Introduction to the

Theory of Game Elements

Aki Järvinen
aki@gameswithoutfrontiers.net
http://www.gameswithoutfrontiers.net
Contents
• Games as systems
• Game states and game system behaviour
• Game elements as parts of game systems
• Game element attributes
• Definitions and examples element by element
• Examples of an analysis method
• Gamegame: theory meets design meets play
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
All kinds of games allowed!
• All games, regardless of the
media or technology they employ,
contain certain elements

• They are not all the same

• Or implemented in the same

manner or technique

• Yet there are underlying

similarities: goals, objects to be
manipulated, environments,
players, etc.
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Same but different
• How to conceptualise this ‘same but
different’ qualities of games?

• One needs to conceptualise the qualities

• And build a framework that brings them
together, as in individual games

• The notion of System

Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Games as systems
• System is
‘a dynamic whole with interacting parts’

• In game systems:

1) game elements equal the parts

2) elements have relationships, they interact
3) when players engage with the elements, it
gives birth to another kind of interaction:
game play

• game play gives birth to dynamics; ‘the run-

time behavior of the system’ (LeBlanc)
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
The Theory of Game Elements
• Conceptualises possible different configurations
of game systems

• i.e. the difference between one game and

another is due to the fact that their systems are
configured differently

• configuration of football vs. the configuration of

Prince of Persia

• The theory is a form of Applied Ludology

• Which provides solutions for practical game

analysis & design

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Element categories: overview

SYSTEMIC BEHAVIORAL
ELEMENTS game play ELEMENTS

COMPOUND
ELEMENTS

• A game system in operation, i.e. a game being played,

puts these elements into interaction

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Game elements: overview
SYSTEMIC ELEMENTS BEHAVIORAL ELEMENTS
• components players
•
• environment game play
contexts
•

• rule set
• game mechanics
• theme
• information COMPOUND
• interface ELEMENTS

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Game elements: overview
• All game elements have an ownership attribute

• There are three kinds of ownership attributes:

[game element]-of-self

[game element]-of-other(s)

[game element]-of-system

• Ownership attributes often create inherent tension

and competition to a game

• Thus, many games revolve around ownerships

shifting back and forth
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Components
• Components are usually objects that the
player is able to manipulate in the course
of the game.

• What ‘moves’ in the game, in one way or

another (physical movement, transactions,
etc.)

• Components provide a source of

identification for the player, usually in the
shape of possessions, resources, and/or
representatives (characters/pieces)

• The goals of the game are often embodied

into components (’collect 100 rings’, etc.)

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Types of Components
• There are three types of
components:

• components-of-self: components
possessed by oneself and controlled
by oneself (e.g. your monkey)

• components-of-others:
components possessed and
controlled by other players (e.g. the
others’ monkeys)

• components-of-system:
components possessed and
controlled by the game system
(Bananas, NPCs, AI, etc.)
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
 Environment
• It is not mandatory yet it is very
common (boards, etc.)

• The environment element sets

specific spatial boundaries for
components and players.

• Environment embodies rules that

specify the spatial and geometric
arrangement of a game.

• In some cases, components make up

the game environment.

• Typical environment attributes: state,

scale, vector
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Types of Environments
• Game environments can be broadly classified
into two following types:

• Boards/fields: Static individual environments;

which mainly function to embody rules by
visualising them into a grid with geometrical
relations, for example.

• Setups: Even if no particular environment is

needed (as in, e.g., many card games), the other
elements need to be arranged in a fashion that
communicates the game state to the players.

• World(s): Often these kinds of environments are

divided into parts or levels, but game-worlds also
exist as seamless, simulated ecosystems.
Function shifts towards thematic purposes.
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Rule set
• Rules constitute the fundamental compound
element, rule set.

• Rule set is the glue that keeps a game

system together and enables play with the
other elements in the first place.

• Rules make it possible for the system to

function in a way that is meaningful for
players. Rule set uses other elements as its
embodiments.

