1. Identify the basic elements in a game of your choice (actions, goals, rules, objects, playspace, players).
As a child, I loved playing tag with my friends. It was a game that occupied many of our recesses and lunches, where I remember some would even forgo a part of their precious lunchtimes to take part in it.
Actions: The player who is ‘It’ will chase and attempt to tag others to transfer the role to another player. Other players’ role is to avoid being tagged and to run away from the ‘It’ player.
Goals: To not be tagged/ become ‘it’ by the chaser
Rules: One player is designated as ‘it’, who takes on the role of chasing other players attempting to ‘tag’ them. Once another player is tagged, they become the new ‘it’. This continues until everyone is too tired, or have come to agree upon another condition.
Objects: No specific objects required, other than the players themselves.
Playspace: Anywhere in the open. Spaces with obstacles and building structures (i.e playgrounds) preferred to add elements of fun and unpredictability to the game.
Players: two or more players needed. Two roles in the game: 1) ‘It’ = the chaser, 2) not ‘It’ = running away from the chaser
2. As a thought experiment, swap one element between two games: a single rule, one action, the goal, or the playspace. For example, what if you applied the playspace of chess to basketball? Imagine how the play experience would change based on this swap.
Thought experiment: applying the rule of ‘getting to the finish line fastest’ in the sport of sprint to diving.
In sprinting, the rule is very simple: the athlete who reaches the finish line first wins. In diving, it is a little more complex as it’s judged based on a variety of factors, from technique, execution, difficulty of the dive, and most importantly, the quality of the ‘rip entry’ (minimal splash is preferred as a clean finish).
If the rule for sprinting were applied to diving, the objective would shift to minimizing air time, which means that the diver with the shortest duration between leaving the diving board and entering the water wins. This can reshape the sport in many ways. First, divers might need to rethink their approach from the very start (i.e they might avoid high vertical jumps, instead focusing on quick takeoffs that propel them downward; their mid-air tricks would likely simplify, centering around maintaining a vertical, streamlined posture to minimize drag and for them to reach the water as quickly as possible. It is also possible that the rip entry/preference for a small splash might change too, since speed rather than artistry would take precedence.
There will be quite a few significant consequences of this new rule. First, scoring would most likely need to adapt, as it moves away from aesthetics and more towards measurable timing. Training techniques might also shift to emphasize speed and efficiency over the elegance in presentation. From the audience’s perspective too, the visual spectacle of flips and twists and turns might be replaced by brief plunges into the pool as the game now would prioritize speed over artistry.
3. Pick a simple game you played as a child. Try to map out its space of possibility, taking into account the goals, actions, objects, rules, and playspace as the parameters inside of which you played the game. The map might be a visual flowchart or a drawing trying to show the space of possibility on a single screen or a moment in the game.
I played hide and seek all the time as a child with my sister and my family friends. There really is an endless space of possibility in the game. As Macklin and Sharp emphasize in the textbook: “A game’s space of possibility is something we as players never really see in complete form. Instead, it is a quasi-theoretical understanding of the many play experiences players can have inside a game. The thing is, our understanding of a game’s space of possibility is always changing.” As a child playing hide and seek, the goal of the game was straightforward and simple: if you are the seeker, your task is to find the players who are hiding; if you are hiding, your objective is to hide yourself well enough to not be discovered. And yes, the rules are fixed—one person counts while the others hide—but the playspace is actually quite flexible. I played the game in my family’s attic, with friends in our backyards, with cousins in local parks, and even in our bedrooms. Each new setting where we played comprised of different sets of hiding spots and strategies. From the perspective of actions, there is also a lot of variations in unpredictability. As a hider, you can never fully anticipate when or in what order the seeker will approach each hiding spot. The game requires almost no objects, but there’s a depth in how every playspace transforms the experience and how each round of the game can take place very differently depending on each players’ choices, actions, and strategies.
4. Pick a real-time game and a turn-based game. Observe people playing each. Make a log of all the game states for each game. After you have created the game state logs, review them to see how they show the game’s space of possibility and how the basic elements interact.
Temple Run (Real-time game)
When my sister and I were younger, we loved playing Temple Run. At the beginning of the game, the pace is fairly manageable. The player swipes up to jump over obstacles, tilts left or right to collect coins, and maintains a steady rhythm, all while a monster chases from behind. As the game progresses, the speed increases. The playspace remains confined to the phone screen, but the rising pace adds a lot of urgency for the player, making mistakes more likely and the monster’s presence being perceived as more threatening. Eventually, the game becomes extremely fast, and every movement feels critical. Even the smallest misstep or slip up can result in being caught, which as a player, creates the genuine sensation of being chased and the thrill of trying to outrun the danger of the monster. I still remember during this game state, I would often feel very on the edge and would start getting agitated (i.e not sitting still on the couch), or even verbally express my anxiety (I.e “it’s really coming I need to run!”)
These different game states help to highlight the game’s space of possibility. For instance, even though one slip-up can end a run, players always know they can try again, which in turn fuels the hope of lasting longer or achieving a higher score the next time. There is an inherent interplay of the game’s elements that make it so addictive to its players, from its goal (to survive as long as possible), its rules (avoid obstacles, don’t get caught), the actions (swiping, tilting, jumping), and its playspace (the phone screen), which all work together to create a cycle of tension, urgency, and replayability that kept me as a player very engaged and wanting to play more.
Monopoly (Turn-based game)
This was our go-to game for family nights. The game starts with everyone beginning on equal footing with the same amount of money, rolling the dice to move around the board. The early turns are fairly exploratory, with a strong focus from players on buying properties and also a time for them to test out possible strategies. But as the game goes on, the dynamic shifts, with players beginning trading, building houses and hotels, and managing their money more carefully and strategically. Negotiation and bargaining also become central, which essentially turns the game into a social as well as strategic competition.
By the later stages, the game often becomes quite polarized. Some players can dominate with large properties and hotels, while others are either struggling to keep up financially or constantly on the brink of bankruptcy. The unpredictability from each roll of the dice can determine whether a player’s fortune improves or collapses, which can add a lot of tension. From this mix of fixed rules and open-ended decisions and strategies, the game’s space of possibility expands. While the rules are consistent, chance and strategy combined together make Monopoly a game where no two games are ever played exactly the same. Similarly, the interaction between goal (to be the last player standing), rules, and playspace (can be played anywhere, from physical spaces to now digital too) shows the countless possible outcomes of this seemingly very straightforward game.
