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What Is a Game?

In the German language a game is
any activity which is executed
only for pleasure and without
conscious purpose. In this
definition every activity that
brings pleasure is a game. For
example, people dance, play
musical instruments, act in plays,
and play with dolls and model
trains.
This definition people use today
comes from the works of Johan
Huizinga (Homo Ludens, 1938)
and Friedrich Georg Jünger (Die
Spiele, 1959). But there are more
ways to define games. Manfred
Eigen’s and Ruthild Winkler’s
definition for game goes beyond
the definition used by Huizinga.
They see a game as a natural
phenomenon: half necessity and
half coincidence (Das Spiel, 1975).
Their definition of games comes
closer to Adornos’ definition, who
set himself apart from Huizinga
by identifying games as an art
form.
But in our sense these definitions
are too wide, we define game
more succinctly. Thus, I am writing
about games which belong to the
class that includes Chess, 9 Man’s
Morris, Checkers, Halma, Go,
Parchisi, Monopoly, Scrabble, Skat,
Rummy, Bridge, Memory, Jack
Straws, Dominoes, and so on.
Unfortunately, our language does
not have a good term to call
these games. Terms like table
games, society games,
tournament games are too
narrow. In my opinion, the best
term would be “rulegames” =
“games with rules”.
I will now try to find the criteria
for defining “game with rules”.
Kevin Maroney defined game in
his Games Journal article, My
Entire Waking Life. Scott Kim
defined puzzle in his Games Cafe
article “What Is a Puzzle?” as
separate from a game. Kate
Jones writes about less
aggressive games in her Games
Journal article Non Predatory
Games. My definition is a further
attempt to explore the nature of
games.
2. A game always has
components and rules.
In most games, the rules are
more significant than the
components. But there are games
where these roles are reversed:
where the components are
significant and the rules not very
important at all. Usually, these
are action games like Looping
Louie.
The components are the
hardware, the rules are the
software. Both define the game.
Both can exist independently
from each other, but separately
are not a game.
Archeology finds ancient game
boards and game pieces, but no
one knows what rules these
ancients used to play their
games. We will never know how
these games were played.
Components and rules can be
combined:
a set of components may be
used with different rules.
a set of rules can be used with
different components.
Suppose we just had the rules for
Halma, but not the board and
pieces and had to reconstruct the
game.
What should the board look
like?
How many spaces should it
have?
What shape do the spaces
have: square, hexagonal, or
round?
How are the spaces laid out?
Are all the spaces the same
size or are they of different
sizes?
How many pieces are there?
What do the pieces look like?
Does a piece take more than
one space when played?
The rules are not sufficient to
define a game! (Unless the rules
have pictures of the components
and game situations.)
3. What criteria must a game
have?
There are criteria which apply to
all games and those that apply to
the “games with rules”. First, I will
describe the criteria that apply to
“games with rules”.
Game rules
Goal
The course of the game is
never the same – chance
Competition
3.1 Game rules
As already discussed, the rules
and the components define the
game. Everything that is in the
rules is part of the game.
Everything that is not in the rules
does not belong in the game. The
rules are the borders and the
heart of the game. They only
refer to the game and never
exist outside of the game.
Although the game has rules
which are like laws, playing a
game is voluntary and cannot be
forced on the players. Whoever
plays a game, voluntarily binds
himself to the rules. Where force
is involved, there is no game. All
games without rules are not
“games with rules”.
3.2 Goal
Every game has a goal. Thus,
there are two definitions:
The victory condition or
requirement.
The strategy needed to win
the game.
I would like to make clear the
difference between the two
definitions with an example. In
the game Go, the victory
condition is to earn the most
points. In order to achieve this, a
player must win space. Thus, the
strategy, which players use
during the game, is to win space.
Therefore, I define the game goal
as the strategy, which the
players work on to win.
There are thousands of games,
but only a small number of game
goals. That means that most
games have the same game goal.
At first this seems surprising. But
when we look at it closely and
see that every has a winner and
a loser, the goal of the game
must be something measurable,
relatively simple to measure, and
depicted in a game.
3.3 The course of the game is
never the same – chance
This attribute, of all
entertainment media, is only
found in a game. Someone who
reads a book, watches a movie, or
listens to music, can repeat the
experience at any time, but the
course and the content is always
the same. You can play a game
any number of times, however,
and the course will always be
different. Also, with each game,
the course is unknown and it is
uncertain who will win the game.
Uncertainty and unknown, that is
what make games so exciting and
delightful. The reason for this is
in the game rules and the chance,
which play a larger or smaller role
in each game.
Playing is experimenting with
chance (Novalis). Chance will be
experienced in a game by luck (or
bad luck). Games, which are
mostly based on chance, offer
little development possibilities for
a player and are usually boring.
On the other hand, chance makes
games unpredictable and
interesting, and causes the
game’s course to develop
differently each time. How does
chance get into a game:
with a random generator (e.g.
dice)
with different start-up
situations (e.g. dealing cards)
with incomplete information
(e.g. moving at the same time,
unknown strategy of your
fellow players)
with a very high number of
move options
Pure strategy games have some
chance elements. If that were not
so, the game’s course would be
too deterministic, and we
wouldn’t like a game whose result
was known at the beginning. In
strategy games, chance is shown
in the large number of possible
moves. Because of the many
moves, no player knows the
winning strategy, which leads to
victory.
All games which have the same
course, by definition, do not
belong to “games with rules”. For
example, this would be puzzles,
quizlets, and brain teasers, which
lose their attraction when they
have been solved. Solitaire games
which follow a different course
each time belongs, for me, to
“games with rules”. For example
the card game Patience. Very
interesting and informative in this
connection is the Games Cafe
article What Is a Puzzle? by Scott
Kim.
3.4 Competition
Each game demonstrates
competition. Players compete in a
game. There are winners and
losers. Even in cooperative games
or when players work as a team,
competition exists. In this case,
the players compete against one
of the predetermined situations,
that means the players play
cooperatively against the game
system. The same applies to
solitaire games (e.g. Patience,
Solitaire). A competition needs a
system, in which the game results
can be compared. The competition
and the measurement of the
game results are criteria which
limit the game and the cause that
certain feelings won’t be fulfilled
throughout the game as in books,
movies, and music. For example,
love, freedom, harmony, pain,
sorrow, etc. The criteria
“competition” is also the reason
why it is so difficult to develop
games which are not aggressive.
Please see the Games Journal
article Non Predatory Games by
Kate Jones.

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