Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - #530: What Is a Game

Episode Date: April 20, 2018

This is a fun podcast where I explain my definition of what a game is. I'm sure it's bound to prompt much discussion.

I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so today I got a fun topic. So today is all about what is a game? So one of the things that's really important for game designers, if you're making something, you need to understand what that thing is. So for example, back in my stand-up comedy days, when I used to do comedy, one of the things that comedians spent a lot of time doing is trying to understand comedy. You know, I talked to a lot of comedians. A lot of people had different theories on how they thought humor worked. Well, the same is true for game design, that if you are going to design games for a living, perhaps you should understand what exactly it is you're designing. Now, one of the

things that's fun about this topic is there's no definitive answer. I'm going to give you my take on what a game is today, but what my take is, that's my take. You know, and different people might have different things. And we'll discuss, there's a few games that are sort of, people discuss all the time, like, is this a game? And we'll get to some of that today as part of the fun. So let me start this topic by giving a little background.

So when I first moved to Wizards of the Coast back in 1995, Richard Garfield, Magic's creator, had set up a folder called Kickshaw. And the point of the Kickshaw folder was so we could discuss, like, high-level game things. Not specifically magic or whatever, but sort of like things like, what islevel game things. Not specifically magic or whatever, but sort of, like, things like, what is a game and stuff like that. And a lot of my game terminology that I learned came from that. Richard, like, Richard was a big believer on

creating terminology so you could discuss things. Obviously, I've carried that over into magic. I've made a lot of magic terminology so people can discuss things. And so it's really interesting to sort of watch. It's a neat thing to sort of watch as your fellow game designers sort of talk through these issues. Okay, so the real question is, what is a game? So what I'm going to say is, my definition involves four things. That you need four things to be a game. And once again, this is my take on it. So number

one, you need a goal. That means there has to be something you're trying to accomplish. Number two, there needs to be restrictions. You can't just do it. Something is keeping you from just doing it. You need to have agency, which means that you have to have some say in the process. You need to make decisions. Your interaction means something to the process. And then finally, it has to lack real world relevance. And what I mean by that is that the thing you're doing, you're doing it to do the thing. Not that obviously there's tournaments that matter and, you know, world championships. But what I mean is there are things you can define that follow this that are just you living life.

And my point is I'm trying to keep this. The idea within a game is that you're doing this, that it's outside the context of real life, that you're doing something that you're bringing to yourself on purpose. You know, I'm choosing to play this, not I'm kind of forced to do it because it's life. Okay, so the biggest way to understand this is let me talk a little bit about what happens when you have some of these but not the others. Okay, so what if you have restrictions

and you have agency but you have no goal? And my argument there is you don't have a game but you have no goal. And my argument there is you don't have a game, you have a toy. So my best example of this is using Minecraft. So I assume most of you guys know what Minecraft is. It's a really famous game. Somehow, somehow you don't. It's a game in which it's a world built out of three-dimensional blocks and that you have the ability to go through the world, mine things, Minecraft, mine different

materials and then you can build whatever your mind can come up with. Now there's two ways to play the game. The normal way to play is survival mode where the idea is you start with almost next to nothing, in fact you might start with absolutely nothing, and you have to acquire the things that you need to acquire. You need to find the things, you know, if you want wood, go chop down a tree. If you want stone, dig up the stone. If you want, you know, gold or silver or diamond, you gotta go find it. You gotta mine it. And, at night, monsters come out and try to kill you. So not

only are you trying to do all this, but you're also trying not to die. Okay, now there's another way to play called creative mode. Creative mode says, you know what? You can turn the monsters off. Monsters won't attack you. And you don't have to hunt for things. We'll just give you everything.

You can have whatever you want. Go build whatever you want. Have fun. It's not about finding it. And the difference to me between survival mode and creative mode is survival mode to me is a game, and creative mode is a toy. And it does a really good job of showing the difference. So in the survival mode, I have a goal. Don't die. I have a very strong goal.

