| A | B |
|---|
| Casual Player | The average game player as opposed to hard-core players |
| Closed Game System | The rules of the game are a closed environment where there is no outside exchange |
| Cooperative Play | Involves two or more players who cooperate against the game system |
| Formal Game Elements | The parts of a game including the players, objectives, procedure rules, probability, resources, conflict, and boundaries |
| Hard Core Player | A person who plays games over many long sessions and has a desire to extend existing games creatively. These players have higher frustration levels |
| Implicit Rules | Rules that are unwritten and unbinding. These rules are usually stated at the beginning of the game. Good sportsmanship is an example |
| Metagame | Refers to the game beyond the basic game. Features tactics that lie outside the intended game use that exploits errors in programming |
| MMOG | Massively Multiplayer Online Game consisting of thousands of players from around the world playing at the same time |
| MMORPG | Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game |
| MMORTS | Massively Multiplayer Online Real-Time Strategy game |
| MMOFP | Massively Multiplayer Online First-Person shooter game |
| Multilateral Competition | A game structure in which three or more players directly compete. This pattern is typical of multiplayer games such as board games |
| Open game system | A game environment consisting of a group of players across several games and many different game sessions |
| Unilateral Competition | Where two or more players compete against one player. An example would be dodge ball. |
| Virtual Reality | The simulation of reality through technology |
| Formal Game Elements | The parts of a game that include the players, objectives, procedure rules, probability, resources, conflict, and boundaries |
| Capture | The objective is to take or capture something of the opponent’s while avoiding being captured or killed |
| Chase | The objective is to catch or elude an opponent |
| Race | The objective is to reach a goal—physical or conceptual—before the other players |
| Alignment | The objective is to arrange your game pieces in a certain spatial configuration or create conceptual alignment between categories of pieces |
| Rescue or Escape | The objective is to get a defined unit or units to safety. |
| Forbidden Act | The object is to get the competition to “break the rules” by laughing, talking, letting go, making wrong moves, or doing something they shouldn’t |
| Construction | The object is to build, maintain, or manage objects. |
| Exploration | The object is to explore game areas—usually combined with a competitive objective |
| Explicit Rules | Rules that control the formal structure of the game. These rules are written on the instruction page |
| Implicit Rules | Rules that are unwritten and unbinding. These rules are usually stated at the beginning of the game. Good sportsmanship is an example |
| Progressive Action | The procedures that define how the players move through the game such as select a card off of the top of the deck or players taking turns |
| Resolving Action | Procedures that help to bring a conclusion to the game and includes how much health a player has or how many points are needed to advance to the next level |
| Starting Action | The procedures that get the game into play such as shuffling the cards or the distribution of money |
| Circle | the set of all points in a plane that are the same distance from a given point called the center |
| Circumference | the distance around a circle |
| Chord | a segment whose endpoints are on the circle |
| Diameter of a circle | a chord that passes through the center of a circle |
| Radius of a circle | a segment whose endpoints are the center of a circle and a point on the circle; the distance from the center of a circle to any point on the circle |
| Experimental or Empirical Probability | is based on repeated trials of an experiment or # of Successes / # of Trials |
| Probability | the randomness that is built into the game. Examples of ways to add randomness would be the use of dice, spinner, shuffling a deck of cards, assigning health, or the use of a random number generator |
| Theoretical Probability | the ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the number of possible outcomes if all outcomes have the same chance of happening |
| Actions | Moves or turns in a game. Classified as a resource. |
| Closed Game System | The rules of the game are a closed environment where there is no outside exchange |
| Formal Game Elements | The parts of a game that includes the players, objectives, procedure rules, probability, resources, conflict, and boundaries |
| Metagame | Refers to the game beyond the basic game. Features tactics that lie outside the intended game use that exploits errors in programming |
| Open game system | A game environment consisting of a group of players across several games and many different game sessions |
| Scarcity | the limit of a resource in a game. Scarcity is accomplished by purchase price, the cost of time to locate them or the risk involved in fighting off monsters or other protective methods. |
| Unit | Token that represents a player in a game. |
| Utility | the purpose of a game resource in the game |
| Clearing | allows the player to clear up a situation or set of obstacles such as clearing up blackened areas to reveal what is underneath |
| Collection | allows the player to collect something or complete a set. Earning points is an example of a collection. |
| Decision Tree | A map showing all of the possible choices involved in a game. |
| Game mechanics | the set of rules that provide an enjoyable game play experience |
| Games of choice | single player games where the outcome is mostly a product of probability |
| Games of skill | usually single player games where the outcome of the game is solely a result of player choices |
| Games of strategy | involve more than one player where competition is the main factor. |
| Mental Fun | Games that improve our mental skills and intelligence |
| Multipurpose Fun | Games that are a combination of physical, social, and mental fun |
| Non-Zero Sum Game | A game where individual players neither win nor lose, but creates a situation where all of the players (team) can benefit |
| Physical Fun | Games where movement plays a significant role such as dancing or hand-eye coordination. |
| Social Fun | Games that use storytelling and tap into the human desire for social interaction |
| Zero-Sum Game | A game between two players that results in only one player winning. The player who wins is assigned +1 point and the player who losses is assigned -1 point. The sum of the points of both players equals 0. Examples include Tic-Tac-Toe, checkers, and chess. |
| Game Genre | used to categorize video games based on gameplay interaction, atmosphere, and various other factors. A video game genre is defined by a set of gameplay challenges |
