Summary of the amazing book from Cris Crawford. … art is
something designed to evoque emotion through fantasy The
computer game is an art form because it presents its audience
with fantasy experiences that stimulate emotion. With a game,
the artist creates not the experience itself but the conditions
and rules under which the audience will create its own
individualized experience. What is a Game? We need not concern
ourselves with its exact nature; for the moment it is entirely
adequate to realize that the player does perceive the game to
represent something from his private fantasy world. Games vs.
Simulation A game is an artistically simplified representation
of a phenomenon. The simulations designer simplifies reluctantly
and only as a concession to material and intellectual
limitations. The game designer simplifies deliberately in order
to focus the player’s attention on those factors the designer
judges to be important. Games vs. Puzzles The key difference
that makes one activity a game and the other act