Now, it's possible, we'll get into this in a little bit, but your goal could be to do something or to not let something happen. That can be a goal. A goal can be an active goal or be sort of a passive goal. But, for example, in the survival version of Minecraft, don't die. That's your goal. Don't die. Things are going to try to kill you. Don't die. And part of, and there's more than just that. You learn there's other things you can accomplish and things. There is even, as you start playing the game, you learn

of other goals you can sort of accomplish. But just the mere don't die is itself enough of a goal to make it a game. In creative mode, look, you're having fun, you're playing with it, you're making things, but you're sort of, it's sort of just electronic Legos, right? You're just building something. you're sort of, it's sort of just electronic Legos, right?

You're just building something. And it's fun. Nothing wrong with toys. I love toys. You know what I'm saying? Toys are great. I don't think toys are even just for kids. I think adults can enjoy toys. But it's a toy. That what you're doing is, you're not driven by a goal. You might have a self-provided goal, I guess, in that I want to build something. But it's not a goal given to you by the item itself. I mean, you can self-direct a goal, but it's not something that the, you know,

in survival mode, the game is giving you a goal. You know, Minecraft is giving you a goal. Don't die. In creative, you're like, ah, do whatever you want. It's not giving you a goal. And so that is a big clear definition between a game and a toy. And once again, you're like, ah, do whatever you want. It's not giving you a goal. And so that is a big clear definition between a game and a toy. And once again, I'm not, I'm more defining games. I'm not trying to smirch any of these other things I'm talking about.

I'm just trying to get definitions. Okay, so what happens if you have a goal and you have agency but no restrictions? So that, I would argue, is an activity. So for example, let's say I want to walk three miles. I have a goal. I want to walk three miles. I have agency. I can walk wherever I want.

I can go wherever I want. You know, the three miles doesn't require where I go. I have total choice in where I go. But there's no restrictions. I can just walk. Nothing's going to stop me from walking. I'm just walking. And I'm like, well, that's not really a game. That can just walk. Nothing's going to stop me from walking. I'm just walking. And I'm like, well, that's not really a game. That's an activity. And once again, nothing

wrong with activities. Walks are great. But the point is, that walk is missing something that keeps it from being a game. There is no restrictions to what you're doing. Just go somewhere and walk. Walk wherever you want. So that's an example where you have a goal and you have agency but you have no restrictions. So in my mind, that's not a game. Okay. So what happens if you have a goal and restrictions

but you have no agency? So my example there might be I go to an art museum or I go to a concert, you know. For example, there might be a goal. I want to see the art. I want to listen to the concert. There might even be restrictions. I'm not allowed to just wander anywhere I want. The art museum might have guidelines of what sections open when. The concert might be, you're sitting

in this seat. There are different restrictions. I can't just do whatever I want. I have to sit in the assigned seat that I purchased. But the problem is, there's not really any agency. Like the concert, for example. I'm going to hear the music. Nothing I do is going to

change the music. Nothing I do is going to change what's presented to me. A movie is something similar. And that, it's not, it is just something that's happening and I'm observing the thing. I'm there as it happens. You know, and maybe I want to listen to it. You know, there's a goal, there's something to do. But it doesn't, there really is no agency to it. There's nothing that sort of gives any sense of I'm affecting the thing.

You know, I'm not interacting. I mean, I'm interacting with it and then I'm observing it, but it's a one-way interaction. They're providing something, I'm taking it in. There's no back and forth. Part of agency is having a back and forward, that things I do affect the things I'm interacting with. Now, where things get fuzzy, and this is where the fun comes in today, is there are a lot of things where you start fuzzing these lines. So what I want to do today is talk about some of the fuzzy areas and sort of get more in depth on what things mean.

