3.2. The Issues of Definition¶

So which definition from the previous page is correct?

None of them are perfect. If you try to come up with your own definition, it will likely be imperfect as well. Here are a few common edge cases that commonly cause problems with definitions:

• Puzzles, such as crossword puzzles, Sudoku, Rubik’s Cube, or logic puzzles. Are these games? It depends on the definition. Salen & Zimmerman say they are a subset of games where there is a set of correct answers. Costikyan says they are not games, although they may be contained within a game.
• Role-playing games, such as Dungeons & Dragons. They have the word “game” right in the title, yet they are often not considered games (for example, because they often have no final outcome or resolution, no winning or losing).
• Choose-your-own-adventure books. (Also available in online format.) These are not generally thought of as games; you say you are “reading” a book, not “playing” it. And yet, it fits most of the criteria for most definitions of a game. To make things even more confusing, if you take one of these books, add a tear-out “character sheet” with some numeric stats, include “skill checks” on some pages where you roll a die against a stat, and call it an “adventure module” instead of a “choose-your-own-adventure book,” we would now call it a game!
• Stories. Are games stories? On the one hand, most stories are linear, while games tend to be more dynamic. Normally we think of stories as something told by one person, but they may also be developed by multiple people (each teller adds a sentence to the ongoing story). Is constructing such a story a game? Is a computer based experience where the user has to click to advance from one part of the story to the next a game?

The point of a definition should not to be to divide the world into “games” and “not games”. The good folk at Extra Credits make a good case for why the question “What is a Game” can be taken too far: