Where the game lives
Six structures—rules, goals, feedback, uncertainty, choice, play—map any game-like thing; the missing ones explain why it does or doesn’t feel like a game.
Series 04
The Game in All of These
The rules, goals and feedback hiding in work, school, apps and institutions that do not call themselves games.
Where is the game in this, and who wrote its rules?
Rules, goals, feedback, uncertainty, choice and play are the building blocks of games, but they are not confined to them. This series finds those structures in places that do not call themselves games: performance reviews, school grades, fitness apps, loyalty schemes, social media metrics and the procedures of institutions. Some were designed deliberately, as gameful design; others grew without anyone intending them.
Seeing the game in an ordinary system makes it easier to judge. It shows what behavior the system rewards, which feedback loops keep people engaged, and where the structure serves the people inside it or only the people who built it. Every episode returns to the same question: where is the game in this, and who wrote its rules?
Essays in this series, in order
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