I have no words i must Design

 Notes on Greg Costikyan 

Costikyan says "A game is an iterative structure of endogenous 

meaning that requires players to struggle towards goals"

• The game is plastic (adaptable to every platform)

• Puzzles are static - a logic structure to be solved my clues
• games that are not static are games that change with the players actions. (interactive)

• Interaction with a purpose,the need to make decisions.
• Excellence in decision making is what bring success 

• Not all games have goals (but players may create goals)
• Sims as an example of a game without goals, but a software tool to manipulate (create goals)

• Competition is one way of making a game with struggles
• Struggles must be balanced in games -   to Hard = Frustration To easy = dullness  
• Choosing difficulty in a game allows players to choose how hard they want the struggle to be.

• Interaction of games rules components and software create a structure within which people play 
• Board game structure is readable (visual) Digital game structure is invisible  
• Small change in structure breeds a big change in player behaviour

• Understand kind of experiences you want to impart to your players and create systems that enable those experiences.

• A game without struggle is a dead game
• The purpose of a game is to entertain 

My Thoughts

Costikyan says "A game is an iterative structure of endogenous 

meaning that requires players to struggle towards goals"

I believe in what costikyan says here. He sums up what a game is all about in a catchy neat phrase.

However Personally to describe a game as having endogenous meaning i believe may cater for some games out there simple games(monopoly or domino's) but other games can mean a lot more to players maybe not your casual gamers but for competitive gamers some games or characters to them can mean a lot.

I agree with Costikyan that "games must be broken down into identifiable chunks in order to understand them"

However sometimes its better not to over complicate things. some of the most successful games out there are also some of the simplest without maybe implementing some of the key components Costikyan talk about.

In summary reading what Costikyan says has been very interesting in getting into the nitty gritty of what games really are Games ultimately have to be entertaining.