From pushing buttons to play and progress: value and interaction in fable

A value can be understood as a belief that one mode of conduct is preferable to others. The user-interface of computer games mediates all player conduct in the game and is therefore key to understanding how values are expressed both by and to the player. How the interface affects player’s expression and understanding of value in computer games is a relatively unknown quantity. We performed a qualitative case study of the game Fable to investigate connections between interface and value in gameplay. The concepts uncovered allow us to better address the computer game interface in both design and analysis.