Defining Games

What is a game? A game can be thought of as a mode of play, yet that offers little in defining what features mark something as a game. Many academics and professional game designers have offered their opinions on what a game is.

 Different Definitions and Commonalities

In Homo Ludens (1984) by Johan Huizinga, a game is defined as a non-serious activity existing outside of normal life and follows rules which only occur within its own boundaries, also known as a magic circle.

In Playing for Real (2008) by Tom and Janice Baranowski, a game is defined as “a physical or mental contest with a goal or objective, played according to a framework, or rules, that determines what a player can and cannot do inside a game world.”

 In The Grasshopper (1978) by Bernard Suits, a game is defined as “the voluntary effort to overcome unnecessary obstacles.”

 In Rules of Play (2004) by Katie Salen and Zimmerman, a game is defined as “a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.”

 In The Art of Computer Game Design (1984) by Chris Crawford, the author states that a game needs representation – presence of a player or players, interaction – ability to affect events within the game, conflict – something to challenge the player(s), and safety – rules that control the situation.

Chris Crawford

The presence of rules is a recurring requirement shared between these criteria. Some of the points remark on how games are ‘artificial’ and have to exist within their own space. Furthermore, games are also expected to have a form of conflict, be it competing against other players to win, or overcoming obstacles created by the game.

 

The Big Game

One may apply the above criteria to analog and digital games, finding they all indeed meet the requirements to some degree. Yet one can also look beyond what are traditionally considered games and discover other things which fit within those criteria. Social media can be considered a game; users directly or indirectly compete against each other to promote themselves in accordance with the platform’s rules.

One can go even further and claim that all of human society is a game. The majority of people perform different tasks (jobs) to earn money (points). Money is a resource a person can spend on a variety of items; food, clothes, bills, and luxuries. There are different win and failure conditions within society, which vary depending on individual opinion. Living long and remaining financially stable is viewed as a victory by some, but dying young and poor is seen as a loss.

Human society is layered with ultimately arbitrary rules. Laws are an obvious example; driving through traffic lights while the light is red is against the rules, but a person may do it and go completely unpunished, depending if anyone saw and reported to those in assigned roles of law enforcement.

Yet the institutions who devised these laws are just as artificial as those laws. A house of elected politicians is no less a social construct than the first caveman who declared himself a chieftain of his tribe.

Even nations are fictional creations akin to sport teams. Borders are arbitrarily drawn, usually with no regard for objective geography. Each country develops its identity; flags, anthems, culture. Most nations seek to win by achieving and maintaining prosperity, through competing and collaborating with other nations to reach those goals, hardly different from a strategy game like Sid Meier’s Civilization.

Is human civilisation really one big game because it operates in a similar manner to that of traditional games? Or perhaps it is the other way around; are games mini-societies created by mimicking the wider society we live in.

 

References:

Johan Huizinga. (1944). Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element of Culture.

Tom Baranowski, Richard Buday, Debbe I. Thompson, Janice Baranowski. 2008. Playing for Real: Video Games and Stories for Health-Related Behavior Change, American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Volume 34, Issue 1. Pages 74-82. e10.

Bernard Suits. 2014. The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia. Broadview Press.

Katie Salen Tekinbas and Eric Zimmerman. 2003. Rules of play: Game Design fundamentals. MIT press.

Chris Crawford. 1984. The Art of Computer Game Design, McGraw-Hill/Glencoe.