Once again, this is all about clarification on definitions. Oh, by the way, I'll just real quick and talk about it. The lacking real world relevance, my fourth one. If you just take that away, then it's just life. I mean, I can take any aspect of life and say, oh, there's a goal. I have to get my family, you know, we're going on vacation and I need to get my family on the vacation. And there's restrictions like, oh, I can only carry so much

luggage on the plane and I have to get so much weight and I have so many bags and I have to sort of pack what we need, but not too much. And there's agency. I have a lot of choices of what I do that affect it. But that's not a game. It's just life. I mean, there's people out there who are like, everything's a game. Fine, if you wanted to find games that way. But the reason I have that fourth one in there is more to say, look, there's plenty of things that have goals and restrictions and agency, just they're not something you opt into in the sense that they're just you living your life. I mean, maybe I choose to go on vacation. But the thing about a game is I'm like, I'm going to do this thing. I'm going to

make this artificial goal for entertainment, for education. I'm doing it because of something I'm going to get out of it. I'm not getting something else out of it. If I play a game, the act of playing the game or the act of learning from the game is what I'm getting out of it. It is not like,

oh, well, I then get to go on vacation. That's not that. Once you bring in some outside factor, well, that's not really a game, it's life. You're doing something else. Anyway, I bring that in just to, you know, just to sort of, well, why my definition isn't like everything you do all day long. Okay, so let's talk about some, I'll put games in quotes. So we'll talk about the classic one, the one that gets bantered all the time. Candyland. So for'll talk about the classic one, the one that gets bantered all the time. Candyland. So for those that have never played Candyland,

you have a board. You are trying to get to... You're traveling through Candyland, the land made of candy, and you're trying to get to, I don't know, the castle or something. You're trying to get somewhere. There is a...

There is a track that you go on, and they're colored squares. And the way you play is, on your turn, you draw a card. And the card either has one square or two squares on it. If it's two squares, it's the same color. So let's say I draw a red square. That means I advance to the next red square on in the path. If I draw two green squares, I advance to the second red square on in the path. If I draw two green squares, I advance to the second green square.

Okay. So the question here, is this a game? So let's go through it. Is there a goal? Yeah, you want to get to the end of the path. That's the goal. Is there restrictions?

There are some. Certain things you land on can make you stuck for a turn. There are a few restrictions. Not a lot, but there's a few. Is there agency? There is one decision that can be made.

There's a shortcut. But let me get a little caveat on agency now. There is no reason if your goal is to win the game not to take the shortcut. It is correct 100% of the time if your goal is to win.

There's really no reason not to take the shortcut. I can't even come up with a reason. It's just better. So, yeah, there's a choice, but it isn't really a choice. When I say agency,

I don't mean the illusion of choice. I mean actual choice. Now, here's the interesting thing, which is... Let me back up to a different game, then we'll get back to Candyland in a second. I'm talking about tic-tac-toe. So tic-tac-toe, for those that have never played,

you have a grid three by three. One person is X's, one person is O's. You take turns putting an X or an O into the grid. If you get three in a row, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, you win the game. Now, it's clear that tic-tac-toe is a, I mean, when my kids play tic-tac-toe, is there a goal? Yes, get three in a row. Is there restrictions? Yeah, you can only place

it so many places, and you can't place it when somebody else is placed somewhere, and you have to take turns. Is there agency? 100%. You have choices where you put it. Now, the interesting thing about tic-tac-toe is at some point as you get better, you start to realize that much like the path in Candyland, some of the choice is kind of an illusion in the sense that you can always, you, uh, Cats games when they call it when nobody wins. I don't know why they call it that, but, um, you can always draw the game. If you know how to play tic-tac-toe, you will, you can always draw the game. If you know how to play tic-tac-toe, you can always draw the game. Maybe you win because your opponent might make a mistake, but you will never lose. So the answer

there is tic-tac-toe a game. And what I say is it's a game as long as it has agency for you. So if the decisions you're making are real decisions, then it is a game. If the decisions you're making are not real decisions, then it's not a. If the decisions you're making are not real decisions, then it's not a game. So here's where things get fuzzy. That something can be a game for some people, but not for other people. Okay, now we get back to Candyland.

Okay, so in Candyland, I would argue that Candyland mostly is an event, not a game, because the things that are going to happen are going to happen. You're there to interact with it in the sense that you draw the card, but the card is what the card is. Like, if two computers played the game, you know, computer A and computer B, player A is going to win.

If player A is going to win, player A is going to win. Nothing's going to change there. You know what I'm saying? That, on some level, Candyland is not that much different from a movie. Nothing you're going to do is going to change the movie. So here's another example. There's a TV show called Dora the Explorer. It's a kid's TV show.

