I feel like I'm getting close to the end of my exploration of what constitutes a game. I know that I'm nowhere near done examining and refining my definition, but I believe that I am getting close to a block of text, that, when holistically analyzed might bear resemblance to the definition and explanation of the components of a game. So far, I've listed four components that I feel are vital to a game: rules, entertainment, interactivity and agents. A game also needs a ending, or a goal.
Without a goal, the activity doesn't have any structured end. As I described in Part 3: Why Rules?, structure is necessary for a game. Having a goal allows the outcome of a game to be decided. When asking people about how to define game, over seventy-five percent of the respondents indicated that their was some sort of outcome or competition. This was charted as one of three options: Goals, Victory/Defeat and Skill Based, which each indicate that a game has a final result. While games are not necessarily competitive (for example, Pandemic) they still have a goal. The classic and much appreciated game "The Floor is Lava" is enjoyable because it has a goal. The goal varies depending on the version being played, but players need to either last longer than everyone else, get to a particular location, or simply last until the person who realized the floor was lava determines that the floor is once again safe. If there was no end to the activity, participants would cease playing, and the activity would end, without enjoyment.
If there was no goal in soccer, what would the participants be playing a game? In my opinion, no. They'd simply being playing (nothing wrong with that, of course, just not a game). If there was no way to lose in Monopoly, you would just go around the board forever, collecting rent (wait a second. Ignore this one). If there weren't harder bosses to beat or better loot to collect or various dungeons to explore in World of Warcraft, players would just be running around in a pretty world, not playing a game.
By removing goals from what most people would consider games (although I could argue about Monopoly being a game) and them consequently no longer being games, I feel it is safe to say that a goal or an end objective or condition is important for a game to have.
Games Mentioned in this Post
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