tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356241226024929790.post5079753254098417092..comments2023-05-13T05:56:33.773-05:00Comments on World of Wonder: [Spin-Off Central] What Constitutes a Game?Loquacioushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01667591498679385934noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356241226024929790.post-46771176871296892652012-05-12T01:24:44.594-05:002012-05-12T01:24:44.594-05:00If it's a reference you're wanting, you co...If it's a reference you're wanting, you could do worse than Chris Crawford and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game#cite_ref-craw_5-0" rel="nofollow">his series of dichotomies</a>. A game is only a game if it has an active agent against whom you compete (otherwise it's a puzzle), and if you can actively disrupt their performance (otherwise, it's a competition, which he means in the sporting sense of 'comparison of pure achievements').<br /><br />I quite like Crawford's approach, although it does cause me some trouble with How I Think About RPGs - since I'm adamant that the central conflict of most RPGs is Player vs. System with the GM as mediator of that conflict, and since a system is a passive opponent that needs to be mediated through randomisation and games-mastering... does that mean an RPG is technically a puzzle and not a game unless the GM is actively <i>against</i> the players, or the players are actively competing against each other? Or does the system become 'active' when it's invested with the random numbers that make it go, and when players are disrupting it by trying to manipulate that randomisation in their favour (clever use of circumstances, power gaming, whatever)?<br /><br />It's a knotty one.Vonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12583821960347555993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-356241226024929790.post-308158853785030532012-05-11T05:28:49.891-05:002012-05-11T05:28:49.891-05:00What is a game?
That is not an easy question to a...What is a game?<br /><br />That is not an easy question to answer, and it's one that I've actually been struggling with myself for nearly 6 months now in a series of articles that quite frankly at this rate are never ever going to get finished.<br /><br />I've read philosophy books and I've read psychology journals. I've asked countless friends and I've had many heated debates. One thing everyone seems to agree on is that a 'game' is some form of structured play.<br /><br />That's where it gets divergent really, really quickly. That word 'play'. I think both Sandwyrm and CaulynnDarr are being too narrow focused for me personally. It's tempting to restrict what something is to make it easier to define, but for me the more you restrict such a broad definition the more useless it becomes.<br /><br />I would agree with you that puzzles aren't games... but here's where it gets hinky... games can be puzzles. Or have puzzle elements. So how do you separate and define the two things? I've taken the following approach in one of those articles I mentioned I'm working on:<br /><br />1) A pure puzzle will have a single solution that is the end in itself.<br />2) A game puzzle or a puzzle game can have multiple endings and interaction with others can change the solution outcome. In short it has multiple outcomes those interacting with it can shape.<br /><br />Now that's not any academic definition and I can't quote you an eminent scholar who defines things thus. But, it's how I've come to understand the relationship between puzzles and games.<br /><br />Does that help you in further defining what Hive is? God only knows, I've not come across the product before. :)Frontline Gamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09110901356802705087noreply@blogger.com