Defining Game

I am going to try keeping this simple. With a concept as abstract as Game, defining can get out of hand quickly with the various ways in which Game is used. To be simple, I will save refuting others' definitions for future posts.


The best definition I have come up with is:

A game is rules for the purpose of interactive entertainment.


To unpack this a little, I will explain my word choice. By stating that a game is rules, I am isolating it from Play. Though I have a separate concept of how Play relates to Game than other theorists, I will focus on games requiring enough structure to facilitate coherent rules. "For the purpose of" is to qualify what rules will be used to isolate Game from other rule systems. I have an issue with the implication of this phrase that supposes that the original purpose for the rules was entertainment, but this may exclude some games unintentionally. I will try to revise this definition to better its inclusion. For now, I have to qualify it. Interactive is somewhat straightforward, but it is included to eliminate things such magic, which is based on rules, is for entertainment, but aside from minor audience participation, is not interactive. In the use of the word, interactivity involves direct action of the player. Finally, Entertainment is a term that is understood to be subjective subjective, but I use it because its face value to most people is the meaning I am aiming for.


That is my working definition for what a game is. It may not be the most useful way of determining the fringe cases, as many others have tried to do, but it can eliminate large areas of what is not a game. I feel that terms like Game (large, abstract and subjective) cannot adequately encompass everything that anyone could consider, but I aimed for something useful and identifiable.


More to come on other definitions, sports, objects used in games and more.