My daughter, when she was little, Rachel loved it. And in the show, they do a lot of interaction with the audience. I need something on my backpack. Okay, audience, say backpack. And then you say backpack, and the backpack opens up. Now, if you don't say backpack, guess what? The backpack still opens up. But to little kids, they believe that their interaction matters and means something.

So I would say that Dora the Explorer isn't a game, but Dora the Explorer is interactive to a child young enough to not understand that it's not actually interactive. That they don't actually interact with it. But I would argue with Candyland, I think if you're young enough, you do believe that you have agency because you believe what you draw is going to matter and that you somehow affect what you draw. As you get older, you learn that's not true. So Candyland, is it a game? My complex answer is, it has,

it's an event with the trappings of the game, with the caveat of, if you are young enough to believe that you impact the game, that it has agency, then for you it is a game. Just like Tic-tac-toe,

I believe that tic-tac-toe can be a game for some and not for others. That my definition has to do that when I say agency, I don't mean sort of in a vacuum. I mean an agency to the person playing it. Like, for example, if you're young enough to not understand

that the shortcut is always the right path, then look, maybe it is an actual decision you have to make, and then you're making a decision. Now, games don't need a lot of decisions. The classic example is the Game of Life, the original Game of Life. They've changed it. The original Game of Life, I think there were six decisions you made. Mostly, you were just rolling a dime, seeing what would happen. But there were a few decisions you got to make. So is a game of life actually a game? It is, luckily, because it's called

a game of life. But it is. Because you had a few decisions to make. You don't need a ton of agency to be a game. But my point here on agency is there's a lot of nuance to it. For example, let's talk about goals. There's a lot of nuance.

There's nuance to all of these. And that's why kind of arguing about games can be fun at times. It's kind of like arguing about what a sandwich is. I mean, a lot of it depends on just your definition. Now, a lot of, some people like to say the trappings of it being a game are important. If you look at Candyland, it looks like a game. It's dressed up like a game.

It has a lot of features that games have. And that's just a matter of, like, one of the definitions of a game could just be, does it have the trappings of a game? It's a game. Oh, so something else that I didn't mention real, is there is an important subset of games that has its own name, which is if your game has enough physical component to it, it gets to become a sport. Now, in my mind, sports, or not all sports, I guess sports, sports means it's a physical activity. So not all sports are games, but not, so for example, baseball is a game and a sport.

I would argue that rowing is more of a sport, not really a game. I mean, there's some arguments you want to get into nuance, but there's not a particular amount of agency to rowing. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, there's a goal. Yes, I'm trying to beat them, but I'm, you know, there's not much particular amount of agency to rowing. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, there's a goal. Yes, I'm trying to beat them. But I'm, you know, there's not much game to it.

Where something like baseball, it's clearly a game. I mean, we even refer to it as a baseball game. So sport has to do with physical activity. I do believe that there are, in the Venn diagram of games and sports, there's an overlap. I do believe that certain sports are games. I believe football and soccer and baseball, you know, there are things that have clear rules and restrictions and you're trying to accomplish something. They are games. I mean, not just the trappings, but I mean, they are games.

Where there's things like, I'm running a sprint, and you're like, well, that's more an activity, really. It's a sport that's an activity than it's a sport that's a game. Just to bring that up for people that like the fine tune. So when you talk about goals, the other thing where it starts getting fuzzy is, like I said, you can have active goals. That's the easiest kind of goal. And an active goal is do something. Capture the flag.

You know, check your opponent's king. Whatever. There's an active goal. You win when you do something. Another thing, and I sort of touched upon briefly when talking about Minecraft, is the passive goal. And the passive goal is don't let something happen. It's not that you have to do something.

It's you have to keep something from happening. For example, in Minecraft, it's don't die. That's a pretty fine goal. Other times, you know, it could be just a matter of, I'm trying to survive. So, you know, there's games, for example, where you make mistakes, and as you make mistakes, like you only have so many mistakes to make. For example, the game of horse is a basketball shooting game

where someone makes a trick shot and the next person has to do the exact same shot. And then, you know, if the person misses, now a new person gets to be the leader and they get to try to make a shot. And the idea essentially is it's a shooting game. It has a sporting quality to it, obviously. But it's a game.

