This document introduces the theory of game elements, which conceptualizes games as systems made up of interacting parts called elements. It identifies two main categories of elements - systemic elements like components, environment, and rules, and behavioral elements like game play and players. Each element is described in detail, with examples provided. The theory aims to provide a framework for analyzing and designing games by examining how different configurations of elements produce unique game systems and experiences.

1. Introduction to the
Theory of Game Elements
Aki Järvinen
aki@gameswithoutfrontiers.net
http://www.gameswithoutfrontiers.net

2. Contents
• Games as systems
• Game states and game system behaviour
• Game elements as parts of game systems
• Game element attributes
• Definitions and examples element by element
• Examples of an analysis method
• Gamegame: theory meets design meets play
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3. All kinds of games allowed!
• All games, regardless of the
media or technology they employ,
contain certain elements
• They are not all the same
• Or implemented in the same
manner or technique
• Yet there are underlying
similarities: goals, objects to be
manipulated, environments,
players, etc.
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4. Same but dierent
• How to conceptualise this ‘same but
dierent’ qualities of games?
• One needs to conceptualise the qualities
• And build a framework that brings them
together, as in individual games
• The notion of System
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5. Games as systems
• System is
‘a dynamic whole with interacting parts’
• In game systems:
1) game elements equal the parts
2) elements have relationships, they interact
3) when players engage with the elements, it
gives birth to another kind of interaction:
game play
• game play gives birth to dynamics; ‘the run-
time behavior of the system’ (LeBlanc)
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6. The Theory of Game Elements
• Conceptualises possible dierent configurations
of game systems
• i.e. the dierence between one game and
another is due to the fact that their systems are
configured dierently
• configuration of football vs. the configuration of
Prince of Persia
• The theory is a form of Applied Ludology
• Which provides solutions for practical game
analysis design
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7. Element categories: overview
SYSTEMIC BEHAVIORAL
game play
ELEMENTS ELEMENTS
COMPOUND
ELEMENTS
• A game system in operation, i.e. a game being played,
puts these elements into interaction
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8. Game elements: overview
BEHAVIORAL ELEMENTS
SYSTEMIC ELEMENTS
• components players
•
• environment game play
contexts
•
rule set
•
game mechanics
•
theme
•
information
• COMPOUND
interface
• ELEMENTS
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9. Game elements: overview
• All game elements have an ownership attribute
• There are three kinds of ownership attributes:
[game element]-of-self
[game element]-of-other(s)
[game element]-of-system
• Ownership attributes often create inherent tension
and competition to a game
• Thus, many games revolve around ownerships
shifting back and forth
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10. Components
• Components are usually objects that the
player is able to manipulate in the course
of the game.
• What ‘moves’ in the game, in one way or
another (physical movement, transactions,
etc.)
• Components provide a source of
identification for the player, usually in the
shape of possessions, resources, and/or
representatives (characters/pieces)
• The goals of the game are often embodied
into components (’collect 100 rings’, etc.)
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11. Types of Components
• There are three types of
components:
• components-of-self: components
possessed by oneself and controlled
by oneself (e.g. your monkey)
• components-of-others:
components possessed and
controlled by other players (e.g. the
others’ monkeys)
• components-of-system:
components possessed and
controlled by the game system
(Bananas, NPCs, AI, etc.)
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12. Environment
• It is not mandatory yet it is very
common (boards, etc.)
• The environment element sets
specific spatial boundaries for
components and players.
• Environment embodies rules that
specify the spatial and geometric
arrangement of a game.
• In some cases, components make up
the game environment.
• Typical environment attributes: state,
scale, vector
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13. Types of Environments
• Game environments can be broadly classified
into two following types:
• Boards/fields: Static individual environments;
which mainly function to embody rules by
visualising them into a grid with geometrical
relations, for example.
• Setups: Even if no particular environment is
needed (as in, e.g., many card games), the other
elements need to be arranged in a fashion that
communicates the game state to the players.
• World(s): Often these kinds of environments are
divided into parts or levels, but game-worlds also
exist as seamless, simulated ecosystems.
Function shifts towards thematic purposes.
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14. Rule set
• Rules constitute the fundamental compound
