In the Rules of Engagement for the Semionaut’s Notebook, I state that the following definitions are in use on the site and that arguing against them won’t result in a productive conversation.
Story is the shared exploration of a relationship over time.
Play is any pastime with a primary goal of self-guided exploration of possibility within a [...]
Tag Archives: game
What’s your definition, Kenneth?
March 3, 2010 – 6:24 am
Just be glad it’s not a prisoner-devouring beach ball
March 2, 2010 – 8:35 am
Imagine a concert venue with 500 people in it. Now imagine that the organizers throw a large inflatable beach ball into the room. People begin to play with the ball, batting it back and forth. The ball is a Toy.
There is an implied bounded space defining how to play with the ball. Some of it [...]
Ways to Play–Puzzles, Toys, and Sport
March 19, 2009 – 9:06 am
Game is a set of rules and/or conditions established by a community and intended as a bounded space for play.
Yesterday, while writing about games that predominately rely on a single simple mechanic (link), it occurred to me that it might be useful to broadly categorize the types of game dynamics that video games mechanics produce. [...]






