Forum Overview :: Gamerasutra :: I feel like we as a species solved this riddle a long time ago.

[quote name="Jerry Whorebach"][quote name="<a href="http://critical-gaming.com/blog/2012/4/4/a-defense-of-gameplay-pt1.html">Richard Tarell</a>"]"A game is a rule-based system with a variable and quantifiable outcome, where different outcomes are assigned different values, the player exerts effort in order to influence the outcome... and the consequences of the activity are optional and negotiable." <a href="http://www.half-real.net/dictionary/">~ see A Dictionary of Video Game Theory</a>[/quote] I can't say "we as a race" because I got this definition from a black guy :( Anyway, I wish entertainment software wasn't still such a dirty word. Just because the first wave of CD-ROM-based interactive multimedia projects wasn't what the Billy Mitchells writing for trade mags and usenet twenty years ago were looking for doesn't mean the basic concept of digital leisure activities that don't share a definition with shuffleboard or tic-tac-toe is entirely without merit. Different people want different things at different times - this is why we print labels on cans! Every time I think about <b>what is game</b> I feel really stupid because it's obviously a very difficult and contentious issue and I can't for the life of me fathom why.[/quote]