Summary:

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.

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