• Usually the rule set states procedures or

algorithms, such as how to set up the
game in order to start playing, or how
players are rewarded for completing a goal.
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Game mechanics
• ‘The means’, i.e. always there in relation to goals, ‘the
ends’

• Best described with verbs; game mechanics imply (inter)

action

• Core mechanics (Salen & Zimmerman): what players do in a

game, repeatedly

• Running and kicking the ball are the core mechanics of

football; moving a piece in Chess is its core mechanic

• digital games may have multiple mechanics that

correspond to the actions and the fantasy world the games
simulates: Horseback riding, sword-fighting, running,
jumping, etc.

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Types of Game mechanics

• generic mechanics classes

• that can be actualized in

various ways

• for example, a Physical

mechanic in the ’Contact’
class could be kissing/
hugging/etc!

• and combined into sequences

and relations: trading is
achieved by kissing, etc!

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
 Theme
• theme equals the subject matter of a game

• if there is no theme in a game, the system does

not represent anything other than its ruleset

• theme functions metaphorically, enabling the

players to understand rules and goals in terms
of another subject matter

• the essence of metaphor (Lakoff & Johnson) :

‘understanding and experiencing one kind of
thing in terms of another’

• Themes employ schemas: restaurant schema

in Diner Dash
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Information
• Game systems contain information

• The main function of information is to

store data about game states

• How and to what extent the information

is communicated to the players are
questions of game design:

• Games of perfect information vs.

imperfect information

• The information element makes games

suitable for computers
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Interface
• In case players can not access
the game system directly there is
need for a tool to enable that

• i.e. an interface
• prominent in digital games
• is found also in mechanical
games, such as Pinball, Fussball
tables, etc.

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Players
• There would no games nor play
without Players

• Players are arguably highly complex

psychological entities

• Erving Goffman (1961): games as

focused gatherings

• i.e. certain types of social

arrangements that occur when
persons are in one another’s
immediate physical presence.

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Players in focused gatherings
• focused gatherings involve for the participants the
following ‘communication arrangements’:

a single visual and cognitive focus of attention

a mutual and preferential openness to verbal

communication

a heightened mutual relevance of acts

an eye-to-eye ecological huddle that maximizes each

participants ’s opportunity to perceive the other
participants’ monitoring of him/her

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Qualities of Players
• For the purposes of analysis players have to abstracted down to
a handful of crucial aspects:

• Players have
• Player possessions: ownership of elements, components in particular

• Player strategies: players’ preferences in relation to goal hierarchy

• Player agency: player affordances in relation to elements, embodied into

game mechanics

• Player knowledge: information available for players to use

• Player organisation: players’ relation to each other, possibly via different

roles

• Player abilities and skills: sets of cognitive, physical and psychomotor

abilities

• game systems - i.e. game designers - try to set normative

constraints to player qualities
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Contexts
• There are several contexts to any game

• E.g., the context of football is a cluster of

factors having to do both with the game’s
popularity, tradition, players, national histories,
and the sports industry with its media coverage.

• The context of a game can be endlessly

expanded to surrounding cultures...

• in order to be useful, the line has to be drawn

somewhere when embarking on a concrete
analysis of a particular game.

• Where actually to draw the line is a question of

perspective.
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Game elements: summary
SYSTEMIC ELEMENTS BEHAVIORAL ELEMENTS
• components players
•
• environment game play
contexts
•

• rule set
• game mechanics
• theme
• information COMPOUND
• interface ELEMENTS

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
What ludologists do

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Another visualization

Games without Frontiers

A Resource for Game Studies & Design
Further resources
• http://gamegame.blogs.com
• Card game / brainstorming tool for
game design, based on the theory of
game elements
• http://www.gameswithoutfrontiers.net
• Aki’s
tools
Thesis chapters & online analysis

• aki@gameswithoutfrontiers.net
Games without Frontiers
A Resource for Game Studies & Design