Bernard Suits, “Construction of a Definition”

“let us start with the commonplace belief that playing games is different from working” (22)

“The goal of a game, we may say, is winning the game” (22)

“In order to be a winner … certain conditions must be met” (22)

“If the rules are broken the original end becomes impossible of attainment, since one cannot (really) win the game unless one play it, and one cannot (really) play the game unless one obeys the rules of the game” (24)

“in addition to being the kind of activity in which rules are inseperable from ends, games are also the kind of activity in which commitment to these rules is never ultimate” (27)

“The decision to be arbitrary may have a purpose, and the purpose may be to play a game” (30)

“The gamewright must avoid two extremes. If he draws his lines too losely the game will be dull because winning will be too easy … On the other hand, rules are lines that can be drawn too tightly, so that the game becomes too difficult” (30)

“In morals obedience to rules makes the action right, but in games it makes the action” (32)

“The definition: My conclusion is that to play a game is to engage in activity directed towards bringing about a specific state of affairs, using only means permitted by rules, where the rules prohibit more efficient in favour of less efficient means, and where such rules are accepted just because they make possible such activity” (34)

The “attitudes of game players qua game players” is “the lusory (from the Latins ludus, game) attitude” (35)

The elements of games are: ends, means, and rules. The “element which unifies” these “into a single formula” is the “lusory attitude” (35)

Winning according to rules is “the lusory goal of a game” (37)

Permitted means are “lusory means” (37)

Lusory rules are “constitutive rules” that “prohibit use of the most efficient means for reaching a prelusory [i.e. cheating] goal” (38)

“To play a game is to attempt to achieve a specific state of affairs [prelusory goal], using only means permitted by rules [lusory means], where the rules prohibit use of more efficient in favour of less efficient means [constitutive rules], and where the rules are accepted just because they make possible such activity [lusory attitude]. I also offer the following simpler and, so to speak, more portable version of the above: playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles” (41)


Game

  • Donut County