Game play (or gameplay) includes all player experiences during the interaction with game systems, especially formal games. Proper use is coupled with reference to "what the player does".

Arising alongside the development of game designers in the 1980s, game play was used solely within the context of video or computer games, though now its popularity has begun to see use in the description of other, more traditional, game forms. A game designer is a person who designs games. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ...

Many current game design practitioners and theorists will argue that game play is a largely meaningless or empty term, superseded by other concepts established in the repertoire of perception, anthropology, and general diversified psychology. Others see the very term as an indication current game design (art) theories remain primitive and underdeveloped noting that, for example, cinema does not require "movie-watch" nor novels "book-read" in order that these (non-interactive) media be described formally. Current academic discussions tend to favor more practical terms such as "game mechanics". PSYCHOLOGY In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. ... Anthropology (from the Greek word άνθρωπος = human) consists of the study of humankind (see genus Homo). ... Psychology (Classical Greek: psyche = soul or mind, logos = study of) is an academic and applied field involving the study of behaviour, mind and thought and, frequently the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals daily lives and the treatment of mental illness. ... Resources Great Museums in the World (Louvre, Metropolitan Museum, MoMA, Picasso …) CGFA: A Virtual Art Museum Art-Atlas. ... A game mechanic is a rule or set of rules intended to produce a set of outcomes in a game. ...

Despite these arguments, the use of game play has become a core member of popular computer gaming culture nomenclature, as it succinctly indicates a domain of perceptual concepts not readily accessible by other phrases.

See also

Gameplay Magazine

Related concepts

• Emergent gameplay
• Interaction design
• Play