The game, the player, the world: looking for a heart of gameness

By Jesper Juul. DiGRA Conference, 2003

672 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper proposes a definition of games. I describe the classic game model, a list of six features that are necessary and sufficient for something to be a game. The definition shows games to be transmedial: There is no single game medium, but rather a number of game media, each with its own strengths. The computer is simply the latest game medium to emerge. While computer games1 are therefore part of the broader area of games, they have in many cases evolved beyond the classic game model.

Subfields: Artificial Intelligence, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/bc6d0c1584eb3de2f28e1bf726f4f0bfac5c50b3

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Citations in the corpus

Serious games and the gamification of tourism (2017, background): “Although different definitions have been used, researchers agree a set of game characteristics can be used to define games, such as rules, uncertain outcomes, conflict etc. (Juul, 2003; Salen & Zimmerman, 2004).”
Learning in immersive worlds: A review of game-based learning (2006, background): “While there has been a large volume of work charting different games typologies and classifications (e.g. Juul, 2003; Sutton-Smith, 1997; Salen and Zimmerman, 2004) these typologies have more often than not been based upon leisure rather than educational games.”
Relationships Between Game Attributes and Learning Outcomes (2009, background): “Juul (2003) suggested that games consist of six elements: rules, variable quantifiable outcome, player effort, valorization of the outcome, attachment of the player to the outcome, and negotiable consequences.”
Toward a Taxonomy Linking Game Attributes to Learning (2012, background): “, rules), but also include quantifiable outcomes, the player’s effort level, player attachment to the game outcome, and negotiable consequences (Juul, 2003).”
Gaming at a LAN event: the social context of playing video games (2005, background): “The constant exchange of messages between gamer and game, the succession of the roles of observer and participant and the options for testing a variety of realities, all underline the nature of gaming as play (Juul, 2003; Vorderer, 2001).”
A definition for gamification: anchoring gamification in the service marketing literature (2016, background): “None of these numerous conditions suffices in itself to characterize a game, and it is only in their combination that a game emerges (Juul 2003; see also Deterding et al. 2011 on gamification).”
Gamification in theory and action: A survey (2015, background): “Juul (2003) proposes that all games have the six main features: rules; variable; quantifiable outcomes; value-laden outcomes; player effort; player investment; and negotiable consequences, with respect to real life effects.”
Creating brand engagement through in-store gamified customer experiences (2019, background): “Being challenged is part of playing games (Ijsselsteijn et al., 2008; Juul, 2003; Malone, 1981; Sherry et al., 2006) and of using gamified services (Högberg et al.”