Caillois, Roger, 75–76, 82, 179, 260, 262,
on play categories, 307–309, 314, 335
exercise, 17
Cake Division, 239–241
camaraderie, 483
Cameron, Andy, 58–59
Campbell, Jeremy, 152, 158, 159–160,
Can’t Stop, 110
captions, 408
card decks
and culture, 511
as game system, 546
and rules, 120–121
and uncertainty, 208
card games, 203
See also Ironclad;
Suspicion; specific games
Caribbean Star
development, 592–599
testing, 599–601
Car Wars, 448–449
case-based simulation, 445–448, 457
Cassell, Justine, 522–523, 532
Casti, John L., 127, 136, 154, 169, 183–184
Castle Wolfenstein, 560
Catch the Dragon’s Tail, 257–258, 529
cell phones, 573
cellular automata, 161–163
Centipede
basic elements, 324–325
experiential play, 325–326
narrative, 381
certainty, 175
See also uncertainty
challenge
dynamic difficulty adjustment, 222–223,
and flow state, 350–351
lack of, 350–353
negative reinforcement as, 348
in Sneak, 491
chance
and game play, 179–180
meaningful, 187
and meaningful play, 180
strategizing, 185–186
Thunderstorm example, 180–182
change. See also cybernetic systems; dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA)
Change the Rules (exercise), 18
character(s)
character of, 453–455
and cultural resistance, 558
Disney, 562
as narrative element, 380, 418
in open game, 538–539
procedural, 435–439
in Quake, 562
in Ultima Online, 538–539, 558
characters
and semiotics, 42
Charades
conflict, 434
ideal vs. real rules, 310
pleasure, 340
signal transmission, 196–197
Chaturanga, 516–517
cheat codes, 279
cheating
boundaries of, 275–276
vs. degenerate strategy, 272
paradox of, 274–275
rules for, 277–279
sanctioned (Illuminati), 277–279
and SiSSYFIGHT 2000, 280, 565–566
Chess
addiction, 355
choices, 65
against computer, 164
as cybernetic system, 218
emergence, 164
as fighting game, 594
as game play, 310
and game theory, 236
and Ironclad, 297
meaning system, 366
metagame model, 482
narrative, 381
narrative space, 390
randomness, 176
breaking, 277
implicit, 130
as information, 205
semiotics, 42
spoil-sports, 275
transformative play, 305
uncertainty, 175
Chick, Garry, 533
children
African-American slaves, 517
boy adventure stories, 523
and clarity, 137
Foursquare example, 474–478
Israeli, 517
and pleasure, 330–331
See also Counting Out
Chinese Checkers, 175–176, 342
and subculture, 568
via game play, 462–463
See also information theory; signal transmission
communication network, 89
as complex system, 153–154, 160–161
community
clarification, 463
contract for artifice, 471–475
open or closed, 470–471
retelling, 412 See also social play
comparators, 214–218
competition
in Catch the Dragon’s Tail, 257–258
criticism of, 255–257
fairness, 260–263
in game definition, 74–75
in metagame model, 483
and time, 259–261
zero-sum games, 255
See also conflict
compilers/decompilers, 414
complexity
automation of, 88–89
in design, 4–5
meaningful play, 156–158, 165, 170
messenger communication network,
negative traits, 155
range of, 154–156
choice
analysis of, 62–65
and cutscenes, 410–411
failure states, 65–66
micro- vs. macro-, 69
in simulations, 446
take profit or continue, 110
See also Reinforcement
Church, Doug, 9, 62, 68, 326, 343–344, 384
Chutes and Ladders
chance, 179–180
decision tree, 234
information, 204
magic circle, 96
player roles, 465
pleasure, 342
redesign ideas, 132–133
Civilization, 508
clarity, 137
classical conditioning, 344–350
Cloak and Dagger, 495–497
collaboration. See cooperation
color-coding, 367–368
combined probability, 177
Command and Conquer, 273
communication
and the A.I. Game, 576
instant messaging system, 413
in LARPs, 579
messenger network, 153–154, 160–161
metacommunication, 371–372, 374,
and operational rules, 132–133, 135–136,
constraints, 330–331
context
and flow state, 339
of games, 41
and interaction, 384
and meaning, 273, 366, 367–368, 373
and simulation, 445–448
social play, 462–463
and system framing, 52
See also culture
contract for artifice, 471–475
Conway, John, 161
Cool Boarders, 508
cooling system, 214–217
Cooper, John, 546
cooperation
and game definition, 74–75
and lusory attitude, 256
in Universal Square, 563–564
coordination, 315
core mechanic, 316–322, 327, 340
and everyday life, 579
and narrative, 388–389
corruption line, 24
Cosmic Wimpout, 110
Costikyan, Greg, 9, 78, 82, 379, 411, 484
computers
Chess, 164
in classroom, 15
in digital games, 86–90
and randomness, 183–184
and rules, 142
Tic-Tac-Toe, 142
concealment, 203
See also deception
conflict
cultural, 529–531
and game definition, 74–78, 80
and game design, 254–255
(in)direct, 250–251
level playing field, 260–263, 265
LOOP case study, 259–261
New Games Movement, 256–258
in simulations, 431–434
See also competition
consciousness, 453–455
console games, 221–222
constituative rules
in Chutes and Ladders, 132–133
definition, 130
in digital games, 146–147, 149
Counting Out, 185–186, 268, 565
coupled object interactions, 162, 170
Cowan, George A., 54
Craps, 60
Crash Bandicoot, 222–223
Crawford, Chris, 8, 59, 68, 77, 249
critical discourse, 2–3
Croft, Lara. See Tomb Raider
Croquet, 370
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, 332, 336–338, 350,
cultural conflict, 529–531
cultural context, 86, 94, 104–105
cultural environment
the A.I. Game example, 575–577
and artificiality, 585–586, 587
current events, 581
design focus, 21
exercise, 21
and game definition, 572
and game design, 584–586
ideology, 581–584
implicit rules, 573–574
invisible playground, 578–579
spatial factors, 578–579
Cultural Environment Analysis (exercise), 21
cultural learning, 507–508, 513, 534
cultural representations, 510–511, 513
cultural resistance
to cheating, 565–566
do-it-yourself (DIY) gaming, 559, 569
exercise, 17
juxtaposition, 561–564
mods as, 559–560
reinvention, 563–565
strategies, 559–565
See also The Rhetoric of the Lottery;
Site-Specific Resistance
cultural rhetoric, 516–517, 534
culture
and artificiality, 572
beyond-the-object interactivity, 60
design as, 511–512
and fictive worlds, 403
and flow state, 339
as framework, 507–508
implicit rules, 573–574
and knowledge conflict, 434
open (see open culture)
as open system, 97, 105, 539, 581
punk music, 559
rules in, 121
schema description, 6, 104–105, 507
structures, 508–509
subcultures, 568
Toys example, 529–531
and transformation, 507, 513, 526–529,
values, 516–517
current events, 581
cursor, 61–62
Cybernetic Analysis (exercise), 20
cybernetic systems
Basketball example, 218–219
and behavior theory, 350
brief description, 20
in Chutes and Ladders, 223–224
difficulty adjustment (DDA), 222–223, 227
in digital games, 219–221
and game design, 222–223, 224–226, 227, 228
player control, 225–226