View source for Underlying Assumptions and Concepts

== Assumptions ==

=== It is possible to name re-usable gameplay design concepts ===
This assumptions builds on similar assumptions from other design disciplines, most specifically the design pattern approach introduced in Architecture<ref name="Alexander"/> and commonly used in object-oriented programming<ref name="Gamma"/>.

=== Games can be described as an Activity-Based Framework of Game Components ===
The original gameplay design patterns collection<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004"/> was created from analyzing specific ways game components could be instantiated in a game design. To support this, a framework describing generalized game components on different levels of abstraction was identified<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004, chapter 2"/>

== Concepts ==
=== Agents ===
Making choices is often seen as one of the most important characteristics of games. Having this agency<ref name="Agency"/> is typically at first assumed to relate to humans. However, given the presence of [[Algorithmic Agents]] and humans' tendency to anthropomorphize<ref name="Anthropomorphism"/> (including doing so for computer programs<ref name="Eliza"/>) and taking intentional stances<ref name="Intentional Stance"/> people often ''behave'' as if non-humans also take decisions between choices. Several of the patterns relate to making choices or the impression of others doing so without requiring that it is actually humans involved, and due this the concept of agents is used instead.

=== Gaming ===
Although one typically say that one is ''playing'' a game, this can create confusion since this may be interpreted as having the same characteristics as the unstructured and non-goal-related activity done by (primarily) children. Rather than try to relabel this more common use of the word as for example ''free play'', we use gaming as the structured goal-oriented interaction that games are designed to support. Note that games can support other types of activities as well, so not everything done while interacting with a game is gaming - other examples include socializing, teaching, and playing. Note also that gaming can be doing using other artifacts than games; games are simply the artifacts whose primary intended use is to support gaming.

This distinction between playing and gaming may be due to a cultural bias from the researchers involved in the project. As native speakers of Swedish and Finnish where there exists different words for the two types of activities, it has been conceptually natural to take this view (''to play'' and ''to game'' translated to the Swedish ''att leka'' & ''att spela'' and the Finnish ''Leikkiä'' & ''Pelata'').

=== Gameplay ===
Gameplay is said to mean "[t]he structures of player interaction with the game system and with other players in the game" for the context of this collection of design patterns<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004"/>. There are however other definitions and descriptions focusing on other aspects of what experiences on can have with games<ref name="GameplayWikipedia"/>. In our work we see gameplay are the quintessential characteristic of a game, but see [[No Direct Player Influence]] and the category of [[:Category:Experimental Art Games|experimental art games]] as well as work on ''playfulness''<ref name="DeKoven"/>.

=== Players ===
A human participating in a game is the common notion of what a player is. Due to the presences of [[Game Masters]] and [[AI Players]] this notion can be questioned, and many game designs use players as a concept regardless if it is a human (or more!) or a machine performing actions. Adopting this view, the gameplay design pattern sees a player as an abstract construct related to the specified ways of interacting with the game system and related to how the valorization<ref name="Juul"/> of the outcome of the game instance is determined.

In fact, gamers is used relatively often in the collection. This is to make more clear that one is referring to an agent performing the activity of gaming rather than the common sense concept of a player or the more specific use describe above (which can engage in other types of activities than gaming).

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="Agency">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_(philosophy) Wikipedia entry for Agency].</ref>
<ref name="Anthropomorphism">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism Wikipedia entry for Antropomorphism].</ref>
<ref name="Alexander">Alexander, C Ishikawa, S. & Silverstein, M. ''A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction''. Oxford University Press. ISBN-10 0195019199, ISBN-13 978-0195019193
 </ref>
<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004">Björk, S. & Holopainen, J. (2004) ''Patterns in Game Design''. Charles River Media. ISBN 1-58450-354-8.</ref>
<ref name="Bjork & Holopainen 2004, chapter 2">Björk, S. & Holopainen, J. (2004) An Activity-Based Framework for Describing Games. Chapter 2 in ''Patterns in Game Design''. Charles River Media. ISBN1-58450-354-8.</ref>
<ref name="Eliza">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliza_effect Wikipedia entry for the Eliza Effect].</ref>
<ref name="GameplayWikipedia"/>Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gameplay entry] for Gameplay.</ref>
<ref name="Gamma">Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R. & Vlissides, J.M. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Addison-Wesley Professional. ISBN-10: 0201633612, ISBN-13: 978-0201633610.</ref>
<ref name="Intentional Stance">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_stance Wikipedia entry for Intentional Stance].</ref>
<ref name="Juul">[http://www.jesperjuul.net/text/gameplayerworld/ Juul, J. (2003). Keynote presentation at the Level Up conference in Utrecht, November 4th-6th 2003.</ref>
</references>