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In sum, there are the rhetorics of the larger culture that have their own socializing influence, there is the game-relevant rhetoric of the group that plays the game…and then, within both of these, there is the game itself.-Brian Sutton-Smith, The Ambiguity of Play
A Conceptual Framework
This chapter represents a turning point: in a certain sense, everything so far has been preparatory work. The concepts of design, systems, and interactivity have shaped our understanding of the design of meaningful play and helped to order a definition of game. It is clear-at least for the purposes of this book-what constitutes a game. But the study of games and game design requires more than a set of definitions; it requires a robust conceptual framework. The role of a framework is to organize how games are studied. For example, a study of games might be organized by topic, or by chronology; by type of game or technological platform. In each case, the framework would guide how games are explored and explained. The framework guiding the study of game design in this book is not topical or historical, and does not separate games by type or platform. Instead, it is based on the idea of game design schemas, which conceptually frame games from distinct perspectives. A game design schema is a way of understanding games, a lens that we can apply to the analysis or creation of any game. The variety of schema that could be selected is vast, as there are many, many ways of looking at games. For our purposes, we selected three primary schemas: RULES, PLAY, and CULTURE.
RULES is a formal primary schema, and focuses on the intrinsic mathematical structures of games.
PLAY is an experiential primary schema, and emphasizes the player's interaction with the game and other players.
CULTURE is a contextual primary schema, and highlights the cultural contexts into which any game is embedded.
Primary Schemas
This three-part structure is the conceptual architecture supporting even more detailed schemas. Contained within RULES, PLAY, and CULTURE are a set of specialized schemas, which frame games in very particular ways. For example, contained within RULES are the schemas Games as Information Systems and Games as Systems of Uncertainty, among others. Each of these more specialized schema are formal in scope (looking at games as formal, mathematical systems) but each looks at games with a different formal emphasis. The three primary schemas RULES, PLAY, and CULTURE each also contain smaller embedded schemas. The end result is a system that frames and reframes games from a series of overlapping perspectives. The use of schemas not only offers a general framework for uncovering the richness of games, but also, when taken as a whole, offers a general method for any design study. As we mentioned in the opening chapter, the framework of RULES, PLAY, and CULTURE can help facilitate critical design thinking in any design field.
