title: Story and Simulations for Serious Games: Tales from the Trenches
author:  Nick Iuppa 
description: "How to create a simulation where participants have a sense of freedom and personal control while still maintaining the structure necessary for an effective story is a difficult task indeed. This book examines how to create an engaging, effective story (necessary to teach participants), while relating practical considerations of building a simulation. - Tech Trends, April 2007
zlib_text: The Player of Games
   by Iain M. Banks
   Table of Contents
   1. Culture Plate
  2. Imperium
  3. Machina Ex Machina
  4. The Passed Pawn
  File converted to Microsoft Reader format by CF
  1. Culture Plate
   This is the story of a man who went far away for a long time, just to play a game.  The man is a
  game-player called 'Gurgeh'.  The story starts with a battle that is not a battle, and ends with a game that
  is not a game.
   Me?  I'll tell you about me later.
   This is how the story begins.
   Dust drifted with each footstep.  He limped across the desert, following the suited figure in front.  The
  gun was quiet in his hands.  They must be nearly there; the noise of distant surf boomed through the
  helmet soundfield.  They were approaching a tall dune, from which they ought to be able to see the
  coast.  Somehow he had survived; he had not expected to.
   It was bright and hot and dry outside, but inside the suit he was shielded from the sun and the baking air;
  cosseted and cool.  One edge of the helmet vi