Understanding Games: Fiction, Rules, and Genre
Cursory History of Electronic Gaming in 20th – 21st Centuries
Matthew Jett Hall – worldsofwordcraft.wordpress.com

Explore the idea of a “game”

Contemplate games as both fiction and rules

Set forth some basic vocabulary and

categories to assure a common language
during our discourse
Journey through a time line of facts related to

gaming

Entertainment?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary

▪ “Amusement,
▪ delight,
▪ fun,
▪ mirth,
▪ Sport”
17 entries exist for the word “game” in the

OED

“The main argument

of this book, that
video games are rules
and fiction”
Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and

Fictional Worlds by Jesper Juul

“It is a basic paradox of games that while the

rules themselves are generally definite,
unambiguous, and easy to use, the
enjoyment of a game depends on these
easy-to-use rules presenting challenges that
cannot be easily overcome. Playing a game is
an activity of improving skills in order to
overcome these challenges, and playing a
game is therefore fundamentally a learning
experience.” (Juul, p.5)

“Fiction plays a different role in different

games and game genres, and while some
players may be thrilled by the fiction of a
game, others may dismiss it as unimportant
decoration of the game rules.” (Juul, p.6)

“… two basic ways in which

games are structured and
provide challenges for players:
that of emergence (a number
of simple rules combining to
form interesting variations)
and that of progression
(separate challenges presented
serially).” (p.6)
Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional

Worlds by Jesper Juul

“Emergence is the primordial game structure,

where a game is specified as a small number
of rules that combine and yield large
numbers of game variations for which the
players must design strategies to handle.”
(Juul, p.5)

“In progression games, the player has to

perform a predefined set of actions in order
to complete the game. One feature of the
progression game is that it yields strong
control to the game designer: since the
designer controls the sequence of events,
progression games are also where we find
most games with storytelling ambitions.”
(Juul, p.5)

The next section presents categories

Ask yourself two sets of questions

 Set A: Rules or Fiction?
▪ Does the category illustrate games as fiction?
▪ Does the category illustrate games as rules?
 Set B: Progression or Emergence?
▪ Does the category illustrate progression?
▪ Does the category illustrate emeregence?

Arcade

Adventure

Board

Console

First Person Shooter (FPS)

MMORPG

PC

Real Time Strategy (RTS)

Role Playing

Simulation

Sports


“a (mechanical or

electronic) game of a
type orig.
popularized in
amusement
arcades.”
Pac-Man

Pinball


“Designating a role-playing or computer game in which the

participant plays a fantasy role in an episodic adventure story.”
(OED)
Zork

Myst


Games played on a

physical board where
players take turns.
Chess

Monopoly


“an electronic

device (usually
requiring
connection to a
television) on which
computer games
may be loaded and
played. “ (OED)
Dead or Alive

Dance Dance

Revolution

“Designating a

computer game in
which the player's
view of the action is
as though through
the eyes of the
protagonist.” (OED)
Doom

Return to Castle

Wolfenstein

Massively

Multiplayer On-Line
Role Playing Game
Lord of the Rings On-Line

Dark Age of Camelot


Any video game

played on a
personal
computer.
Civilization

King’s Quest


Video game that takes

place in real time and
general involves
resource
management,
territory
management, and unit
placement.
Sim City

Age of Empires


Players act out the role of

characters. Closely
approximates free form
drama, and generally
involve a group of players
together in a room or
around a table.
Dungeons & Dragons

d20 modern


“The technique of imitating

the behaviour of some
situation or process
(whether economic, military,
mechanical, etc.) by means
of a suitably analogous
situation or apparatus, esp.
for the purpose of study or
personnel training.” (OED)
Flight Simulator

M1A1 Tank Simulator


Video game that

simulates the play of
traditional sports
FIFA Soccer

Madden


Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms

Wikipedia

Video Games: www.mobygames.com

Zork: www.infocomm.com

Atari: www.atari.com

Movies: http://imdb.com