There's rules and restrictions and stuff to it. But anyway, the horse is all about don't miss three times. Or is that five times you spell horse? Don't miss five times. Because you spell out the word horse, H-O-R-S-E. That's a pass. If it's a game, it has a passive goal. Passive goals are fine.

The thing where it gets kind of dicey, I mean, this is where this category is two things. One is there's things that clearly have the trappings of games. They just start arguing about, is it a game? Is Chutes and Ladders a game?

Is Candyland a game? There are a bunch of games made for kids especially where some sequence happens that the kids are along for the ride, but they have no influence and no agency. The other argument is when you get to things that don't have the trappings of a game but kind of have a lot of the elements of a game. For example, you know, a lot of times

to pass time, kids will come up with things to pass time. You know, is I spy a game? There's no game trappings to it as far as there's no board or anything. You know, is I spy a game? There's no game trappings to it as far as there's no border or anything. But okay, is there a goal? Yes,

you're trying to identify the color. Is there restrictions? Well, yeah, only one person can see it. The other people, you know,

it has to be something you can see within where you're looking. And is there agency? Yes, the person who picks it gets to pick whatever they want and you have choices

of trying to guess what you want. So, like, is it a game? Yeah, yeah. It's got goals, it's got restrictions, it's got agency. It doesn't have the trappings of a game. And that's another important thing to realize is games don't have to have things. My family and I, for example, we play games at the table all the time for dinner where we come up with games. And we tend to play games that don't require components because we're sitting eating.

And there's a lot of different games. So games don't need components. Games don't need trappings of games to be games. And having a trapping of a game doesn't inherently make it a game in my book. And then the other fuzzy things are sort of what I call the fuzzy lifeline, my last restriction,

where it's something I'm choosing to do, but it's kind of part of my life. You know, there gets a fuzzy line there where, like, you know, for example, you can take routine activities and try to gamify them by adding in a goal and restrictions to sort of turn them into a game. You know what I'm saying? So let's say, for example, I have to clean my room, or a kid has to clean the room,

and the kid goes, okay, here's what I'm going to try to do. You know, I'm going to, and then they make some parameters of, you know, this stuff I throw there, and this stuff I throw there, and if I get this and this thing, I get a point. And so to try to make something fun that's a routine activity, they layer on top of it game components. Is that a game? You know, and part of me says it is a game in the sense that, look, you're adding in these elements to sort of add game elements to it.

If it's something you need to be doing for another reason, it starts blurring a little bit my, is it lifeline? But I would add that if you're adding extra elements, not because it's necessary for what you're doing. Like, for example, if I have to pack and the restrictions aren't set by me, it's like, oh, if I'm over 50 pounds, I get charged extra money. I would argue, well, that's not you making a game out of it. That is just what it is. you making a game out of it, that is just what it is. Where if I have to clean something and I add extra elements

just to entertain me, not that it's necessary, that is where I kind of draw the line there is are you adding in these elements because they're necessary or are you adding these elements because you want to have the experience to it? You know, you want to sort of make it more fun or whatever. If you're adding it in to make it more

fun, but it's not necessary, I think that's when you start pushing toward game. When it's kind of restrictions that have other components to them, I feel it pushes more toward life. And one of the neat things, by the way, is what I would say to you is I'm not telling you to adopt my definition of a game. I'm telling you that if you want to be a game designer, you should have your definition of a game. Just like telling you that if you want to be a game designer, you should have your definition

of a game. Just like when I was a stand-up comedian, every stand-up comedian had their take on what humor was. People didn't have the same take on humor. I mean, a lot of people overlap, but each person had their own unique view of it. So the point of today's podcast is not to tell you, adopt

my view of what a game is, but I think you should have your own view of a game. So that if someone says to you, okay, is that a game? You can look at it and say, oh, well, that's an interesting question. So one of the things that I do, I occasionally I'll do this on my, either on my blog or on my Twitter, is I'll make up a game. I'll make up something and go, is this a game? So for example, it's the tombstone watch. I, another person, the first person to see

the other person's tombstone wins. Is that a game? Okay, so we look at it. We go, is there a goal? Yeah. The goal is I want to outlive them and go to the cemetery where they're buried. This assumes we're buried, I guess. Is there restrictions?