element, rule set.
• Rule set is the glue that keeps a game
system together and enables play with the
other elements in the first place.
• Rules make it possible for the system to
function in a way that is meaningful for
players. Rule set uses other elements as its
embodiments.
• Usually the rule set states procedures or
algorithms, such as how to set up the
game in order to start playing, or how
players are rewarded for completing a goal.
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15. Game mechanics
• ‘The means’, i.e. always there in relation to goals, ‘the
ends’
• Best described with verbs; game mechanics imply (inter)
action
• Core mechanics (Salen Zimmerman): what players do in a
game, repeatedly
• Running and kicking the ball are the core mechanics of
football; moving a piece in Chess is its core mechanic
• digital games may have multiple mechanics that
correspond to the actions and the fantasy world the games
simulates: Horseback riding, sword-fighting, running,
jumping, etc.
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16. Types of Game mechanics
• generic mechanics classes
• that can be actualized in
various ways
• for example, a Physical
mechanic in the ’Contact’
class could be kissing/
hugging/etc!
• and combined into sequences
and relations: trading is
achieved by kissing, etc!
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17. Theme
• theme equals the subject matter of a game
• if there is no theme in a game, the system does
not represent anything other than its ruleset
• theme functions metaphorically, enabling the
players to understand rules and goals in terms
of another subject matter
• the essence of metaphor (Lako Johnson) :
‘understanding and experiencing one kind of
thing in terms of another’
• Themes employ schemas: restaurant schema
in Diner Dash
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18. Information
• Game systems contain information
• The main function of information is to
store data about game states
• How and to what extent the information
is communicated to the players are
questions of game design:
• Games of perfect information vs.
imperfect information
• The information element makes games
suitable for computers
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19. Interface
• In case players can not access
the game system directly there is
need for a tool to enable that
• i.e. an interface
• prominent in digital games
• is found also in mechanical
games, such as Pinball, Fussball
tables, etc.
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20. Players
• There would no games nor play
without Players
• Players are arguably highly complex
psychological entities
• Erving Goman (1961): games as
focused gatherings
• i.e. certain types of social
arrangements that occur when
persons are in one another’s
immediate physical presence.
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21. Players in focused gatherings
• focused gatherings involve for the participants the
following ‘communication arrangements’:
a single visual and cognitive focus of attention
a mutual and preferential openness to verbal
communication
a heightened mutual relevance of acts
an eye-to-eye ecological huddle that maximizes each
participants ’s opportunity to perceive the other
participants’ monitoring of him/her
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22. Qualities of Players
• For the purposes of analysis players have to abstracted down to
a handful of crucial aspects:
• Players have
• Player possessions: ownership of elements, components in particular
• Player strategies: players’ preferences in relation to goal hierarchy
• Player agency: player aordances in relation to elements, embodied into
game mechanics
• Player knowledge: information available for players to use
• Player organisation: players’ relation to each other, possibly via dierent
roles
• Player abilities and skills: sets of cognitive, physical and psychomotor
abilities
• game systems - i.e. game designers - try to set normative
constraints to player qualities
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23. Contexts
• There are several contexts to any game
• E.g., the context of football is a cluster of
factors having to do both with the game’s
popularity, tradition, players, national histories,
and the sports industry with its media coverage.
• The context of a game can be endlessly
expanded to surrounding cultures...
• in order to be useful, the line has to be drawn
somewhere when embarking on a concrete
analysis of a particular game.
• Where actually to draw the line is a question of
perspective.
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24. Game elements: summary
BEHAVIORAL ELEMENTS
SYSTEMIC ELEMENTS
• components players
•
• environment game play
contexts
•
rule set
•
game mechanics
•
theme
•
information
• COMPOUND
interface
• ELEMENTS
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies Design

25. What ludologists do
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26. Another visualization
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27. Further resources
• http://gamegame.blogs.com
• Card game / brainstorming theory of
tool for
game design, based on the
game elements
• http://www.gameswithoutfrontiers.net
• Aki’s Thesis chapters online analysis
tools
• aki@gameswithoutfrontiers.net
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies Design