Index

Father: …The point is that the purpose of these conversations is to discover the “rules.” It’s like life—a game whose purpose is to discover the rules, which rules are always changing and undiscoverable.

Daughter: But I don’t call that a game, Daddy.

—Gregory Bateson, Steps to an Ecology of Mind

A

Aarseth, Espen J., 416

Abrams, Janet, 568

abstractions, 439

Abt, Clark C., 4, 74–75

Ace of Aces, 422, 425–427

achievers, 465–466, 488

action

and awareness, 337

and interactivity, 59, 62

meaning of, 273, 367–368

and outcome, 354

patterns of, 407

and pleasure, 337, 361

review of, 413

rhythmic, 341

See also physical movements; stylized behavior

action-adventure, 523–524

activators, 214–218

addiction, 355–356, 361

See also Breakout

Addinall, Eric, 423

Adventure, 279, 394, 396–398

adventure stories, 523

African-American slaves, 517

Age of Empires, 508

agôn, 307, 308

in Quake, 335

The A.I. Game, 575–577

website, 586

alea, 307, 308

Alexander, Christopher, 4–5

Alice in Wonderland, 368–370

Alleyway, 322–323

Ambasz, Emilio, 40

ambiguity

and play definition, 301

and rules, 137, 277

Animal Crossing, 364

Animé, 560

anxiety, 351, 352

Apter, Michael, 94, 335

arcade games

attraction of, 336

conflict in, 251–253

and pleasure, 330

rules, 145

See also specific games

art, 78

artificiality

and cooperation, 256

and culture, 572–573

context, 104

environment, 585–586, 587

equal opportunity, 260, 265

in game definition, 75, 77–78, 80, 83

and meaning, 371–372

protective frame, 94–99

and rules, 123–124, 125

See also simulation

ASCII text, 414

Assassin, 43, 137, 572

Asteroids

choices, 65

interactivity, 63

narrative

descriptors, 400–401

fictive world, 401–402

space, 394–396

auditory discrimination, 316

automation, 88–89

autotelic play, 331–333, 360

Avedon, E. M., 9, 28, 61, 78, 188, 512, 533

awareness, 337, 452–453

Aycock, Alan, 533