Games and Video Games - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 9

example: You can lose the game by running out of money and having your theme
park collapse, but you cannot win it.

The rules and the goal of a game are entirely contained within the magic circle,
but the concept of winning and losing transcends it to affect the real world as
well. Winning is perceived as a meritorious achievement, and after the game is
over, players take pride in having won. Winning can also earn real-world benefits
such as material rewards. But you don't have to include the ideas of victory and
defeat in a game. They're optional elements that make the game more exciting
and meaningful to the players.

THE RULES
Rules are definitions and instructions that the players agree to accept for the dura-
tion of the game. Every game has rules, even if these rules are unwritten or taken
for granted.

Rules serve several functions. They establish the object of the game and the mean-
ings of the different activities and events that take place within the magic circle.
They also create a contextual framework that enables the players to know which
activities are permitted and to evaluate which course of action will best help them
achieve their goal. Among the things that the rules define are the following:

■ The semiotics of the game are the meanings and relationships of the various
symbols that the game employs. Some symbols, such as innings and outs in base-
ball, are purely abstract. Others, such as armies in Risk, have a parallel in the real
world that helps us to understand them. This topic won't go into the theory of
game semiotics in detail. It is a complex issue and the subject of ongoing research,
but it is beyond the scope of an introductory work.

■

The gameplay consists of the challenges and actions the game offers the player.

■

The sequence of play is the progression of activities that make up the game.

■ The goal(s) of the game is also known as the objective of the game and is
defined by the rules.

■ The termination condition , as described in the previous section, is the condi-
tion that ends the game (if it has one).

■ Metarules are rules about the rules. These might indicate under what circum-
stances the rules can change or when exceptions to them are allowed.

As a designer, the main thing that you need to know is that rules are definitions
and instructions that have meaning within the magic circle and that you are free
to invent abstract symbols and concepts as necessary to create a game. You must,
however, make them comprehensible to the players!

The only permanent rule in Calvinball is that you can't play it the same way twice!

—C ALVIN , IN C ALVIN AND H OBBES BY B ILL W ATTERSON