Hello there,

I’d begun reading the book “Reality is Broken” by Jane McGonigal, a visionary Game Designer, who believes that games make us better and that they have the power to change the world. It’s a pretty intriguing read, but that’s not all; I was reading the first chapter, and the little developer part of my mind caught something: a small paragraph in which McGonigal, backed by research, explains the four defining traits that make up a good game:

• The goal: The outcome the players want to achieve. It provides them with a sense of purpose.
• The rules: They limit how the player can go about achieving their goal, meaning they must use their imagination to find a way round the obstacles. (eg, you have health, so you cant go rampaging through a corridor filled with spikes and monsters)
• The feedback system: the way the player can track their progress, be it through the GUI with points, or it may be linked to the story’s progress, or even just the knowledge on how not to die.
• Voluntary participation: The acceptance of the goal and rules. Also, the ability to do better than win. (eg. in a typical game, their are coins that increase score. I don’t have to collect these coins to win, but I have an urge to collect them, to increase my score, to see my name higher than the rest on the highscore table (link back to the feedback system!))

Anyway, I just thought this was interesting, and wanted to know what other people think. This list does leave out a surprisingly large amount of other aspects: graphics, storyline, audio etc. and I wonder if other people disagree with it?

Any thoughts or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Also, here is my game (totally relevant, I know), it’s actually lacking a few things from this list, I knew it sucked, lol.

Many thanks,

Taha