Gamestorming 2.0

Chapter 2. What Is a Game?

Games and play are not the same thing.

Imagine you are playing with a ball. You kick the ball against a wall, and the ball bounces back to you. You stop the ball with your foot and kick it again. By engaging in this kind of play, you are learning to associate certain movements of your body with the movements of the ball in space. We could call this associative play.

Now imagine that you are waiting for a friend. Your friend appears, and you begin to walk down a sidewalk together, kicking the ball back and forth as you go. Now the play has gained a social dimension; one person’s actions suggest a response, and vice versa. You could think of this form of play as a kind of improvised conversation, where two people are engaging each other, using the ball as a medium. This kind of play has no clear beginning or end; rather, it flows seamlessly from one state into another. We could call this streaming play.

Now imagine that you come to a small park and become bored simply kicking the ball back and forth. So you say to your friend, “Let’s take turns trying to hit that tree. You have to kick the ball from behind this line.” So you make a line by dragging your heel through the dirt, and say, “We’ll take turns kicking the ball. Each time you hit the tree, you get a point. First one to five wins.” Your friend agrees and you begin to play. Now the play has become a game: a fundamentally different kind of play.

What makes a game different? We can break down this ...