God Fingers

Graphical interface components in computer games that display players' current point of interact.

A 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

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, 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 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 Avatar, then the item or other 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 Avatarsor Units or to specify the effect areas of ranged actions, for example, by selecting an area by stating its boundaries.

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 a Interface Pattern.

Consequences

A God's Finger lets the players navigate the game world regardless of where their Avatars and Units are. By doing so, they may limit the use of Surprises and the feeling of Immersion as the God's Finger does not typically provide a point of identificationfor the player and is outside the Consistent Reality Logic of the game.

Relations

Geospatial Game Widgets

Diegetic Consistency

Attention Demanding

History

An updated version of the pattern God's Finger that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design.

Acknowledgements

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