[Geospatial Game Widgets]]

=== Can Modulate ===
[[Attention Demanding]], 
[[Avatars]], 
[[God Views]], 
[[Units]]

=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
-

=== Can Be Modulated By ===
[[Clickability]], 
[[Fog of War]], 
[[Third-Person Views]], 
[[Tooltips]]

=== Possible Closure Effects ===
-

=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Diegetic Consistency]], 
[[First-Person Views]], 
[[Spatial Engrossment]], 
[[Surprises]]

[[Detective Structures]] together with [[Open Worlds]]

== History ==
An updated version of the pattern ''God's Finger'' that was part of the original collection in the book ''Patterns in Game Design''<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004"/>.

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004">Björk, S. & Holopainen, J. (2004) ''Patterns in Game Design''. Charles River Media. ISBN1-58450-354-8.</ref>
</references>

== Acknowledgements ==
-