[MUD-Dev] When is the game a game?

[J C Lawrence]

On Mon, 25 Jun 2001 10:25:09 -0700 
Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban at darklock.com> wrote:

> The catch, of course, is that the game *system* is not actually
> part of any coherent *game*. It does not run anywhere. It is not
> in distribution. It is not even playable, as it currently
> stands. 

Murkle is in much the same state.  It runs, occasionally, and
usually in pieces.  Typically its sectional simulations that run to
test, demonstrate to statistise a point.  I keep promising myself
that someday I'll piece it all together and make something unified
and interesting.  I never have, and honestly, I never expect to.  If
I do carry through to a full system it will be a new deal.

> Which leads to the question, when is the game actually a game?

I don't consider Murkle a game and have rarely intended it to be.
Its always been intended to be a test bed and a demonstration
platform.

> Certainly, when the game is completed and placed online for people
> to play and people actually do *play* it, it's a game. But what
> about before then?

There are two levels of question in this regard:

  Can a system be built which can behave in the follow manner?

  Can a system be built in which players will behave in the
  following manner?

There are also "Will it/they?" questions for both, but the roots are
the same.  Both questions and their answers are necessary for
formation of a game.  As to how much of either is necessary before
crossing the invisible boundary that separates "game" from
"non-game" is largely arbitrary, and to me, uninteresting.
Interesting is whether the questions themselves point in interesting
directions, and then whether they might be able to be aligned with a
"game".

> This is primarily a philosophical question with no real practical
> use.  I'd just like to hear other people's opinions on it.

Aaach.  

--
J C Lawrence                                             claw at kanga.nu
---------(*)                                http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/
I never claimed to be human.
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