Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 5
In any conversation, we need someone to talk
with. Without a player, a game is just a set of
instructions, whether executed by a computer
or human beings who learn what cards to draw
on their turn. An unplayed game is like a piece of
sheet music: you can see its potential and imagine
what it might be like brought to life. You can grasp
from notation or rules that it's complex and maybe
glimpse its nature. Instructions need someone to
carry them out to leap from untapped potential
into a living, changing experience. To deepen
our practice of playing games, we have to think
about our own role in shaping what happens—
and understand how our role as game designers
intersects and tangles with the choices of players.
