Description:

As pop culture, games are as important as film or television--but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games..

Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance.

Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.

Katie Salen is a game designer, interactive designer, animator, and Director of Graduate Studies in Design and Technology, Parsons School of Design. She has taught at universities including MIT, the University of Texas, Parsons School of Design, New York University, Rhode Island School of Design, and School of Visual Arts.

Eric Zimmerman is a game designer, game design theorist, and co-founder and CEO of gameLab. He has taught at universities including MIT, the University of Texas, Parsons School of Design, New York University, Rhode Island School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts.

Table of Contents:

Foreword Frank Lantz	ix
	Preface	xiii
1	About This Book	1
2	The Design Process	11
	Commissioned Essay Reiner Knizia	22
	UNIT 1: Core Concepts	28
3	Meaningful Play	30
4	Design	38
5	Systems	48
6	Interactivity	56
7	Defining Games	70
8	Defining Digital Games	84
9	The Magic Circle	92
10	The Primary Schemas: RULES, PLAY, CULTURE	100
	Commissioned Game Richard Garfield	106
	UNIT 2: Rules	116
11	Defining Rules	118
12	Rules on Three Levels	126
13	The Rules of Digital Games	140
14	Games as Emergent Systems	150
15	Games as Systems of Uncertainty	172
16	Games as Information Theory Systems	190
17	Games as Systems of Information	202
18	Games as Cybernetic Systems	212
19	Games as Game Theory Systems	230
20	Games as Systems of Conflict	248
21	Breaking the Rules	266
	Commissioned Game Frank Lantz	286
	UNIT 3: PLAY	298
22	Defining Play	300
23	Games as the Play of Experience	312
24	Games as the Play of Pleasure	328
25	Games as the Play of Meaning	362
26	Games as Narrative Play	376
27	Games as the Play of Simulation	420
28	Games as Social Play	460
	Commissioned Game Kira Snyder	490
	UNIT 4: CULTURE	502
29	Defining Culture	504
30	Games as Cultural Rhetoric	514
31	Games as Open Culture	536
32	Games as Cultural Resistance	556
33	Games as Cultural Environment	570
	Commissioned Game James Ernest	588
	Additional Reading and Resources	602
	Conclusion	604
	Bibliography	608
	List of Games Cited	620
	Index	638