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Chris Crawford on Game Design
book

Chris Crawford on Game Design

by Chris Crawford
June 2003
Beginner
504 pages
10h 49m
English
New Riders
Content preview from Chris Crawford on Game Design

The Fun Factor

The English word “fun” has no cognate in any other language. Every other language has words for happiness, enjoyment, pleasure, and so forth, but it seems that no other language has a word that expresses the special kind of playful happiness that is encompassed in the word “fun.” Indeed, most people place the words “game,” “play,” and “fun” in a straightforward relationship:

  • “Game” is the formal activity that you perform.

  • “Play” is the actual behavior that you engage in.

  • “Fun” is the experience or emotion that you derive from that behavior.

This relationship leads to a simple conclusion: Games and play must lead to fun. If a game isn't fun, it's a bad game. It sounds perfectly logical, and it is flatly wrong.

The problem with this ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0131460994Purchase book