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Qualities of Rules
The rules of a game are absolutely binding and allow no doubt.—Johann Huizinga, Homo Ludens
Rules are what differentiate games from other kinds of play. Probably the most basic definition of a game is that it is organized play, that is to say rule-based. If you don't have rules you have free play, not a game. Why are rules so important to games? Rules impose limits—they force us to take specific paths to reach goals and ensure that all players take the same paths. They put us inside the game world by letting us know what is in and out of bounds.—Marc Prensky, Digital Game-Based Learning
What are game rules like? What sets them apart from other kinds of rules? How do they function in a game? Consider the following list of rule characteristics:
Rules limit player action. The chief way that rules operate is to limit the activities of players. If you are playing the dice game Yatzee, think of all of the things you could do with the dice in that game: you could light them on fire eat them, juggle them, or make jewelry out of them. But you do not do any of these things. When you play a game of Yatzee, you follow the rules and do something incrediblynarrow and specific. When it is your turn, you roll the dice and interpret their numerical results in particular ways. Rules are "sets of instructions," and following those instructions means doing what the rules require and not doing something else instead.
Rules are explicit and unambiguous. Rules are complete and lack any ambiguity. For example, if you were going to play a board game and it wasn't clear what to do when you landed on a particular space, that ambiguity would have to be cleared up in order to play. Similarly, rules have to be totally explicit in what they convey. If you were play-ing baseball in an abandoned lot and a tree was being used as second base, ambiguities regarding what counted as second base could lead to a collapse of the game. What can you touch and still be on second base? The roots? The branches? Or just the tree trunk?
Rules are shared by all players. In a game with many players all players share the same set of rules. If one player is operating under a set of rules different than the others, the game can break down. Take the abandoned lot base-ball game example. If one player thinks that touching a branch of the tree is legally touching second base, but another player thinks that only the trunk is the base and tags the runner when he is holding onto a branch of the tree,is the player "out"? When the disagreement is raised, the game grinds to a halt. For the situation to be resolved, allowing the game to continue, all players must come to a common understanding of the rules and their application within play. It is not enough that rules are explicitly and unambiguously stated: the interpretation of the rules must also be shared.
Rules are fixed. The rules of a game are fixed and do not change as a game is played. If two players are playing a game of Chess and one of them suddenly announces a new rule that one of her own pawns is invulnerable, the other player would most likely protest this sudden rule improvisation. There are many games in which changing the rules is part of the game in some way; however, the way rules can be modified is always highly regulated. In professional sports, for example, changes to rules must pass through a legislative process by governing organizations. Even in games in which the rules are changed during play itself, such as the whimsical card game Flux (in which playing a card can change the overall game's goals and rules), the ways the rules change are quite limited and are themselves determined by other, more fundamental rules.
Rules are binding. Rules are meant to be followed. Part of the "magic" of the magic circle is that the rules contain their own authority. The reason why the rules of a game can remain fixed and shared is because they are ultimately binding. In some games, the authority of the rules is manifest in the persona of the referee. Like the rules themselves, the referee has an authority beyond that of an ordinary player. If players did not feel that rules were binding, they would feel free to cheat or to leave the game as a "spoil sport."
Rules are repeatable. Rules are repeatable from game to game and are portable between sets of different players. In a Magic: The Gathering tournament, all the players in the tournament follow the same rules when they square off against each other. Outside of the limited context of an individual tournament, the game rules are equally repeatable and portable. Although games often have "home rules," such as the many different versions of rules for the "Free Parking" space in Monopoly, these rule variants are just local variants on largely consistent rule sets. In any case, players must resolve ambiguities between sets of "home rules" in order to play a game.
These qualities of rules are in operation whenever one plays a game. If any of these qualities are not in effect, the game system may break down, making play impossible. If rules are ambiguous, players must resolve the ambiguities before play begins. If rules are not binding, players won't respect their authority and might cheat. The characteristics on this list constitute the qualities of rules. Describing rules in this way is quite a classical way of understanding games. It is possible, for example, to design a game in which players do not share the same rule set, and resolving this discrepancy is what the game is all about. Or perhaps you want to play a "practice game" with someone, and you won't be obeying all of the rules in order to learn how to play the game. Clearly, the authority of rules is not always strictly obeyed: cheating does happen. As we examine the rules of games from many different angles, some of these qualities may be called into question. But from a strictly formal point of view, these are the general characteristics of all game rules.
