[wly_cdgr]

I'm a fan, but I wouldn't really call his stuff games. More like art that uses game tropes as a tool of expression.

[slmjkdbtl]

When I'm studying game design we spent a lot of time defining "what is a game?" While this is a good exercise, ultimately I think people shouldn't care about any label, or any is X Y questions, what matters is if you think the thing is good, if it's enjoyable etc.

[netdevnet]

What makes a game a game though? Do you necessarily need action and damage points?

[YurgenJurgensen]

That’s easy: At least one of the following: A failure state, a success state or a score.

[_aavaa_]

This is going to become navel gazing really fast.

“Art with game tropes” implies that “regular games” aren’t art. Which I disagree with. We may not have gotten Shakespeare yet, but writing was an artistic medium before him just as games are one before its version of him.

And whether a particular piece of software is a game is also not clearly defined. This has been a big argument several time, see the one over Gone Home and walking simulators.

Others later down argue over Minecraft and “a win state, fail state, and scoring systems”. Minecraft did not have any of these for a long time, but it would be unconvincing to say that it only become a game after it gained them.

[Livanskoy]

In my view, which is mostly inspired by Huizinga's works, the game is a constructed set of rules. The main game is the culture itself, that branches into the great playing tree of humanity. The video games are not that different from any other set of rules, but they are interactive, immersive and self-governing/autonomous, which is an unusual set of qualities for a media.

[wly_cdgr]

You need quantifiable outcomes / performance metrics.

[veunes]

It's all depending on perspective

[veunes]

I think it's more about using those elements to explore