Product Description

As pop culture, games are as important as film or television--but game design has yet to develop a theoretical framework or critical vocabulary. In Rules of Play Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman present a much-needed primer for this emerging field. They offer a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. As active participants in game culture, the authors have written Rules of Play as a catalyst for innovation, filled with new concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games..

Building an aesthetics of interactive systems, Salen and Zimmerman define core concepts like "play," "design," and "interactivity." They look at games through a series of eighteen "game design schemas," or conceptual frameworks, including games as systems of emergence and information, as contexts for social play, as a storytelling medium, and as sites of cultural resistance.

Written for game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers, Rules of Play is a textbook, reference book, and theoretical guide. It is the first comprehensive attempt to establish a solid theoretical framework for the emerging discipline of game design.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19848 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 688 pages

Review
"Rules of Play is an exhaustive, clear, cogent, and complete resource for understanding games and game design. Salen and Zimmerman describe an encyclopedia of game design issues, techniques, and attributes. In particular, they analyze the elements that can make a game experience richer, more interesting, more emotional, more meaningful, and, ultimately, more successful. It should be the first stop you make when learning about game design."
--Nathan Shedroff, author of Experience Design

"Rules of Play makes a monumental contribution to the development of game theory, criticism, and design. It will instantly become a standard textbook in the field on the basis of its rigor and scope--yet it is written in such an engaging style that many will read it for pleasure. Salen and Zimmerman do for games what Sergei Eisenstein did for cinema--offer an expert practitioner's perspective on central aspects of the aesthetics and cultural importance of an emerging medium."
--Henry Jenkins, Director of Comparative Media Studies, MIT

"This is the most impressive book on game design I've ever seen. Broad in scope yet rich in detail, Rules of Play sets a new standard for game analysis."
--Will Wright, Game Designer of Sim City and The Sims

Book Info
Text offers an introduction to game design. Offers a unified model for looking at all kinds of games, from board games and sports to computer and video games. Includes concepts, strategies, and methodologies for creating and understanding games. For game scholars, game developers, and interactive designers. DLC: Computer games--Design.

About the Author
Katie Salen is a game designer and interactive designer as well as Director of Graduate Studies in Design and Technology, Parsons School of Design. With Eric Zimmerman, she is the coauthor of Rules of Play (MIT Press, 2003) and coeditor of The Game Design Reader (MIT Press, 2005).

Eric Zimmerman is a game designer, game design theorist, and co-founder and CEO of gameLab. He has taught at universities including MIT, the University of Texas, Parsons School of Design, New York University, Rhode Island School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts.

Customer Reviews

rules of play
bought for a class. never really read it. not as theoretical as what i wanted it to be.

An important and relevant book on so many levels
The authors of this book work directly with the school I attend (Parsons the New School for Design), and I am speaking from experience when I say that these people are authorities on the topics of "play" and game design. This books serves as a resource not just for game design, but in many other fields as well. I have used this book while studying anything that relates to interactivity, education and learning, and sociology. The idea of "play" is an innate characteristic of human beings, and Salen and Zimmerman do a great job of relating this idea in an extremely rich way. If you do anything related to games, play, or game design, this book needs to reside on your shelf.

Too pleased with itself to be great
Rules of Play has 150 pages of great material spread over 670 pages of text. The definition of meaningful play, the case studies and the troubleshooting tips are very useful. Unfortunately, the book tries to be both a design manual and a textbook. The result is a lot of material which any given reader doesn't need. Trimmed down and split into separate books, this work would get five stars.