What is "Gameplay"?

Gameplay is a word frequently used in connection with video games. Journalists as well as scientists use the term to describe something no one really can get a grasp on. Gameplay supposedly lies somewhere between rules, mechanics and the player. The first problem here are the terms rules and mechanics. Both are limiting what we can do in games, but where is then the difference between them?

One quick distinction could be that rules are limiting by purpose and mechanics are limiting unintendedly, even though actually trying to free the player. The limiting factor in the latter then would be the recent technology and human knowledge which is not able to provide a completely freeing game in which everything is possible. Miguel Sicart (2008) might be the one coming closest to a definition of mechanics. An example for what Sicart calls core mechanic would be jumping in a platformer game. He further distinguishes between primary and secondary mechanics. However, to not go too deep into the field of mechanics we will use the above mentioned understanding of mechanics as the supposedly freeing element of the game.

Rules, on the other hand, then are the restricting element of the game. Telling or showing the player that he can't do specific things or go to specific places. These information are usually quite obviously communicated. Shooting your teammate in Counter Strike (Valve, 2003) results in a penalty (losing money). Moving to areas which are prohibited (not opened yet) for players in World of Wacraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004) are blocked by invisble walls. On the other hand picking up any random flower or grass is limited by the mechanics; it is simply not possible (even though there are some flowers and grasses which are collectible in World of Wacraft for job purposes).

But after discussing these terms, what is gameplay now? To understand this we should take a look at Salen's and Zimmermann's definition of the term play: "Play is the free space of movement within a more rigid structure." (Salen and Zimmermann, 2004: 304)

As mentioned earlier gameplay might be located somwhere between rules, mechanics and the player and this definition of play let's us understand what it is. Gameplay is the "play" (ibid.) the player has inside the game to do things. Everything he can do between the limiting rules and the freeing mechanics has to be considered gameplay. This also includes things which are not aiming for reaching the greater goal of the game. As play should also be understood as something free (Callois, 2001: 10), gameplay can't be limited to the goals of the games. It is the free space.

This understanding is admittedly a quite broad one. The advantage of it is, though, that we're not limiting us to any specific element of gameplay. Ruling out things which are not aiming for fullfilling might not be the main interest of scholars while examining games or gameplay in specific, but there is always the possibility to narrow down the field of researcher later. Additionally to that gameplay which was unintended by the game designers might be an interesting field to research and could lead to new developments int the industry by looking at what players do even though they were originally not meant to.

Bibliography

Caillois, R. (2001). Man, play, and games. University of Illinois Press.

Salen, Katie; Zimmerman, Eric (2004): Rules of play. Game design fundamentals. Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press.

Sicart, M. (2008). Defining game mechanics. Game Studies, 8(2), 1-14.

Ludography

Counter Strike (2003). Valve Corporation.

World of Warcraft (2004). Blizzard Entertainment.