Games aren’t much “fun” when rules, rather than relationships, dominate the activity, when there is no attention to “flow,” “fairness,” “respect” and “nice.” Dr. Linda Hughes, “Beyond the Rules of the Game: Why Are Rooie Rules Nice?” At a past job, we played Hearts every day at lunch. Out of a core group of 6-8, …
From The Grasshopper, by Bernard Suits: When you play a board game, or a game of baseball, you’re playing a closed game. There is a defined end, and a defined set of means to reach it. When you play pretend, or when you build a career in baseball, you’re playing an open game. The objective …
In most (modern) board games, there’s a phase where you build an engine, and a phase where you use that engine to achieve victory. This is not explicit, it’s just that in the first part of the game you choose things that give you more power, while in the last few rounds you maximize victory …
In games, we choose an objective that has no intrinsic value. Get points, run out of cards, reach the finish line. We take aim, and restricting our actions with rules, because this leads us to actions that we enjoy. Thinking, interacting with other players, running all-out. We play the game because it’s fun. We try …