Yeah. I mean, there's restrictions to staying alive, I guess. Is there agency? There's things I can do. I can take care of myself better. I mean, there's things I can do to... I mean, I can affect the game. If I eat healthy and I exercise,

I'm going to live longer. But now we get to the third one, which is is this something I'm doing additive? No, I'm just living my life. Is there reasons to eat better and exercise? Yeah, there is. So is that a game?

I go, no. I go, no. I go, no, that's not a game. Okay, so I have we're going to run somewhere and the first person to get there wins. Is that a game? Like, is there a goal? Okay, get there first.

Is there an agency? Yeah, I can choose where I run or how I run. I have some, my form of running. Is there restrictions? Eh, not really. Like I said, this more gets into an activity that's a sport. You know what I'm saying?

Now once again, you could start layering things on top of it. That's the point I'm trying to make here is you could take anything that isn't a game and start layering game elements on it, and at some point it becomes a game. And there's a gray fuzzy area. Like, if I say I'm going to take our race

and start adding in gaming restriction type things, like, you know, every time you see a fire hydrant, you have to stop and you have to name three television shows that had a family. Okay, now I'm adding something in that has some game component to it. And now whether I can win the race or not is, oh, okay, now I'm trivia of TV. You know what I'm saying? All of a sudden, I start adding elements and at some point it becomes a game. And that's the big thing is when exactly something becomes a game. So, that, and that's the big thing is

when exactly something becomes a game and becomes not. No matter what definition you're going to give, I guarantee you there's going to be some fuzzy answers. And sometimes when people ask me something in a game, I kind of have to walk through it. I'm like, is that a game? But I, you know, I have

my criteria. I use my four criteria and that is how I decide whether I think it's a game. But my homework for you, if it will, is come up with your own. You come up with what you think a game is. And then go take a lot of classic, you know, things and filter it through. And ask yourself, by your definition, is Candyland a game? Is Tic-Tac-Toe a game? Is Racing to the end of the street a game? Is packing my luggage a game? You know, like take all these different things and say, okay, in my definition, is it a game?

And the reason this is so important is one of the things that it does, the reason that Richard made the kick-shot document in the first place for us to start talking is when you start to examine all the minutiae of what makes a game, it makes you start to think about games in a different way. It makes you, the analogy I like to give is, it kind of starts to make you an auto-mechanic for games. That you start pulling apart the game to understand how it works. That one of the most important things for a game designer, much like it is for an auto-mechanic, is if you're going to be making games, you have to understand how they're put together. And one of the best ways to understand how they're put together

is to start by sort of getting some definitional understanding of what the pieces are. What are the parts of a game? You know what I'm saying? Now, if you're going to be an auto mechanic, somebody's already gone to great effort to explain the parts of a car. No one's really done that with the game per se. I mean, I've read different people

talk about elements of games, but it's not quite as documented. So this is a, for aspiring game designers or even established game designers, if you haven't done this, this is a really good exercise. You know, come up with your definition of a game and then see, and then take it and feel test it.

You know what I'm saying? That one of the cool things about this whole exercise is sort of seeing what you come up with. Seeing how things fan out. And by the way,

nothing is saying that you can't change your definition with time. You know, the definition I have today is not the definition I had 10 years ago.

And it might not be the definition I have 10 years from now. But it is the definition I have today is not the definition I had 10 years ago and it might not be the definition I have 10 years from now but it is it is the definition I currently have so anyway

I hope today was interesting for you so a game to me has a goal has restrictions has agency and it lacks real world relevance

so it's my my four restrictions for being a game but anyway I'm curious to see what you guys think is a game I'm sure this podcast

will spark all sorts of debate online anyway guys so thank you so much I'm sure this podcast will spark all sorts of debate online. Anyway, guys, so thank you so much for joining me. This was a little offbeat topic, but hopefully you thought it was a fun one. But anyway, I'm now at work, so we know what that means. This is the end of my drive to work. Instead of talking magic, it's time for me to make magic. See you guys next time.