Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
1
The Concept of Game
In my view, the very breadth of the term video game has had a pro-
foundly negative impact on the way that we in the video-game world
think about games and game design. Th e term has become a catchall
for any kind of digital interactive entertainment, regardless of the na-
ture of the system. Furthermore, for most people who play video games,
the massive catchall term video game has become synonymous with
game . And yet puzzles, sandboxes, toys, simulators, interactive fi ction,
contests, and many other types of entertainment also are referred to as
games. Th e problem with this is that there actually is a type of system
that's getting lost in the mix—a specifi c thing that is not the same as a
puzzle, a toy, or a basic interactive system such as a simulator . Th e eff ect
of using the term game for all of these things is that we're left with no way
to point to this other, unique type of system.
Th is question of words is really very signifi cant. How can we ever de-
velop guidelines to make better games if we're calling both h e Path and
chess games ? What do these two things even have in common, besides
the very vague idea that they're both interactive?
In this topic I propose a prescriptive dei nition for the word game
that allows it to fi t in nicely with other types of interactive systems, such
as puzzles and contests. Additionally, this defi nition makes it clear that
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