We said that games are formal systems??”that
they are de?¬? ned as games, and not some other type
of interaction, by their formal elements. Also, we
know that it is key to our de?¬? nition of games to show
that these elements are interrelated, and we should
include the concept that a game is a system. So the
?¬? rst statement we can make con?¬? dently about games
is that they are closed, formal systems.
We have talked at length about the fact that games
are for players, that the entire purpose of games is to
engage players. Without players, games have no reason
to exist. How do games engage players? By involving
them in a con?¬‚ ict that is structured by their formal
and dramatic elements. Games challenge players to
accomplish their objectives while following rules and
procedures that make it di?¬? cult to do so. In single
player games, this challenge can come from the system
Now that we??™ve thought about some of the various
aspects of games, it seems natural to try to pull it all
together and answer the question we posed at the
beginning of this chapter: What is a game? What makes
Go Fish, or Quake, or any other game that you can
play, a game and not some other type of experience?
We have said that games are given structure by
their formal elements, that they also have dramatic
elements that make them emotionally engaging experiences.
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