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[Pfotegeist]

What makes a game? Perceptions.

[knifeySpoonie]

I'd say If you can successfully describe the gameplay mechanics to another person it's probably a game... If your struggling to explain what makes somthing a game it's probably a piece of interactive entertainment.. And if you can't explain the expereince then it's possibly even interactive art...

But also in this day and age what does it really matter... theres so many people in the world that theres markets for all sorts of expereinces, you just need to be able to get that product in front of someone looking for that type of product..

[Siilk]

But also in this day and age what does it really matter... theres so many people in the world that theres markets for all sorts of expereinces, you just need to be able to get that product in front of someone looking for that type of product..

This is exactly why is matters so much. To present your creation to the right people you need to define it first. Otherwise your creation will be meet with a lot of disappointment, coming from people who were expecting a different kind of entertainment. Yes, there is a market for pretty much every kind of them now, but finding your crowd is still hard. Doing that without knowing what you're looking for is doubly so.

[rj]

interactivity


google drive is my favorite video game

But also in this day and age what does it really matter... theres so many people in the world that theres markets for all sorts of expereinces, you just need to be able to get that product in front of someone looking for that type of product..

This is exactly why is matters so much. To present your creation to the right people you need to define it first. Otherwise your creation will be meet with a lot of disappointment, coming from people who were expecting a different kind of entertainment. Yes, there is a market for pretty much every kind of them now, but finding your crowd is still hard. Doing that without knowing what you're looking for is doubly so.

dum

edit:

to elaborate: dum

to elaborate again: definitions can ruin a thing. from a marketing standpoint, i'd be very careful to classify a game based on aesthetic and mechanical metrics rather than preestablished genre-based ones; you say "roguelike" and it turns off a billion people already because they don't care about/don't know about/are burned out on "roguelike" games as a thing.


but that's me.

advice: just make a game, show it off, and describe it in your own words. then read those words, and ask if you would buy that game? then be honest with yourself, say no, and write it again. then show it to your friend. then show it to someone random on tumblr. do a double-blind. ask people. refine it.

anyway that's marketing, that has nothing to do with what makes a game a game. honestly that part of it isn't important at all in the long run

[s0]

ur actually probably limiting ur market more by not calling it a game lol

[rj]

honestly i'd be way more inclined to buy a game that's advertised as just "this is a game" rather than "this is a beatemup roguelikelitelike-like metroguevagueia fprtsmmorjwsrpguzzllatformer with gorgonzola elements"

[rhill]

In the past I've played games like The Sims, Sim City, Dogz and Catz.  They are fun to play with but do not feel the same as games with objectives or collectables.

Good examples. Will Wright (designer of Sim City & the Sims) has sometimes used the term "software toy" to describe them.

And even games that define themselves more by the "game" can still contain elements of this undirected play. Consider any game where you can customize your character's appearance, but there's no real way to win or lose at that.

[Siilk]

In the past I've played games like The Sims, Sim City, Dogz and Catz.  They are fun to play with but do not feel the same as games with objectives or collectables.

Good examples. Will Wright (designer of Sim City & the Sims) has sometimes used the term "software toy" to describe them.

Yep, that's a very accurate definition in my opinion. In games like Catz or a more resent Mountain, you have an object to play with in a rather toy-like manner and the game world is rather rudimentary and only there to provide the background. On the other hand in the sandbox games like Sim city or minecraft the virtual world itself is being a toy with it's elements only becoming meaningful when interacting with the rest of the world. Sims series falls somewhere in between, as you can argue that both game world as a whole and each of the virtual inhabitants are detailed enough to be entertaining on their own.

[mzn528]

One example (not sure if listed already) is the iOS game "Dark Room", it is a game with literally no graphics and was still able to make it to TOP 10(I think) with its interesting story and text based game play. I think to answer your question, anything can be a game if it can make us live a virtual life of another character? Not sure if I am making sense...

[oahda]

there are other female stories

didn't both[er] mentioning

[…] woman […] girl […]

[…] man […] his […] man […] he […]

don't be afraid to gender swap a few characters

Seems like very sound advice in this case.

Why does it decisively have to be a boy anyway? If it's just a little kid, especially shown from behind, you won't really notice the difference. Why not make it ambiguous?

[Pfotegeist]

I have a new two answers.

When you get up in the morning you either need to or feel like it. A game is something you feel like doing. Were you to experience a power outage alone in your home, and the next day you went to a pay phone and called the electric company then they would tell you what you need to do.  If you were there with someone else chances are you'd wait a bit longer because you'd enjoy the shared experience.

Given rules that restrict your actions, should they be reinforced with a greater reward that you're aware of before hand, it turns into a game. This is why kids who are told not to do x and x, without incentive, straight out don't enjoy it, but they'll be 'nice' for half a month before Christmas if they're reminded about Santa.

edit: I could sum this up better. A game is a generally positive experience someone has.

How closely related to tradition are games? (new topic pending, and it's dead)

[ProgramGamer]

I remember reading a book on game design in which the writer defined a game as a system of rules/contraints created for the deliberate purpose of entertainment. He compared game design to sculpture, where you start with a blank slate of infinite possibilities and cut down by adding restrictions that reinforce the design of the game, and most of the time it's beauty. It was quite a good read, I can post the title of the book later today if you guys want.

[Pfotegeist]

I think we all inherently know what a game is. The problem is sometimes we're told in/directly by our environment what we should and should not participate in for enjoyment, and then when it is our turn we can ruin it for everyone else.

[Pfotegeist]

You don't need a win or a lose condition to end a game. Every game can break or be broken.

[Hana the Shrimp Chip]

This is the question of all time probably. What's the secret sauce of gamemaking? I ask myself all the time and I don't know for sure, but as I work on my own game (which has similar aspects to the one you are thinking of making), I find that keeping things simple and encapsulated works best with everything: story, art, mechanics, code, everything. Like I could go off in a million tangents while designing, but keeping things real simple (especially if its your first game), will help you find balance however you make the game. I think if there is balance while creating the game, the experience for the player will feel the same - whether there are collectables and life hearts or it's an abstract sandbox. Hope that wasn't too vague or off topic.

[solkar]

A game is a kind of toy isn't it?

For me the mechanics behave like toys. A game would emerge from imposing rules on those toys.

[oahda]

From what perspective are we discussing this anyway? Globally or when it comes to the English language?

Scandinavian has two words that translate to 'game' in English (one meaning something like a traditional game like cards, board games and possibly sports as well as having included digital games since those came about, and the other denotes something more similar to childsplay, tag, spin the bottle, drinking games, WAYK and so on), and I'm not sure the latter group would always follow your definition of a game here but nonetheless they are often called games in English.

So what is the real perspective of this discussion?