So, I'd like to propose a definition for "game": A "Game" is an interactive experience in which someone (or a team) attempts to complete a challenge, and Wins, Loses, or fails to progress based on their decisions, for entertainment.
This may be what you like to see in a game, but it doesn't fit the common definition at all so I don't see why anyone else should accept it. As you point out it excludes luck-based board games, and when kids play house or something it's called a game even though there's no competitive aspect to it. As you've said upthread your definition also implies that something like Minecraft isn't a game, even though everyone regards it as one.
Yes, I'd regard these as issues with my proposed definition. The purpose of this thread is to improve that definition, no? What do you think of the change from AND to OR?
I think the only sensible definition for videogames is "an interactive piece of digital media", because that fits what a "game" is in common parlance.
That's definitely not good enough: It's exactly the problematic definition that leads to "gamers" buying Dear Esther and getting disappointed! That's why we started this discussion in the first place. Not to mention, "interactive piece of digital media" includes Twitter, which is not a game in anyone's common parlance (and doesn't fit my decision because it lacks goals, success or failure). It also excludes poker, chess, football, and anything else that is not digital.
English is recursively defined. What do you want?
To mitigate, as much as possible, the ambiguity caused by these recursive definitions.
So far, based on our discussion, I propose an updated definition:
A "Game" is an interactive experience in which someone (or a team) attempts to complete a challenge, and Wins, Loses, or fails, OR otherwise make decisions to attempt a particular outcome, for entertainment. This new definition includes everything the old one did, with the addition of Candyland, Flipping coins, and choose your own adventure stories. The phrase "for a particular outcome" replaces my previous use of "interesting": It distinguishes choices where you are given information and care about your decision, and keeps them in the definition, while it keeps the "decision" made between walking down two paths in Dear Esther out, because you aren't really attempting to get one outcome over another when you do that.
I should also repost the other definitions that are relevant:
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.
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Topic: "What exactly is a game?" Thread (Read 8202 times)