Defining Games Summary Notes

Relationship Between Play and Games

  • Dual Structural Relationship:

    • Games as a Subset of Play: A typological view where play encompasses broad, informal activities, while games represent a formalized, rule-bound subset.

    • Play as a Subset of Games: A conceptual view within game design where play represents the dynamic, experiential component contained inside the larger phenomenon of a game.

Games as a subset of playPlay as a subset of games

  • Linguistic Context: While English distinguishes between "play" and "game," languages such as French (jouer/jeu) and German (spielen/Spiel) use variations of a single word for both concepts.

Theoretical Definitions of Games

  • David Parlett: Differentiates informal play from a formal game. A formal game requires:

    • Ends: A contest to achieve a winning objective.

    • Means: Agreed equipment and procedural rules to reach that objective.

  • Clark C. Abt: Defines a game as an activity among independent decision-makers seeking objectives in a limiting context.

  • Johann Huizinga: Frames play as a free, absorbing, non-serious activity standing outside ordinary life within defined space-time boundaries, bound by fixed rules, and detached from material profit.

  • Roger Caillois: Expands play and game definitions into six core qualities: free, separate, uncertain, unproductive, governed by rules, and make-believe.

  • Bernard Suits: Defines playing a game as the voluntary effort to overcome unnecessary obstacles by accepting inefficient means dictated by rules (the lusory attitude).

  • Chris Crawford: Identifies four primary qualities of games: representation (closed formal system), interaction, conflict, and safety.

  • Greg Costikyan: Defines a game as a form of art in which players make decisions to manage resources through game tokens in pursuit of a goal.

  • Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith: Define games as an exercise of voluntary control systems involving a contest between powers, confined by rules to produce a disequilibrial outcome.

Summary table of game definition elements by key theorists

Core Definition of a Game

  • Primary Definition: A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.

  • Essential Components:

    • System: An interconnected, self-sufficient structure of interacting parts.

    • Players: Active participants who interact with the system.

    • Artificial: Established boundaries separating the game from real life in time and space.

    • Conflict: A contest of powers (competitive, cooperative, or solo vs. system).

    • Rules: Explicit limits that delimit player actions and structure play.

    • Quantifiable Outcome: A clear, measurable goal or end state (winning, losing, or a numerical score).

  • Game Design Definition: The process by which a designer creates a game, to be encountered by a player, from which meaningful play emerges.

Boundary Cases: Puzzles and Role-Playing Games

  • Puzzles:

    • Defined as a specialized subset of games with a correct answer or predetermined solution (e.g., crossword puzzles, Solitaire).

    • Conflict takes place between the player and the game system rather than between players.

  • Role-Playing Games (RPGs):

    • Games like Dungeons & Dragons or EverQuest fit all core elements of a game except an overall single quantifiable outcome.

    • Function as open-ended, serial systems containing multiple smaller, local quantifiable goals (experience points, quests, character power levels) rather than a fixed terminal state.