Unfortunately my definition doesn't encompass something like a puzzle game where a player must simply solve all the puzzles in order to achieve one completion state and there is no failure state or alternative ending along the path. That's a pretty narrow exclusion, though, and the only one that comes immediately to mind.
This brings us to an important concept:
The Implied Failure State. In a puzzle/adventure/Point n click game, which has no way to die and no screen which says "You lose!" you can still fail. Failure in this case is failure to progress- if you sit stumped at a puzzle, you have failed that puzzle. You can keep trying to succeed, but while you continue to not solve the puzzle, you're not seeing the success state- so you're in the implied failure state.
I'd knock out the "for entertainment" part of games. Educational games are still games
Naw, Edutainment games are meant to teach you in a fun way... they just are usually boring with some interesting exceptions (and I am pretty much the only person who wants a good adult educational game)
I think this is important. Whether or not it succeeds to entertain, educational games all intend to be entertaining- they are "for entertainment". An example of an educational piece of software which does not intend to entertain at all, but has challenge, might be a quiz. You can tell when that sort of thing is meant purely as a study aid. Tangentially, speaking of good adult edutainment games, the very popular Kerbal Space Program fits that category.
Just wondering, what exactly do you think Dwarf Fortress classifies as. I've heard it called a video game and a fantasy simulator. Myself, I think it's more of a "game" because it's interactive entertainment.
It contains challenges, like not dying in adventure mode, or not having all Dwarves die in fortress mode, and you can set your own goals to achieve. Although, it also generates and progresses a simulated world on it's own. Overall, I'd probably say it's still a game because you interact with that world, just food for thought.
I've heard a lot of people treating stuff like "Goat Simulator" and "Mountain", 2 Steam titles, as games, although "Mountain" isn't even interactive entertainment because you have no controls or influence.
Open-ended games like Dwarf Fortress or Minecraft kind of the muddy the waters with my proposed definition of "game" don't they? I'm pretty sure they're games, at least when I play them. I'd say that when you are attempting to achieve a goal, EG "Build a megaproject" or "Just make the fort survive" you are seeking an
Implied Success State. That is, by and large, the way you're expected to play the game. I say this because it has systems directed towards making the attempt to achieve those goals entertaining. However, when you seek another goal, is that still a game? Suppose you decide to try to make a perfectly stable fort collapse into chaos- maybe we've all done it but it isn't really what you're intended to do. I'd say that at that point you are
Making a game for yourself, just like if you made up rules to a real game that just involves running around outside. For example, if you are playing Goat Simulator with a friend and try to race your friend from one end of the map to the other,
you are playing a game- however, it is not strictly a game that you paid for and downloaded on Steam. I would say however, that unless you're seeking out the achievements in Goat Simulator, which is definitely a game, it's more of a toy than a game. Perhaps the same could be said of just going on a rampage in Grand Theft Auto.
Oh yeah, and Mountain is definitely not a game. I think maybe it's an Exhibit.
I wouldn't tie the definition of a game to the medium, but rather an action. It's deriving entertainment out of something, where it's the player that makes their own fun. You can make games out of reading books, games out of watching movies, games out of staring at a stucco wall, it's all about whether the player is creating or initiating the experience or not. A video game is just a virtual environment that was created specifically for playing games in.
This very much hits on what I was just sort of figuring out. However, I think that
we are trying to decide mainly whether an actual piece of software you download is a game- at least, I think that discussion is the most useful one to solve the debates we have been having on these forums. Thus, I suggest that in addition to our current two things:
Games, such as most games,
Interactive Experiences, such as Dear Esther and Stanley Parable, we have
Game Playing Tools. This describes the sort of "games" that encourage people to make up their own rules, and it also makes up at least a component but most games that, say, include an open world. It accurately describes Goat Simulator, Minecraft, Garry's Mod, and an actual football, basketball, etc. When you want to play basketball, you don't buy Basketball: You get a ball, a hoop or two, a court, and then decide upon rules (EG half court or full court, or monkey in the middle which is just a game you play with any ball). The basketball may come with the implication that you should play Basketball, like Minecraft comes with the implication that you should build something, but you can play all sorts of games with it.
THUS, my proposed definition of a game has not changed, but I would add some other important definitions:An Interactive Experience is something which for our purposes we will say is
Interactive, meant to entertain or evoke emotion/ideas, and does NOT include competition or a failure state. Thus, Dear Esther would be included in this definition, as would a digital picture gallery which you can scroll through at your own pace, or a real exhibit through which you walk at your own pace. It would NOT include movies or regular books, which are not interactive, and it would not include Checkers, where you are being challenged and can lose. It also would not include Myst or Money Island, where parts of the experience require you to complete a difficult task before you can experience them.
A Game Playing Tool is something which is
Interactive and, by design, encourages or enables users to create a goal. This would include things like Goat Simulator, for the most part. Games with an open world section also usually meet this. It also includes Garry's Mod, which people use a literal tool for making maps which could be called games in their own right, and a deck of standard playing cards, which can be used for all sorts of games- but not Magic the Gathering cards, which are only intended to play Magic the Gathering. It would not include, say, playing games specifically against the way they were intended, such are finding place in Call of Duty where you can walk through walls and fall out the map.
Implied Failure State: A situation where you must complete a challenge to succeed, but are not actually stated to fail. You still have a failure state, which is simply not receiving the success state. This would include being stuck in a puzzle game, or not finding Waldo in a Where's Waldo book.
Implied Success State: A success state for which a game playing tool is clearly intended, like making a sculpture in minecraft blocks, or throwing a basketball through a basketball hoop.