Note from Noah, September 19, 1999

Dear BCN Group colleagues,

At its most basic level, obviously, a game becomes played by many people because it appeals to a large number of people. Different elements attract different people, but there are several basic concepts that are intrinsic to any successful game. I think challenge and escapism are the most vital.

Challenge often includes competition of some sort, whether human vs. human, or human vs. the game, but it can also be of a collaborative nature, and the challenge then could be of a constructive or discovering nature. It is important for the challenges of a game to be varied and diverse, or richly complex, or both, in order to maintain lasting interest. Chess, for example, is deeply complex, and thus has held the interest of people for thousands of years. Obviously, a game can appear simple on the surface, and yet allow very rich and complex strategies.

Escapism means essentially escape from reality. The challenge of a game is enjoyable because transports people away from reality. It could include a simulation of reality, or contain many fantastic and "magical" concepts, but it is attractive because it is not reality. In many currently popular games, escapism takes the form of fantasy, such as dragons, magic (keep in mind I am not referring to druidism or any other form of real-life magic here, rather a popularized conception of magic, drawn largely from fantasy literature.)

Any successful game includes both challenge and escapism, but then most games include both, and most games are not widely popular. To become widely accepted, a game must present its challenges and escapism in a way that either is not currently represented by available games, is a significant variation of an existing game, or is a significant improvement over an existing game. To take an example, pen-and-paper role-playing games were created as an offshoot of table-top military strategy games. In table top military games, players command armies of miniatures and move them about the board and engage in combat to attain strategic goals. A few developers of one of these games (Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax), wanted to be able to apply some of the concepts of table-top games, such as strategy and combat, to the more significant individuals of an army, and then be able to develop that individuals' personalities and follow them through a series of adventures. Thus, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) was born. This would fall into the first category of games, those that present challenge and escapism in a way not currently represented by available games.

Following the creation of D&D, its developers made significant improvements to the mechanics of the game and released Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D), a game identical in concept, but vastly improved in the flexibility and capabilities of the game. This is an example of an improvement to an existing game design.

When D&D became popular, other people saw its potentials and developed other games that followed the general principles (dynamic, persistent, imagined personalities) but were very different in a variety of aspects, such as the campaign environment (fantasy, sci-fi, old west, horror, etc.). Several such games are GURPS and Vampire: The Masquerade. These are games that built on existing game designs, but made significant variations.

The common denominator that leads to all of these games becoming successful is that it appeals to prevalent thought patterns within the current cultural environment. In the example of Magic: The Gathering, I think the appeal was based on several things. First, the familiarity and appeal of card games (Magic is a card game). Second, the inclusion of fantasy concepts (sorcerers, dragons, goblins, etc). Before Magic's release, fantasy concepts were very prevalent within the gaming industry, and many of the most popular games included these concepts. Third, Magic's unique design provides a very wide variety of strategic options and challenges, and presents them in a unique manner.

One more very critical aspect of Magic's success is its design as a collectible card game. There is not a finite set of cards. When you buy a pack of Magic cards, you are given a random group of cards from a much larger set, and expansions of new cards are periodically released. When you play a game, however, you use only a limited amount of the cards you own (usually 60). Some cards work better together than others. Thus, there is incentive to buy more cards to diversify the strategies available to you and to strengthen the strategies you wish to focus on.

Phew. I hope this wasn't too boring or too basic or just plain wrong to any of you.

-Noah