Defining games: not an easy challenge!
Hey all!
Jon here. Last night Think.Play met and had it’s first discussion based meeting since all of the craziness began a few weeks ago. The good news is that it went really well!
We started off thinking about what a game is and isn’t. We spent a great deal of time coming to a consensus on some universal traits that make something a game, and what we came up with was pretty interesting. You can find our list of game-traits within the slides that were used during the talk.
![Freedom Bridge Picture](http://necessarygames.com/sites/default/files/header_images/games/banner_1.png)
Freedom Bridge was one of the ‘games’ we played. Was it fun? Sort of. Does that make it more or less of a game? Certainly not.
One of the more interesting distinctions that the group hovered around was the difference between simulations and games. Simulations can occur within games, but a simulation running by itself lacks interactivity, a trait that we decided was a pre-requisite for something to be a game.
Overall it was a fun night, and it is good to be back in the swing of things. Remember that, if you would like to lead a discussion, or you have an idea of some discussion(s) you would like to see happen, let the Steering Committee know. Until next time!